Category Archives: Cable TV

They’ve Built Their Own House

Posted in Cable TV, CEO Princeple, Christian values, Coronavirus, Religion by

Those who have eyes have likely noticed that the movie industry is hurting. Box office sales have been plummeting. That is a way of saying that they are losing money.

As I have said many times before, I am not the expert, but some things are casual to the most obvious observer. It is interesting to note that theaters continued to draw crowds during the worst of the depression, which seems to reduce the concept that it is economic.

Certainly TV has had a lot to do with it. At first, it could be totally ignored. The screens of televisions were small and strictly black and white. Also, only the theaters had the latest and best shows. Finally, the movie theater had a certain thing, a magic to them.

For this reason, people were willing to pay the 10 or 15 cents of the day. However, as time passed, the TVs grew larger, and then came color. Even so, the movie industry grew. However, they were looking for newer, different plots. They started pushing the envelope as to what they would show and say. Innuendos became less implied and more, outright plain.

Eventually, of course they reached the point where they said anything and showed everything. It was the advantage they still had over TV, which was still regulated by the FCC.

Then came cable and suddenly, anything that was on the big screen could be seen on the small screen. Now, if not before, for sure now, the movie industry had some real competition.

Still, in spite of it all, they were managing, though I suspect even then, it had begun its failure. While there was a day, a family could afford the occasional night at the theater, not so much anymore. The 50 cent tickets of my youth had risen to ten and fifteen dollars. When you’re taking a family of 6, many times the decision is made to wait a few months for the movie to go to cable or even broadcast TV.

This all brings me to the final two blows that just almost hit at the same time. First there is the loss of substance. I think I have counted 3 versions of the OK Corral; maybe 4 or 5 of the the Alamo. How many times has the Titanic been sunk. I know the Poseiden has gone down at least twice.

The other problem originated in a lab in China and litterally destroyed people, businesses and who knows knows what all. It very well might have sounded the death knell to the, so called, siver screen.

So it is that after nearly a century of shining the big spot lights on themselves, the industry, as it is, will likely go under.

Is it salvageable? I don’t know. I used to frequent the theater. I went to see Sound of Music 4 times at the Fox Wilshire. It was reported that there was one woman who saw the movie once a day for the 4 years of the exclusive run at the Fox Wilshire. She had the entire script commited to memory.

Nonetheless, the movie had tremendous success. People were willing to pay the price to see it, sometimes multiple times because it was a good movie, which was done very well. And, by the way, it had no profanity or nudity. Was it the best movie of all time. I don’t know. However, it certainly was one of the most successful.

It is solid proof that profanity and nudity is not nearly as successful as good quality and material.

It has been years now since I’ve gone to the theater. I have been waiting for a good movie. It would seem that Hollywood has been so busy taking bows after the horrid recently made stuff, that they seem to have forgotten that attractive leading acters is but one small part of a success.

The one thing I do find interesting is that for just about a century, they have made huge advances in equipment and special effects while the plots and dialog have been taking a nosedive.

Bottom line. People will not return to the theater until the theaters start providing something worth paying for. Recently, I have not seen anything worth the 5 dollars of yesteryear, let alone the current prices.

Seeking an Answer

Posted in Being woke, Biden, Cable TV, CEO Princeple, Crazy Nuts, Customer No-Service, Going Green, Liberals, Politally Correct, Socialists by

If I may digress. This post reminds me of a song, “A Lover’s Question,” sung by Clyde McPhatter. I certainly am not a country/western music fan, but this one is pretty good. It’s got a good tune, some thoughtful words, and yes, even the backup group is good. It’s the kind of song that just might haunt you all day. You might even find yourself singing it without realizing it. More than that, you might find yourself identifying with it. If you can, you might look it up and play it, it is well worth your while, even if you don’t like country music.

I came to the above title from name of the song in a somewhat roundabout way. Originally, I started with “A Customer’s Question.” Didn’t feel that was apropos. I mean, we are speaking business, not love relationships. I was still somewhat tempted. It is kind of a catchy title. Nonetheless, I decided to use something not quite as good, but more accurate.

Now, getting down to the question and the reason for it. I would really like to know why big corporations like to (figuratively) shoot themselves in the foot. They make decisions they know are going to affect their bottom line and they do it without much true consideration. Consider Budweiser. Those that have read my post very long know that I don’t approve of alcohol at all. But this, this is really dumb. They have lost, what 7 billion dollars just to make a commercial that is friendly to homosexuals and unfriendly to their customers. And now, they can’t even issue an apology. The best they can do is march their Clydesdales out and hope for the best. I am sure that their stockholders have had a few things to say about that. They have likely said that they are desperately seeking an answer to why they did such a dumb thing. (Why did they do that?)

