I am not a stupid man. But I need a little clarification here. I’m currently enjoying the fantastic Stanely Cup Playoffs. I am being told that the game is being broadcast in “Hi Def” Thats just great. I’m a comcast cutomer. I don’t pay the extra money for Hi Def service, because i have a 19 month old son whose needs are greater than a Hockey crazed dad’s need to see thread on a jersey.
Here is my problem, This game looks just as crisp as the rest of the channels. I’ve been told I can get Hi definition signals from Cable for my local channels for free. But they seem to be blocked. Even with the tuner in my spiffy TV, a 32″ Samsung LCD. But for some reason the otherwise crisp clear picture on ABC looks like trash when it comes time for Lost, and Football.
Comcast is quick to trumpet their High def programming but they seem to willingly degrade the signal when it comes to programs broadcast over a standard connection. I’d like an agreement from the company of not high def or low def, standard def or anything else. I’d like a constant definition. I’d like to be able to enjoy all of the programming on my digital cable at the same level of quality. I should not have to pay extra to be able to read text in the lost rebroadcasts, with the pop up video style commentary at the bottom, when i can read the ticker on CNN without squinting. I can pick out stock symbols as I cruise by the business channels, I should be able to see a decent picture watching normal TV. Which by the by the commercials always look great, thanks for keeping that stuff nice.
These HiDef wars are getting out of hand. If you need to check your def out i added a link to the wikipedia entry, but I can tell when a picture is clear for the morning news and horrible for a popular tv show. I might be off my mark here, and please someone correct my perception. I’m just calling it like i sees it.
Hockey is back on now so i’ll slow this down. Thanks for reading a frustrated man’s venting. Here’s hoping my def gets righten and my bill doesn’t go up after poking a bear.
To hell with Comcast and don’t pay extra. I get real HDTV over the air UNCOMPRESSED Hi Def albeit only from broadcast. But that includes NFL, NBA Finals, Saturday Night Live, Super Bowl, Oscars, PBS, Jay Leno, David Letterman and many others! Boycott Comcast and point your antenae towards Roxborough for real h idef.
Personally, I’m perfectly happy with the picture I get on my old-fashioned 24 inch CRT television. I was appalled when the government caved to the electronics lobby and is now forcing us to go to digital because “everyone else is doing it”. Now I have to either subscribe to an expensive cable service, buy a Hi-Def TV or a converter box. Even though the Uncle Sam is generously offering a $40 coupon to “pay†the cost, most stores have doubled the price so your coupon is almost worthless. Besides, why should I event have to buy it? I don’t watch much TV, except for news and one or two show, so why should I have to buy expensive equipment I don’t want to need? I really don’t care to see every pore and wrinkle in my favorite news anchors face. Regular TV was good enough for my grandma; it’s good enough for me.