Not Such Deep Thoughts; Special Worst to First Edition

It’s that time again; the old brain pan is full to bursting with random thoughts and opinions, and it’s time to spew forth and relieve the pressure. I will now proceed to entangle the entire area.

What better way to start than with; How ‘bout them Red Sox?

Wow, from worst to first, and could these guys be any more likeable? In the words of the ubiquitous Bob, I doubt it. I was pretty down on them the last time I did one of these rambling pieces, and I speculated that there was only one way for them to get back into our good graces. Read for yourself:

Not Such Deep Thoughts – Freaky February Edition

“Spring Training is cranking up, and the question on all good Sox fan’s minds is; can they pull their nards out of the fire? The team has pretty much self-imploded and it appears that things can’t get much worse, so that’s something to hang your hat on. But how they fare in the standings this year is of less importance to me than how they act and play. As long as they give it 100%, I’m behind them. Any less and I’ll be turning them off.

Note to Red Sox; forget the fancy demographic studies and bringing in high paid mercenaries. If you want a successful and embraceable team, start with the basics; hard working players with integrity and a love of the game, add in a little inspirational leadership, mix well and bake for approximately 180 days. It’s a no fail recipe.”

I guess great minds think alike, and I’m convinced that Ben Cherington has a pretty great mind. I’m almost tempted to think he may have been much of the reason behind Theo’s initial success here. Almost. Same with John Farrell and Tito, but no one does it alone. There was a brain trust in those heady days, and although Theo was a bright guy, it was group think, strong leadership, and team camaraderie that turned the tide and made the Sox the team of the new millennium, and it took the same mix to bring them back from the dead. Success can be the great spoiler though, as we’ve seen, and I hope they remember that. There’s no telling how they’ll fare in the post season, but for now, I’m happy, and I have high hopes, finally. Go Sox!

While we’re on the subject of sports; how ‘bout them Patriots?

3 and 0 to start out the season, but a shakier start I don’t think I’ve ever seen. Tom has looked downright un-Brady like, but I blame a lot of that on his lack of receivers. With a timing offense, you’re either all on the same page, or you’re looking bad and getting beat.

It’s been the perfect storm as far as Pat’s receivers go; they lose Wes to the Broncos (for the life of me I still can’t figure that one out), Gronk can’t seem to shake his injuries, and then you have the whole Hernandez thing. Sheesh, what a mess. They pick up Amendola and the promising rookie TE Sudfeld in the off season, and they both go down. Who does that leave? Edelman, Hoo-Man and a couple of rookies. Sudfeld came back for game 3, but he wasn’t much of a factor.

The defense has been the only bright light so far, and has been keeping them in the games. Although it’s tough to watch, it may be a good thing. In previous years, Brady has carried the team on his back, running up the score. Problem was, the D wasn’t very good and a lot of teams were hanging in there, matching them point for point. When they’d hit a team with a tough D, one that could stymie their high powered offense, they’d invariably lose. The Giants and Ravens, for example. I think a few ugly wins courtesy of a tough D bodes well. When the Offense gets it together, and they will, the Pats just might have the whole package. They certainly looked a hell of a lot better in the second half of the Tampa game. Brady started to click with the 2 rookie WR’s, Thompkins and Dobson, and they got some good production from their platoon of running backs. They looked sharp and crisp for the first time since camp.

Gronk will be back, and Sudfeld will find his stride again, and both will draw coverage and take some pressure off of the wide receivers. I see good things in the future, time will tell. For now, let’s just say they’re a really lucky 3 and 0.

OK, time to talk some tech. File this one under; ooh, shiny…

The new iPhones are here, and “ooh, shiny” is really all you can say about them. The 5c is basically just like the 5, only it’s composed of cheap plastic and comes in a variety of gaudy colors. The 5s has a faster processor, a fingerprint reader, and is now available in gold, silver and graphite. Both models have slightly better cameras, the 5s in particular, and both come preloaded with iOS7, but that’s about it.

iOS7 is being pushed down to the iPhone 4 and 5 also, so there’s really no big advantage there. There won’t be as many features available when you run it on a 4 or 5, but that’s hardly a reason to sleep on the sidewalk, people. And you never want to be an early adopter when it comes to a major iOS upgrade.

Never.

Ever.

Here’s the thing, if these were really new models, they’d be the iPhone 6 and 6c, but they’re not. 'Nuff said.

