Daily Blog – Ross Jones- July 31, 2008: HI-DEF HOTEL?

I don’t travel much, but in the last two months have stayed at three different hotels in major metropolitan areas (Los Angeles and Silicon Valley). While they weren’t five-star resorts, they were upscale hotels of major chains that cater to business travelers. I had nicely appointed rooms, complete with flat-screen HDTV’s.

Not only could I not find any hi-def programming, but the picture quality was terrible! It reminded me of watching over-the-air signals through a set of rabbit ears, or basic analog cable. All of the displays were hooked up to a special box for purchasing services (such as on-demand movies and internet through the TV). I don’t know whether the box is to blame, or something else in the signal chain. But it seemed such a waste to spend money on HD displays, when they produced such poor images. Kind of like buying a filet mignon and then boiling it.