At one time, I had Xfinity cable and internet. I likely still would. However, one day, they started calling my home and suggesting we need a box for converting digital TV to analog. Don’t know if it was intentional, but they left both the wife and me with the impression that there would be no charge for it. We said no. We have but two TVs and they were both hooked up to cable. After the sixth call, one that I took, I agreed to let them send it. However, just to make sure there were no misunderstandings, I said that the first time they bill me for it, I’d pack it all up and take to the local store. They did, and I did.

They shot themselves in the foot. Why did they do that? It wasn’t so much the amount. I suspect that I could have returned the little box and had the cost removed. It’s the idea. They were dishonest. I told them what I’d do, and I did. My guess is that they didn’t care. At that time, they likely had enough customers, losing one or two wouldn’t hurt. I don’t know. Maybe they did have too many customers and they decided to prune a few.

I went to AT&T for cable and internet. Oddly they don’t love their customers either. I lost service so I called them up. Because I could not give them a 4-digit pin number, they refused to fix it. Fine. No problem I told them. I asked for an address to send the equipment and disconnected that day. Why did they do that? I guess they simply did not want to keep the over 2 hundred a month I was sending them. It must have been well decided on their end because I talked to two managers on the phone. Naturally, no face-to-face conversations here. No such thing these days.

It happens in local businesses too. I no longer go to McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Walmart. They have proved to me that they all have too many customers. So, Walmart has lost around two to three hundred a week. Sometimes more. They’ll never miss it. If they were to read this post, they’d not care. It would seem that they don’t like their customers. They just put up with them so as to make their billions off of us. I now go to Kroger. Maybe I spend a little more, but the service is far better and friendlier. Why did Walmart do that?

I could likely write thousands of words on this subject. I would suspect that there are many more who could. Those guys up in those board rooms just don’t seem to get it. They really do need customers. When they lose them they will lose their income. They just don’t seem to get it.

Being woke might impress one group of people. Going broke. Well. That could be a problem.

The No Cable Saga

Posted in Cable TV, CEO Princeple by

Those following me already know that I’ve abandoned cable service. It was because I couldn’t arrange a service call but they were about to raise ridiculous fees significantly. Being as we live totally on Social Security, being as the costs of living living were skyrocketing, we would have had to unplug anyway.

I also disconnected internet, same outfit, same reason. It just so happened T-mobile started providing internet for 50 a month. So I traded a cable/internet bill of almost 300 for an internet bill of 50.

Naturally, I don’t get near the selection from the antenna, but it really isn’t all that bad. Oddly, what I missed was the DVR. I had no way to record programs or pause programs when I got a phone call.

So, I went to Best Buy and asked if they had a solution for me. When I foud out they sell DVRs for $50, I bought 2. One I installed on the 30″ living room TV. The other went on the 23″ in the bedroom. The bedroom TV is not digital capable so, in that case, it restored the use of the the older flat-screen.

So, now if I can just figure out what to do so I can get channel 5, NBC. Shame. They do have a few decent shows.

The DVR doesn’t come with a disk, but a 10 dollar 32 GB USB thumb drive took care of that. (Or, if you prefer, you can attach an actual hard drive)

As my aside, it’s a real shame. Some outfit could come up with cable service for strictly local stations. Maybe they could charge fifty a month and still make money. It just might encourage the big outfits to drop their rates and provide better support. Let me revise that. Provide some support.

Something New… For Me

Posted in Advertising, Cable TV, Compromise, TV Advertisements by

I was under the wrong assumption that all TV stations transmitted 1080 video on all channels. It’s simply not so. Most of the main channels are 1080, or at least 720. However most of the others are, at most 720 and even 480.

On my little 30 inch screen it’s difficult to see the difference. Naturally, old reruns, especially b&w don’t fill the screen. There is generally a few inches of blank space on each side of the image.

Apparently, the stations transmit the information and my TV displays it at the bottom of the screen 4 or 5 seconds after changing channels. On the other hand, the cable hid it from me all these years.

So, near as I can tell, I should have saved the money and bought a 720 TV. As I said, can’t tell the difference. More over, I don’t have it on 1080 channels that much. Most of the time I’m looking at 720. Right now, I’m on 480 and it looks just fine.

By the way, does anyone know where I can buy a copy of that image of the valley they show to sell that noise for sleeping. Don’t have any use for noise but I’d really like a copy of that winter evening scene of snow covered mountains with the road going between them. Wonder what they might charge me for a 1080i copy.

