Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Willkommen zur Zukunft
So here we are. It's 2006 already and someone somewhere had a meeting that I was not invited to.
That meeting seems to have been something to do with ensuring that although we now live in an incredibly hi-tech world, nothing - but nothing - will ever be simple.
Don't get me wrong. I've seen the adverts, we have the easiest Windows(TM) ever! But that's just Microsoft's PR department and lots of Geeks believing the hype (Microsoft here's a hint: If you want to make it easier, stop moving shit about.. leave it where it was in the previous version...) So that's virtual easiness, Microsoft have made the QWERTY keyboard easier to use*.
How about some actual, genuine, real-life easiness then? Hmm? How about a plug-this-bit-of-cable-into-this-box-here-and-it-does-what-you-expect-it-to bit of easiness? hmm? Hmm? HMM?
Case-in-point, m'lud:
Yestereve I was proceeding in a gadget-purchasing direction and happened upon a PVR in Tescos for the princely sum of one-hundred pounds (bar thruppence). Swiftly I purchased said item thinking that I would replace the rather ancient VCR in my front room with something that would look more up-to-date (if anything made by Bush can be considered up-to-date).
It's a simple thing I require: I wish to plug in my Sky box to the PVR through either a SCART lead or an RF connector and just hit record when I want to. Tape some stuff, watch it, stop wasting resources by needing more video tapes, blah blah etc etc.
Get Sky+ everyone says.
But why do I need to further line Mr Murdoch's pockets to the tune of a tenner a month (should I opt out of the films package) simply to be able to record programmes I'm already paying to see? Thank goodness he's not in charge of food supply, else we'd be paying to take a crap at the end of the day (into a toilet we'd already paid for every year BY LAW).
Of course, it's not as simple as all that is it? You can't possibly expect in the year twenty-oh-six to take an assortment of electrical equipment and expect it all to get along. I mean, why the hell should you? If I plug my Sky box into the Bush PVR box, the Bush box wants to find Freeview channels (I have no analogue aerial) and no matter what I do I can't get a decent picture out through the box anyway. I can only imagine that the Sky signal is encrypted to make digital recording somewhat tricky. Either that or the PVR is mangling the picture.
I guess it may have to be Sky+. Either that or I keep the now not-so-stupid-looking VCR.
Oh how I love tape.
A possibly connected curiosity with my current TV setup is that I cannot plug my retro (ie ancient) PSone into my telly at the same time as the Sky box is on. It... corrupts... the... picture. Is this perhaps a feature of the Sky box in general or just the cheap'n'nasty Amstrad one I've been palmed off with?
(And, yes, I managed to type the expression "Bush box" without giggling).
*My arse
That meeting seems to have been something to do with ensuring that although we now live in an incredibly hi-tech world, nothing - but nothing - will ever be simple.
Don't get me wrong. I've seen the adverts, we have the easiest Windows(TM) ever! But that's just Microsoft's PR department and lots of Geeks believing the hype (Microsoft here's a hint: If you want to make it easier, stop moving shit about.. leave it where it was in the previous version...) So that's virtual easiness, Microsoft have made the QWERTY keyboard easier to use*.
How about some actual, genuine, real-life easiness then? Hmm? How about a plug-this-bit-of-cable-into-this-box-here-and-it-does-what-you-expect-it-to bit of easiness? hmm? Hmm? HMM?
Case-in-point, m'lud:
Yestereve I was proceeding in a gadget-purchasing direction and happened upon a PVR in Tescos for the princely sum of one-hundred pounds (bar thruppence). Swiftly I purchased said item thinking that I would replace the rather ancient VCR in my front room with something that would look more up-to-date (if anything made by Bush can be considered up-to-date).
It's a simple thing I require: I wish to plug in my Sky box to the PVR through either a SCART lead or an RF connector and just hit record when I want to. Tape some stuff, watch it, stop wasting resources by needing more video tapes, blah blah etc etc.
Get Sky+ everyone says.
But why do I need to further line Mr Murdoch's pockets to the tune of a tenner a month (should I opt out of the films package) simply to be able to record programmes I'm already paying to see? Thank goodness he's not in charge of food supply, else we'd be paying to take a crap at the end of the day (into a toilet we'd already paid for every year BY LAW).
Of course, it's not as simple as all that is it? You can't possibly expect in the year twenty-oh-six to take an assortment of electrical equipment and expect it all to get along. I mean, why the hell should you? If I plug my Sky box into the Bush PVR box, the Bush box wants to find Freeview channels (I have no analogue aerial) and no matter what I do I can't get a decent picture out through the box anyway. I can only imagine that the Sky signal is encrypted to make digital recording somewhat tricky. Either that or the PVR is mangling the picture.
I guess it may have to be Sky+. Either that or I keep the now not-so-stupid-looking VCR.
Oh how I love tape.
A possibly connected curiosity with my current TV setup is that I cannot plug my retro (ie ancient) PSone into my telly at the same time as the Sky box is on. It... corrupts... the... picture. Is this perhaps a feature of the Sky box in general or just the cheap'n'nasty Amstrad one I've been palmed off with?
(And, yes, I managed to type the expression "Bush box" without giggling).
*My arse
