The information superhighway is not a freeway

With more and more of us using our home computers to surf the web and send email, pictures, pay bills and watch TV, there has been an explosion in the demand for broadband Internet connections. The term “broadband connection” is used to define a variety of high speed connections to the Internet. The definition of “high speed” is somewhat arbitrary but basically refers to any connection other than a standard phone line and modem.

In ancient times, i.e. five years ago, most of us used phone lines and a simple modem for connecting to the Internet. A modem is a device that lets your computer “talk” to other computers. These old connections were limited to relatively low speeds because the telephone lines used were not designed to handle anything else. For example using my old telephone modem, it would have taken about 3 minutes to download from the Internet the complete text (no pictures) of the King James Version of the Bible. Today, with a standard broadband connection available from the phone company or your local cable company, that same text could be received in about 4 – 10 seconds.

While most of us don’t send and receive large documents rivaling the size of the Bible, we do send and receive files that are even larger. For example, one high quality photograph when converted to a computer file can be as large as or larger than the file containing the Bible. So sending Johnny’s birthday shots “over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house” via your computer will take a long time if you don’t have a broadband connection.

There is also a steep increase in the amount of video programming available via the Internet. For example my station, CET, has more than 400 programs available for watching on your computer on its service. Video is a ravenous consumer of Internet bandwidth and if you don’t have a broadband connection, forget about even trying to view live video.

For those of us in the Harrison area we have two choices of broadband suppliers. We can go with Cincinnati Bell and purchase ZoomTown® which uses a technology called DSL. (Don’t worry what DSL stands for) There are various levels of ZoomTown® available but most provide a minimum of 1.5 megabits per second, which will give you the Bible in about 5 seconds.

The other option is to contract with your cable company. Time Warner Cable offers RoadRunner®. This service uses the same connection that carries your Cable TV programming to your home. When you come down to it there is very little difference in the two offerings. Cincinnati Bell will tell you that they provide a dedicated circuit right to your house while with the cable company you are “sharing” a connection with your neighbors. Who cares? What is important is that it works, is affordable and gives you speed adequate for your needs. Both services do that. Both are similarly priced after you factor out the introductory discounts.

The "vista" might look better under the tree

My dad was a very smart man and often gave me some very good advice about many things in life. One bit of advice related to automobiles. Back then in the 60’s GM and Ford introduced new models about as often as some of us get a haircut. When a new model came out my dad was quick to opine, “Wait till they get the bugs out. The old car gets you there, doesn’t it?” Well I think my dad’s advice is very appropriate relating to the introduction of the new Microsoft operating system, Windows® Vista ™

The operating system in any computer tells all those microprocessors, disk drives, printers and scanners what to do. It also serves as a sort of translator, taking your mouse clicks and keystrokes and turning them into actual instructions that the simple-minded machine can understand.

If you are a PC user there is no doubt that Vista™ will be the operating system that you will eventually have. The big question is when. Here are a few observations about when to change.

- Unless you are a real geek (and if you are you won’t be reading this) don’t upgrade you current computer to Vista™. While some claim that upgrading is as simple as putting in a CD and pressing “Enter”, experience suggest otherwise. The hardware requirements, memory size and program compatibility issues are not worth the hassle.

- Ask yourself if you really need Vista™ right now. If you use your computer for Internet surfing and email as well as word processing and perhaps bill paying, the computer you currently have most likely can serve you well for a few more years. Microsoft still supports Windows® XP™ so you don’t have to make a decision now. After all they just recently quit supporting Window ® 98™.

- If you do buy a new PC you will no doubt not have a choice as they are now being shipped with Vista™ already loaded. You will however need to decide what version you want and need. Vista™ comes in six basic “flavors.” Three of these are aimed at the home user. They are Vista Ultimate™, Vista Home Premium™ and Vista Home Basic™. Don’t bother with the Basic “plain vanilla flavor”. It doesn’t offer enough benefits to justify the change. Unfortunately many of the lower priced new machines will come with this Basic version because the hardware is just at the minimum level needed to run Vista™.

- Don’t presume that all the programs that you now have on your current machine will run on the new one. While Microsoft has tried to make sure this backward compatibility issue is addressed, some programs, especially those that handle security issues and spam filters don’t play well with Vista™

From what I have gathered, Vista™ should be an improvement over the current versions of Windows®. Unfortunately, history tells us that it may take a few tweaks to get it right even after the first copies shipped. So perhaps that new computer with Vista™ installed will look better under the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree next December.

