HD Hot Sauce, now available in the UK!
My dear friend Danny — my longtime partner in International TV Exchange crime — recently forked out for a complete overhaul of his home theater, the centerpiece of which is now a spanking new 50-inch plasma hi-def set.
The thing is, since Danny lives in Oxford (you know, that Inspector Morse place), he’s got nothing to watch in actual HD until late May, when Sky Digital are scheduled to drop round and install the new HD receiver. I think actual bona fide HD broadcasting is due the following day. He’s practically running up the walls, waiting to really put his new plasma baby to the test, and I can’t blame him his impatience.
I remember when I first got my HD set way back in 2001. I’d had an HD DirecTV receiver for ever (since 1998), but was downconverting to a standard definition 16×9 set. But, thanks to a location here in Los Angeles too close to the hills, I actually had no local reception of HD channels (excepting NBC), seriously limiting my selection, when I did finally put myself in debt for my 34-inch direct display. Now, of course, DirecTV offers four of the locals and a growing number of other HD channels, so thankfully my days in the wilderness are behind me.
But regardless of my early limited choices, HDTV has become such an integral part of the viewing process that I can’t imagine living without it. It’s kind of like going back to Bud Light after trying English pub ale. And, of course, how could we endure watching DVDs off anything but a progressive-scan, anamorphic display? Perish the thought.
And now it would seem that our friends in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have now, also, seen the light. It looks like tons of UEFA football matches are going to switch to HD basically immediately, and unlilke the feeble, disinterested, sloth-like growth of programming that occurred in the US, it would seem that UK HD availability is going to debut with a bang and not a whimper. I’m chuffed to bits for my friend, and also a little wistful, because once HD enters your life, you can never go back again.
Danny has put some photos chronicling his epic undertaking here. They’re quite fun.