Free At Last...

Free, Oh Lord, we’re free at last. These were the words heard to echo through Klinger Towers when it was belatedly announced that the British were to get three or four free to air High Definition TV channels next year some time.

In the UK, since Thatcher we have become used to never getting anything for free that we could possibly pay for. Some people call that the marketplace, I call it silly. A civilized country needs some infrastructure that works efficiently and for the benefit of all its citizens. Some might limit this to education, health, welfare, defence and roads, but others, like myself, would include my television and technological link needs. What’s the point of my purchasing the very best computers in the world if the broadband link isn’t fast enough? That should be something that our government makes certain is the best that the world can provide.

In the UK there is a great deal of confusion and rubbish talked about High Definition television. This is one of those areas of technology where Asia and America are ahead and seem not to suffer the same kind of pain and anguish.

In the States, where you know I spend a great deal of time, they already have programming made available by broadcasters, free of charge, to those users who have sets ready for HD.

Not so in the UK. The first broadcasters who launched this service a year or so back, were Sky, part owned and controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s mighty News Corporation, that also owns some other little bits and pieces like Fox TV, and Twentieth Century Fox etc. Sky are launched with a nifty set top box to enable “HD Ready” sets to show their broadcasts in HD, well sort of HD, which I shall explain later.

Sky are charging £10 per month (about $20) per home in the UK for this service, yes, the same service that in America our cousins across the pond get for free!

To make matters even worse this is not even full High Definition television. The sets on sale in the UK are HD ready, and this means that they are able to show about one million pixels on the screen. This is a whole lot better than they are presently, but actually about half of what true HD is, which is about two million pixels. Do you think Sky might decide to decrease their monthly charge to £5?

It actually does get a bit worse still. We purchased this service and settled back to be astonished. I can’t say we are over impressed. Yes, I can see the hairs on the hands of the sports commentators, and the lines on the faces of the botox free, older ladies. Yes, it’s true that I can now see the faces in the crowds of the sports events, but now that I can I am able to confirm that I never wanted to anyhow. In the nature broadcasts I can more readily discern the animals being killed and eaten, which I could do without. Maybe the answer is to watch HD without my glasses on?

While I am having a gripe I want to add that Skype, the best voice over internet protocol that I have experienced is not understood by many people. A couple of facts I want to help spread around whilst promising you I have no shares in that company.

Anyone can download Skype onto either their PC or Mac for free. You can then make free calls to other Skype users, and there are many millions of them. You can “ring” non Skype users on any phone anywhere in the World for the price of a cheap rate local call. Why aren’t you already on Skype?