HD Sucks
Pros:
- Potentially improved picture quality (“potentially” due to insane compression ratios due to people demanding more and more HD channels with a given amount of bandwidth)
Cons:
- General need for cable boxes, CableCARDs, and/or tuning adapters for HD versions of SD channels that require nothing but a cable-ready TV
- Despite “separable security” in the form of CableCARDs, they are still locked to single devices by cable companies, and usually require a technician to come out to pair them when devices change
- Third-party device support sucks
- Picture quality (I’ll take a pristine 480p image any day over a blocky, overly-compressed 1080p)
Granted, my cons overlap a lot, but I think my point is made. Despite the technical advances of TVs, life has been made more difficult with the advent of HDTV. The FCC has failed miserably in their attempts to make consumers’ lives easier with things like CableCARDs, and has generally made things worse for consumers and cable companies alike, surprisingly enough. Sure, the cable companies are still making out better than consumers, but judging by the amount of time a technician spent at the house today (and the amount of time one will undoubtedly spend here tomorrow), they’re getting screwed over by all of this as well. Just not as much as me, and fellow TiVo enthusiasts.
Christmas has passed by for 2009, but all I want for 2010 is HDTV that works just like SDTV. No boxes, no CableCARDs, no tuning adapters. Please.
