On Wednesday, September 10, the Federal Communications Commission approved a package of standards designed to make digital televisions compatible with a wide range of digital and high definition cable television programs. The "plug and play" agreement will allow consumers to connect digital televisions directly into cable systems, without a set-top-box.
Wish your satellite or digital cable-TV provider offered more high-definition channels, or maybe just a better picture? Take heart: now rolling out, VERIZON FiOS TV delivers more than 350 standard-def channels as well as 20-plus high-def ones. FiOS TV - that's Fiber Optic Service - is already available in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and Texas.
Just ask anyone who's spent any amount of time watching a high-definition TV - it's addictive. Maybe it's the seductive picture or the cinemalike sound, but the half-dozen HDTV channels I had available until recently were about the only ones I regularly watched - even though there were hundreds of standard-definition channels I could have tuned in.
Before premium cable channels like HBO began appearing 30 years ago, you were more likely to have a bowl of waxed fruit atop your TV than a black box that changed channels.
I'm a huge fan of the video hard-disk recorders (HDRs), also known as digital video recorders (DVRs), that have revolutionized the TV viewing habits of millions. As the ads say, you can watch what you want when you want. But the options for time-shifting high-definition programs have been limited.
