Primetime on the PC

My television while growing up, like everyone, was the old CRT box that was black and came with the pair of rabbit ears that linked you to the rest of the outside world, so help it if you decided to stay inside during the 90’s. Those of you who are as old as I am or older will understand this. My television was a whopping 13”s and I grew up on the the classics of Roseanne, All in the family, Martin, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hercules, Xena, Star Trek (Voyager, The Next Generation, The Original Series), and I Love Lucy. PBS and it’s awesome British Programming goes without saying.

After several moves I had stopped watching television all together. Six years I am able to say that during the time I had gotten by without the programming of the media world. When returning to the big city I began to hear by word of mouth some great shows that really seemed to be unbelievable. Spending your high school years out in the middle of no where and you desired any kind of entertainment DVD’s became the greatest filler of the deafening nights of a ranch. I considered myself to be a movie buff. Now I like to pick the quality programming of choice that I can keep up with on a weekly or seasonal basis.

I own two LCD High Def TV’s that can punch out a fair amount of quality in those 1080p resolution. Old habits die hard as I can not even receive the local stations. Which is a very calming feeling mentally when you think about it. If you are reading this, please do think about it because I have no idea what that really means. Either way I have stuck with the traditional DVD, now Blu Ray, and the occasional TV on home video niche.

I remember over fifteen years ago when VHS was king. Owning a television series on home video was something of a novelty. It was really expensive to own just one season and really hard to even find the “box set” unless you went to specialty stores. This is when box set actually meant a box set as the ten to fifteen VHS tapes are bundled together in a slightly thicker than cardboard box that held the tapes together in order to spell out something clever like the logo with the show’s stars or banners on the side. Owning TV and Movies on the home video medium today is so easy and affordable that it is mind blowing to be able to think back to an age when owning your favorite season of a hospital or science fiction show would really make your home video collection go BOOM from setting it down next to the Entertainment center.

Watching television for me is all done on the PC. If the codec is compatible and able to be shared, I am able to place it on the Playstation 3 for my viewing pleasure. Because of the internet and the television station’s websites that allow broadcasting of their material, programs are easy to come by and I couldn’t be happier. I live a busy lifestyle and it is wonderful to carry around a preferred entertainment on a variety of platforms that most middle class citizens have, arguably, too much of.

With the further advancement of technology and give it’s rate of speed I have become an advocate of the digital age. I still purchase a few special DVDs of shows that I like. The large wall of DVDs I have collected over the years have all been sold and have been backed up to hard disk for a more future proof solution. Granted that Blu Ray is the accepted medium of high definition for the time being, I do purchase the occasional Blu Ray if the film/show is of good enough quality to warrant a purchase. Anyone who sees the lack of creativity and the cash ins of today’s Hollywood knows that this trail and error of what is worthy of a purchase isn’t too hard to do these days.