Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Just a Litte Rant

DVR's and TiVo have ruined TV watching for me to some degree. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to fast forward through commercials and pause shows for bathroom breaks. However, because of this technology, station execs are scared viewers are not going to see commercials for new shows. So to remedy this, every channel now has little pop-ups to advertise other shows during the one you are watching. If this was discreet I could handle it, but it isn't. Often there is writing on the show you are watching that you want to read either subtitles or secret words, etc. But because of the pop-up, you can't read it.

Probably the worst channel for this is Logo. Before a pop-up, there is a little ball that bounces around the screen, making little pong sounds. Then the pop-up appears. Then the little ball goes back the other way, bouncing and ponging.

Between the product placement that now occurs on every show and the pop-ups, TV is not as enjoyable as it once was. I guess this is the price to pay for convenience.

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