Does. Not. Want.: Does want: Tivo HD

We've been using Tivo HD along with Cox Digital Deluxe Cable for about a month now, and, at least so far, we're pretty happy with both.

We would have been okay with basic, standard definition cable if we hadn't upgraded our TV to a HDTV (Sony 46W3000). The channels that used to look fine now looked like blurry, pixelated ass. The Sony's supposed to have a good upscaler in it, but there's only so much it can do with a poor-quality signal. When it got to the point that I was actively avoiding watching TV because of the embarassingly bad picture, we decided to upgrade.

The $60 charge to install the cable cards seemed kind of ridiculous, but it really did take the installer almost two hours to get everything working and tested. It did a weird lockup thing (menus show, but background is blank, Live TV is unavailable and the menu options don't work correctly) while he was installing and had to be rebooted. Annoying, since it required us to restart that part of the install. It had done this a couple of times before, when we just had it hooked up to basic cable, but it hasn't happened since the cable card installation.

More annoying is the fact that we're not eligible for the significant discount for new digital cable customers because we didn't get the Cox DVR. We would have been okay with getting it instead of buying a Tivo the one they offer wasn't the very poorly-reviewed Scientific Atlanta DVR (the Motorola version is apparently far better). We even asked if we could specifically request the Motorola box, but no - apparently this area just gets the hand-downs from more affluent cities. Yet another bit of awesomeness that makes Pensacola just such a delight to live in.

The Digital Deluxe cable package is a huge boon for us, as my wife works at home and likes something to be on in the background. BBC America and truTV are pretty much in constant rotation. Unfortunately, they're on different tiers of the digital service, so we have to get the whole shebang (about 95% of which holds no interest for us whatsoever). Tons of music and sport channels. Great.

The picture quality is generally somewhere between "quite good" and "phenomenal", even on non-HD channels. There's no comparison - digital cable is basically a requirement if you own a large-screen TV. I love being able to read the book titles and see the actual wood grain in the background of shows like "The Office" and "Dirty Jobs". It really makes a difference, particularly in the science/visual/technical shows.

I'm really disappointed in the Encore movie channels, though. I'd been looking forward to their mix of relatively new and older movies. Bizarrely, they apparently display every movie in 4:3 format rather than letterbox. Ick. Nearly unwatchable for anyone who loves movies. Watching two people hold on a conversation when only a sliver of their face is visible on either side of the screen is just ridiculous.

What could Encore be thinking? Are they just catering to the people who feel cheated if the picture doesn't fill up their entire screen, or does it cost them less if they display it in the crappier format? Regardless, they were removed from our channel list entirely. Screw that noise.