West Texas TV

Rangers in HD

2009-07-07T13:36:00.004-05:00

Grande has announced some new high definition channels in their lineup and the one I'm most excited about is Fox Sports Southwest. It will be so nice to watch Rangers baseball in HD more than the twice yearly they're shown on ESPN.

The other HD additions include The Travel Channel, The Weather Channel and CNN. These are already in the channel lineup although not yet in the guide. In the meantime I scan for the new FSS channel every day as soon as I get home.

UPDATE: 7/15/09 - The Fox Sports channel (448) showed up last night.

KMID - Finally!

2009-06-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

High-def is supposed to be available by the end of this week according to an article in today's Odessa American.

UPDATE: 06/15/09
Although it's not reflected in the program guides yet, the high-def picture showed up on Grande (Channel 403) over the weekend.

Alas

2009-03-30T14:07:00.001-05:00

Day 88
sky brown. wind relentless. can barely see the horizon. no sign of the others.
hope fading.

Tivo HD

2009-02-18T15:03:00.004-06:00

I recently replaced my rented cable company DVR with a Tivo HD. A cable company DVR is not really bad but comparing it with Tivo is like comparing shirts with and without pockets. The Tivo has lots of pockets.

With a TivoHD you can:
Rent movies from Amazon Unbox and from Netflix.*
Stream movies and TV shows from NetFlix.
Share recordings between networked Tivos - record in the living room and watch in the bedroom.
Copy non-DRM'd shows to a desktop computer and burn on DVD.
Copy or stream video from a desktop computer.
Schedule recordings through the internet from anywhere.
Plug in an external hard drive for additional storage.

Also, a good selection of internet videos, including YouTube videos, and podcasts can be viewed on the Tivo.

I'm very pleased with the high-def Tivo and highly recommend it.

* Amazon rentals usually can remain on the Tivo for up to 30 days before viewing. Once you begin viewing you have 24 hours to watch the program before it automatically deletes. When purchased, a movie can be downloaded to 2 different Tivos (and to 2 portable media devices). If the program is deleted from the Tivo it can be downloaded again, anytime, without additional charge. Netflix videos require a Netflix membership but there is no additional charge for streamed video.

Satellites Collide in Space

2009-02-11T16:34:00.002-06:00

Two satellites collided in space yesterday... An operating Iridium satellite and a non-operating Russian satellite.

Serious stuff and potentially hazardous to the ISS. Still I had to chuckle at this quote:

Asked which satellite was at fault, Johnson said "they ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction."
from Spaceflight Now.

Wanna Buy Grande?

2009-02-11T14:56:00.003-06:00

According to the Broadcast Newsroom website, Grande Communications has hired New York-based cable investment banker Waller Capital Corp. to advise it in "exploring all of its strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value." I think that means they're looking for a buyer. About $500,000,000 would probably do the deal if you're interested. Or, maybe they'd be interested in a federal bailout.

Delay Deal Done? Nope! I Mean Yep!

2009-01-26T21:37:00.004-06:00

The Senate has approved a 4-month delay of the analog-to-digital switch and the House could do so as early as tomorrow. The Public Broadcasting Service estimates delaying until June 12th will cost public broadcasters $22 million.

It's my understanding that broadcasters are not required to wait, though.

Edit: 01/28/09
The House did not approve the delay. Hmm.

Edit: 02/04/09
The House, in another vote today, effectively extended the deadline until June 12, 2009. Sheesh

Digital Delay?

2009-01-08T17:35:00.002-06:00

President-elect Obama has asked Congress to delay the February 17th digital TV cutover because, he says, to many people are not ready and the converter-box funds have dried up.

Sorry, no amount of delay will get everyone ready. I truly regret that not everyone (especially some elderly viewers) will be ready but I think the analog cut has been delayed too many times already. Just get on with it.

The Shoes

2008-12-16T16:30:00.000-06:00

I admit I didn't actually read any of the stories about the incident but I seem to have spent a little too much time thinking about it after reading the headlines. Why was (at least) the second shoe not blocked by a secret service agent jumping in front of it? Can you image the briefing afterwards? Was each agent present going over it in his head again and again? How would one feel after reacting and with what care for the chain of evidence were the shoes collected? Did they smell? I'm assuming there was no gel inserts. Will the judge have mercy on the actor's soles?

