The Computer Next Door

The Digital Television Dilemma

Why would a blog dedicated to "conquering the digital divide," have a post about a digital dilemma? We love digital. Gone are the ghostly images of days gone by.  Digital TV offers beautiful pictures, crisp sounds and a host of options.  That's great for those of us who already have HDTVs and cable television.

That's not my mom's situation.  She's old school. No fancy frills for this woman.  But whether Fay likes it or not, Digital TV is arriving nationwide February 17th.

It's going to be the new broadcast standard.  So analog watch out, you're soon to be history. If you, like my mom, Fay, receive a TV signal on an analog television via rooftop antenna or "rabbit ears," you will be affected by the digital television transition.

You have three options:
1.    Buy digital-to-analog converters to use with their current TV(s)
2.    Buy a new digital TV (DTV)
3.    Buy cable or satellite service

If you opt for the digital to analog converters, you can apply for a Federal voucher of $40 to offset the cost of purchasing a converter box. Anyone who’s  interested or has other questions can visit the Federal Website for the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. There are also links to help find where to buy the converter boxes.

My mom hates change.  Not unusual for a woman in her 9th decade of life. But millions of Americans share Fay's boat.  Faced with the advent of DTV on February 17th her reaction was "I don't want to throw away my TV and I want to keep my cabinet."

For the record, Fay lives in a condo in Queens, NY, one of several low-rise buildings. The complex uses a master antenna to provide broadcast service to the buildings. In addition, residents tune to channel 6 to view  the lobby security camera. Mom has a 25" SONY from 2002.  Her 30" Ethan Allan cabinet is about 50 years old and is in impeccable condition.

Faced with the mom mandate, my brother, Mark and I, set out to set her up. First we offered cable.  "No, I don't need it, and "$39.95 a month is allot of money."

Time Warner Cable of Queens is the sole choice for cable service in my mom's neighborhood $39.95 is the lowest price on promotion, she saw.  Actually the one I saw was $49.95 per month with free installation and free DVR for 12 months.

Curious to see what was really available brother Mark after much persistence came up with a rate less than half the price.  His secret?  He's both smart and knowledgeable.  While mom has mandates, so does the FCC and the City Council. Some local franchising authority that regulates how monitors providers much your cable company charges for local stations and for any educational or government stations.

While the name may vary by provider, all cable companies have some variation of either "reception" cable or "basic" cable.  How a company labels its packages or tiers and what they charge after that is  strictly marketing. They've got to offer the bare bones by regulation. However, you may feel like an archeologist when trying to dig up those  basic rates.

At the risk of digression, I'm going to report actual events that occurred during the course of this post.  First, I typed in "Reception Cable on Time Warner Cable of Queens. There I picked a phone number from several choices.  In this case, 1-866-849-1945.

I gave an address and zip code in Bayside, Queens to the gentleman who answered. His response when I asked for the lowest priced service was $29.95. I repeated I wanted basic or reception cable. He couldn't help me and gave me another number, 1-888-892-2253.

That turned out to be Time Warner Cable of Los Angeles, which through automation gave me my next number, which was out of service.  When I persevered and next received a person, his name was John.  John's been in the cable business 4 months.  He told me he never heard of reception cable and I must mean, "limited basic."  I responded that I didn't care what it was called, how much did it cost?  He promised he'd find someone to help me if I held on 5 minutes.

I now got Barbara, who wasn't a third party marketer and assured me she was an employee of Time Warner Cable in Flushing Queens.  I was apprised that the range of cable services began at $21.95.  I was insistent that there was a lower price.  She finally offered that there's "reception" cable (Hello John!) without a box for $13.85 (before taxes), "but that'll be inadvisable as of February 17th." I responded that I didn't understand why mom would fail to get basic broadcast channels if she had both the cable and a TV with a digital tuner.  Barbara didn't argue.

I don't know about you, but my mom would have switched exclusively to listening to radio, if she'd gone through the aforementioned run around.  Fortunately, my brother had done his own legwork last month.  I return you the original quest.

FIRST

We tried reception cable. Only one problem.  When the cable installer installed the cable there was no reception. He claimed that Fay's TV was "too old."  I don't know we weren't there.  I wish I knew if he'd tried the cable/antenna toggle on her cable ready set.

SECOND

Mark bought her a Toshiba. 32" LCD. However, when the cable didn't work, mom told the installer she didn't want the service. So the service was cut before Mark had a chance to test the TV. He didn't want to risk a return fee on an opened box, before we isolated the issue at Fay's.

