CommenTerry

More Evidence That HDTV Is Overrated

Phillip Swann, the president and publisher of TVPredictions.com, describes in a recent column how conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh seems to be confused about high-definition TV (HDTV). According to Swann, Limbaugh has mistaken several recent standard definition programs and news stories for high definition broadcasts. Limbaugh is apparently not the only one -- Swann says millions of HDTV owners have experienced similar confusion. But if HDTV is so great, how could this happen?

This just confirms my rationale for not jumping on the HDTV bandwagon yet. After all, why should I pay out my hard-earned money for something that I might not always be able to distinguish from what I have now? If HDTV were good enough to justify the high prices of its related equipment (TV sets, DVD players, etc.), then the difference between HD and standard definition would be like night and day. There would be no confusion. Not even someone like Limbaugh would ever become confused.

When color TV first became available, there was no confusion as to which programs were being broadcast in color and which were still in black and white. Everyone knew because it was quite obvious.  The same should be true with HDTV. Until it is, I'll stay on the sidelines. For now, standard definition is just fine with me, thank you.

Don't Go Down That Hole!

You can ruin a great USENET or bulletin board message by not being careful with the use of off-topic or "throw-away" lines or phrases. For example, you could post an expertly-written message about classic automobiles, which you are very proud of. However, if that message contains any reference to, let's say, bubblegum, the other posters in the thread might completely ignore your dissertation on classic automobiles and spin off the entire thread in the direction of bubblegum. This is called "going down a rabbit hole."

Search Engines as a Writing Aid?

Here's another great use for search engines: They can be used to find the most commonly used phrase or expression, when choosing from one more that are similar. For example, when choosing between "different from" and "different than," I could search on both of them in a popular search engine to see which one gets the most hits. When I use Google, the former gives me 61,600,000 hits, whereas the latter gives me only 4,430,000. In this case, I would go with the first one.

A Y2K + 7 Problem

In 2007, the new start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time go into effect. Under the new rules, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends the first Sunday in November. This could create a problem for some VCRs and DVD players/recorders that have been pre-programmed to automatically go forward an hour the first Sunday in April and back an hour the last Sunday in October, using the rules that first went into effect in 1986. Ignoring this problem could result in planned recordings of TV shows being started an hour too early or too late.

I see three possible solutions to this problem:

(1) Shut off the automatic time-shifting, if possible.

(2) Set the time back an hour the first Sunday in April and forward an hour the last Sunday in October.

(3) Replace your VCR or DVD player/recorder with a new one that has been pre-programmed to use the updated time parameters.

Please note that selecting either of first two solutions still requires the manual setting of times the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.

Another Reason Not to Depend on Word Processors

A few days ago, a lady, obviously a grammarian, wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper. In it, she complained about the fact that too many people nowadays depend too heavily on word processor programs like Microsoft Word to catch their errors in spelling and grammar. She went on to list some examples of erroneous phrases that would not be caught by those types of programs. In my own experience, I have found that she is exactly right.

However, I have also found that word processors flag some perfectly correct phrases as being erroneous. Let's look at two examples of phrases that Microsoft Word (at least, the version of it that I have) will "catch", even though they are correct.

When using the phrase, "it's cheaper", the program will sometimes flag "it's" with a green underscore and suggest that "its" be used instead. But in this case, "it's" is a contraction for "it is", so an apostrophe is supposed to be used before the 's.' "Its" without the apostrophe is used for the possessive form. So, if someone didn't know any better, they would let the program mislead them into making a grammatical error.

When using the phrase, "therein lies the problem", the program will flag "lies" with the same green underscore as in the previous example and suggest that "lays" be used. However, "lies" is the correct form of the verb to use here, as it is the active form, i.e., no one is "laying" the problem anywhere. One again, taking the program's suggestions at face value would lead to a grammatical error.  