Grackles

2008-12-08T21:40:00.002-06:00

Whenever we go through the drive-thru at Rosa's near the MCM Mall I can't help but think that there's got to be a way to get rid of 'em. I guess I've spent a little too much time thinking about it lately because I had a dream in which I discovered a way to get rid of those nasty, noisy, long-tailed vermin.

I first rigged up a series of hoses to each tree around the mall. The hoses ran underground from a nearby building where I had large tanks of carbon dioxide. As the filthy feathered frequent fliers arrived to roost in the evening, I pumped the CO2 into the hoses and the birds just dropped like so many pine needles onto the pavement below.

Well, sure enough, a government man showed up and told me I couldn't do that anymore because the CO2 was contributing to Global Warming. So, I went to work to find a suitable substitute for the unwanted gas.

I tried oxygen but it seemed to have no affect on the little buggers. That is until I added igniters near the hose ends. I figured a quick ignition of the pure oxygen would do the trees no harm because the flames would consume the O2 and then immediately extinguish before the tree leaves/needles had time to ignite. And sure enough, the quick combustion did no harm to the trees - but it did succeed in lighting the feathers of all those grackles. I woke up before I found out what happened when thousands of flaming birds made their way into the neighborhoods.

Roy, Dale, Gene & Hopalong

2008-12-02T15:17:00.002-06:00

(If you don't recognize those names you might as well stop reading now.)

When I was a little kid I watched Roy Rogers at 6:30 a.m. every Saturday morning. Most Saturdays I had to watch the test pattern for about 30 minutes-to-an-hour until it was time for Roy to ride in. I was an early riser.

While visiting family and eating my favorite foods to celebrate Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to visit a big kid's dreamland. Its name is Wild West Toys in Azle, Texas.

This family-owned business has acquired many old cap gun molds and produces new cap guns built the old-fashioned way. Take a look at their website. They obviously have devoted more of their talents to toys than to website design but I say their priorities are right.

I got to meet the family (they go to church with my sister and brother-in-law) and they are really nice people. They all play musical instruments and have had a music store for many years. (It's right next door to the toy store.) After spending a few minutes with them, you'd have no doubt how much they love the old west some of us grew up with on TV and they've dedicated much effort to preserve it.

If you have a little boy, or nephew or grandson, who needs a cap gun, you now know where to find a good one. And if you want to wrangle up some fun western memories of the 1950's and 1960's drop in and handle the guns. Bob will be glad to furnish the caps if you want to try some out.

I double-dog-dare you to shoot the Bronco model and not reach for your wallet.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T14:53:00.005-06:00

What happens when Psych students are required to draw a turkey on an exam paper? One student drew a cat? See the disturbing results at flickr

Geek Watch

2008-11-23T17:45:00.007-06:00

People laugh at my watch. Well, they laugh at me because of my watch. This is my second DBC150 and I'd be lost without it. The feature I use most is the countdown timer which I keep set at 10 minutes. After the timer counts down the alarm sounds for about 15 seconds or until I silence it by pressing any button. As you can see, there are lots of buttons. After the alarm, the timer begins counting down again. I use the countdown timer a lot.

If I think of something I need to remember until I get to my computer, the office, the next room, etc., I start the timer. When it sounds, I'm reminded to do whatever it was I knew I'd forget until I got to where I was going. If I haven't gotten there, I just let the timer count down again. It's set right now to remind me to check on Li-Po batteries charging in the garage. When I need to give the flowers in the tree well a little extra water, I set my timer so I don't see the Great Flood when I leave in the morning to go to work. When lap after lap of a NASCAR race makes me sleepy, I set my timer so I wake up from my nap every 10 minutes to see what hasn't happened. When I order pizza, I start my timer because it's time to leave the house 10 minutes after I place the order. (A Pizza Hut pizza takes 18 minutes from phone call to box. Usually.) When my wife says, "I just put some jeans in the washer, remind me to put them in the dryer", I set my timer. I can't believe she still makes fun of my watch. And why isn't there a buzzer on the washer like there is on the dryer?

If I have to remember something more than an hour away, I use the schedule alarm. Doesn't matter if it's two hours or two years. I have to be sure that I use an appropriate description in the 8 characters allowed.

I have all my important phone numbers in my geek watch. I even have some PIN numbers in there. But not for the ATM, so don't try to steal my watch.

I gotta go now... my timer is going off. If I could only remember what I set it for. Do you smell smoke?

