Skip to main content

COMCAAAAST!!!!!




Comcast has done it again. It's like they are trying to make me hate them. Why, Comcast, why? I was finally free of the cable box and its attendant wires with the HDTV, but now they're trying to force me to get one again. I just pay $10/month for the network channels because my building has zero reception, so why do I need a box? The above article implies that I can still get channels 2-23 without a box, I will just lose random channels like Food & Travel that I don't really watch anyway. Let's hope so, or my rage against them will be mighty.

The new system also seems to be interfering with my EyeTV so I can't set it to record ahead, just while the show is on. This isn't too big a problem, because I mostly record shows when something else is on at the same time or to watch later with my sweetie. Still, it irks me. It couldn't possibly be because they want me to pay a monthly fee for their PVR, could it? Oh noooooo.

When I got an extra cable hookup to connect to my EyeTV, the salesguy tried to convince me to get a PVR. He said it's better than an AppleTV because you get upgrades for free due to the subscription. Of course, I only thought of the perfect response after I hung up: "Do I get a discount on my subscription when there's no upgrades or I don't want the upgrade?" Not to mention, what did it cost when AppleTV's software upgrade allowed me to search radio stations? That would be zero dollars.

If Comcast does try forcing me into a box by eliminating network channels, it will just throw me into the arms of one of the new alternatives. I'm not such an extreme Apple fangirl that I won't try something new if the prophesied new, improved Apple TV isn't good enough or is too expensive. Will it be a Hulu Plus device, Google TV, the Boxee box, or some as yet unnamed wonder? This is a whole new area of excitement but also confusion. I was hoping to wait a bit and see how things shake out, but Comcast may have just forced my hand. Nice job!

Comments

JethSeux said…
So many devices, so many greedy claws at the media companies!
And all you wanted was broadcast TV (and maybe a Pepsi) . . .

Popular posts from this blog

MY BUBBLE

This is real heavy metal, by the way . So, this guy whose name I swear I'd never heard but appeared to have gone to my high school tried to friend me on Facebook. His main interests were the band Stryper and Republicanism, so I didn't add him. I mean, really, Stryper ? I thought teens in the 80s only listened to them because they liked metal and their parents forbade any other band as a direct path to the worship of Satan. When you leave home, you throw away their records and listen to real metal. But then I read this article that said we are all getting trapped in a bubble of like-minded people who parrot our ideas back to us, due to social networks and rss feeds and apps only giving us the people/opinions/stories we want to hear. And I thought--maybe I was wrong. Or maybe I'm OK, because I do have a lot of weird interests that make it pretty hard to find people who are on the same page with everything. I have social network connections with people around roleplaying game

TOP TEN LIPSYNCH FOR YOUR LIFE SONGS FOR A DRAG KING EQUIVALENT OF RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE

 The Advocate has suggested that the greatest (i.e. only good) reality show ever, Rupaul's Drag Race , have a drag king contestant.  That's fine, but it would be much more entertaining to have a whole drag king competition. One of the best parts of Drag Race is seeing all the different types of queens compete: beauty queens, funny queens, conceptual queens, androgynous queens, scary queens, singing and dancing queens.  I want to see punk kings, gangsta rap kings, cock-rocking metal kings, panty-dropping R & B kings, country kings, baggy-pants burlesque comic kings, and of course, Elvis. I picked out some songs that make me think of different aspects of masculinity:  swaggering men, heartbroken men, lustful men, romantic men, philosophical men, and suicidally depressed men (interesting fact: I can think of dozens of songs by men about suicide, but only one female one: "Gloomy Sunday". What's up with that?) "That's Life" - Frank Sinatra

HOME ENTERTAINMENT UPDATE: THE EMBIGGENING

  Chromecast CD storage Antenna Blu-ray player Apple TV Receiver Record player VHS Tape player So, I decided to spend my tax refund on home entertainment this year, as TV keeps getting better, whereas movies... not so much. My computer is old, but it still works, and replacing a computer seems less urgent when you have mobile devices. It feels like a long time ago when RAM and processor power seemed so important in order to use the latest bloated software, but now with so many webapps and sites designed for mobile, as long as your Internet is fast enough, you're OK. Lifehacker says to spend money where you spend most of your time, and I now use my tablet more than my desktop. Also, with all the streams I have access to, there was one chink in my entertainment system -- my TV was not actually big enough to appreciate high definition. Well, it seemed like a good deal in 2007, at $200 more than my new one which is almost twice as big. The main thing stopping me