teacher, mother, secret lover . . .

On the advice of commenter MrPeach, I unplugged my television, disconnected and re-connected my HDMI cable, and powered back up.

I'm not entirely sure why it worked, but it did, and now I can watch the US Open in HD. All my other channels came back, too, and the offending DRM-esque error message is gone. It seems like a silly thing that I should have thought about right away, but I did all my hard and soft resetting and power cycling on my DirecTV box, and got so frustrated, I didn't even think to do the same thing on my television. It reminds me of the time I spent $80 on a service call for a jacuzzi issue at my old house, and the entire problem could have been solved by pushing the "reset" button on the heater.

Yes, occasionally, I am what my friends call "Cal Tech smart." (Yeah, I wish I was that smart, but if you get the reference, than I think you'll understand what they mean).

This whole experience illustrates to very important points:

1. DRM just sucks. It punishes honest consumers, does little to combat actual piracy, and gives broadcasters and the evil *AA cartels way too much control over how we, their fucking customers, can enjoy the content we are paying them for.
2. The Internet is awesome. I've never seen MrPeach here before, so I can only assume he is someone who heard about my DirecTV problem and came here to offer some help.Rather than point out what an idiot I am for confusing 1080i with 1080p, insulting me for making a reference he didn't understand, or attacking me for not intimately understanding this technology the same way hardcore A/V Geeks do, he kindly and clearly educated and enlightened us. In fact, if you read his comment, you'll learn a bit about HDCP, HDMI, and why Monster cables are a scam.

Thanks for not being a dick, MrPeach, and thanks for helping me get my television back. I'm going to go hug it now.

Comments

[Riley Joy]

A few days after I DirecTV, my remote control stopped listening to me. I'm a techno-idiot, so I started frothing at the mouth, calling customer service, blah blah. Cust. svc. says try hitting the reset button. Reset button? says I, What reset button? Oh. Cool. Thanks.

[bigmoneygrip]

I am going to print out MrPeach's comments and put them in my DirecTV file for future reference in case of future trouble. Thanks, MrPeach for the advance troubleshooting advice.

[Offshored2007]

Monster Cable and any HDMI cables are a huge ripoff.
Fortunately, the installer threw in the cable when he put the new box in earlier this year.

So are the fees charged for "premimum HD" content. Huge profit margins all-around. I wonder how much more DirecTV will charge when all those new HD channels come online in Septemeber?

Never had a problem with my TV like you had, I have the same DirecTV receiver (which had a software upgrade on 8/28, somewhat coincidentially). DirecTV's customer service isn't as good as it used to be.

DirecTV is the only carrier that has NFL Sunday Ticket, so that has me chained to them (since 1996), otherwise its a steady dose of the Ravens and Redskins here.

[GMAN14225]

Actually, DirecTV is not raising prices for their services, despite the new HD roll-out. All pricing will remain the same.

[Russe1l]

Such is the power of the InterWebTubes!

Instances such as Wil's make me hope that the Internet is helping to make humankind even the teensiest bit smarter and/or more ethical. I can count numerous personal examples of a not-so-knowledgeable/dishonest service rep/repair person/tech support rep resorting to the "I don't know the answer to your question, but I'm going to do my darndest to shroud that fact in as much corporate policy babble/made up or inaccurate info/mean-spiritedness so as to force you to give up your issue" OR the "I KNOW the real answer, but I'm going to make you hand over a lot of money for no reason other than my own personal greed." routes.

Now Wil might not be a HD TV expert, but MRPEACH is probably pretty darn close and all the "friends o' Wil" will now be that much better prepared if faced with such adversities as Wil.

Of course, there COULD be a backlash where "GLOTFI"* replaces "RTFM" for these same service reps/repair people/tech support reps (or, if you break it down to absurdist levels - as I like to do - anyone you ever ask about anything ever again)if it hasn't already.

Still, it feels good to solve a problem by one's self, even with the help of Internet friends like MR PEACH, and at the expense of lazy and/or evil people.

* GLOTFI (Go look on the f-ing Internet).

[BigLig]

This is the second greatest flaw in DRM. Mr W wants to do something legitimate with his media, even though he is not a pirate. DRM stops him. So he looks on the internet to find a way round the problem, because that's what you do these days when you have a tech problem. So all DRM achieved here was to teach someone who is not a pirate that by going on the internet you find a way to get round anti-piracy measures.

Thats a pretty good flaw.

(Although of course it is beaten by the greatest flaw, which is that it is possible to prove DRM cannot work by using math. I'm fairly sure nothing can have a worse flaw than that.)

[MrPeach]

Gosh, I'm feeling all like fuzzy inside and stuff!

