American TV Watchers

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Whether it be through satellite, or cable, or Uverse TV, America loves their television service.  When television broadcasting first erupted around the 1950’s, service was only $2-$3 dollars a month! In those times individual people (not companies) charged these fees because they knew how to set up a coaxial cable connection at the homes of people who could afford it. At $3 a month though, you only got 1 or channels, so Americans watched TV only to get important news. Today, the average American watches over 140 hours of TV every month. That is like watching TV 24 hours a day for one entire week each month. It’s like watching TV 24 hours a day for 3 months months straight every year, no sleeping! The point is, we watch a lot of TV. Of course, too much of anything is not good for you. To be healthy and productive, you have to create a balance in your life that allows you to get errands done, exercise, and spend time with friends and family, among other things. Cable service has evolved in such a way that you can, if you really want to, lead this healthy,  active lifestyle while still being able to catch your favorite shows.
If there is one thing that I hate about television service, it’s those darn commercials. Although some people don’t mind them and some even enjoy them, I think most people would agree with me about the annoyance of an interlude every 10 minutes. Although many people like to channel surf, more people watch TV because they want to watch their favorite show(s). Before recorders where around, you had to make yourself available for the time slot in which your favorite show would appear. For example, if you love to watch a sitcom that comes on from 8:00-9:00 every night, you would have to arrange your schedule around it.  You get home from work at around 6pm and then you have to prepare dinner. By the time you have finished and eaten, the show is about to begin. By the time the show ends, there is not much time to do anything else because, if you have kids, you have to get them ready for bed and you yourself will have to go to sleep soon too. So, you end up watching more TV to fill the gap before you beddy-bye time. Having a DVR can actually help you watch less TV and get more things done. That 8pm show can be recorded which means you can exercise form 6-7pm, have dinner ready by 8pm, then spend an hour or so of quality time with the family. The last thing to do is send the kids to bed and then you can watch your favorite show and have the ability to skip the commercials. Obviously, that is just my rendition of a perfectly balanced schedule but the point is that you are not bound to your TV when you have a DVR. I definitely don’t mean to make it sound like TV is bad. I think TV is great. I get a lot of very useful information from channels like NatGeo, HGTV, and even MTV (what not to do).  Remember, with digital cable TV, you also have on-demand services at your disposal which can provide you even more control over your TV schedule. If you are like me, you watch more than a one hour program everyday. Even when I do watch 2-3 hours pf programming, I am always watching what I want with my recording programming and on demand selections. No commercials for me and no watching mediocre shows until a good one comes on.

Related articles

• I’m a Recovering TV Addict (stubbornandvile.com)
• Watching Television Is Actually Shortening Your Life [Studies] (gawker.com)
• Evolution of TV: 8 Ways Television Has Changed From the 30′s to Today (screencrave.com)

HD and AT&T Uverse

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In technology years, high definition service is already old news although still very popular. It keeps it’s popularity because different factors that effect HD keep getting better. Sometimes it’s a new TV that re-invigorates it or a new format or, as of recently, a network update like that which AT&T Uverse TV service has implemented. Link any chain, HD is only as strong as it’s weakest link. In the case the weakest link has always been the service provider. Now, with fiber optics to patch up the gaps, TV service providers, like AT&T, can really maximize what the technology has to offer. High Definition is a form of television that offers superior digital quality above the current standard definition service. HD offers a 16:9 aspect ratio as compared to SD which is 4:3 which means that the screen is wider than it is tall with an HD TV. It is meant to mimic the movie theater view. Aside from the aspect ratio, HD also provides a crystal clear and quality picture. That is achieved because HD offers a higher resolution by using more than 2 Million pixels. A pixel is simply a very small point on your TV that holds a very small piece of an image. The more pixels you have the more detailed the picture on the screen is. By comparison, a standard definition TV  uses about 500,00 pixels (way less than half of what an HD TV offers). In order to view something in High definition, an HD receiver, HD programming, and an HD TV are required.

• HD receiver/ set top box: Cable companies or any other TV company must provide you with an HD enabled receiver in order for you to view HD from your HD TV. TV companies usually have standard receivers (for standard definition TVs), HD receivers, Standard-DVR receivers (with recording capabilities), and HD-DVR receivers. Most TV companies will provide one receiver for free (usually a not a DVR) and any additional receivers you may need will require a monthly rental fee.
• HD TV: You can buy an HD TV anywhere theses days and the prices get lower and lower as the technology becomes more common place. By the way, HD TVs come in different levels. The levels are usually 720i, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. An HD TV that is 1080p is the best of them all and is closer to blue ray quality than any of other other levels. Make sure to talk with an employee in the electronics store/ department to get a better explanation of what would be better for your preference (and budget).
• HD Programming: Now that you have an HD TV and an HD receiver, you will need HD channels to watch. This is the service that allows your HD receiver and your HD TV to have access to the HD channel range. Keep in mind, not all channels are offered in HD. Those channels that are available in HD are usually duplicates of the standard version. For example, channel 3 is ABC in standard definition but channel 403 is ABC in high definition. In order for a channel to be available in HD, the network that owns the channel has to use HD cameras to film shows or movies. Those that do not o this, will only be able to offer programming in SD regardless of the what equipment you have.

Remember that last link in the chain, the service provider. If you are going to spend all kinds of money on a fancy HD TV, then make sure to choose the TV provider that can maximize what you paid for. If you have Uverse or FiOS services available in your area, that’s the winner.