Times have sure changed since I was a teenager. Flashback to 1985 when I was 15. I would look forward to the weekend so that I could watch "Friday Night Videos". I would watch videos by artists such as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, etc. I would not see these videos anywhere else, so I "Had" to watch it that Friday night. During commercials, it was a battle royale to get to the bathroom, grab a drink, pop popcorn, etc. before the show came back on. We did not have cable TV. That would have at least given us MTV, which some of my friends had. When I'd go to their house, we would sit up all night watching music videos. I would usually record Friday night videos on a VCR tape to compensate for no MTV. I'd sit next to the TV and VCR so that I wouldn't miss one of my favorite songs.
Fast-forward to the present. Our lives are much easier now. I have one show every week that I "Have" to see. (hint... it's not Friday Night Videos)... It's The Office. I love this show. It makes me laugh out loud every week. Do I worry about missing it? Not really. I can set the TiVo to record all the episodes. This is handy because then I can watch it whenever, rewind it to hear a funny line again, and pause it whenever. If I'm watching live, I can pause live TV, go to the bathroom, get a Diet Coke, and pop some pop corn. I miss nothing. I come back, resume, and get to fast forward through all of that paid advertising.
Last week I missed the episode of The Office. So I actually went online and watched the whole episode at NBC.com. I could pause, rewind, but I could not get around the commercials. But you know what? I was OK with that. They paid for me to watch it free online. I know a lot more about the new Palm and 2009 Toyota line up. I'm good with that. Lastly, there is Red Box. How many of us on the way home Friday after work get the call from the wifey that goes like this.... "Hi Honey. I don't want to cook tonight. Can you pick something up? Also, do you want to grab a movie to watch after the kids go to bed?" That happens to me almost every Friday. So how convenient is it to have a Red Box at the McDonald's where you pick up the food? We have one at the local grocery store as well! So if I'm picking up some bread and a rotisserie chicken, I can grab a Red Box DVD all in ONE STOP! I love the one stop! And, being Mr. Cheapo that I am, I love me the $1 DVD rental. Long live Red Box. It's an amazing system... I hate the long lines... but did I mention ONE BUCK FOR THIS DVD RENTAL?
The cool thing about 2008 is that you can watch these programs or music videos with Mega-big, super-crystal-clear HDTVs with an awesome surround sound home theater system.... A tad bit better than the little TV with one mini-speaker that we huddled around at our place in 1985. Nowadays you do have more cables to choose from than just your composite RCA cables. This can be a challenge if you are setting up that dream machine of a home theater. You have Component Cables, HDMI Cables, DVI Cables, S-Video Cables, Toslink Cables, SPDIF Digital Coax Cables, SVGA Cables, and RG6 Coax Cables. You better make sure that all of your devices can talk to each other and have the same connections all the way through so your killer home theater doesn't fall short of what you're expecting.
So there you have it. In 1985 information and entertainment was harder to come by. You had to work at it. In 2008, it's everywhere. (So much so that it can make it hard to get your work done!) You have a variety of ways to watch your favorite TV program. You have a variety of ways to watch music videos. (MySpace.com, FaceBook.com, Youtube.com, etc. etc.) If you have a computer, it's out there.... Just like this blog. You don't pay a thing to read. Back in 1985 you had to buy a newspaper or magazine to read.
Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/
Fast-forward to the present. Our lives are much easier now. I have one show every week that I "Have" to see. (hint... it's not Friday Night Videos)... It's The Office. I love this show. It makes me laugh out loud every week. Do I worry about missing it? Not really. I can set the TiVo to record all the episodes. This is handy because then I can watch it whenever, rewind it to hear a funny line again, and pause it whenever. If I'm watching live, I can pause live TV, go to the bathroom, get a Diet Coke, and pop some pop corn. I miss nothing. I come back, resume, and get to fast forward through all of that paid advertising.
Last week I missed the episode of The Office. So I actually went online and watched the whole episode at NBC.com. I could pause, rewind, but I could not get around the commercials. But you know what? I was OK with that. They paid for me to watch it free online. I know a lot more about the new Palm and 2009 Toyota line up. I'm good with that. Lastly, there is Red Box. How many of us on the way home Friday after work get the call from the wifey that goes like this.... "Hi Honey. I don't want to cook tonight. Can you pick something up? Also, do you want to grab a movie to watch after the kids go to bed?" That happens to me almost every Friday. So how convenient is it to have a Red Box at the McDonald's where you pick up the food? We have one at the local grocery store as well! So if I'm picking up some bread and a rotisserie chicken, I can grab a Red Box DVD all in ONE STOP! I love the one stop! And, being Mr. Cheapo that I am, I love me the $1 DVD rental. Long live Red Box. It's an amazing system... I hate the long lines... but did I mention ONE BUCK FOR THIS DVD RENTAL?
The cool thing about 2008 is that you can watch these programs or music videos with Mega-big, super-crystal-clear HDTVs with an awesome surround sound home theater system.... A tad bit better than the little TV with one mini-speaker that we huddled around at our place in 1985. Nowadays you do have more cables to choose from than just your composite RCA cables. This can be a challenge if you are setting up that dream machine of a home theater. You have Component Cables, HDMI Cables, DVI Cables, S-Video Cables, Toslink Cables, SPDIF Digital Coax Cables, SVGA Cables, and RG6 Coax Cables. You better make sure that all of your devices can talk to each other and have the same connections all the way through so your killer home theater doesn't fall short of what you're expecting.
So there you have it. In 1985 information and entertainment was harder to come by. You had to work at it. In 2008, it's everywhere. (So much so that it can make it hard to get your work done!) You have a variety of ways to watch your favorite TV program. You have a variety of ways to watch music videos. (MySpace.com, FaceBook.com, Youtube.com, etc. etc.) If you have a computer, it's out there.... Just like this blog. You don't pay a thing to read. Back in 1985 you had to buy a newspaper or magazine to read.
Until next time
The Cable Guy
http://www.professionalcable.com/
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