Déjà vu All Over Again …

Borrowing from that American icon, Yogi Berra, let’s see if we “can observe a lot by watching” the wars between the Blue Ray DVD™ and HD-DVD™ formats. These are the new very high capacity DVD formats that allow for real High Definition quality. As more and more of us buy HD sets, HD DVDs are coming to the market. Up until now a DVD might have offered you a wide-screen picture and very good video, but it was not real high definition. Enter these two non-compatible formats. If you think this sounds familiar your right. You might remember the Betamax™ vs. VHS wars back in the late 1970’s. The two formats slugged it our for a few years with VHS ultimately winning, causing many consumers to end up with a Betamax™ machine but little programming to play on it.

I have been asked which one to buy. Right now my advice is to wait unless you want to pay lots of money for a machine that might not be supported in the future. In early January the annual Consumer Electronics Show took place in Los Vegas. This is one of the largest trade shows in the world. I had hoped to see some clarification of which format would “win.” I was interested in seeing which new machines were featured and more important, which format the big movie studios and video distributors would choose. Right now it is close to a 50/50 proposition with about the same number of movies available in each format.

Some of the manufactures of High Definition DVD machines are hedging their bets and have decided that they will offer machines that will play both formats. These machines are very pricey. Some of the movie studios are offering a single DVD disc with the movie encoded in both Blue Ray DVD™ and HD-DVD™ formats. I think this is a temporary “fix” as this radically limits the amount of material that can be crammed onto a single disc. Who wants to change to a second disc in the middle of a movie?

Right now there are large companies lining up behind each format with Apple, Panasonic and more recently Sony in the Blue Ray™ camp and Microsoft, Toshiba and NEC siding with HD-DVD™.

So my best advice again comes from old Yogi. "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Seriously, unless you really, really, really “need” the newest HD toy and are willing to pay a premium price, wait!

Aunt Emily's TV

Right after the Super Bowl telecast and right before March Madness in 2009, all US television stations will cease analog over-the-air broadcasting. That’s right, about two years from now, on February 17, 2009, all US TV stations will turn off their analog transmitters. It is interesting but not surprising to note that a new study by CBS found that less than 30% of the population is aware of the FCC's drop dead date for analog television. Is that a problem? Well most likely not.

For many viewers this promises to be a non-event. For those of us with cable or direct satellite service, that’s currently about 75-80% of all US households and growing, it won’t matter. In fact you may already be receiving digital signals on your analog TV from your cable or satellite provider and you are watching them quite satisfactorily on your trusty 25 year old TV. That is because the cable or satellite provider’s set top box makes the conversion for you … Digital signal in …Analog signal out.

So why are we doing this? The governments in the US and in most of the rest of the world decided to upgrade to all digital TV systems in order to open up more broadcast “real estate.” In the US it is being phased in over a period beginning in the early 2000s and ending for us in 2009. The new digital system allows for a much more efficient use of the public airwaves. With devices from garage door openers to cell phones to wireless door bells all vying for the finite supply of radio frequencies, the end of TV broadcasting on local channels 5, 9,12, 19, 48 and 64 will free up a tremendous amount of valuable vacant “broadcasting real estate.” The Federal Government has already begun auctioning off the resource. Companies like Verizon, AT&T and others have great plans for mobile Internet access on devices in cars, in pockets and on wrists throughout the country. All of this depends on a robust supply of available radio spectrum.

In 2009, when analog over-the-air broadcasting ceases, it is true that your old TV will no longer be able to “tune in” over-the-air the digital signals, but there promises to be inexpensive adapters available that will convert the over-the-air digital signals to signals that your old TV can handle. Some of us old timers remember the UHF converters of the 50s and 60s. Same idea. In fact Congress is considering a program that will provide vouchers toward the purchase of these converters.

So for most of us the availability cable or satellite providers, inexpensive adapters and the steady increased rate of sales of new digital sets should alleviate any problems in watching our favorite programs. So don’t throw away that black & white “Philco” TV your aunt Emily gave you for your dorm room back in ‘78. Your grand kids will get a kick out of it.