Don't Confuse Cable Broadband with DSL

Last year, a co-worker of mine called his cable company to order DSL. Yesterday, when I went to see my podiatrist, we began discussing broadband options. I told him that I had DSL at home. He said he had a broadband service with Comcast that he believed to be DSL. Obviously, my co-worker and my podiatrist, even though both are intelligent men, did not understand the difference between cable broadband and DSL.

Both cable broadband service and DSL provide speeds many times faster than dial-up, ranging from 700 kbps all the way to 10,000 kbps (10 mbps).  Dial-up is capped at 56 kbps. In addition, both of these types of broadband services provide "always on" or instant Internet connections, without the need to dial up and without tying up a phone line. In most areas, cable connections are a little faster than DSL, but speeds vary from area to area and from provider to provider. However, there are some major differences between cable and DSL.

Cable broadband service is provided by your local cable company. It comes into your house via the same cable that delivers cable TV. To get connected to cable broadband service, a technician from the cable company generally must come out to your house for an installation process in which a broadband connection is split off from the TV connection. The broadband connection is then plugged into a cable modem which is then plugged into your computer or router.

With cable, it doesn't matter how close you live to cable company's office or plant. If it's available in your area, it's available at the same maximum speed to everyone, regardless of where they live within that area. What usually does matter, however, is how many others in your neighborhood are also subscribing, as you are sharing the bandwidth with them. When a lot of them are logged on at the same time that you are, you could notice a significant speed reduction.

DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, is provided by a phone company. In general, no professional installation is needed for DSL. When you order it, your phone company turns your service on from its office and sends you a DSL modem and some filters. DSL uses a different partition of your existing phone line's bandwidth (than what is used for voice), so no extra line is needed. To get connected, you plug one end of a DSL modem into a regular phone jack and the other end into your computer or router. The filters are used to eliminate potential DSL static from phone jacks in which phones are used. These filters fit easily into the phone jacks and then the phone connections are plugged into the filters.

Unlike cable, with DSL it makes a big difference how close you live to the phone company's office. If you live too far away, you won't even qualify for the service at all. Even if you live close enough to qualify, you still might be so far out that you can only get speeds near the lower end of the range that the phone company advertises. However, you have direct line to the phone company and do not share your bandwidth with your neighbors, so it doesn't matter how many of them are also DSL subscribers or how many of them are logged on at a given time.

Use This Tip to Avoid Sending Incomplete Emails

Have you ever accidentally sent an email while you were still in the middle of typing it? I used to do that all the time and it's quite embarrassing, to say the least. To prevent that from happening anymore, I now wait until I've finished typing an email before I type the addressee's email address. That way, if I accidentally hit the send button before I'm ready, the email won't go anywhere.

The Internet Is Great Because It Is Uncontrollable

The great thing about the Internet is the fact that no one can control it. Governments, corporate boardrooms, work places, colleges/schools, and churches are controlled by mucky-mucks, insiders, blue-bloods, and political manipulators. However, they cannot exert this same control over the internet. Perhaps that's why many of them are uncomfortable with it or even afraid of it.

Another Great Use for Search Engines

Search engines are great tools for checking the spellings of proper names. Let's say I wanted to post something about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. I would have difficulty guessing the spelling of her first name, so I would type her name into a search engine the way I thought it might be spelled: "Condoleza Rice." The search engine would then prompt me by asking, "Did you mean: Condoleezza Rice?"

Most People Don't Need to Worry about the Digital Transition

Don't feel pressured to go out and buy a digital television set just because the broadcast switchover from analog to digital might be imminent. If you have cable or satellite service and don't care about high definition TV (HDTV), you can keep your analog TV set, as is, as long as you would like. Cable and satellite providers will automatically convert (non HDTV) digital signals into a format that your analog TV set can process. Now, if you receive your TV signals over-the-air, then you'll have to get a digital TV or a converter for your analog set when the switchover occurs. Also, even if you have cable or satellite, you need a digital HD television or a converter for your analog TV to receive HDTV programming. Try tuning to an HDTV channel with an analog TV and all you'll see is a lot of jumbled pixilation.