As for waiting in line to get one… OMG, please, these aren’t in limited supply, little children in China are cranking these out by the boatload as we speak. Whenever I see a news videos of someone coming out of an Apple store holding a new iPhone over their head in victory, my first thought is; there’s a sucker born every minute, and my next thought is; I bet I could sell them some really expensive accessories…

Speaking of tech, file this one under; the times they are a changin’.

Home entertainment has changed so much in recent years. Music has branched out from physical to digital mediums, allowing us to carry our entire music libraries with us wherever we go. Same with print. I can move seamlessly from my eReader to my smart phone to my PC, and always be on the right page. TV has gone High Def. The sets have gotten both larger and thinner, you can hang them on the wall like art, and there are literally hundreds of channels to choose from. Between the DVR, Video on Demand, the Internet and devices like Apple TV, it’s no longer necessary to watch on the network’s schedule anymore; it’s now possible to watch whatever you want whenever and wherever you like. Growing up in the Record Player, 3 channel TV generation, these are unimaginable advances.

Now I’m not telling you anything that you’re not already aware of here, but what’s truly amazing to me is that these changes have occurred in such a short period of time.

Digital technology makes all these things possible, and more. How cool is it that we no longer need film for our cameras? Way cool, and the list goes on and on. Why are things developing so quickly? I think in part it’s because we’ve hit a point where the workforce is largely comprised of people who have grown up immersed in 1’s and 0’s, never known a world without them. They don’t need to struggle to understand and accept the new technologies like my generation does, and consequently they see some things more clearly. Some things.

Anyway, it’s got me wondering what new technological advances we’ll see in the next 10 or 20 years, and I think we’re in for a mind blowing ride. Forget about 3D, I’m looking forward to the day when I can convert my man cave into a holodeck. Talk about getting into the game... that would be the ultimate.

Alright, that’s enough for now, but before I go, I’ll leave you with this; I saw a video of Louis CK on Conan titled “Everything's amazing nobody's happy” that’s worth watching. Pretty much sums up how we all tend to take amazing things for granted these days. Don’t.

That is all.

Goodbye Cable, Hello FiOS TV

Verizon rolled out FiOS in our neighborhood a couple of years ago, and we were one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. Our old copper phone lines had gotten almost unusable. Loud static and pops, disappearing dial tone, cross talk from the neighbor’s line, it was ugly, and so was our DSL connection. Verizon had tried to repair our service several times to no avail, and finally admitted that the copper infrastructure in the neighborhood was beyond repair. They offered to cut us over to fiber at no charge, and I readily accepted.

At the time, they still hadn’t rolled out FiOS TV, but I was super happy anyway. I finally had a crystal clear phone line and a constant 5/2 Mbps internet connection to boot.

When they began offering FiOS TV service about a year later, I hesitated, because I would need a box for every connection in my house. PiP on the main set, a Media Center PC, spare bedrooms, yikes… that’s a lot of additional boxes.

There was no way around it, as FiOS is an all digital signal and you need a box to get anything on an analog set. Even on a TV with a built in ATSC/QAM digital tuner you get very little, just the local channels, and in my experimentations the signal seemed to confuse the tuner at times.

So I stuck to cable. Expensive, bad cable, at that. The signal was so weak that I had to install a bidirectional amp, and the cost kept going up. Plus I was paying two different companies. So when cable started putting little love notes in my bill telling me that they were going all digital soon and I would need a box for all of my TV’s, I decided the time was right to jump ship.

Verizon offered me their Triple Play deal if I added the TV service. They’d give me a new and improved wireless router, up my internet speed to 25/15 Mbps (download/upload), “Multi- Room” DVR service, free HBO and Skinamax for 3 months, and knock $30 a month off of my bill for the first 6 months. That’s a pretty hard deal to pass up.

The best part though, is that the overall cost of the three services, voice, internet and TV, is $20 less per month (before the $30 promotional discount!) then I was paying before in total through the two different carriers, plus there’s one less check to write each month, so my wife is lovin’ me (at least for now), and the quality is head and shoulders above the competition.

It’s without a doubt the best picture I’ve ever seen since I began my pay TV odyssey so many years ago. All the TV’s are crystal clear with no preamplification, save from the set top boxes, so I got to retire my little bidirectional digital amplifier. The guide feature is much better, and there’s also all kinds of widgets you can pop on the screen that show you local weather, traffic, news, there’s even a Twitter and Facebook widget so you can post while you watch (be careful with this one, Verizon says that the name of the show you’re watching appears in the post…). You can even program the DVR remotely via the internet.

