I liked my original TV. To connect it, I simply plugged it into the wall, hooked up the 300 ohm flat TV wire from my antenna on the roof, turned it on and watched TV. Sometimes I used the rabbit ears for stations in a different location than where my antenna was pointing
Eventually someone developed a remote control that allowed you to change channels from your chair. Wow, was that exciting.
As time went by people wanted to be able to watch TV on their own schedule so the VHS recorder was developed which allowed you to actually record complete programs, skip over the commercials, and delete it when you are through. Will wonders never cease?
That technology was soon eclipsed by the DVD player which did the same thing as VHS only using little flat discs. It took a bit of adjusting to get used to this but eventually most of us did.
Once they began bringing cable and satellite signals into your home we were offered the use of a receiver box which for most of us was much too complex but we eventually figured it out.
I thought I had things under control until people began talking to me about live streaming, various services offering you even more features such as Netflix which I pay for monthly but have yet to figure out how to use it or what the advantages are.
Some people said I need a Roku box, whatever that is, but apparently that is necessary to get the various features from the other channels. I am told I also need a smart TV to do all of this.
Unfortunately all of my TVs are somewhat dumb. All they do is sit there and we can watch it at leisure. Apparently this is unsatisfactory to most people so we’ll probably end up eventually buying all new TV sets.
I finally went out and bought a Roku box, and whatever other devices are necessary to do a simple thing like watch television. Hooking it up was simple to any electronic engineer of which I am one. Luckily, as I was about to give up on connecting this thing, my 10-year-old granddaughter, Sienna, happened by. When I expressed my dismay with hooking up the box, she went into the room with the TV and had it going in just a few minutes.
Don’t you just hate smart–s kids that seem to know it all?
Of course. we now have thousands of channels available, but I still end up using only two or three of them during any given period of time, but it is nice to know that the assortment is limitless.
It is bad enough that I am not making full use of my iPhone or iPad but at least I was the master of my TV. That is no longer the case; I am a servant now and must do whatever the TV people say is necessary to watch TV — record shows, and skip commercials, while acknowledging the fact that companies are spending millions of dollars in ads to reach out to people like me who simply push fast forward so that I don’t have to interrupt my viewing time.
I guess that is their problem, not mine.
I now have to figure out Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Rdio, Crackle and a few dozen other channels, all different and all confusing. There must be literally thousands of movies available, which I am told are also watchable on my iPad.
I feel sorry for other “mature folks” who do not have grandkids to walk them through this quagmire. Perhaps I will rent mine out for a fee.