Look! Up in The Sky! It's ISS

2008-11-19T16:14:00.002-06:00

At 6:18 p.m. tonight, if you look low in the south-southwest, you'll be able to see the International Space Station and Shuttle Edeavour as they begin to fly over. They'll be over the south-southeast horizon at 6:20:05 p.m. at 45 degrees up.

A repeat performance, not quite as bright, will begin at 7:54:21 p.m.in the north-northwest. But that pass shows to last only about 7 seconds so you'll have to be quick to see it.

Bankhead Highway

2008-11-17T21:04:00.004-06:00

I always thought the Bankhead Highway was a local, or at least regional, highway. It was actually a national highway running from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California. It was part of the National Auto Trail system. Wikipedia entries for: the Bankhead Highway and the National Auto Trail system.

And speaking of history... I recently bought an 1856 Texas map poster and learned that this area of Texas was part of Bexar County at that time. I was aware that several counties out here were carved out of Tom Green County (late 1880's) but didn't know we were ever lumped in with San Antonio.

There are replicas of a 1910 Texas roadmap for sale (check eBay) and it sure is tempting to buy one.

If you're interested in West Texas history you should be aware of the Permian Historical Society.

Helicopter. Yikes!

2008-11-15T18:20:00.004-06:00

I was flying my RC helicopter today when it inexplicably* came after me. After hovering it over the street just off my driveway I made the necessary twitchy thumb movements to bring it back over the driveway to land. It was slowly coming toward me as per my electronic commands when it suddenly occured to me that it was coming directly toward me and not toward the center of the driveway/landing pad as I intended.

My back was at the wall of the garage so I couldn't step back. Extra room behind me would have been of no use anyway because terror had already raced from my eyes to my legs and as the former widened, the latter weakened. To appreciate my perspective, imagine a lawn mower at eye level, moving toward your head with the blade exposed. No grass catcher, though - in case your imagination is detail-oriented.

At the last moment, the terror that originated in my eyes made contact with my brain which sent instructions to my thumbs to push the left stick forward, the right stick to the right. Then left stick backward, right stick in a kinda whirly motion. This caused the pretty yellow helicopter to plop solidly on its skids on the concrete a couple of feet from my tingling toes.

While the sweat dried I watched the shuttle launch I taped last night from HDNet. Just to return to topic.

*irony

Believe It or Not

2008-09-25T22:16:00.002-05:00

For the Middle East market, LG Electronics has released two new HDTV's (42-inch and 50-inch) that contain the complete text of the Koran. The text can be displayed and paged on demand.

Just another internet myth?

Digital TV Deadline re-cap at 2Dolphins

2008-09-06T08:37:00.003-05:00

For an excellent overview of the affects of the Digital TV changeover, see this post over at the 2Dolphins blog.

Slingbox

2008-07-18T16:12:00.002-05:00

Besides the neat name, this TV accessory is at the top of every gadget-guy's wishlist. It offers some geeky fun, and maybe even some practical applications.

The Slingbox attaches to your televsion source (basic cable, set-top-box, or DVR) and puts the content on your home network. You can access the content from any other connected computer on the network. For example, you can watch TV on your laptop after wirelessly connecting to your home network. But wait, there's more...

You could also use your laptop on the road to watch your TV (or recorded progams on your DVR) just by connecting to your home network through any broadband internet access. From anywhere in the world. But, that's not all.

You can also control your television source from your laptop - change channels, view your list of recorded programs, fast-forward, pause, etc.

And if that doesn't just make your credit card sweat pennies... You can also access your Slingbox from your Windows Mobile or Palm* device. With at least EVDO bandwidth you could watch TV from anywhere you have phone coverage. There is mobile support for PocketPC and Symbian phones, too.

I don't have a phone (or the necessary data plan) to play Sling content but I do have a Palm TX so I convinced myself to order the Slingbox AV. The best excuse I could articulate was, "I really want to watch the baseball game. But, being the selfless guy I am, I don't want to interrupt your Wii Fit sessions, Dear." Voila, baseball on my PDA. Anywhere in the house. Lame, huh? But that's my line. And I'm stickin' to it.

Google Slingbox and see how many college students are watching their parents' cable programming from the dorm. Miles and miles from home. Now there's some real justification for the $115 Slingbox.

Wireless HDTV at Last!

2008-07-11T08:48:00.002-05:00

The HDTV peripheral I've been waiting for most looks to be coming soon. It appears the Belkin FlyWire will be the first on the shelves.

This device eliminates the audio and video wires running to your TV with a switch/transmitter attached to your set-top-box, game console, etc., and a receiver attached to (or mounted to the wall near) your television.

