John, I presume you’ve already done the upgrade to HDTV.
On the one hand, technically, it’s like the upgrade from black-and-white to color. On the other, it’s also the same because of the paucity of decent programming to watch. Even though the frequency of HD programs is starting to accelerate, it’s going to be a long curve before we get up to mediocrity.
The practice at my end, especially since I’m one of the maniacs who’s succeeded in acquiring an HD-TiVo, is to record damned near everything on the menu. Travelogues on the desert Southwest; how to build a motorcycle; what kinds of herring do killer whales prefer. I live in the bloody desert Southwest, for crying out loud!
But, I get to share TV time with my wife, now. She’s more of a geek than me. She works in IS for a local bank. Now that SCREENSAVERS is rapidly becoming MTV, the only regularly-scheduled program we share is SKY SPORTS NEWS. She’s so dedicated to her job, she’s in bed and asleep by 8 PM. But, all these 1/2 hour and 1 hour specials from Discovery Channel and HD-Net give me something we can share after supper before she zonks out.
Then, I put on the headphones and stay up watching the 14th rerun of ALIENS or NETWORK. I can’t tear myself away from it. It’s watching what TV always should have been – visually.
Well sir, I can butt in with FUD. What I hate the most about home-theater is having to pair the TV A/V input with the RECEIVER A/V output. I would prefer to watching HDTV by default, with VCR or DVD playing as soon as I insert the media and press play. But no, I have to push the TV/VCR button on the TV remote, and then select the type of device on the A/V receiver before my choice of entertainment is ready to play.
I found a RECEIVER that will do Composite and S-Video to Component Video Upconversion,(ONKYO TX-NR901), but the retail price is $1000 over my budget for soon to be obsolete toys. What if the digital rights issue makes the current A/V gear obsolete? Early adopters like you and me may have to replace gear at our own expense. Like money grows on trees. Just the reason to postpone getting DVHS. Yeah, same old FUD.
Still, I watch at least a couple of HDTV movies a week.
The DRM stuff pisses me off as much as scares me. I’m one of the fortunate few who managed to wangle an HD-TiVo [for more than my social security check!]. I’m running HDMI>HDMI to the TV, DVI>DVI from DVD player to TV — and all the potential HDMI crap is in place, ready to be activated if and when DirecTV gets sufficiently intimidated,
At the same time, the FCC’s approval of TiVo’s rinky-dink 9-person share plan will guarantee minimal Fair Use. As much clout as the Hollywood and RIAA types have in Congress, Michael Powell makes noises more like a traditional conservative than rabid right-winger. He says he’d rather let the marketplace govern technology than paranoid millionaires. Well, maybe not that exact phrase.
Be of good cheer over content, anyway. The cable guys and the satellite guys will continue to try to out-advertise each other and increase capacity as quickly as they can to gain advantages measured in weeks. DirecTV just started giving away 6 months of HD access for FREE. They have dozens more hours/month coming online in the next 2 months. They expect that every major and minor network will have their HD thing together by August, 2005 — and DirecTV will have enough satellite capacity to carry it all, by then.