Right before Christmas, I broke down and purchased a new TV. My old one, which was built during the Carter Administration (I believe) and was a hand-me-down many times over, had finally died. Sort of. Well, it had died enough to let me rationalize buying a new one, anyway.
This week, now that Christmas is behind me, and basically paid-for, I decided to upgrade my cable service. Earlier in the week I called Comcast, found out that they’ve priced digital cable with Digital Video Recorder capabilities at slightly less than the analog package. So I took the leap.
When I told my sister about it, she assured me that having TiVo-like abilities would forever change my relationship to the teevee. I wasn’t sure; I didn’t really watch that much teevee, but it would be nice to have the ability to time-shift the few shows I do watch; The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy (I’m a sucker for Fox’s Sunday night lineup), Mythbusters (the best science show ever; and Kari Byron is a totally hot geek girl), The Office… Just those. Mostly.
Honestly, the internets tubes are filled with an almost infinite amount of entertainment. Why vege out in front of the teevee when I can surf forever and ever?
I scheduled the cable guy to come out and “un-cap” my digital signal today, and picked up the DVR (a Motorola box with intriguging outputs on the back: SATA, USB, Firewire, along with HDMI, component video, and S/PDIF audio) on Friday.
After a mis-communication about the home visit (which I confirmed with a phone call to Comcast was the fault of Comcast, not mine, and which was quickly straightened out in my favor (thanks, Kyle!) without me having to get upset at all), this afternoon I found myself with digital cable.
Blah, blah, surfing the channels. I saw that “Wayne’s World” was on HBO, and even though I hadn’t ordered HBO, I tried that channel. And a quick message about it being a subscription channel popped up, went away, and I found myself watching Wayne and Cassandra (the amazing Tia Carerre, rowr).
Then, while still playing with the remote, I hit the “up arrow” – and the picture paused! At first, I thought I’d done something wrong. I started hitting the other buttons, to un-stick it, and when I hit the “left arrow” – the movie started rewinding!
Oh. Your. God.
I can pause and rewind teevee?! That’s almost better than sex. Seriously. I searched my brain trying to remember if Tia Carerre had any nude or topless scenes in this movie…
I texted Tracy to share this wonderful news, and she agreed that it was The. Best. Thing. Ever. She said that once you’ve got this, you never want to be without it.
I replied that I’ve only had it for less than a half-hour and I already don’t want to be without it.
And, yes, Lisa – this will almost assuredly change the way I watch teevee.
When my tax refund comes back I’m definitely buying an HDTV…