Who knows? Maybe, perhaps, conceivably others would like a copy or two of that image.

Hint for Others Using TV Antennas

Posted in Cable TV by

After giving up cable because of unrealistic prices, I made many adjustments to my antenna. Currently, I usually get good solid reception. From time-to-time, it still gets very unreliable and intermittent.

I had trouble figuring it out till last night. A windy, rainy storm came through and I started seeing the proverbial pixelating on the screen. Then I finally figured it out. UHF radio waves are impeded by heavy rain. Considering the weak signal to start with, it doesn’t take a lot destroy the TV picture.

Incidentally, it is the same reason satellite TV reception has problems. Satellite uses microwave, which is affected by rain even more. Think it over. It’s why weather radar works. The rain reflects the radio waves.

Just wish cable was not so unreasonably expensive.

Something I’d Like

Posted in Cable TV, Computers by

Are you always looking for your remote. Do you lose remotes for things you rarely use, like those battery powered candles. Sometimes the things just become unusable, as when the dog eats it or when you drop it in the water.

What if all these things can be controlled from one device? I like the idea. I have a couple remotes that advertise they control everything and I can’t get them to control anything.

I have an idea that, when fully implemented, will resolve all the above problems at very little cost.

Overall, the best long-term solution is Bluetooth built into the TV and apps downloaded into smart phones and computers. As long as you know where your phone is, you can control your

TV, cable…or whatever else the phone is paired with. Moreover, when you are in the kitchen when that annoying commercial comes on, you can just pull out your phone and silence the irritant.

Mostly, the same thing can be done with wifi but I suspect not as easily. Not all homes have wifi.

There are many advantages that are not readily apparent. For instance, upgrading would be possible and easy. New devices could be added and removed easily. Stealing such a TV would be of no benefit as the pairing could be password protected.

The only temporary solution I foresee until TVS are equipped, is to build a temporary box, an interface equipped with IR for the TV, or whatever, and Bluetooth for the phone. Eventually, the IR would no longer be needed.

I have no means to further this idea beyond those of you who read my posts. Maybe, if you agree, you can pass my idea onto others. Maybe, hopefully, 1 or 2 of you are in a position to get it going. Maybe you can just suggest it to your phone carriers. I don’t care if others get the money but it would be nice if I could get a little credit for the idea.

To be sure, there is an alternate approach. Smart phones can be equipped with IR and the aps could be downloaded for specific devices. This could be done more quickly but I think Bluetooth is better long-term. Perhaps a combination is plausible.

Finally, if you like the idea, make a comment. If I get enough responses, maybe I can get the right person to listen to me.

8.7% COLA

Posted in Abuse of Power, Biden, Cable TV, Controllers, Deceit, Elections, FOC, Going Green, Lawyers and Representation, Price of Oil, Retirement by

Just received a message that the Social Security Cost Of Living Adjustment will be almost 9%. I don’t know if that’s a record but it’s the biggest in recent history.

Still, it doesn’t truly represent the real increase of living. Consider my grocery cost rarely went more than $125 per visit to the store. Nowadays, it’s over 200. My gas bill has doubled and the only reason my TV watching hasn’t gone through the roof is tha I no longer have cable.

When Biden keeps driving the up costs faster than he drives up Social Security payments, he’s not helping anyone relying on Social Security for a living. Even more, the cost goes up day by day. The COLAs go up once a year. As such, even if the COLAs were accurate, they would always be a year behind.

Then why should he care? I doubt he is concerned about the price of a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas. He likely could care less about how much bread it costs for a loaf of bread. His last concern is how much change it costs us for the changes he’s made.

Of course he does care about our votes, but only just before election days. On the other hand, should he lose any more of his mental facilities, it will all be over for him anyway. The dems can only conceal so much.

Ironically, No Ch. 5

Posted in Advertising, Cable TV, CEO Princeple by

The 1st time I arrived in Memphis, actually NAS Memphis located in in the city of Millington just north of Memphis, the only TV station I could receive on my little 5 in. portable TV was ch. 5.

Now I can receive all the major channels but 5. I have no idea why. I’ve tried auto-scanning the channels dozens of times. Depending on the position of the amplified GE antenna, I get some channels some times and other channels other times. However, since removing cable, I have yet to see NBC or any of the other substations on ch 5.

My first thought was that it was some kind of conspiracy but how. Certainly, those who own the station want me to be able to watch their advertising. I mean, they don’t make money off the programs but rather the ads.

