Fuzzy Hi Def

While Optimum is expected to roll out some additional hi def channels in the next few weeks, I have to say I'm not that impressed with some of the channels they already offer in HD. This week I watched "Saving Grace" on TNT, which is one of the few channels that comes in HD. I have to say that the picture was not sharp, and quite pixelated on many scenes. The 1080i was lit on the box, but I've had sharper images on standard def content. I did notice when I switched to a sports channel that the image was much clearer.

C'mon Optimum, not all of us are sports fans, and we want real hi def goodness too!

Jonas

Dish Is A Few Channels Short

Over the last several months, it's been quite clear that the current trend in television is to offer more and more HD. Users demand it, and they'll switch providers for it. After all, what's the point of that expensive flat screen HDTV if it only magnifies the poor signal?

Satellite offers a third pathway to the home after cable, and as cable calls it "phone company TV" which is Fios or Uverse. Among the satellite guys, the choices are DirecTV and Dish. Quality aside, DirecTV clearly has the most HD channels, and claims 95 currently. Meanwhile, Dish realizes that they missed the boat on this one, and is playing catch up now.

So what do those deceptive Dish folks do? They quote that they have 95 channels too! The secret is that while they had those channels for few hours, they then took away 15 of them by the end of the day. They ended up bailing on their agreement with the Voom channels (more in next week's Nudgecast about them), so the 95 channels was never quite seen by anyone.

I don't even have Dish, and I'm still annoyed by this. Don't the folks at Dish think their subscribers can count that high? Anyway, I will say that 80 channels of HD is pretty good these days, as Optimum only provides 40 with their iO Digital package (even counting CNN HD and a few other duds), and even with the top of the line Optimum Gold package, it's still only 45. When I compared last month, overall Fios had even less.

Jonas

HD Gets Addicitve

So, first it takes me just shy of a year to get any digital TV stations on my HDTV. After admitting defeat for the OTA solution, I ponied up the recurring monthly fee, and signed up for Optimum's triple play (Verizon hastened things a little bit).

So, now I have Optimum television, with the iO digital cable box which gets me plenty of digital television, and a taste of HDTV. I can easily see how folks become what I'm dubbing "HD snobs." I found myself watching the national news from NBC the other day, and wondering why the picture didn't look sharp, and then realizing that channel 4 needed to be set to 704 for the HD feed. I'm also using the Optimum DVR (Scientific Atlanta 8300) to record more things as my Philips DVR is still on the analog feed, but is quickly becoming a secondary machine as it's not HD.

When I watch the local newscast, which is broadcast in HD, it's quite noticeable, and increasingly annoying that while the studio cameras are in HD, all of the field cameras are standard def. This creates a shift back and forth between standard and HD that shows off the blurriness of standard television. On top of that, the SD footage often has the reporter's name in HD sharpness, with the blurry footage behind it, which serves to accentuate the difference even more. I would think that the networks would have at least some of the cameras in HD, but so far it seems like none, and makes it look like we're adding YouTube quality video into the mix. Don't even get me started on the non hi def commercials that practically beg to be flipped off as I surf to another channel.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for the HD channels I'm getting which includes the locals, some sports (Yes HD so I can see the Yankees lose in hi def), and a few others like Discovery Theater HD, which curiously doesn't have any of the top shows on it from the Discovery Channel. When I looked at this objectively, just a week ago, I figured out that Optimum actually had more HD than Fios, for less money, so it seemed like the better deal.

Now today, the first cable bill hasn't even arrived yet, I'm still fine tuning the setup, and the caulking hasn't even dried on where they drilled the hole for the cable to enter the house (you can probably guess where this is going...) and there's already a rumor than Verizon's Fios is adding some serious HD channels come early summer. What's Optimum planning to add? There big play is Hallmark HD?! Needless to say at this point, I'm glad I don't have a contract, and while I won't go back to Verizon for the next year, after that I'll have to explore this fully and compare at that point as to who has the better HD package. Oh yeah, for the sake of completeness I should mention that DirectTV actually does have the most, but I want to get internet and phone all from one provider, and to not brush off a roof top dish when it snows.

Jonas

Hi Def, Finally!

I'll have much more to say about my new Optimum triple play service after I play with it some more. However, for now, I did want to share my initial experience with the high definition TV service. While Bill refers to them as garblevision, so far, the quality of the picture is quite good for the high def channels.

While even with a fat cable, that's still a lot of info to come into my house, and of course it's compressed. The regular definition channels are not really any better than my old analog TV feed, except that the few lines of interference are gone, and there are a lot more channels. Still, it's not any better in the end, except for having some more stations to flip past.

The high definition is another story though. Needless to say, after you see the crystal clear picture once, in all the glorious detail, it become quite addictive, and I see why whole web sites are devoted to this technology. Not even in the stores selling the TV sets have I seen a feed this good (they probably divide it up so many times that it loses the detail). My cable box is hooked into the TV with the component inputs, but I hope to get an HDMI cable if for no other reason than to simplify the spaghetti behind the set.