How does that work, you might ask? Well, Verizon ties a cable run into your router, and all your boxes draw an address from it. Networked STB’s, too cool! They claim that you’ll be able to stream video from your computer to your TV’s very soon also. Sounds a lot like Windows Media Center to me, only without the need to add Microsoft’s “extenders”, or an Xbox. I’m curious to know if they plan on using Media Center as the tool for this, or if they’re working on a third party solution.

So, I have near perfect landline quality, a blazing fast 25 Mbps internet connection, smaaht boxes, an awesome picture, new channels, and I’m saving money to boot. Man, I’m livin’ the geekazoid dream...

If you can get FiOS TV in your area, you should make the switch, you won’t regret it.

And if you can’t,


Haa-Ha!


ahem. sorry. I couldn’t help myself.

That is all.

Cat5 Twisted Pair Wire, The Unsung Hero Of The Internet Age

I was doing an archeological dig in a computer room the other day, and it struck me that of all the amazing advances we’ve seen in the world of computing in the last couple of decades, what stands out to me as the biggest catalyst and facilitator for them all, and one of the most overlooked advancements of these heady times, is the development of user and installer friendly networks via Cat5 twisted pair wiring.

Before Local Area Networks moved to distribution through twisted pair, it wasn’t very easy, or pretty, to make network access widely available in the home or workplace. In the early days of networking, the medium of choice for a long time was various types of coax. First there was Thicknet, a large and unwieldy beast that needed holes drilled in it to accommodate device taps. Not anything you could incorporate unobtrusively into a work or living space.

Then there was Thinnet, a thinner version of coax (RG58) than what we’re used to running for our TV’s. Although it could be easily integrated into an outlet box, and the cable itself wasn’t too big to conceal, it still meant needing a second delivery system to the location, twisted pair for phone and coax for data. Plus, it was a pain in the butt to connectorize.

The development of Category 5, 5e and 6 twisted pair wire, capable of transmitting both voice and data at high rates of speed, is an example of convergence at its very root. It’s allowed installation of a single type of physical medium on the premise, making connectivity easy, and because the T568B standard will support Ethernet transmission speeds up to 1000BASE-T, it’s extended the average life expectancy of the cable plant, saving a small fortune in wiring costs.

Easier, cheaper delivery on the premise means it’s easier to connect devices, which means it’s easier to deliver things like Wi-Fi. It’s also enabled delivery of PoE (Power over Ethernet) to the device, saving money, labor and space, not to mention greatly improving aesthetics, by delivering enough juice along with the Ethernet connection to power small devices, such as the aforementioned Wireless Access Points, without the need for a power outlet nearby, or an unsightly power cable.

It doesn’t stop there, though. New devices making use of Cat5 and above cabling are coming out all the time. I’ve been a big proponent of audio and video over Cat5 for quite a while, as it opens a whole new door in cable plant convergence. Although video over Ethernet is a great thing, it can cause unnecessary stress on a network in certain situations, and sometimes there’s a need to keep video segregated for privacy or security reasons. Having the ability to broadcast a separate stream of audio and video utilizing the existing cable plant gives you the ultimate in flexibility.

So, a tip of the hat to Cat5 twisted pair wire, its made being “connected” a piece of cake, and all this easy peasy connectivity has changed the way we do business and communicate.


End of transmission.

The Switch to All Digital Broadcasting Is Coming, Will My TV Explode?

No, and it won't stop working either, although you might experience some slight discomfort.

I've been getting asked about the switchover a lot lately, and it really points out how little people understand about the change, and how poorly the message is being disseminated.

The whole thing is a bit convoluted, but in a nutshell, on February 17th, 2009 all full-power TV stations have to turn off their analog signal and begin broadcasting in digital only. In theory,this will only affect people who currently get their TV reception via antenna, and they will be able to add a digital converter box to tune in the new digital signals.

Kind of.

See, here's where it gets convoluted. Notice the wording "full-power TV stations". There are also low-power stations out there that will not be switching over to digital. These are community access and educational channels. Here's the FCC's description of Low-Power, Class A and TV Translator stations.

There's also Canadian TV that's received in some of the border states. That won't be changing over to digital just yet either.

So, people who depend on antenna service, and are planning on getting a digital converter box, should look for one that supports "Analog Pass-Through". This will allow you to use the converter to tune in digital broadcasts, or use the TV's tuner to continue receiving analog broadcasts.

