Colenzo @ Mar 22nd 2006 6:51PM

Oh my... you've got me started now...

Picture it, Switzerland, 2006...

HDTV available like in any other European country, hardly any 1080p or i, lots of 720p and a buttload of 480p !?! What the hell ?
Yes, the all so technologically advanced Swiss are also crooks in regard of consumer service. Instead of advising you to the best available solution for your needs, they try to hawk you the surplus refuse from their warehouses, sometimes at prices equal or higher than a nice 720p set!
For several weeks they even had a HD-Ready sticker on two 480p sets in a local mall !

Well, whatever, I am not stupid, I know what is good and what not. So I just have a look at the 720p sets, waiting for some 1080p sets to show up.
But wait, why is that 720p set looking so god-awful compared to the standard tv set ?!? If that is HDTV, well who needs it! But that cannot be right...
So I check out what and how their demo material is fed into these sets, and low and behold, they are feeding
a) straight over the air SD TV programming !!!
b) DVD via antenna-in !! (if you are lucky)
c) HD-capable mediacenter PC via HDMI ! (1, as in O-N-E, occurrence so far)

Well, screw the people at the mall, go to a shop where they know what they are doing (and how they can sell it). Just a 40 minute drive outside the city.
Here I can pick and choose, what my future HDTV should look like, ready for the World Cup!

Wait, did I say World Cup...
Hmmm... well, I guess I will be screwed this World Cup around, because, you may remember, I live in Switzerland.
See, we do have a pay tv station, which feeds most of their programs straight from the German company which is going to show the entire World Cup in HDTV.
Now, even though several people hinted, that the World Cup will be shown to the Swiss in HDTV through this pay tv company, nothing official is known yet.
And if it were to be shown, then only via satellite connection.
Even though Switzerland has some of the highest cable-service coverage throughout the country, no HDTV through it for at least another year or so.

And here the sad ending to my story: I live in the city, a satellite dish is no option for me, and cable is just going to screw me for the next year or two.

Oh, what, over the air... digital... HDTV ?!? ROFLH... not here, my friend!


Now you would think, vendors should be selling HDTVs like hotcakes around here, World Cup and all, but no... you gotta bend over far and low, not to mention stretch wide.... and just take it!