It brings to mind my CEO theory again. Has the CEO ever tried to receive ch 5 on an antenna? Does he, or she even care about us mass of poor people who don’t have cable. Maybe we have been written off, so to speak, because we have such little purchasing power.

It does somewhat make me wonder what they are trying to sell on ch 5. For that matter, what kind programming do they have.

The main point of this post however, is point out the problem with the TV. I can delete channels after a scan but I cannot add any. Try as I may, I have tried and tried. It would appear the designers of my TV have assumed two things that aren’t true. First, they believed that their work of wonder will find all channels. Second, they assumed that all transmitters are the same direction from my living room.

Nothing is further from the truth. I need to adjust the direction of the antenna for each channel for best reception. That means that no one scan will pick up all the stations.

In this case, no ch. 5 at all.

I wonder if the CEO of ch. 5 knows, or cares.

An afterthought: Channel 10, PBS came in crystal clear, no matter where I point the antenna. Most of the shopping networks come in good. I wonder about that. It means every time I do a scan, I need to manually delete all the garbage.

Decisions, Decisions

Posted in Cable TV by

Now that I’ve had Uverse disconnected, I’ve been faced with decisions. I won’t mention the ones I’ve discarded. At this point, it’s pointless.

I decided on the T-mobil approach. I picked up the little box and a few hours later, I had a network. With the knowledge I have now, it would take 20 minutes.

I now have a phone, 3 Kendles, desktop computer and Android pad running off of it. The most difficult part to adding devices is entering passwords by pseudo-button keyboards. I have big fingers that make it a little more challenging.

Response on all the devices is good though I currently use but one device at a time.

Now, instead of 226 for cable and internet, it’s 55 for internet. I have not yet tried to hook up my smart TV nor do I know if it’s possible. If not, I’m still a long way ahead.

I do have one hint for anyone else going this route. On the gateway is a label with many useful words. It would be a good idea to jot down the default info. You will need it later and it might not be as easy to read.

I placed my gateway on the front window sill and I am receiving a strong signal from T-mobile. I suppose if I put it higher, but it is somewhat academic. I might or might not get 5 bars instead of the steady 4.

As for my desktop, I get 5 bars instead of the 3 I had from the Uverse gateway. This is in spite of the now greater distance.

So far, every comparison comes out in favor of T-mobil. I wish I made the decision much sooner. Not only would have saved a bundle of money, but the performance would have been better too.

History of TV Reception

Posted in Advertising, Cable TV, Crazy Nuts, experience by

When TVs first came out, the TV antenna soon followed. After just a short time, a person could pan the rooftops and see the antennas sticking up from most of the houses.

Some had to settle for rabit ears. Some, me included had broken antennas and settled for wire clothes hangers. My clothes hanger worked very well. I wish I could say it was because of my great knowledge of electronics but, in my case, I had a good picture without having to alter the hanger at all.

On the other hand, some needed 40, 50, or even 70 foot masts to receive signals from a 100 or more miles away. To complicate matters, some received signals from 2 or 3 different directions. To do this, they had what they called rotors and they worked well. It was a tad on the pricey side though. Not only did one need the equipment, but it also had to be installed.

I don’t know who first thought of the idea of cable, but I noticed it being installed in rural areas in the late 50s and early 60s. It was good for the stations and sponsors as it increased those receiving their programming and ads. There is no need to say it was good for those receiving cable. That’s obvious.

Over the years, those selling cable found more customers and types of customers. People in apartments and folks who hated ugly antennas sticking up all over the neighborhood. Also, the reception quality improved.

Perhaps one of the main reasons the cable idea spread so rapidly was the increase in channels available. People in San Diego watched L.A. channels, for example. In addition, what I call pseudo-stations started popping up.

Then, to improve reception and increase features, they went to digital. I never liked that much in the past, even less now. What started out to be a way to receive a good picture for 15 or 20 a month has turned into a huge conglomerate (if I may misuse the word) of sations, most of which are mental wastelands that I spent 226 a month. That is a big bite from my social security.

I just had my cable disconnected and I am now aware of why I don’t like digital TV. If a person buys an expensive antenna, after spending hours adjusting it and fussing with it, it almost works, almost doesn’t. Mostly, gone are the days of using a hanger. Now we must use 39.95 antennas that I can’t even receive all the local channels I received just fine in the old analogs. Moreover, I keep losing the picture into wild pixelations.

I guess the FCC had us in mind as they made the decision to digitize broadcasts, or at least I hope so. Then again, maybe it would help if the 39.95 antenna worked better than a clothes hanger.

(Does anyone know where I can get a metal clothes hanger? )