The digital changeover may also affect cable subscribers, depending on the system you subscribe to, and here's why:

Right now most cable companies are sending out both digital and analog signals. If you don't have a cable box and plug your cable directly into an analog set, the TV's NTSC (analog) tuner searches out only the analog signals your cable provider is sending you, and displays them on the proper channel. You need a set top box to receive the digital channels.

If you plug that same cable directly into a new set with an NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner, you'll get all sorts of channels you didn't know about.That's because the cable companies have already begun the switchover to digital.The NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners in the new sets allow you to tune in both the analog and the digital channels, including some High Def programming, without a set top box. You won't get ESPN or any of the other high end channels in High Def, but you will get all your local affiliates.

QAM tuners are to cable what ATSC tuners are to antenna, they both allow you to receive digital signals. Here's a great explanation of QAM tuners.

Because the analog channels take up more bandwidth than digital, the cable companies need to dump them so that they will be able to send us more digital (both Standard and High Definition) channels. They're not under a mandate to switch, but they will. The only requirement the FCC has imposed on them is that they have to support customers with analog sets for 3 years. Here's the FCC's take on it.

The way they'll do this is to require analog users to purchase or rent a cable version of the digital converter. They've already begun ordering them from suppliers and are well on their way to turning off the analog channels. Check out the story here.

All right, here's the facts you need to know:

Analog TV sets that use an antenna for reception will continue to work after the changeover with a digital converter box. They run about $50 or $60 a piece and you can get two $40 coupons per household to be used towards the purchase at https://www.dtv2009.gov/. Be sure to get a converter box that supports analog pass-through.

Analog TV sets that are hooked up to a cable box will continue to work after the changeover with no issues.

Analog TV sets that are hooked up to cable without a box may continue to work for a while, but will all require some kind of box, sooner rather than later.

Digital TV sets with an antenna will continue to work . They should have an NTSC/ATSC (analog/digital) tuner so that you will be able to pick up any legacy analog stations as well as the new digital ones.

Digital TV sets with cable, with or without a box, will continue to work . To work without a box the set must have an NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner.

If you're gonna make the jump to a new TV, always look for a set with an NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner. It will give you the most flexibility. Beware of digital monitors, as they don't have any kind of tuner. Be sure to check out our HDTV buying guide on berryjooks.com for more info before you make a purchase.

Bear in mind that not all digital broadcasts are high def. Digital comes in 2 flavors, Standard Definition and High definition. The term digital is only a reference to how the signal is broadcast, not the picture quality, although standard definition is a cleaner signal than analog and will look better.

Also bear in mind that digital signals do not "travel" as well as analog signals, so antenna reception may not be good in your area, even if you were getting great reception of analog signals in the past.

Told you it was convoluted.

The only real casualty of the digital conversion is going to be the small battery operated TV's with analog tuners. Most people buy these little cheapos for power failures or camping, and there are no plans for a battery operated converter box. The FCC suggests getting a generator, I swear. You can read it here.

Stupid advice. If I had a generator, I wouldn't use it to power a converter box and a 5" TV, I'd just switch on one of my LCD's hooked up to rabbit ears. Hopefully, someone will tap into this niche market and release an affordable battery operated LCD with a digital tuner. There's a few out there now, but they're all around $200. It would be nice if the portable DVD player manufacturers would begin incorporating tuners into their products. My Dad used to really depend on his during Florida's hurricane season. Sometimes he would be without power for days.

So, you're either going to need a box or a new TV pretty much any way you look at it.

Here's how I plan to approach it. I have cable, both with and without boxes. I've already replaced two analog TV's with LCD's that have NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners, so they're all set. I won't replace the rest of my sets unless/until they die. For now they'll work fine on cable, and if that changes I plan on using a cable box. There needs to be better and cheaper models in the 20" and below range before I jettison the 20" and 14" flat tube analog TV's in our spare bedroom and workshop. Talk about missing out on a market.

I'm also going to purchase at least 1 digital converter through the coupon program. Sometimes the 14" comes outside with us. If the Sox are on Fox, an antenna will do the trick. It will also come in handy if the cable goes out.

Here's a decent review of whats available now for converters. So far I like the DTVPal the best. It has analog pass-through and a nice program guide, and it's a little sleeker in design than some of the others. I'm going to hold off for a while though, as more will be coming out and the coupons are a 1 shot deal and only good for 90 days.