Digital TV = Epic Fail

[hwango]

I've been annoyed by the mandatory transition for a while now, mostly because it turns a weak signal from irritating static or snow into unwatchable pixellated garbage. That has never seemed like a trade up. I discovered a new wrinkle to the suck when I learned that we'd always have to set the channel on the converter box, which means I can't set up the VCR to tape something ahead of time unless I preset the box to the right channel...which rules out setting up things on different channels for the same night that I'm away, and means that if someone watches TV in between me setting it and the show being on they have to turn it back or I don't get what I wanted.

Well, it's worse than I thought, because apparently the converter box SHUTS OFF IF YOU LEAVE IT ALONE FOR A WHILE. Which means that even the single show that I set up to record didn't tape properly. I foolishly believed that the whole point of a converter box was to allow those of us with old tech to maintain our previous functionality. Turns out it's still a massive downgrade.

Here I had been upset because most of the few shows I watched had been canceled. I guess there wasn't any point to getting upset about that - I wouldn't have been able to watch them anyway.

Screw you, DTV.