Adventures in TV Land
Many of you know that I recently purchased a new TV: a Sony 40" XBR2 LCD HDTV. Let's just say it's the wasp's nipples.
Matt and I set it up on Friday afternoon, then let the TV do its autoprogramming to find as many cable channels as it could. In addition to the typical analog channels, I was pleased to see it find the major networks in HD as well. Strangely enough, there were a ton of extra digital channels up in the 80's, 90's, and beyond that seemed to be standard-definition (480i) mirrors of the normal cable channels below. We put it on the list for future exploration and spent the weekend enjoying the Tech v. Clemson game in HD, as well as watching a few upscaled standard-def DVDs. The TV was everything I thought it would be, and more.
Fast forward to yesterday evening. After channel surfing for a while, I found myself back in the strange 80's and 90's channels. There were channels like 89.1, 89.3, 90.2, 111.809, etc. etc. As I passed 90.10, I noticed that it had the HBO logo, then went into an episode of Sex and the City. At first I wondered if I was watching a rerun on TBS, but since the show was starting at about 11:15, that didn't make sense. I watched for a few minutes and sure enough, they used several terms that were definitely not kosher for network TV.
This got me wondering if I had stumbled on some unencrypted feed for HBO. It wasn't terribly surprising since I have been receiving HBO as part of my introductory cable package, but as I looked through the TV listings on my cable box, none of the normal HBO channels were currently showing Sex and the City. Weird.
I went ahead and watched the episode since it was actually pretty funny, and then it ended. Blackness. The channel just went dead. Okay, that's strange. I surfed around the neighboring channels - some were black, some weren't. I saw movies, other TV shows, and bam - another episode of Sex and the City was just starting on another channel. Hmm ... I surfed a bit more and was surprised to find a movie playing ... in fast forward. I watched for a minute as this movie continued to play at high speed with no audio. On another channel, Chris Rock was doing standup. Then I ran into a channel that was showing explicit porn.
Then I realized it. It all came together. I had stumbled upon the digital feeds for the neighborhood's On Demand service! I laughed for several minutes, moving around the channels, exploring my neighbors' movie and TV selections. One movie was HD, though most were SD. Some were English, some were Spanish. I continued to giggle for several minutes as I thought of the implications.
After I pointed out this revelation to Elizabeth, she sent me a July article on Slate that described the author's own discovery of this wonderland of accidental voyeurism. You can read the article, which explains some of the technical aspects, as well as Comcast's response.
Personally, I like the author's idea of a "random movie night". Set up a Saturday evening with popcorn and snacks, invite some friends over, and watch whatever random movies come on, ordered by my neighbors. "Oh look! The second half of Hitch! Let's watch."
Matt and I set it up on Friday afternoon, then let the TV do its autoprogramming to find as many cable channels as it could. In addition to the typical analog channels, I was pleased to see it find the major networks in HD as well. Strangely enough, there were a ton of extra digital channels up in the 80's, 90's, and beyond that seemed to be standard-definition (480i) mirrors of the normal cable channels below. We put it on the list for future exploration and spent the weekend enjoying the Tech v. Clemson game in HD, as well as watching a few upscaled standard-def DVDs. The TV was everything I thought it would be, and more.
Fast forward to yesterday evening. After channel surfing for a while, I found myself back in the strange 80's and 90's channels. There were channels like 89.1, 89.3, 90.2, 111.809, etc. etc. As I passed 90.10, I noticed that it had the HBO logo, then went into an episode of Sex and the City. At first I wondered if I was watching a rerun on TBS, but since the show was starting at about 11:15, that didn't make sense. I watched for a few minutes and sure enough, they used several terms that were definitely not kosher for network TV.
This got me wondering if I had stumbled on some unencrypted feed for HBO. It wasn't terribly surprising since I have been receiving HBO as part of my introductory cable package, but as I looked through the TV listings on my cable box, none of the normal HBO channels were currently showing Sex and the City. Weird.
I went ahead and watched the episode since it was actually pretty funny, and then it ended. Blackness. The channel just went dead. Okay, that's strange. I surfed around the neighboring channels - some were black, some weren't. I saw movies, other TV shows, and bam - another episode of Sex and the City was just starting on another channel. Hmm ... I surfed a bit more and was surprised to find a movie playing ... in fast forward. I watched for a minute as this movie continued to play at high speed with no audio. On another channel, Chris Rock was doing standup. Then I ran into a channel that was showing explicit porn.
Then I realized it. It all came together. I had stumbled upon the digital feeds for the neighborhood's On Demand service! I laughed for several minutes, moving around the channels, exploring my neighbors' movie and TV selections. One movie was HD, though most were SD. Some were English, some were Spanish. I continued to giggle for several minutes as I thought of the implications.
After I pointed out this revelation to Elizabeth, she sent me a July article on Slate that described the author's own discovery of this wonderland of accidental voyeurism. You can read the article, which explains some of the technical aspects, as well as Comcast's response.
Personally, I like the author's idea of a "random movie night". Set up a Saturday evening with popcorn and snacks, invite some friends over, and watch whatever random movies come on, ordered by my neighbors. "Oh look! The second half of Hitch! Let's watch."