Wednesday, May 6, 2009

so much for technology....

i remember eight years ago one of my brothers was really excited about the conversion of analog to digital tv. come to think of it my 96 year old great uncle was also looking forward to it. as for me... ive been dreading it. a year ago i got the darn government issue $40 coupon so i bought the $65 gadget for $25. i had tried to hook it up at the time, but it was more complicated than i had anticipated. i was able to hook it up to my tv but not my vcr. yes i know im living in the dark ages. i dont have cable or tivo. i do have a dvd player.
anyway, today i decided to suck it up and try to hook up the tv/digital converter/vcr. what a debacle. it took me several hours to do so. finally i looked in my low tech circa 2004 vcr manual which told me how to record with a vcr if you have a cable box. success! i did a test run and was able to record. yes i know i can watch missed shows online , but its much more fun to watch tv on an actual tv.
i was perfectly happy with my analog tv. ive always had a good antenna on my tv.sometimes the upgrades of technology arent really better. i like the fact dvds are smaller than videos, but i like how you can pause a video and come back to it a few days later without the hassle of a dvd. i prefer the reception of a landline phone over a cell phone and books over the kindle. i do admit that i like reserving and renewing library books online. to me it is just on e of life's little pleasures. i cant imagine typing with an old fashioned manual typewriter instead of a computer.
well, i think im safe technologically for a little while now.... until they think of something new EVERYONE just has to have.

6 comments:

Cacti Don't Cry said...

What, wait. You CAN record on a VCR even with this stupid analog converter box??

Talmudist said...

Pretty cool that you have a VCR. I still can't figure out how to set the time on that thing.

frum single female said...

cacti- yes it is possible to record on a vcr with the digital converter. but it took me four hours to get there. i used the red, yellow white connnector that came with the converter and connected it to the converter and to the vcr. on my vcr its in the front. when i plugged them in the vcr registered L2 in the channel section. its kind of like hooking up a dvd player to a tv or a cable box(so im told).you have to say that the channel you are recording on your vcr is L2 and you have to leave the converter box on . you also have to have the tv on the actual station you want to record. another fun fact is that the converter box has an auto off button . i didnt know what that meant until i went to view the program i had recorded. on the recording up popped a button saying i had to press a button or the converter box would automatically turn off. which it did of course. you can turn off the auto off .

frum single female said...

talmudist- thanks. vcrs in general arent so hard to set, its just that every time i would get a new one they would become so much more technologically advanced that it would take me a few minutes to figure them out. in any event nothing trumps how hard it is to try to figure out how to connect the vcr to the converter box so it records.

Dude with hat (aka BTS) said...

There are things which make life easier for ones and harder for others. For example I can't imagine living four years ago without cell phone but I can't make notes on computer or phone - it has to be always on paper so I always lose them.

Ookamikun said...

Get DSL and download whatever you want to watch or watch online. If you really want tv, you can get a usb hd tuner for under $100.