Spring forward into high-definition · 5.04.09 by colin newell
We have had a Sony Wega Trinitron 32” CRT Flat-screen TV for almost 5 years… it was one of the 1st HD-Ready TV’s – It has an HDMI input on it and 2 separate component video input sets.
Our cable provider, Shaw, had a promotion on – a special on HD terminals and HD-PVR boxes. Well, we thought… I guess it is time to jump on board prior to our TV being completely obsolete.
So we sign up. And I opt for self installation being a telecom professional and all.
Right.
Home I go, with box in hand – and I install it.
Follow the instructions. Hook it up and call Shaw.
Have a human on the line within 4 minutes.
They enable it over the network.
Hmmm. I get audio but no video.
The helpful dude on the other end of the line suggests their help line – there is a very small wait queue at the time. I am connected to the help line within one minute.
The resolution: I had one of the component video cables crossed – and they are clearly color coded… and this is the kind of stuff I work with all day.
Major point being: You really do not want to be a passenger on my commuter jet when I am in the cockpit. I make little mistakes from time to time. Which I guess everyone does. As a technical professional, I tend to do one too many highly technically demanding things too often in the course of one day. Thankfully, no one dies.
Anyhow – enjoying NHL Hockey in 1080i… and the Discovery Channel spiders in 1080i… looking forward to time shifting my favorite show into my reality.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident, electronics technologist and media engineer – and a food writer for EAT Magazine. And if the number of typos in this article are any indication – we are doomed!
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Shareen from Finnerty’s here, I just remembered I’d tell you about a few places in SanFran (hope you haven’t already gone and I’ve lost my chance) – check out Scoma’s on pier 47 for a killer seafood meal (go for lunch if you don’t want to wait because I guarantee you’ll have to at dinner), Mona Lisa’s (on Columbus just north of Broadway) – best Italian place I’ve ever been to, Blue Bottle Coffee is a little place I stumbled into after getting off the BART from the airport, completely caffeine deprived. I loved it, but it could have been swamp water and I might not have known the difference. Oh, and we have an HD experience going on in our living room now too…gotta love Shark Week in HD. :)
— shareen Apr 6, 12:29 pm #