So last week I talked about our new high-definition LCD television that has brought us kicking-and-screaming into television modernity. Getting our gaming systems—a Nintendo Wii and a rarely-used Sony PlayStation 2—set up was very easy with some of those new-fangled component cables we bought at the same time as the TV, but our DirecTV setup was not HD and our DVD player was an older model that didn’t support anything close to HD quality through its retro RCA cables.
So, the day after we bought the TV, we made another trip to Best Buy and picked up an upscaling DVD player (which plays DVDs at near-HD quality over a really new-fangled HDMI cable) and an HD receiver for DirecTV. Our DirecTV installer guy came out today, and now we’re totally hooked up: HD-capable satellite TV and an upscaling DVD player hooked into a 36″ LCD television with 720p resolution. Cool.
I have one fairly-minor disappointment: I’m paying an HD fee, but very few DirecTV channels are actually available in HD. Fox News Channel, for example, started broadcasting in HD in May but DirecTV only provides the non-HD version. TruTV began broadcasting in HD when it transitioned from being CourtTV in January but—again—DirecTV only provides the non-HD version. Fox News Channel and TruTV are each part of my DirecTV package, and since I’m paying the extra surcharge for HD content DirecTV should provide me with their HD versions since HD versions are available. The only ‘standard’ definition content I should have is content that is broadcast by its originators that way without an HD alternative. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.