I went to the Microsoft Office System Launch Event in Portland yesterday, so I didn’t get to blog. However, I did write an entry, and here it is…

I’m sitting in a reasonably dry lecture about integrating Office and Visual Studio and I realize I never wrote yesterday about my new HDTV.

Actually. The TV isn’t new, just the HDTV service.

Jenn called the cable company and set up an appointment for Saturday between 8 and noon. Of course, to the cable company, that means ten after noon. Regardless, the cable guy showed up and basically all he did was give me a new cable box.

Next thing I know, I’m watching the crispest picture on TV that I’ve seen since I first got a DVD player. And the sound… Dolby Digital 5.1! Amazing!

HDTV is always in widescreen, which I wasn’t aware of. And for the folks with smaller TVs, I guess that’s not so great. For us with 40” tube TVs, that’s just fine. Seeing programs in widescreen is a nice change - you get to see more, and it’s a nice new perspective.

For example, Sunday night ABC showed Toy Story 2. See it on normal TV, it’s full screen in stereo. In HDTV, it’s widescreen and has a picture clearer than DVD.

The real experience was with Alias. Jennifer Garner in high definition alone is worth the cost of admission. That plus surround sound and I’m a happy camper.

If you have an HD ready TV, it’s worth your while to get HDTV. Don’t have the TV? Time to upgrade. I, personally, can’t wait until high definition DVDs. Better picture, but yet another reason to re-buy all of the movies we have.