THIRD

Mark brought the government authorized analog/digital converter and hooked that up to the Sony.  No luck. It might have worked with he Toshiba. The condo board sent out a letter about the digital transition.  My mom threw her hands up and sent it directly to Mark. Mark and think that the master antenna isn't set up for UHF. We're speculating.

We've now decided that mom's got to have a new TV and the reception cable to be really safe. She doesn't watch much, but she enjoys what she views regularly. She needs a reliable set-up. AND we want to make sure she sees the lobby security camera.

In my next post I'll report on our progress. By then, she'll have a new TV and reception cable.  It wasn't her original mandate.  But she's decided it's OK if she becomes up to date.

Don't forget that Valentine's Day is February 14th, while the Digital transition's official February 17th.  Skip the chocolate and buy someone you love a new television. Fewer calories, and good for the economy too.  And if you haven't seen it already, check out this hilarious video on YouTube which is Oh So Close to the story I have just related:

Switching To Digital TV

Notes on Notes

An example of a laminated note I made for my digital camera

We all forget how to do things. The less you do something, the sooner you forget how to use it ("use it or lose it" after all).  And when it comes to high-tech, there are so many things to remember, it's easy for almost everything to go down the old memory drain unless you're doing that certain tech-related thing on a regular basis, whether it's related to a piece of software, your computer hardware, your mobile phone, your remote access to your office or home phone, your digital camera, or your home entertainment system.

I have always been attuned to the fact that I must keep notes on technology.  Way back in college I was making notes on the use of still and movie cameras (I still have these little notes, and they still come in handy).

Recently I wrote about forgetting how to use a digital SLR (my much beloved Canon Digital Rebel). What I didn't mention was the fact that I had kept a little note (and even laminated it) right in the camera case, to jog my own memory.  This was useful when I was using the camera a lot.  It's even more useful when I came back to it, without a sharp clear idea of which buttons to push, or why.

I also keep notes in a folder on my computer Desktop on how to use various pieces of software for things i want to do most often.  I call this my "Notes on Apple" file.  I have categories of how-to notes on everything from Animation to Chat to Printing to Web development.  Whenever I need to delve into something I don't do frequently (such as audio recording), my field notes from the last few years experience with different recording software are there to help me get back up to speed.

I makes notes on such things as:

• Steps in a process (like how to do certain things with a certain piece of equipment or software). Here's an example of the notes I made on using one of my cameras: Download canon_rebel_notes.rtf
• Check lists (equipment, batteries, or other items to bring with me when I'm shooting digital pictures or video)
• Commonly used settings or formats (such as your TV settings when I switch between watching a DVD, a VHS cassette, and watching television)

What's most important about keeping notes on technology?  It saves me from reinventing the wheel every time about the best way to do "X."  It's really a great time saver.

My notes on taking notes are...

1. Keep it simple. If you only have a few things you need to do, try to fit them on 3x5 cards if you prefer having them in hard copy, or as simple text files if you prefer electronic notes.
2. Name each electronic note in a logical manner (like, "Burning a CD").  A single folder is good until you have 15 or more notes - then it's time to start setting up sub-folders (Audio, Video, Photography, Office Software, etc.).
3. Keep current. If you find yourself changing the way you do things, modify your note IMMEDIATELY.  I can't recommend this highly enough - the whole point of the notes process is it has to reflect your most current preferred methodology.
4. Laminate the best of the best.  I have laminated camera notes (to protect against rain) and home entertainment notes (to protect from over-use by, say, house guests).  This may be over-indulgence on my part, but then I don't have to keep printing them out.

That's basically it.  If more people kept their own notes on how to use their technical doo-dads,  I am convinced the world would be a better and happier place...

Slogging along with My New Roku

Over the summer I visited with a friend of mine (who shall remain unnamed), and her high-tech household of gadgets. 

Everything about my friend is large. Her house, her living room ceilings, her TV, her library of movies.

This is, of course, very comfortable when you are a guest.  It was a nice experience to settle down into her large, comfy sofa and watch movie after movie, simply by selecting one from the large list of available movies, which played so nice on her very large flat screen.

Hoping to duplicate the experience on a (much tinier) budget, I promptly ordered myself a Roku, which is a small device that works with a Netflix subscription. Roku promises to enable a Netflix customer with high-speed Internet access to "stream" the movies on their television. You have to have an account that allows "unlimited" movies which I did have (my subscription costs about $9/month).  I figured, I was good to go.

Here's what was positive about the experience of buying my Roku:

• It was cheap ( under $100).
• It  was easy to set up.

Here's what was not so great:

• Viewing the movie on our "mid-level" DSL line. The picture quality was, frankly, horrible.

