Is this the Demise of the Cable Companies

Whew, it’s been a couple of tough weeks for the cable companies, in particular Comcast.

• First, DirecTV’s launching of 47 High Definition channels along with the promise to launch another 50 or so by years end.

• J.D Powers released a survey recently ranking DirecTV as “Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Satellite/Cable TV Subscribers” in three out of the four regions of the continental United States.

• A disgruntled consumer launches a website called, Comcastmustdie.com.

• Or how about the little old lady who took a hammer to her local cable company office and went ballistic! (see Taking a Whack Against Comcast)

Major, big-time OUCH!

I guess I am not all that surprised. We all have a cable horror story or twenty to tell. (Note to self, do a blog on my cable horror story.) It seems that with all the emphasis on good customer service these days, customer satisfaction in the cable industry is not getting much better. Being in the custom installation business we are installing new high definition TV’s daily. This means that our customers are upgrading their cable service to the High Definition tier. I have never heard the level of customer dissatisfaction I am hearing from my customers lately. Just this week I had a customer tell me that her cable company in Rhode Island does not have standard High Definition cable boxes with HDMI connections. The only way she could get an HDMI connection on her high Definition box was to get the box with the DVR capability and she would need to pay $10.00 a month for the service even though she doesn’t want the service. She reluctantly decided to accept the non-HDMI High Definition box. Then she was told she had to pay a $50.00 installation fee. She asked if she could pick it up and have her custom installer hook it up since he was going to be installing her new TV anyway and customer service rep said they did not have these in the office, they were only on the trucks and she would need to make an appointment so the cable technician could install it. She can’t wait for Verizon FIOS to come to her town, and it will.

It’s time for the cable companies to change their culture. Competition is here, customer service is still king and not just a popular buzz phrase anymore. Consumers are fighting back not only with purchasing power but with new tools like the internet. So is this the demise of the cable companies? I for one truly hope not, but I do hope that it is a real call to action for all cable TV providers to get their act together and listen to the drumbeat.

I Want My Digital Freedom

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has brought its first music file sharing lawsuit to trial against a consumer and won. What may be seen as a victory by some is more likely to be seen by most consumers as an assault on their digital freedoms. After all, many of us lived through a time where making a copy of a record, cassette tape or a VHS copy of a movie for personal use was common practice. I personally had always made a backup copy of my music in case my tapes or CD’s were stolen. I also made a copy to keep my original in pristine condition while my copy took the abuse of traveling in my car. Well according to the RIAA’s lawyers this is illegal too.

For those of you who have not heard, the RIAA successfully prosecuted a woman for sharing over 1700 songs on KAZAA the now defunct file sharing service. She was fined $222,000. The RIAA has notified approximately 26,000 consumers that they have been implicated in illegal music file sharing. Most consumers are settling with the RIAA for $2000 - $3000. This was the first consumer that chose to fight the charges in court.

I fully support copyright protection for the artist. File sharing does take potential earning from artists who deserves to be duly compensated for their work. What I do have an issue with is the RIAA’s archaic methods of dealing with the issue. File sharing is not going away and is in fact it is increasing year after year. The recording industry is losing billions of dollars in potential sales because they are not staying ahead of technology not because of the relatively small amount of file sharing. They choose to alienate the music buying consumers they should be trying to convince to buy their products. The recording industry needs to make it extremely easy and inexpensive for consumers to procure their products. One of the recording industry largest, Universal, has embarked on a DRM free experiment.
Another innovative idea is gaining some traction. It is called Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing. The idea has been put forth by the Electronics Frontier Foundation. This link will take you their site which explains their very innovative proposal which I believe would benefit all parties involved. The consumer would pay a very small fee to freely download music, the recording industry and the artist would be fairly compensated for their products. If you care about your digital rights and the right of artists this is an effort you should get behind. Consumers unite and spread the good word. Last time I checked the customer was still king.

What is CEDIA?

In our Podcast this week we talk about CEDIA and its annual Expo which just wrapped up last week. For the sake of full disclosure, Home Genius has been a CEDIA member since 2000. For those of you that have not heard of CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association), it is the custom electronic industry’s trade association. CEDIA’s mission is to hold its members to the highest professional standards by educating & certifying its members.

The annual Expo serve as a trade show as well as an educational and certification opportunity for its members. This year’s Expo set an attendance record with over 29,000 attendees, a notable figure in light of a somewhat depressed housing market.

