Technology

Now that we have joined just about everyone in the world with HD-TV, and loving every moment of our TV viewing time, I began to think of how TV has evolved over my lifetime.

My first real memory of TV is watching the black and white TV that graced our living room on Clipper Lane in Falmouth. The TV console was huge, with a small screen in front, and a dial that you actually had to turn by hand. Seeing as I was the youngest and the one most able to squat on my legs in front of the TV, I was the channel switcher.

The picture was mostly blurry back then and if there was any wind or storm blowing the antenna, then your picture deteriorated to a snowy image. We actually had an antenna on the roof, so we didn’t have to move it around, but later in my life, I was given a small black and white TV and it used rabbit ears. Then it was the battle of getting those ears just right to receive a signal. I remember actually using tin foil on the ends of the ears to make the picture clearer.

The next TV my family had came about 1967, and it was our first color TV. We got a special rooftop antenna, and this TV had a larger screen (still small in comparison to today’s TV sets), and yet a smaller TV box. This still had a dial that had to be turned, but instead of just the standard channels, we had a second dial with UHF signals! Those new stations had start up TV channels that showed B movies and crappy TV shows, but to a 10 year old this was heaven! Seeing “The Wizard of Oz” in color for the first time, was a wonder to this child, that had only seen it in black and white!

I didn’t see too many changes in TV’s while in my 20’s or even my 30’s. We did get remote controls, better colorization, and I did begin to hear about digital TV and how soon they would switch everyone over to that. I laughed thinking that there were a lot of TV’s in the world and it would never happen.

When I reached the age of 51, the change from analog to digital TV DID happen! Fortunately our TV’s all had digital capabilities. However we had no HD-TV’s in the house.

That year, Sam’s Club had a big sale on HD-TV’s. Hubby and I went down and found a Vizio TV, 48 inches, that we liked, and that would fit the bill. So for Christmas that year, we bought it for each other.

We got it home and hooked it up to just the normal signals and we were amazed at the clarity, so we didn’t think about having the HD turned on.

We enjoyed Direct TV and their ability to show Tennis matches on several courts at the same time. That was until this August! The US Open started and I tuned into the multi-channel feed, and found that we no longer got it! Huh?

I called and learned that you had to have the HD Box and service to get the feed. I was not happy at all! After going back and forth we finally decided to do the upgrade to HD-TV. The service agent came yesterday and installed a new dish, a new receiver, brought new remote controls and gave us a class on HD-TV 101!

So what do I think of HD-TV now that it is installed and I can watch it? Wow! I can’t believe I dragged my feet for so long. What a marvelous picture! It is like I am sitting right there at the tennis match!

I never thought I would see this kind of technology in my lifetime. I think my grandmother, who loved her TV would be blown away with the new pictures this TV can give us. I sat in her arms, many a Saturday night, watching Lawrence Welk on her black and white TV.

Ah, technology! What a great thing!

Thinking of you Grandma Honey!