Although Netflix lists mid-level DSl as a viable viewing option, we found that it only provided the "basic" (read "low end") quality for watching streaming Netflix videos.

The quality was so low, in fact, I can't recommend it for most movie viewing - it's more like a reference video if you're a movie researcher and you really want to refresh your memory, or if you simply don't mind an incredibly grainy look in your home entertainment.  Titles are unclear.  Actors are just a tad on the fuzzy side.

What Netflix says in their FAQ about picture quality is this:

    ⁃    Your Netflix ready device automatically analyzes the speed of your Internet connection whenever you start a movie or TV show and chooses the optimal image quality for your connection. For fast connections (3 Mbps or more), picture quality is comparable to DVD quality.

What I say, is: Stay away from Roku unless you have a connection speed of 3 MBps or more. Until then, find your movie fare through a different channel.

No Instant Movies for the Mac-Netflix User

I can't see these Netflix instant movies on my Mac

If the Home Entertainment-Digital-Revolution is going to happen, in my opnion, it has to a) work well, b) be easy to use, and c) be convenient.  I am oftentimes a holdout on adopting new technologies for one of the reasons just mentioned.

Now, I like my Netflix, I must admit.  They have managed to come up with the right subscription levels for a wide range of movie-watchers, of which I am one.  I have the 2nd from the bottom (i.e., not-quite-the-cheapest) Netflix subscription level, which qualifies me to be able to stream movies for free from the ones available on Netflix.  Or so I thought...

Sitting at my computer late one afternoon, I thought, what the hey why not?  Let's stream a movie online.  So I went to Netflix, clicked on "Browse Instant" to see what was available.  Alas, I got a message immediately telling me that:

"Your operating system is not compatible with this feature. Try again from a computer with Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista." Following the "Learn More" link, I did indeed get an earful on why this was so.  According to Netflix, the issue is Digital Rights Management (DRM), and the fact that Apple "does not license their DRM solution to third parties" (read Netflix)...so it may take a while if (and when) I can watch streaming movies (for Free, mind you) on my Mac.

This is a darn shame, because Netflix has a wonderful library - and I'd like to tap into it on my LARGE SCREEN monitor on my Mac. Videos and movies look great on it.

So, my venture into Home Entertainment at the Office came to a screeching halt. Not convenient (at all) to borrow somebody else's Windows computer...So, I await the next chapter to come in the great Home Entertainment-Digital-Revolution (or whatever it is).

How Green Is Your DVR?

Herein, and on the record,  I want to admit I have a conflict.  No, nothing that'll cost me huge sums with a mental health professional.  But an issue nonetheless.

How do I reconcile my love of technology with an ever broadening awareness of energy abuse?  Technology lovers more and more are finding themselves in this same dilemma. All those terrific gadgets we love use lots and lots of energy.

Personally, it's a puzzlement.  How do I become more environmentally sensitive and still use the toys I love?  Take my computer as the major culprit.  I rarely shut the thing off.  Want to know why?

No, I'm not merely lazy.  There's a school of thought (quite common among television professionals) that turning your device on and off creates a great deal of wear and tear on the device. It's a habit hard to break after more than 20 years.  But, I have to confess I'm beginning to revisit the wisdom of my ways.

Take for example our friendly digital video recorder (DVR).  Would you believe that set-top high-definition DVR of yours can use the same amount of electricity as your typical refrigerator?  Well it does.

That's because DVRs use hard disks.  And hard disk drives like the kind we run in our personal computers are constantly spinning.  And all that spinning makes your DVR one power- hungry machine. The 'standby' mode of a typical DVR doesn't really reduce its power consumption when compared to the normal mode you regularly use.

Recently a cable industry publication reported that  set-top boxes in the U.S. use $2 billion worth of electricity annually, which produces 15 million tons of carbon dioxide.  The source of these estimates is the nonprofit advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Unfortunately,  HDTVs, are special offenders in themselves. You'd never know it by their thin profiles, but HDTVs are gorging themselves. They're  power guzzlers — using as much as four times the energy of  standard-definition sets. 

But before you go back to a CRT (cathode ray tube TV--the old fashioned sets of the 20th century) know that there's hope.  A new set-top software has been developed to cut the DVR's guzzling ways.  In the wee hours of the night the boxes spin down going into a standby mode that uses less than 1 watt.

Across the Pond, in the U.K.  a satellite provider began deploying the spin-down feature to 2 million HD set-tops. The feature monitors whether people are using their box between 11:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. If the box hasn't been used for a period of two hours, an “auto standby” warning pops up on screen for 3 minutes; if nobody touches the remote, the box's hard disk stops spinning.