^_^

[gbina]

Yep. MrPeach is pretty much awesome. And it is a good philosophy to live by. If it isn't working, unplug and replug EVERYTHING that plugs in before committing to hours on the phone with the help desk.

[Dingo]

Waaaait a second, if you're a peach wouldn't you feel fuzzy all the time?

[MrPeach]

Just on the outside, silly.

[emoki3]

Wil,

Just for future reference, when refering to the California Institute of Technology it should be written as Caltech...not two words like you have done...*giggling*

Have a great day!

[ProudTexasWoman]

You Twittered:
"Having e-mail earworm war with @_otis_. I've just escalated the conflict to Love Shack."
If you have a way to force the theme song from "Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show" into his ear, I'd suggest that as heavy-duty firepower.

[ProudTexasWoman]

Addendum - while I'm talking about YouTube, I'm going to put in a plug for a video Pogo Saito turned me on to: Sheep are Fluffy. It's hard to explain quite what's so delightful in the weirdness of this stuffed-animal animation on the discrimination faced by sheep when shopping or job-hunting, but one commenter put it pretty well with the remark, "There aren't enough stop-motion sheep films in this world."

[velociraptor]

< insert snarky comment about having to "reboot" your tv like 'doze here > ^_^

I've found that Pogues' Waltzing Mathilda is an excellent earworm weapon, as is the theme from _Austin Powers_, "Soul Bossa Nova".

[Craig Steffen]

Wil, a quick question. Do you leave your TV turned on all the time? I mean, when you turn off the DTV box, it will go black, but do you turn it off? MrPeach suggted a connection problem; perhaps it could have been that the set had been on so long that it had a stale set of digital communication keys? (Ok, Ok, I'm just grasping a straws here.)

Direct TV: The local digital cable service is dumb, and doesn't have the NASA channel or the NFL channel, and their customer service people are dumb even on the scale of cable company customer service. So we had DTV installed a little over a week ago.

VERY NICE. The install was fast, it worked out of the box, and the guy was friendly and nice. When I had audio problems, I called their customer support, and we got a combination of modes that work.

I also want the "local" channels in HD so that we can watch the playoffs and the Superbowl. DTV can't give me that, but it's not their fault; the FCC has all kinds of bizarre rules about broadcast and coverage.

So I for one am a happy customer so far.

[Merbrat]

Heh.
Here are the lovely and talented Dork Tower folks with an earworm beauty:
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?nextform=viewcomic&id=1272

(I'm sorry, I don't know how to shrink that)
Try cut/paste the two, if the other doesn't work.
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?
nextform=viewcomic&id=1272

Sorry for those of you who also succumb to this. But, it *must* be shown!

*strolls off, humming "Mr Tamborine Man"* (my 'College Years' earworm)
Good Times.

-Merbrat

[ignatz]

Hi Wil,

A little off topic, but I saw this today on You Tube and literally almost pee'd my pants. Is this us or what?? I think the South Park guys play a little too much Warcraft :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TepgDORPurw

[Merbrat]

I just watched it...too funny.
But you have to get sent to another link to see the whole thing.
The above was part 2 of 3.
Go here:
http://www.4spark.com/
Left-click on season 10.
Scroll down to #1008.
It's the whole thing.
(the funniest is *their* voices from the WoW characters)

-da Brat

[proptart]

Cool info. btw - off topic but you might get as big a kick out of this as anyone else who's seen it:
Star Trek Trouble with Tribbles and Edward Gorey mashup by Shaenon:
http://shaenon.livejournal.com/48834.html

[theflyingworm]

hmmm, DRM, that's weird, I was just learning about that today in my online class...then I read your post tonight. Coincidence? yea, DRM is some bullshit

[jayntampa]

Wil, this is a bit off topic, but -- I'm a huge fan of Fantasy Flight Games, and I was browsing through their site -- and came across your pic from PAX. It seems they love you (^_^)

Anyway, here's the link: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/pax2007post.html

[Merbrat]

Star Trek: The Gorey Tribbles is priceless! The article was good, too!
Edward Gorey and Star Trek. Yup. Works.
Bones' mantra was FTW.

[kinikia07]

Way to go Mr Peach! It is so nice have to have access to those people who know how to direct us in the right direction with such finesse.
The greatest part is that all is back in order for Wil.

I really dislike the fact they came up with DRM. It's stupid.

[Alan]

Way off topic...

A meteor shower is peaking early Saturday/tomorrow morning for those living on the west coast. Estimates put the show at about 200 shooting stars an hour.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070817_ns_aurigid_meteors.html

I recommend getting away from the cities for two reasons:
1) The city lights will make it easier to see the meteors.
2) If this spawns a zombie epidemic, you do not want to be near a major population center.

[teh]

"Cal Tech smart." eh?

Be careful what you say, you have quite a following over here.