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Goodbye, Comcast - or How I Learned to Love the Internet

13.06.2009
Are you ready for the digital upgrade? According to Nielsen, 2.5 percent of the U.S. populace isn't. That works out to about 2.8 million people whose screens could go dark today. Statistics I see in reports and on the news tell me that "Younger, African American and Hispanic homes are disproportionately unready." They forgot to mention another demographic: stubborn nerds who are fed up with how Comcast handles cable's version of the analog-to-digital transition.

Like me. I'm a TVholic. I have a Media Center PC, with three digital tuners. I have a couple terabytes of storage for the stuff I record. I stream out shows to my Xbox 360 and PS3. I should be psyched for the digital upgrade, right?

Wrong.

This is more of a personal story of how I'm fighting back against being forced to:

(a) Use a crummy cable-provided tuner box with an interface ripped off from a third-grader's crayon drawing of how a ReplayTV worked.

(b) Sift through "riveting" channels that cater to underwater basketweavers just so I can watch the three shows I want to see.