Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Channel confusion

So I've been here for a pretty long time now - always in the same part of California - meaning the local TV-channel listings have been the same, regardless of where I've been living (they are different in different part of a state and across the US). But I still just hate the confusion on how to find a specific TV-channel. Not that I watch that much TV (in another life when the kids are older...) and maybe that's part of the problem - I forget the channels abbreviations and channel numbers. Every channel has a 3- to 6 letter abbreviation, and a number, and then every channel might be sent in different version (normal or HD). And a local channel might be actually be a national network such as Fox, NBC, ABC or CBS.

So if I turn on my SAGE-TV (which I can watch on any of my computers, or on any of the TVs in the house (yes, I'm married to a geek)), this is what it looks like.


3 KCRA means in reality "the local NBC" channel. 13 KVOR means the "local ABC channel". The picture only shows 4 channels (7 rows, but three of the channels are HD-versions). I have 117 more to choose from...

It doesn't matter if you know you want to watch something on the TV-channel "Animal Planet" - you have know the number (282) and abbreviation (APL) to find it... You need guides like these to find something (the picture below shows about 2/3 of the channels we have).

Sometimes when I sit down and think I'm going to "watch some TV" it just gets too overwhelming... and I just grab a book instead.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Skönt att inte ha riktig kabel tv, så man slipper vara förvirrad. Har bara "Basic cable".... "bara" de första 15 kanalerna, var av 5 är "riktiga". Nbc, Cbs, Abc, Pbs, och WB... resten är reklamkanaler och kanaler på spanska, som du kanske vet.

Kollar iofs aldrig på TV, kollar mest på nätet..... Hulu eller laddar ner torrents om det inte finns på hulu. Jag orkar helt enkelt inte med all reklam.

Mia said...

Ah, I love my Sage! (Thanks to your geeky husband..).

cecilia said...

Yeah, I still haven't been able to make sense of the jungle that is our Comcast package. I have worked out that the channels are not called what the are supposed to be called, but I haven't figured out more that that:).

Maybe in another two years or so...

Anonymous said...

hey,
I'm a Swede still living in Stockholm but writing my blogg in English so that all of my friends'll understand. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy reading your blog. keep up the good work!

JaCal said...

Peter - haha - ja, det är ju det enklaste sättet att lösa frågan. Jag önskar egentligen att man kunde välja exakt de kanaler man vill ha - för vi har några i alla paket vi vill ha och resten kan vi strunta i... Vi tittar sällan live också ifs - mest inspelat via SAGE så vi spelar förbi reklamen.

Mia - haha - I'm so HAPPY that it worked out for you!

Cecilia - well, you might have to extend that to... 10 years?? ;-) Everytime I'm watching on a channel I like I'm thinking "ok, NOW I'm going to remember that this is 233 XYZ until next time". Haha... won't happen...

Jeanette - we'll thank you! Too bad not more people reads Swedish fluently... ;-)

Anonymous said...

Snubblade in här av misstag, rolig blogg :) Haha, jag känner igen det där. Spenderade tre veckor i USA i somras och TV tittandet var... ja - överväldigande. Det var HELT galet och jag kände mig HELT lost :)