Thank you FCC for screwing up yet again
Yesterday I tried to hook up my Digital DVD recorder up to comcast and it was so annoying. I have a Digital tuner in my DVD recorder which will pickup QAM and Analog signals. It picks up a few broadcast channels. FCC has allowed Comcast to encrypt their basic cable channels so you can't use anything but their equipment. This makes almost any HDTV/DVD Record or third party DVR worthless except as a expensive monitor. I got a free convert box which is a completely worthless piece of junk, it provides a great modulated NTSC signal which is so awful I might as well get a 30 year old TV to hook it up. So why am I annoyed at the FCC. They approved the encrypting of the QAM. So why is Comcast encrypting basic cable. Its to stop people pirating cable. But it ends up hurting everybody else who actually pays for cable and the FCC rubber stamped a solution that hurt any form of open standard in the TV industry QAM requiring cable boxes. It was very interesting that a FCC commissioner just went to work for Comcast conflict of interest be damned. For those of you who says that Comcast is a private business and can do as they like , go back to college and understand that Comcast is a utility and a monopoly so they have to follow certain rules. If you still think Comcast is a private business and can do as they like even though they are a monopoly, they you should be OK with paying over $100 a month for a $40 dollar service and get internet speed a the bottom of the developed world.
HDTV but no content simple cheap fix
This surprised me but I've seen a lot of HDTV hooked up to an SD source and it looks terrible. It's like spending $1,500 and wasting half your money. Most please don't want to invest the additional cost for HD programming and HD receiver because it going to cost $20 more a month or $240 a year. Whats even crazier is that comcast new all digital basic package is encrypted so you have to use the terrible SD adaptor rather than better built in one on your tv. (Thanks FCC for allowing this travesty of encrypting basic cable just after abandon cable cards). I know the average technical expertise of a politician is so low he should wear a dunce cap. Rant Most Republican politicians would flunk high school biology because it does not fit in with their religious views and junior high economics because they can't do basic math (cut tax = deficits even with spending cuts).
So here is how to screw your greedy cable company, its called ROKU. They are really cheap at $60-70 for 720p and 1080p models. Make sure to order a Amazon $5 hdmi cable when you buy the box. otherwise you will be back at SD. You probably already have Netflix if you don't its only $8 a month and the ROKU has a ton over other channels a lot of them free. You have access to 1000's of HD programs and you hurt the cable company because bandwidth gets used. May be you will decide that after a few months you can drop cable a just rely on streaming content on your ROKU.
3D you should wait here is why
Unless your are an early adopter you should wait on 3D TV. This technology though mature from a theoretical point of view is still very immature from a practical point of view. The technology in the movie theaters is really mature (2 players with fixed standards) and if you look at the box office grosses of this year, 3D films have dominated vs their 2D cousins. If you are a producer dropping $60m+ on a movie you've got to be brave not to make if 3D in the future. Clash of the Titans killed poorly thought out up-conversion so the 2D not mapping to 3D.
Television is about five years behind the movies right now. Polar Express time frame.
1) Standards are not set, though both TV and Blue Ray players can be upgraded, there is not a clear set of 3D standards in both the picture transmission/encoding and the glasses. On 3D standard may work on one TV and not another. Your set manufacturer has no reason to upgrade your set to the new standards in a few years with a firmware update.
2) Content is thin. There are a few Blue Ray discs and computer Video card manufactures with content but not enough to be worth a nearly 3K investment. The 3D channels have yet to launch and will your cable/sat provider support them.
3) Expensive investment for little additional hardware. A 120hz/240hz TV is basically the same with 3d or without. Its the processor speed and the 3d glasses hardware. Little else.
4) You need a lot of space. To make 3D worthwhile you need a large set. A smaller LCD panel shrinks the experience to a set of matchbox toys and gives some headaches. So 47" minimum 56" preferred. Your spouse may want to kill you because of the size and also where you have to sit. You need to be pretty close and in the middle of the room to make 3D work.