I'll be watching reports when the FlyWire hits the streets and hoping for competition (lower prices).

Under-$300 Blu-ray Players

2008-05-16T10:19:00.003-05:00

Wal-Mart will begin selling $298 Magnavox Blu-ray players Memorial Day weekend.

These players are being made by Japanese company Funai and will also be sold by Best-Buy with the Insignia badge. The Insignia will carry a $347 price tag (unless Best-Buy reconsiders pricing due to the Wal-Mart version).

According to Video Business, only about 10% of those with HDTV's have Blu-ray high definition DVD players. Although Blu-ray won the format war, acceptance has been slow because players and discs have been relatively expensive and because many of us think 480p DVD movies are just fine.

DirecTV Adds Local Channels

2008-03-19T21:52:00.003-05:00

This was posted today on the dbstalk forum:

Locals in Odessa / Midlands TX need a 5 LNB dish and an MPEG 4 rcvr. Directv is giving away the dish and 1 rcvr free!

and

DIRECTV - Adds Odessa-Midland, TX - SD LiL channels.

I assume this is good news/bad news. It appears the local channels will be available but will be Standard Definition only.

(Thanks to Loren for the heads-up)

HD-DVD R.I.P. 2006-2008

2008-02-15T14:11:00.002-06:00

Born March 31, 2006 in Japan, HD-DVD was only two years old when it lost its battle with younger brother Blu-ray. HD-DVD leaves behind several orphan high definition discs and empty shelves at WalMart. HD-DVD's parent company Toshiba has refused comment but is expected to acknowledge the loss sometime in the next few weeks.

Blu-ray shows no remorse.

IP Television and Movies

2008-01-23T16:16:00.000-06:00

Internet TV and IPTV are popular topics among geeks these days.

Internet TV is the delivery of content through any broadband internet connection and mostly includes television shows which originated from television networks. Everything from F-Troop to Lost can be viewed on your computer now. Some sites charge a nominal fee and some require a special application to view the shows but there are many free programs which will play in your browser window.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is more like cable television in that it's provided on a subscription basis. In its current form (in limited areas), programming is pretty much identical to that available from cable or satellite providers. Most seem to think the future will allow time-shifting, on-demand programming, so you watch any show when you want - no schedules.

In both Internet TV and IPTV, programming is delivered by Internet Protocol (IP) through a network. In the case of IPTV, the network is a closed, private network and the television-to-network interfaces are proprietary.

By the end of this year I suspect we'll start seeing quite a few digital televisions with built-in networking to allow direct connection to the internet. Already there are a few products which attach to your existing television to provide internet connectivity - the most notable of those products being the latest version of Apple TV.

Services such as NetFlix, iTunes, Amazon's Unbox, and even HBO are offering movies (and television shows) for rent or purchase through a broadband internet connection. You make your selections online, download the show and watch on your TV. In some cases you can begin watching within a few minutes and in other cases, especially with movies, it can take a day or so before you can watch. Very little high definition content is available because of bandwidth limitations in delivering such huge files.

If you're like me, you'd much rather watch TV and movies on your television set. I do watch a fair amount of television programming on my computer but I really prefer to watch on my TV. I just don't always have the choice because I cannot transfer shows from my computer to my cable company supplied DVR. A major reason for me to pull the trigger and buy a TiVoHD - and to have that option for high definition content.

For a pretty good article about Internet TV and IPTV, take a look here

CES 2008

2008-01-11T15:38:00.000-06:00

The circus that is the Consumer Electronics Show is over but I can't say I got very excited about any new television stuff I read about.

The feature I'm most eager to see in production is wireless connection of high definition between the DVD/STB/DVR and the television itself. The concept has been tossed around about a year now, and Westinghouse had a demonstration at CES, but it seems we are not likely to see a wireless HD standard for at least another year. Won't it be nice when we can finally get rid of all those wires!

If I had to bet on the high definition DVD format war, I'd bet on the side of Blu-Ray. The Warner studios announcement to cease production of HD-DVD titles was a deep wound to the Toshiba/Microsoft flesh and it'll take very little to finish them off now. I'll probably wait for version 2 of the Blu-Ray hardware.

I was a little surprised to see that plasma production is not as near death as some had predicted. Panasonic had a 150-inch plasma at CES.

There was an interesting, un-teevee-type device announced at CES... a Taser/MP3 player. Cool.