I just ordered HDTV through my local cable company (Cox San Diego)! So far, they have NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and HBO/Showtime in HDTV. I am not getting the premium channels right now, but I am pretty excited about the local stations. I will let you all know how it works out. The installation will be on the 27th.

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Benjamin King
benjaminking@yahoo.com

I'm in Cox North County, Ben. Let me know how it goes; I am about to put an antenna up on my roof for OTA. I should be able to get both SD and LA stations from here; I'm not sure what advantage cable has other than premium channels (and a monthly charge). I'd rather rent a DVD than watch the compressed HD movie, I think.
Mike

I will definitely let you all know how it goes. srfdude, I am barely able to get OTA signals in the hills, so I figured that I had little chance of HDOTA. Also with the Cox digital telephone, cable modem and HDTV, I am only paying around $100.00 a month. Considering that my phone bill used to be around $50 to $65, and AOL (shudder...) used to be about $26, I figure that going with a cable modem and HDTV would be worth $25 more per month. Does this sound like a commercial?

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Benjamin King
benjaminking@yahoo.com

"Does this sound like a commercial?"

Not really, just smart spending. Getting all three from the same company will usually save money. Many places should have some sort of package deal.

My CATV company (Comcast) just raised rates again for like the 3rd time this year... it's starting to get annoying...

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

FYI - Browsing through slashdot revealed this article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=1937711

To summarize the high points..
The deal would establish nationwide technical standards for cable systems, ensuring that high-definition television sets would be able to plug into nearly any cable system in the country and receive digital signals without requiring costly extra equipment.

Signing off on the deal were 14 consumer electronics manufacturers, including Japan's Sony Corp. and the Netherlands' Philips Electronics NV, as well as cable operators which have 75 percent of the U.S. market, including Comcast Corp and AOL Time Warner Inc.
So maybe there is a light in the tunnel after all.

Yeah, saw the same article at Digital Bits earlier today. There's hope...

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I read it a few days ago, also, and one thing in particular stuck out in my mind:

"But another major question -- the extent to which consumers should be able to record shows for their personal use -- remains unresolved."

Definitely a worrisome problem. The Supreme Court has already ruled (in a case concerning BetaMax, of all things) that VCRs and their essential functions are legal. I'm seeing a definite trend on the part of the studios to attempt to erode those rights through technological means.

The basic irony of the situation is, even though it is legal to do xxx, if the studios (or anybody, for that matter) manages to use technological means to prevent you from doing xxx, even though they are not permitted to legally prohibit you from doing it, the DMCA prevents you from bypassing those technological means to perform the action you ought to be legally entitled to perform.

Gotta love America, eh?

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

I wonder how much influence content providers will have on these standards agreed upon. As I understand it the FCC still has to approve the compromise so I suppose we still could run into delays. When I first read this I feared this would render any HDTV purchases (Jan for me I hope) obsolete but as I read it more thoroughly that seems not to be the case.

On a side note it might just be me but reading "even though it is legal to do xxx" instead of "even though it is legal to do x" places a whole different slant on the statement.

What isn't clear in any of the press releases is whether existing monitors (i.e. anyone that plans to use their component inputs) will receive anything but upconverted material. The big problem with the previous proposals were that the content provider got to determine what resolution would be permitted outside the encrypted signal. I still don't know if I have a very expensive boat anchor in my home theater.