HDTV bites

You’ve heard the hype now it is time to hear the truth: HDTV sucks. At least it sucks if you live in Knoxville Tennessee and have Charter Communications as your cable provider. Quick side note: Everyone complains about Comcast. Friends I have had Comcast and I have had Charter. Comparing Charter to Comcast is like comparing a dental procedure sans Novocain to a procedure with Novocain. Sure the procedure is unpleasant either way but it is infinitely more tolerable with the numbing effects. Given Comcast’s inherent superiority over Charter I still maintain, with confidence, that HDTV sucks like the black hole the Milky Way is orbiting.

Let me be perfectly clear: I’m not saying the picture quality sucks because it doesn’t. HDTV looks fantastic. A lot of people have used a lot of metaphors to try to convey the difference between the TV you are used to and the picture quality that is HDTV. The best one I can come up with is: Going from regular TV to HDTV is like going from a Playboy magazine to an actual girlfriend. It is just that much better. As good as the picture is, and it is very good, it’s just not worth the cash.

Allow me to elaborate. To get HDTV first you have to rent an HD receiver. Fair enough, I want the HDTV so a receiver is no big deal. The price is reasonable at a mere $9.95. Well, that seems excessive to me but I’m cheap, I stand in mall fountains to catch the pennies kid throw. My frugality aside $9.95 for a HDTV is a trade well worth making. You would think that for that $9.95 you would get some HDTV programming but you’d be wrong. No that ten spot, and this is per month mind you, only gives you the ability to receive HDTV. To actually see HDTV programming you have to sign up for a tier. A “tier” costs $6.99 and you get your choice: sports, movies, information, children and possibly pets. Note there is no HDTV tier. In any event you pick a tier, I chose sports and suddenly you have access to the channels found in the 700 range. This is where the HDTV lives.

Once you’ve tiered yourself you get a whopping five or six channels of HDTV. I get, by way of example, NBC, CBS, ESPN (thanks Sports Tier!) Discovery Panoramic (or some such twaddle) and HD theater. What this amounts to is that any show NBC or CBS broadcast in HD I can watch. I can watch SportsCenter and pool in HD all I want. HD Theater is basically a bunch of old movies broadcast in HD and the Discovery channel positively blows. I actually like ESPN and the Discovery channel (let me note that the “American” shows are getting pretty damn repetitive) but the Discovery channel on HD isn’t the same stuff as the regular Discovery channel. Nossir. The discovery channel on HD only plays shows that feature sweeping vistas and brightly colored birds. Nice for showing off the capabilities of HDTV but not so great for compelling television.

In short unless I spend a ton of money I don’t get much HD content. And the dirty secret of all HDTV is that unless you really enjoy TV, I mean enjoy the dreck and crap thrusted upon you by programmers, then HDTV only makes a bad show look better. I mean you can have the best picture in the world but if it isn’t compelling it is still bad TV. Oh, buy my book dammit!

Hmm, that’s a lot of talking without a lot of linking. That means annoyed readers everywhere. Well two annoyed folks anyway.

Time for….

links…(hey, it’s late no time for alliteration)

Great clip from eBook publishing Mogul Tim Robertson:
Sobriety Test
Interesting game:
Hapland

Shout out to Roger: Hope you’re feeling fine

Free iTunes Code
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Yep, use that magic combination and you’ll get a free song courtesy of Pepsi and myself. Be sure to leave a comment even if it is “Used the code” so others won’t pound the code. Personally I would appreciate it if noted what song you bagged.

Today’s Hello Kitty message:

HELLO KITTY SAYS IT RUBS THE LOTION ON ITS SKING OR IT GETS THE HOSE AGAIN.
Good gravy, this is going badly.