| Saturday, February 24, 2007 |
| The monolith: the happy ending (I hope) |
Comcast sent someone out on Friday to return our splitter, though he warned me several times that they had taken it because it was "a bad spleeter" and I should under no circumstances use it. They had already thrown away the cables because they too were "bad," but he gave me a couple new ones (as well as a new splitter). Maybe it's par for the course for them to take people's stuff away and we're the first people to complain about it. It was hard to understand him because he was a Korean (I think) guy who spoke really poor English. If you're going to put someone in a customer service role, he really should speak as little English as possible, don't you think?
As Joe mentioned in a comment, we are going to stick with the two cable cards in the TiVo, since they're only $1.50/month and the third card would cost $7/month.
As far as being distracted by facial detail in HD, as Jestaplero asked, I didn't even notice Tina Fey's scar on "30 Rock" -- I was probably too busy laughing. (Every time I mention our new TV, I will feel obliged to put in a plug for "30 Rock," because I love it and don't want it to get cancelled. Any Nielsen families who happen to be reading this are hereby ordered to tune in NBC at 9:30 ET/PT every Thursday night.) We watched "Law & Order" last night and I was amazed by the clarity -- I noticed things like posters and signs on the walls of the police stations, and knickknacks in the D.A.'s office. It was obvious that Alana De La Garza wears a lot of makeup -- her face looked a little cakey. But on the whole, I really like it. It reminds me of the time last year when we had a professional window-washer come out and clean all the windows in our apartment; you're looking at an old view in a whole new way.
In case you decide to go out and buy a big TV, or (better) have a deep-pocketed relative buy one for you, here are some things I have learned. These may seem obvious to people who have had HDTV forever, but according to a recent survey, many people who own HDTV-capable sets have no idea how to get a high-def picture. You either need to subscribe to your local cable or satellite company's HD service (which is what we did), or (more complicated) receive the signal over the air using an antenna. The reason the latter is trickier is because you must live within range of your local station's transmitter. We didn't try to get an over-the-air signal but I would imagine that in the hilly Bay Area, it's problematic. Rog has chronicled Denver broadcasters' efforts to build a "digital supertower" that would enable more people to get over-the-air HD. (Looks like the problems are ongoing.)
Anyway, let's say, for the sake of simplicity, that you called your local cable company and are getting your HDTV through them. This means you'll be able to get extra HD channels, like Fox Sports and ESPN HD, though you'll have to pay extra for them. (Since Joe is eager to watch baseball in HD, this was a no-brainer for us.) You can also subscribe to HD versions of HBO, Cinemax and Showtime (we declined). You're going to have to get used to a whole new set of channel numbers. For instance, I had to delete our old "30 Rock" TiVo season pass (on cable channel 3) and resubscribe to the show on channel 703, which is our local NBC affiliate's high-def outlet.
All the complications involved in getting HDTV was one of the reasons I resisted it for so long (well, that, plus I was too cheap to buy a new TV). But now that we have it all sorted out, it really is cool. If you're in the neighborhood, come by our place and see for yourself! |
posted by 125records @ 2:56 PM  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Your HDTV installation experience is probably not very typical, since few people even know about cable cards (and, as yellojkt said in a previous post comment, the cable companies don't want you to know about them since it cuts into their revenue and they're a hassle to install).
But who knows, all-in-all your experience might've been better than most people's these days! At least you are able to tell that you actually are watching in HD. A great many people (including some friends of mine I had to help) think they're watching HD when they're really not. And then they wonder why it's not as cool as everyone said it was. It pays to do your homework in this area, which you obviously did.
And oh yes, the whole Denver tower thing rages on, despite the intervention of the US legislature. Maybe it needs to go to the Supreme Court.
kbuhv! kbuhv!
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Alana De La Garza doesn't wear a lot of make-up. They put a lot of make-up on her. She's my fav though since Angie Harmon. Peace.
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Your HDTV installation experience is probably not very typical, since few people even know about cable cards (and, as yellojkt said in a previous post comment, the cable companies don't want you to know about them since it cuts into their revenue and they're a hassle to install).
But who knows, all-in-all your experience might've been better than most people's these days! At least you are able to tell that you actually are watching in HD. A great many people (including some friends of mine I had to help) think they're watching HD when they're really not. And then they wonder why it's not as cool as everyone said it was. It pays to do your homework in this area, which you obviously did.
And oh yes, the whole Denver tower thing rages on, despite the intervention of the US legislature. Maybe it needs to go to the Supreme Court.
kbuhv! kbuhv!