Optimum TV gives me the locals hi def, and a handful of other channels, but I quickly realized that it's too bad there's not more HD choices. Also, even for the hi def channels, not all of the programs are broadcast in hi def. For example, when watching the local news, I can see the studio cams are hi def, but the field reporters are shot standard def, and they look like something I could do with my Flip Video cam, well, you get the idea.

Speaking of news, while NBC and ABC's nightly news broadcasts are in hi def, CBS is lagging behind with a standard def broadcast. While I'm no fan of Katie Couric, and hope she leaves the broadcast, there may be more to her slacking ratings than the lack of appeal of her perkiness for a national news broadcast, and CBS should upgrade to level the playing field.

While I'm completely unimpressed with digital television over analog, I will say that hi def is a really nice implementation of technology. While it's too bad that it requires too much gear and service to be able to see it (hi def TV, cable subscription, hi def converter box, HD channel and HD broadcast on HD channel), when the planets align, it is something to behold. Here's to a hi def future!

Jonas

Correction: While my local news on ABC is in hi def, my national news is not. As of now, only the NBC Nightly News is in HD of the 3 OTA newscasts. And ABC's is in 1st place, with NBC's in 2nd. Perhaps the HD effect is not as strong as I thought...

Goodbye HD DVD, We Hardly Knew Ya

Dearly gathered, let us mourn the loss of yet another media format. Add to the likes of eight tracks, minidiscs, laser discs, Jaz drives, digital audio tape, Betamax, and SmartMedia the latest in a long string of soon to be defunct media formats, the HD DVD.

I've been holding off buying a next gen movie player for quite a while, and I'm using my rule of thumb that I used for a DVD player: I'll jump on board when the player is $100, and there are discs aplenty at my local video store and public library. Quite frankly, before that happens, my regular DVD player and my TV set's upscaling are absolutely of high enough quality. For quite some time, I did think that this was the year that we would get a winner and affordable gear.

Is this death premature? After Black Friday '07, I was guessing at HD DVD as the winner, and Bill even bought a player. However, things turned quickly at CES, and Blu-Ray got all the buzz. With consumer outlets like Best Buy, Blockbuster, and online rental giant Netflix betting heavily on Blu-Ray, I think it has become clear. For better, or worse, Sony has emerged victorious, and Blu-Ray has been given the all important kiss of "the standard."

Is it all over that quickly? I'm not really sure, but based on what I've been reading over the last few weeks, it certainly looks that way. Pricing would also seem to confirm that. Right now at Wally Mart, the HD DVD's are going for around $150 (fire sale), and the Blu-Ray player is $370.

What to do? I'm sticking to my original plan: when I can find a Blu-Ray player for $100, I'll jump on board, and not any sooner.

Jonas

Feel free to discuss your plans below.

Not Quite A Lifetime

I found this story over on Engadget about the subscription plan for the latest TiVo HD. Those greedy TiVo folks are always looking to squeeze a few extra bucks from their faithful subscribers. Here's the offer:


So after you've bought a lifetime subscription for the last TiVo box, and now buy a new TiVo box for $299, you get the special privilege of "transferring" the lifetime subscription to the new TiVo box for a mere $199. Good thing you don't have to purchase it again, I can only imagine what they would charge for that!

Seriously folks, these prices are out of sight to simply record some television. I could just buy the series on DVD when it comes out, and have dough left over. I think this means that the subscription is only for the lifetime of the box, so clearly this is not such a good deal.

--Jonas

An Observation of Target's TV Line

This week when I was at Target, just for kicks, I decided to wander through the electronics department (Where did you expect me to go...housewares?). While there, I meandered over to televisions. I can make two observations about their department.

First, the less important one, is that compared to some other retailers that come to mind, the worst offender being Wal-Mart, all of the TV sets had a great signal. It did appear to be high definition as well. All of the TV's had the same signal with no static, or digital noise, or signal dropouts. Whoever set this up did it right, and it shows. This makes it a lot easier to compare sets when the only variable in the picture is the television itself.

Speaking of TV's, that brings us to our second point. Out of the entire wall of sets, big and small, I noticed only one plasma set. True, there were a ton of sets in the 26" to 32" range where LCD truly shines and is more affordable, and this size has never been plasma territory which is 37" and up. Still, when the number two retailer is so heavily slanted towards LCD, and away from plasma, it kind of makes me wonder if plasma is going to be relegated only to the high end specialty stuff. I seriously doubt that too many technophiles shop for their gear at Target, but if this is what the bulk of America is buying, you can bet that the sales figures will show it, and the manufacturers will build for it.

For years, there has been ongoing debate on if a plasma or LCD was the "true" HDTV (as if there could be only one). It went as far as coworkers telling me that "I had to buy a plasma as it was the only way to go." Needless to say, I took their advice from whence it came, and proceeded to buy what looked good, and I could afford (which is always good advice no matter what the product). Bearing that in mind, I find it ironic that perhaps this is how the LCD vs. plasma debate will be settled- "Not with a bang, but a whimper," with consumers voting with their wallets strongly in favor of plasma.

--Jonas