Making the Switch to HDTV

1732 Words4 Pages

This past week, I FINALLY made the transition to HD television. Oh, for a long while, I've had a TV capable of the appropriate resolution, and enjoyed the pristine picture with DVDs and BluRays. But I always held out making the switch for "regular" programming because I was brand loyal (to a fault?) with both DirecTV and TiVo.

I love DirecTV, and for me, their service, performance and customer support has been second to none. (Hell, I may even wind up moving because of it, but that's another story for another day). For years, I've had the DirecTV receiver with integrated TiVo (and before that, I had seperate TiVo boxes). When I was at someone else's house, or during a hellish 5 month relo situation where I was tortured with the TV gang rape of Comcast, I experienced other DVRs, and found them all to be lacking when it comes to the functionality and friendliness of good old TiVo. But this fall, a few chinks in the armor began to show:

* My own units, older and surely worn out from the sheer volume of use, started to have small glitches, freezing up or requiring a reboot. (Good soldiers that they were, if they were functioning, they never missed an appointed round).

* A DirecTV HD receiver with TiVo brand DVR has long been rumored, but thus far, it has remained as elusive as unicorns, Santa or Tiger Woods' integrity.

* During a delightful trip back to the motherlands of Georgia, I stayed with two groups of friends who both had the DirecTV HD DVR hookup. I looked down my nose at first -- this is no TiVo! -- but after playing with them for a while (and being stunned at the picture quality, of course), they didn't seem so "foreign" and unwelcoming.

* I spoke with the fine folks at DirecTV about the possibility ...

... middle of paper ...

...ch is forever in TV time). I use my crackberry for everything, and was basically paying for a hardline just for the goddamned TiVo convenience, so i canceled that service and wound up saving a few dollars almost immediately.

* Higher contrast onscreen graphics. Much more pleasing aesthetically, and much easier to read when you're in bed without your glasses.

I could go on, but I think you get the gist. There was a time when I swore the only way you'd get my TiVo remote was to pry it out of my cold, dead hand. But after a little vacation sampling, and hesitant dive into the deep end, I'm completely sold on the DirecTV DVR as a worthy (and dare I say more capable) successor to my beloved original.

What say you? Anyone else made the switch? Or is it possible that I have no life other than in front of the idiot box and have thought about this waaaaay too much?

More about Making the Switch to HDTV

Open Document