About a week ago, I wrote a post about how I was going to spend a lot less time watching tv. I meant it.
So much so that I have just upgraded my home 'entertainment' system to a LCD HD TV and a PVR... with dual HD tuners.... and a 250Gb HD.... with wireless network access.... and 2 USB ports..... and DVD
This may sound like a strange investment for a man who isn't going to be spending much time watching television. But it's not, and allow me to try and convince you (and myself) why.
With this amazing device, I can time shift. Not in the physical being kinda way where the edges of reality are folded in on each-other, creating a seam in the time continuum, allowing past, present and future realities to converge at a single point in time. It aint that good. But I can pause television and then fast-forward it. Even better I can skip forward in time, flicking past advert after advert after election campaign after advert. I can fast-forward the 'news' from the past, selecting to view only those few stories which actually really matter. And I can do all this while recording another show in the now-future to watch sometime in the current-future once I have caught up with the past.
See, it makes perfect sense.
And then there's the many other benefits of having a HD unit with built-in hard-drive that is fully networked. None of which is to do with this sort of behaviour. No. Doesn't matter that free media sharing has been going on for years on video-tapes and audio cassettes, and no-one seemed too phased about it up until things went digital. And traceable. It's illegal.
The key points again:
- I can remove advertising from the few shows I actually do watch.
- I can remove gossip about the idolised and generally fucked up people the mainstream media choose to focus on.
- I can remove the irrelevant and unimportant completely from my house.
- I can access media files that are stored on my other networked devices, and vice-versa.
- I reduce the amount of time I spend watching television by now having the freedom to choose what it is that I view and cutting out all the remaining bullshit.
The LCD TV was for just because.
Songs played while writing this entry:
"The Now Current Past" Beyonwiz