The key to the program: Subscribers don't necessarily even know their DVRs are putting themselves to sleep at night. The software switches the system back on if there's a scheduled recording.

Some DVR makers, including Scientific Atlanta, have also developed auto-shutoff features.  Self-interest is also served here.  Disk drives last longer if they're not churning continuously. The U.S. government's voluntary Energy Star program, which sets energy-efficiency guidelines for household appliances, is now working up new standards for digital set-top boxes and DVRs.

It's a bit early for New Year's resolutions, but with the oncoming holidays it's worth considering less passive pursuits and a bit more exercise.  A good way to save energy, while energizing oneself in the process.

Movies, Movies, Movies

Everyone knows that Summer means blockbuster movies.  Whether it's the latest Bourne, Diehard, or Harry Potter the local multiplex has plenty to keep you entertained.  But what if you don't feel like spending $11 bucks a ticket, not including popcorn?

No matter how many channels you may subscribe to on your cable or satellite, sometimes it seems that there's nothing to watch.  For those with DVRs (digital video recorders) built into their cable boxes, or TiVo subscribers, you can simply browse your hard drives and choose from the programs you've recorded. (see also Meryl's blog entry on DVRs from May).

Or you can go to the video on demand (VOD) feature (on your digital cable box) and select either a free offering or the latest cable movie release for a fee.  But if you're like me, the Summer also means classics. While I like a good beach read as well as the next person, I also enjoy the leisure of catching up with Jane Austen, Edith Wharton and Henry James in the summer sun.

For me, classics also mean movies.  So when you're inside cooling off with a glass of iced-tea and your own (much cheaper) air- popped popcorn you can settle back with a quality film. I'm not much for buying movies, but my favorite holiday gift was The Criterion Collection from my husband. It's a collection of 50 art house favorites from Janus Films (www.criterionco.com) Other sources for building  up a home library of DVDs include great selections from Amazon,   BarnesandNoble.com, Overstock.com and MoviesUnlimited.com. I'm also partial to TCM (Turner Classic Movies) www.tcm.turner.com for interesting (and sometimes kitchy) collections.

If you're looking for rentals Netflix or Blockbuster.com is the way to go.  For guidance on what to buy or rent The New York Times has their own guide to the best 1000 movies ever made (www.stmartins.com).  And if you're a trivia person looking for answers I suggest the Internet Movie Database.

Two of the finest directors of our time Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni passed away this week.You might want to find out why decades of film students (not to mention Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson and this author) are lamenting their passing.

 

Join the Web Video Revolution

Unless you're still on a modem connection, chances are you've noticed the tidal wave of interest in video on the Web.

Web video means different things to different people (and organizations).  For many years, some large media conglomerates appear to have been perplexed by video on the Web, as they struggled to align it with their business models and other media.

For the average Web user, however, Web video is free and it's fun.  For many, it has also become a highly popular form of social media - a way of broadcasting one's own interests or point-of-view that is much more accessible than anything that's come before (e.g., community-based cable programming).

We now appear to have reached a point where David is be battling Goliath in the content wars: User-generated Content vs Media Company Content. Will there be a winner?

Here's how I see it:

USER-GENERATED CONTENT IS HERE TO STAY

YouTube has the best game in town as far as this goes. One reason is, it is a highly "interactive" sites, with a large number of special ("social") features.  And you could spend days of your life there if you want to (and people do), looking at what people post.  Recently (thankfully) they have limited video lengths to 10 minutes (in response to copyright concerns about unathorized posting of television programming.

Content is categorized broadly (film and animation, for example).  Why watch it? 

1) Well, for one thing, it doesn't cost you anything, as long as you have time on your hands and a fast Internet connection.

2) You can discover people or groups (e.g., bands or other performers you might not ever see.  I watched a beautiful, 3-D animation based on Chinese painting that I never would have viewed otherwise).

3) You can learn interesting things (there are some fascinating things available from people of all ages, including memories and recipes of senior citizens, and how to do stuff.

4) It's a highly interactive experience (if you want it to be).  It just depends on whether you like this stuff or not.

Don't like YouTube for any reason?  There are a host of others you can check out.

THE SMART MEDIA COMPANIES ARE JOINING THE FRAY

Not just with "promotional" clips or recaps of shows, but with Web-exclusive programming.  Examples include New York Times video clips, or NBC's (slightly silly) Web exclusives.

Does that mean the less smart media companies aren't joining the fray?  Let's just say some haven't figured out that Web video means "free" or "different."  Some media giants are moving very slowly in this realm, and trying to hold onto older business models where everything is a "Store." 

