Local Stations - Please Fix Your HD Problem
I think it’s time to lighten up a little bit. After weeks of chastising politicians, including our Mayor and members of the state’s legislature, I should probably move on to other targets for at least a week or so.
The fact is, however, that my rant today is about a topic that actually greatly affects my daily life. Let’s face it, this weekly rant is all about me!
As many of you know, a few months ago I jumped into this century and bought myself a high-def television. I didn’t buy the biggest, or the most expensive, but I couldn’t be more pleased with Taylor the TV. The quality is amazing – one can see the individual blades of grass during a football game; the ageing lines of 40-something year old actresses who falsely believe they’re still getting it done; the ass pimples of otherwise hot porn stars. I even sat through five minutes of that awful CSI: Miami because of the beautifully captured background shots.
Unfortunately, our local television stations are doing their best to screw up a great thing. Any time that KELO or KDLT throws in a crawl screen or logo, their HD broadcast reverts back to the lo-fi format. This can get quite annoying, particularly this past weekend during the NCAA tournaments. Every few minutes this would occur, either to remind us that their awful news broadcast would be on another channel or just their silly little logo. This happens all the time, and Taylor has almost been injured many times.
KDLT’s problems are even worse. They just can’t decide if they want to broadcast in HD or not. Many times their prime time shows fluctuate back and forth throughout the telecast. I finally had enough and left them a nasty message a few weeks ago when “My Name Is Earl” started off in HD, then went lo-fi after the first commercial break before finishing up back in HD. C’mon, make up your mind!
Yet KDLT actually has two HD channels now. Some brain surgeon decided that it would be cool to have a 24-hour HD weather channel. C’mon! There are only a handful of open slots in the HD section of the cable dial, and I can think of quite a few better choices. Hell, NBC even has a few – MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo. Any of those would make sense; weather doesn’t. Particularly when KELO already has a non-HD weather channel. You just don’t need the extra quality to look at a map (although KELO’s LiteBrite would look pretty cool in high-def).
I bring this all up because we’re about to enter the part of the year where there’s a so-called storm somewhere in our area every single night. We all know that Cable-boy and Company just can’t wait for the first marathon coverage of a handful of clouds in the sky. My plea to them is simple – fix this problem! If I’m paying extra for HD, then the available programming should be in HD! I know the problem can be avoided – KSFY has no problems of this sort. When there were weather concerns during Monday Night Football games this past fall, KSFY just put a little logo in the upper corner of the screen instructing people to go to their regular channel for “breaking weather info”. The HD feed wasn’t broken, and people like me that don’t care that Miller, SD was getting a light dusting could continue to watch the game in peace. If KSFY can do this, there’s no reason why our pals at the other stations can’t do the same. No reason at all. Now back to watching Taylor Rain on Taylor the TV.
The fact is, however, that my rant today is about a topic that actually greatly affects my daily life. Let’s face it, this weekly rant is all about me!
As many of you know, a few months ago I jumped into this century and bought myself a high-def television. I didn’t buy the biggest, or the most expensive, but I couldn’t be more pleased with Taylor the TV. The quality is amazing – one can see the individual blades of grass during a football game; the ageing lines of 40-something year old actresses who falsely believe they’re still getting it done; the ass pimples of otherwise hot porn stars. I even sat through five minutes of that awful CSI: Miami because of the beautifully captured background shots.
Unfortunately, our local television stations are doing their best to screw up a great thing. Any time that KELO or KDLT throws in a crawl screen or logo, their HD broadcast reverts back to the lo-fi format. This can get quite annoying, particularly this past weekend during the NCAA tournaments. Every few minutes this would occur, either to remind us that their awful news broadcast would be on another channel or just their silly little logo. This happens all the time, and Taylor has almost been injured many times.
KDLT’s problems are even worse. They just can’t decide if they want to broadcast in HD or not. Many times their prime time shows fluctuate back and forth throughout the telecast. I finally had enough and left them a nasty message a few weeks ago when “My Name Is Earl” started off in HD, then went lo-fi after the first commercial break before finishing up back in HD. C’mon, make up your mind!
Yet KDLT actually has two HD channels now. Some brain surgeon decided that it would be cool to have a 24-hour HD weather channel. C’mon! There are only a handful of open slots in the HD section of the cable dial, and I can think of quite a few better choices. Hell, NBC even has a few – MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo. Any of those would make sense; weather doesn’t. Particularly when KELO already has a non-HD weather channel. You just don’t need the extra quality to look at a map (although KELO’s LiteBrite would look pretty cool in high-def).
I bring this all up because we’re about to enter the part of the year where there’s a so-called storm somewhere in our area every single night. We all know that Cable-boy and Company just can’t wait for the first marathon coverage of a handful of clouds in the sky. My plea to them is simple – fix this problem! If I’m paying extra for HD, then the available programming should be in HD! I know the problem can be avoided – KSFY has no problems of this sort. When there were weather concerns during Monday Night Football games this past fall, KSFY just put a little logo in the upper corner of the screen instructing people to go to their regular channel for “breaking weather info”. The HD feed wasn’t broken, and people like me that don’t care that Miller, SD was getting a light dusting could continue to watch the game in peace. If KSFY can do this, there’s no reason why our pals at the other stations can’t do the same. No reason at all. Now back to watching Taylor Rain on Taylor the TV.
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