There are a couple of problems.
Contrary to what the Cable sales office told me. HD is not available here yet.
Believe it or not that’s actually a pretty big deal to someone whose got TVs that can display it. I’ve also gotten really used to seeing TV in HD so this is kind of a bummer.
It also makes me wonder how long it will be until the cable company gets around to making the necessary upgrades for HD.
Presumably that will be around the same time they get the infrastructure improved enough to support things like internet and phone. I’m not expecting anything for at least the next year.
I felt kinda bad for the cable guy. He’d been up & down two telephone poles, then up the side of my house a few times only to find out that what we’d ordered and what the company sent him out with were two different things.
He was very accommodating and connected one of the TVs directly to the cable without a decoder box so that we could see the quality of the Non-HD video.
Obviously I see the difference. The question came down to cost and how much broadcast TV I actually watch. The bottom line is that by going with the rock bottom basic cable package I’m saving about $70 a month.
That’a a lot of cash and translates to a few “Season Passes” from iTunes for the programs I really want to watch in HD, and doing a Hulu account with a ton of money left over per year.
So we went ahead with the install.
I was a bit annoyed at the cable company.
When I called customer service to find out how the pricing was going to change, the lady I talked to was at first surprised HD service wasn’t available here.
She checked and rechecked then apologized profusely. One Plus was that she was an American and Local!
She was really helpful and basically we ripped all the charges for HD, and DVRs and a bunch of other stuff out of the equation till the bill was less than $45 a month.
That’s still a bit high for what I’m getting but hey, I’ve tried an antenna and the only thing I could get was a Chinese channel located out on the desert floor.
Since I don’t speak the language and they weren’t doing subtitles the antenna option did me little good.
I suppose that I could have sat there with Mandarin fro Dummies and eventually learned Chinese.
What’s interesting is how dramatic the difference between low definition TV and the Apple TV, DVD, & Xbox are.
It really makes me appreciate the BluRays all that much more.
The cable isn’t great, However it will serve the purpose for the time being.
If I want season passes for my favorite TV shows I can afford them & let the computer download the program while I’m sleeping.
The advantage here is that the programs I really want to watch are available across my devices, the Apple TV, my computer, and iPad without commercials.
Thus far, I’ve tagged but not purchased about $140 worth of season passes. I think that will serve my TV watching desires for the foreseeable future and I’ll own the programs so I can go back & watch them when, and where I want.
I haven’t looked too hard at Hulu but I could probably pony up the 7.99 a month to use them for watching programming on any channels I don’t have access to via the cable.
Aside from the savings, the best part of this is the space I got back.
Because of the stack of electronic crap in the bedroom I didn’t have use of the storage cubby in my chest of drawers.
The cubby was filled with the satellite box, and the cables, and the DVD, and the Apple TV and the Network switch, and, and , and.
What didn’t fit in the cubby, (everything) ended up on my nightstand. You know, keys, wallet, watch, sunglasses, and all the other crap we carry in our pockets.
Now that the stack of electronics is gone, the cubby is mine. This is the first time in four years that I’ve actually been able to use it for it’s intended purpose.
It’s nice to have a nightstand where I can put my iPad or a book I’m reading down without knocking something else off.
OH and before anyone gives me any grief about the dream catcher on the lamp.
I KNOW… It’s supposed to be hanging in the window of the room. BUT the window to the room is actually a sliding glass door and I haven’t found a hook long enough to allow the dream catcher to be hanging over the sliders without being interfered with by the blinds when they raise.
I just realized that I had the entire season of Spartacus Vengeance on the DVR of the satellite box and I hadn’t watched a single episode. Wow! I really have lost interest in TV. There were even some movies from the premium channels that I was never interested in enough to sit down and watch.
I will miss the next Superbowl game in HD. But I won’t miss the half time show if it’s another Beyoncé debacle.
What does this say?
I’m a child of the 60s. We were raised on TV. It’s been my babysitter, my friend, my entertainer, and in some cases, teacher for most of my life.
What does it say when people like me are so disenchanted with the endless reality shows, and the pointless infotainment shows detailing the Kardashians, Lohans, or other moronic celebrities that we’re actually disconnecting premium services?
I suppose it says I’m old. I’d like to think it sends a message to Hollywood but I know I’m not their target demographic anymore.
I think my book budget just got a whole lot bigger… Maybe that’s a good thing.