THERE IS A NEW WAVE COMING

Not old world, traditional media.  Not entirely user-generated. There is a new wave of media sites that are attempting to bridge the gap between amateur and professional programming, and are trying some innovative approaches to video content on the Web. Some of these have social media elements, such as contests or voting systems that allow users to rate content, whether professionally produced or user generated (examples: Channel 102, with its quasi-TV programming and Funny or Die, with its user-rated comedy videos that are seen by millions).

IT'S EASY TO JUMP IN; LESS EASY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

It's pretty easy to get started as a Web video producer.  All you need is a camcorder or Web cam, and a high speed Internet connection.  The sites make it pretty easy to upload your video.

Oh, and one other thing - you also need an idea or two.  In the end, it's the idea that counts - not the production values.  We'll all be watching, I think, to see whether David, Goliath, or the space in-between is where the action happens.  And some of us - many of us - will be the action.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying (About TV Schedules) and Love My DVR

Personally, I can take or leave a lot of television programming.  Before we got a digital video recorder, I would frequently miss showings of, say, "Monk"  and although I'm a fan of "Monk," it simply wouldn't bother me too much if I missed an episode here or there.

The reasons are twofold.  First, like a lot of people, I found it cumbersome (at best) to schedule recording times on a video cassette recorder, and I simply didn't do it.  Unless some momentous event was coming up on television, I was either around when the program was "on," or I wasn't.

Secondly, networks always seemed to be changing their time slots for certain programs.  I began to lose track of when this program or that program was scheduled to air.  WIth the exception of news programming, television viewing became a hit or miss venture (at least for me).

Then, when our satellite provider (who happens to be DirecTV) offered us a free digital video recorder (DVR), we started setting up favorites and scheduled times to record this program or that program.

Basically, digital video recording is like a hard drive that sits next to your television set, and performs recording tasks based on your preferences.  With a few simple steps, you can get a DVR to "remember" what you like, so you don't have to continually remember on your own to record that episode (or an entire "season's pass" of Monk, or whatever you want.

Two big things I love about digital video recording:

1) You can watch what you want - when you want it. It takes the work and frustration out of recording TV programs.  Once you finish the relatively easy setup, you go about your business (pretty much).

2) You can pause live television.  This is huge.  Just press pause, go take your break (even a nap), come back, press Play, and away you go.

Even if you don't have it free as part of a programming package, I recommend investing in some form of DVR.  It will change the way you use your television.

How To Buy A TV

Everyone has a television. It used to be simple to buy one. Not any more. Do you buy ED or HD? LCD or Plasma? Or even DLP? No one answer works for everyone. First thing you should do is make a list:

Budget
Room size
Screen size
Use

From there you can start making sense of the alphabet soup swimming in your brain. These days HD is the way to go. Much of the broadcast industry has embraced High Definition. And it's becoming more and more available. Soon everything will be high def. Once you've seen the extremely crisp HD picture, "true to life" will no longer be a cliche.

Whether you choose an LCD or a plasma you'll have a great picture. But as of this writing screens larger than 45" are less expensive in plasma. That could change tomorrow. (If it does we'lll keep you posted). Plasmas also have deeper blacks and a better viewing angle. Which means that you don't have to be sitting straight in front of the set to enjoy the action.

On the other hand, if you or your kids intend to play hours of play station, the LCD is a better choice. In early versions the plasmas were vulnerable to burn-in from repeated or stagnant graphics. Translation: If the same picture stayed on for too long a time, it'd remain in a ghostly version on your set. There's been much improvement in this area with the use of built in screen-savers.

Monitors are measured diagonally across the screen. Plasmas start at 32" and rise to 63". Most common sizes these days are 42" and 50" with 55" and 60" rapidly gaining ground due to dropping prices. Most screens smaller than 42" use LCD Panel technology, and models larger than 60" are typically rear-projection televisions. LCDs typically start at 13".

Usually smaller screens can be viewed from 6 to 10 feet. 42" and above require anywhere from 10 to 16 feet.

Some of the most popular plasma brands are Panasonic, Pioneer, Hitachi. While Sony, and Sharp lead the LCD market.

In terms of budget think $1200 and up for big screens. And while you're at it, remember that to enjoy a new high def set you'll also want to have sound as good as your picture.

That could mean a new home theatre system (receiver, speakers, subwoofer) if the TV's built in speakers aren't your ideal. Add to that the cost of wall-mounting or possibly a new piece of furniture to house a mammoth set. And if all this seems a bit much, remember how much it costs to go the movies. You could save a small fortune popping your own pop corn at home and putting your feet up in your living room.