For the consumer, CEDIA provides valuable resources when trying to select a Custom Installation Professional. One valuable tool is the finder and referral service.
It is available online: http://www.cedia.net/homeowners/finder.php

For the home owner it is always a concern when looking for a contractor that is trustworthy, reliable and knowledgeable. The CEDIA finder and referral service helps take the risk and guesswork out of this decision. Another helpful online resource is a library of articles designed to answer some of the questions that homeowners have with regard to home electronics and installation services. http://www.cedia.net/homeowners/articles.php

Here are some links to the CEDIA Expo reviews:
http://www.cepro.com/article/the_complete_cedia_expo_wrap_up_products_news_and_more/

http://hometheater.about.com/od/ontheroadatcedia/ig/Best-Of-CEDIA-2007/index.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/sep07/09-05CEDIAInstallersPR.mspx

The Wide World of Wireless Technology

Where would our lives be without Wireless technologies? How could we survive if we could not surf the web while having a latte in our favorite coffee hangout? I know I certainly would not. But seriously, when one look at where we are and where we are going, it is pretty impressive.

BlueTooth

BlueTooth wireless technology is a short-range communications technology intended to replace the cables connecting portable and/or fixed devices. It is sometimes referred to as a Personal Area Network or PAN. Applications are growing for this popular technology. BlueTooth cell phone headsets and computer printers are the more well known applications. More recent applications include gaming consoles and barcode scanners. One of the more interesting applications I have heard of is called Bluedildonics. go to http://www.thetoy.us/ for more titillating info.

Wireless Local Area Networks

Popularly known as Wi-Fi and WLAN, the tech jargon is 802.11b,g or n. The terms are used interchangeably for wireless networking within a home. In the recent past The Home Genius Guys were not recommending wireless computer networking in the home because the speeds were significantly reduced compared to a good old hardwired connection. That may still be somewhat true but with the maturation of wireless modems, namely “wireless N” we are seeing some pretty incredible speeds, providing “very good” signal strength can be maintained throughout the home’s footprint. This may not be necessary if you are just surfing the internet or VPNing into work but if you are streaming high definition content around your house it is huge! The increased popularity of streaming entertainment media around the house demands bandwidth and throughput and the only way to reliably accomplish this is to employ “wireless N” technology.

Wi-Max

The Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances. I consider Wi-Max to be an up and comer. It has great promise but seems to be slow in taking off. The best use seems to be providing internet access over a very wide area. The State of Rhode Island has a pilot Wi-Max network called the Rhode Island Wireless Initiative Network (RI-WINS). Rhode Island would be the first to have a statewide Wi-Max network. Being the smallest state in the union certainly makes this feasible. Unfortunately, current budget constraints has put the project on the shelf. Tying together several Wi-Fi hotspots is also a plausible application. Probably the most useful application would be for areas of the world that do not have the telecommunications infrastructure that much of the developed world enjoys. If you had to start from scratch, certainly a Wi-Max infrastructure would be much more cost effective than a conventional infrastructure. Look for Wi-Max to gain more support and find its way into more applications in the near future.

GPS

Global Positioning Satellite has been around for quite a long time. Originally it was used exclusively for the military and the merchant marine industry. It found its way into the recreational boating industry and now here is an explosion in the mobile tracking market. Cell phones and automobiles are the most popular of the mobile GPS devices. My favorite application, Gold Course tracking. Prices are dropping so fast that I expect to be seeing more new and innovative uses for GPS. A new GPS chip was recently introduced that will work indoors with much more accurate tracking. Wouldn’t this be great to have when trying to find something in a Home Depot or Mega Wal-Mart?

How big should my screen be?

This is a common question that is asked lately because screen sizes have increased dramatically in recent years. It is not uncommon for plasmas and LCD TVs to be offered in 60" to 65" models and even larger. With front projection systems becoming less expensive and more popular, theatre screens easily range from 84" to 120" providing an incredible cinema-like experience.

So what is the definitive answer?

In this “super size me” world that we live in, bigger is not always better. The general rule of thumb is to measure from the screen surface to the seating area. Take this measurement and divide by two. That is the maximum size that you should consider for a screen size or the image will begin to appear grainy. For example, if you have a 50” plasma, you should be seated at least 100” away. This is because you will actually be able to differentiate between pixels. Pixels are the individual points of color that a screen displays. There are millions of pixels in a typical display and the more pixels you have, the better the resolution.

Often times during the discussion of screen size, another question arises. How high should I mount my new flat panel TV or cinema screen? The optimum height will put the center of the display at eye level. Keeping in mind that most people are slightly reclined when watching TV, that places the center of the display at approximately 48” to 50”. Bedroom TVs are typically mounted higher because we are typically lying in bed while viewing. Because many flat panels are mounted over fireplaces, we often find TVs mounted higher than this standard but somehow the look of a flat panel over a fireplace makes it easy to ignore the standard height.

Remember that all of these measurements are rules of thumb to maximize your viewing experience. If you really want that ‘next size up’ or you ‘gotta have’ it over the fireplace, don’t be afraid to push the envelope a little bit. After all, we shouldn’t be super sizing our fries at the drive thru either but it sure is satisfying.