Turns out there has been some trouble of late in the parallel universe that is HDTV, in which I remain an alien.
Verizon's FiOS TV had a shortage of HD set-tops and DVRs for a chunk of winter, causing a backlog of orders. Now that the NCAA Tournament and baseball season are upon us . . . how is that going?
"We started to get new inventories of HD boxes earlier this month and we’ve been fulfilling orders for new customers,'' a Verizon spokeswoman wrote. "As our inventories continue to build, we will fill any back orders that we’ve placed for some customers during the temporary shortage. Motorola has been a great partner to us in expediting the delivery of HD boxes."
Why not just get rid of the backlog in order rather than giving new orders a priority? A spokeswoman wrote, "Getting boxes to new customers will disrupt the least number of people" and promised again back orders will be filled as quickly as possible.
Cablevision, meanwhile, sent out a news release Tuesday reminding one and all its HD boxes are ready for March Madness, and that it charges no extra fee for them.
I do not have an official position on cable vs. phone companies vs. satellite for general TV service. I have Cablevision mostly for professional reasons, as it is the company used by the largest portion of my readers.
My LI-based print readers, anyway. You're still out there, right?
I do have a strong official position on DVRs, though. I have TiVo on one TV and a Cablevision DVR on the other. The former is superior, but Cablevision's version does make it easier to tape one show and watch another.