My in-laws’ standard definition (SD) TV (along with some other electronic equipment) was damaged by a power surge during a thunderstorm over the summer. They used their insurance money to buy a very nice Sony Bravia 40-inch LCD HDTV. I was very excited for them and, as usual, I helped them hook everything up.
There is only one problem. They do not receive any HD programming. I partly blame Verizon for this. Soon after they bought the TV, they switched from Comcast to Verizon. When the tech came over to hook them up, he didn’t even offer them an HD cable box for the TV. I find that awfully surprising.
What’s even worse is that for the SD content, they configured the TV to stretch the 4:3 picture to fill the 16:9 screen because my mother-in-law does not like the vertical black bars. While Sony has some fancy algorithm to stretch the picture without distorting it too much, it’s still not natural looking. This just drives me absolutely crazy.
Every time I see my in-laws, I ask them if they’ve called Verizon to upgrade the cable box to an HD box. Every time we have the same discussion:
- They ask me if it’s really necessary.
- I explain why HD is better than SD and how SD content actually looks worse on an HDTV than on an SDTV.
- My father-in-law seems to get onboard and helps me convince my mother-in-law.
- I tell them that it will cost them about $10 more per month to rent the HD cable box.
- I tell them that HD is the right way to go for their TV and they agree (probably just to shut me up).
- They promise to call Verizon the next day.
Invariably the next time I see them, it pains me to discover that they have not called Verizon and we have the same conversation all over again.
It’s a waste of a TV if you ask me. I have a perfectly good 32″ SDTV that I’d be happy to give them in exchange for their HDTV. I have offered up this trade to them and they think I’m nuts. They don’t want to give me their *new* HDTV in exchange for my 32″ SDTV. On paper, it doesn’t seem like a fair trade. However, for the content they receive, the 32″ SDTV would actually be better for them. Seriously, if they are only interested in SD content, the 32″ SDTV would give them a bigger, clearer picture. I’m really just trying to be helpful.
What’s funny is that I constantly try to make analogies to get my in-laws to understand how they are not taking advantage of their TV. Here are some examples:
- It’s like buying a dining room table that seats 20 when you only have 4 chairs.
- It’s like buying a fancy clothes drier, but you still hang your laundry outside to dry.
- It’s like taking a picture of the Mona Lisa with your cell phone, blowing it up to full size, hanging it on your wall and trying to convince me that it looks as good as the original.
- It’s like having a freezer with an ice maker and still using the ice trays that you fill with tap water (which they actually do because there wasn’t a water line close enough to their fridge).
- It’s like installing an electric fence when you don’t have a pet.
- It’s like buying a sports car with a Turbo engine and always driving on windy, country roads.
- It’s like buying a riding lawn mower when you only have a tenth of an acre.
- It’s like buying snow tires for your car when you live near the equator.
- It’s like buying Microsoft Office when all you really need is WordPad.
I’ll admit that it does seem like I would be taking advantage of my in-laws if I actually convinced them to trade their HDTV for my SDTV, but it’s not like I didn’t try to educate them many times. I’m sure they are starting to get annoyed with me. If they don’t take my advice, what am I supposed to do — just let the TV sit there being underused?
Basically, they have this awesome TV, but they aren’t letting it be awesome. It’s a crime against technology. I would give it a good home. I would care for it and give it a steady diet of HD content. It would be a happy TV in my house.
I just feel like I need to rescue the TV. It’s being abused by having to display distorted SD content. Oh, the humanity! I need to start an organization to fight this abuse as I’m sure it is a global epidemic: People for the Ethical Treatment of Technology (PETT). Who’s with me?!?