So where from here. I expect both Sony and Microsoft will expand there current consoles to include 3D technology. Sony has already announced it will and will have vendors convert their content to 3D. To make a game ready for a 3D is simply creating a second software camera in the rendering engine, a trivial task. This will provide a real level of content. If the next COD:Black Ops is available in 3d on the Playstation in the fall it would really drive set sales. Given a large portion of the your males live inside these games, it will a huge demand for TVs. This will drive down to cost of the hardware. DO NOT BUY A 3D BLUE-RAY PLAYER buy a PS3. It will future proof your investment but it will not play 3d Blu ray discs until a fall firmware patch.
Let's see if the new 3D sport channels launch. 3D NFL will also be a huge selling point. Direct TV is not stupid and they will see this as a huge opportunity. You will need a 3d sat receiver not yet ready. (Though they will probably firmware upgrade there current HD receivers) .
In a few years most major movies will be 3d and that content will filter down to the blu ray market.
If you have to buy right now. I'd go Sony because of the PS3. It should assure them of being able to set the standards.
The best indoor UHF atenna
During the trial cut over in Wilmington last week, the biggest issue is reception of the signal. The cliff effects and multipathing mean that a marginal anaolg signal will get you nothing when you switch to digital.
Finding a good indoor antenna is a nightmre but this is the one I use and it picks up all my local suppliers OK.
It a winegard SS-3000 (work great on UHF, not so hot on VHF). Give it a try hands down better than the Zenith and Philips I originally tried.
Reviews at:
http://www.hdtvantennalabs.com/reviews/Winegard-SS-3000-reviews.htmlPurchase at:
http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-SS-3000-Amplif-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B001DFZ5II/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221674919&sr=8-1
February will be here before you know it
Come February you might be surprised if expect your over the air TV reception to still work with that little converter box you got with your $40 certificate. Receiving HDTV signal is not as easy as receiving the old analog kind. If you pick up a signal with you old rabbit ears then you will be lucky. Unless you live close the the transmitter and your signal has no ghosting then it will work. If not here are some ideas to help.
- Go to http:\\TVFOOL.COM or http:\\ANTENNAWEB.ORG its will tell you which stations you will be able to receive and what kind of antenna you will need.
- Get a good HD converter box, $40 is not going to get your a great box. Go with a established brand or dish networks HDPAL.
- Get a better antenna than you need. A good UHF antenna will be needed for a lot of the coming channels since the a lot of the VHF frequencies are being migrated UHF. Google Channel Master CM4228 Off-Air HDTV Antenna if you are not local to the station. Get it installed and aligned by a professional or somebody who knows where the stations are. A good internal antenna if you live close by is hard to find so get several and try them out and return those that don't work I've tried RCA, Zenith and Trek and settled on the TREK but it's no longer sold.
- Get a preamp,Motorola 484095-001-00 Signal Booster is a nice one. Unless you live on top of the station it going to make a world of difference. But by the time you got a good antenna and a preamp it going to cost you at least $200 on top of the Free $40 dollar box.
Good luck getting your signal it may take a lot of experimenting but it can work
1080P or not to 1080P
It's really up to you. It a function of how far you sit form your screen and the size of you screen. 6' or more 37" and less the 720P will be fine. Closer and bigger 1080P. Of course the only real 1080P content is blu ray of HD DVD.
Should I buy a HD-DVD or Blue Ray?
It depends on your budget. If you have a huge 50" display with 1080P and a surround sound receiver or you a high end gamer. Then the $600 for a PS3 or an EBOX 360 with a HD-DVD player is going to be you best choice. If you have a smaller 720P TV say under 37" then buy an upscaling DVD player with an HDMI output. The HDMI and upscaling and wide screen DVD is very important. You will be hard pressed if you are more than 6 feet from your screen to tell teh difference.
