Ryan & Amanda Keefer's Personal Site: Cycling, Family, Tech, Music, Software & Game Reviews, etc.
// May 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // HDTV Bits, Local (Raleigh Durham)
A bit more high definition love for the Raleigh-Durham Time Warner Cable lineup – at the end of the month (May 28th to be exact), it looks like we’ll be getting Smithsonian HD added to the lineup, and that HD Net will be moving from the HD package down to being included with just the digital tier.
Originally from GoGoRaleigh.com
// February 12th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Film, HDTV Bits, Tech
So after a lot of research, a lot of waiting for pricing to drop, we’re finally gonna go Blu-Ray to finally have some high definition movies in the living room. I’ve got a couple ideas of films that will rock in Blu-Ray’s high definition format:
The Matrix
The Dark Knight
Serenity
You all have other suggestions for films to show off the new Blu-Ray?
// January 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // HDTV Bits, Sports Stuff, Tech, TV Talk
This is a great list of tips for watching the Super Bowl. I feel like I could have totally written this list. The only contention I have with the list below is them going from #1 warning about spending too much for a TV and then the third in the list talking about whole house video, though I guess Slingbox isn’t that expensive.
I’m definitely of the same opinion though that sports need to be watched real time. Everything else in our household is TiVo’ed and played back at a later time. I’m also a HD snob. Television, in this day and age is made for high definition. Sports especially should be watched in HD, whenever it’s humanly possible. I wouldn’t go as far as to say use the radio if you have to watch it in standard definition, but I am abit of a HDTV snob.
// January 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech, TV Talk
Interesting read on how the cable industry has dragged their feet, whined and kicked the whole way with the CableCard interface, only recently admitting it’s a viable and cheaper solution than integrating a software authentication system into the already setup cable systems.
I love how their cost estimates have dropped dramatically in such a short period of time.
So now if the cable industry is embracing the CableCARD standard, where the hell is my SDV Adapter from Time Warner? Those things have been in the wild for over a year and they’re still dragging their feet. I want Discovery HD, among other high definition channels that I’m missing out on. I called just yesterday and they’ve still got no estimate one when these adapters are going to be available. So I complained and got a $20 credit on my bill. I’ll be calling back every month for that credit till our SDV adapter is in our hands and is up and running. I suggest fellow CableCARD users make similar calls, inquiries and credit requests.
// September 3rd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Tech, TiVo Bytes, TV Talk
I’ve been pretty underwhelmed with Time Warner’s lack of HD content in Raleigh-Durham market since we switched to them. The main reason we left DirecTV was that they were turning their backs on TiVo. Well a press release this morning might mean eventually the Keefer household will return to DirecTV… maybe.
Regardless, I’m always happy to see advances from TiVo, or at least potential for more market share.
DirecTV and TiVo to Launch New HD DirecTV DVR with TiVo Service
// August 8th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // HDTV Bits, Sports Stuff
Nothing beats being there, but Amanda and I are sitting here enjoying NBC’s HDTV presentation of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, China and it’s absolutely breathtaking – the sheer magnitude of it all and the meshing of the latest technologies with massive amounts of human power and synchronization.
We can’t remember any opening ceremony of this size nor beauty. The bright vivid colors are amazing in high definition, but I can only imagine what it looks like in person. It’s crazy the amount of planning, practice and polish that went into this ceremony.
We’re looking forward to this set of summer games – lots of HD sports to watch over the coming weeks in the Keefer household.
// January 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Film, Funny Stuff, Tech
Same footage from “Downfall” that was used for the Xbox Live hilarious clip is utilized here for the HD-DVD Downfall. Pretty funny.
// January 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // Film, HDTV Bits
Kind of like reliving history, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are competing for the same customers, with the same goals – to watch movies in high definition, much like the early 80′s war between Beta and VHS. Granted, that format war was for a much lower resolution and a completely analog format, but other than that, it’s pretty similar. Once again, in the end, it’s all about companies trying to make a buck, and the only one who loses out during the war is the consumer.
Just prior to CES, Warner Brothers, who had been the only big studio producing movies in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, pledged their allegiance to the Blu-Ray camp, meaning a big loss for the HD-DVD camp. Apple recently has been rumored to start supporting the Blu-ray disc format as well. I just read too that Paramount may be ready to jump ship as well, leaving only Universal on the HD-DVD format.
Awhile back, I was really considering getting the HD-DVD addon for the Xbox 360, especially after a price drop. But after reading a couple reviews, the Xbox 360 allegedly sucks for playback of DVDs, standard and high def. It seems to do fine streaming MP4 movies from my Mac, but from everything I read, no so much on the actual disc playback. As loud as the 360 is, it’s not the optimal home theater piece anyway.
Regardless, I’m glad I didn’t jump on the HD deal, and it’ll probably still be awhile till we jump on the Blu-Ray. The longer we wait, the cheaper the prices will be and the more features the players will have. But, it’s really feeling like HD DVD is going to be the loser in this current format war, especially if it really does end up being only Universal supporting HD DVD.
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