Occasionally in life one has to tuck one’s tail between one’s legs and go skulking back. Saturday it was my day to do just that. In humiliation, I confess that I am no longer a cord-cutter. Why?
Not because I wasn’t getting the local stations well enough with my little $7 wonder of an antenna. I was pretty happy with its performance. Sure, occasionally weather or randomness would conspire to mess up a TV show, but my life doesn’t depend on that and I could accept it.
Not because I was dissatisfied with Windows Media Center as my DVR. I have a Tivo HD and have experience with DVRs from both Time Warner Cable and Comcast. WMC is by far the best interface for a DVR.
Was it unhappiness with XBMC as the portal to enough media to choke a horse? No, sir. The longer I use XBMC the happier I am.
I have at last conceded to cable company extortion for two reasons. First, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. No, I didn’t wake up with my HTPC mangled and hidden in my sheets. But for about $35 more than I was paying for internet they offered me digital cable. Second, they did this just as the floodgate of sappy Christmas movies on Hallmark were beginning to pour over the dam and the Steelers look to make the playoffs again.
There is a third reason as well. I wanted to play with the TW Cable app on my iPad. It streams some cable channels quite well but nothing local so it is more than a little disappointing. The guide doesn’t work either. It pops up a message to contact customer service which I’m pretty sure is an offer to stay on the line until they have a chance to upsell me while telling me that my app won’t work with the current DVR that they just installed.
Will I still be connected after the Super Bowl? Probably not. But at least when New York finds out there really is a Santa Claus and the Steelers are once again champions, I won’t have missed it.
