Flying Higher and in 1080p--Eventually

By Glenn Farr

When I recall a few facts about technological advances in my own lifetime, I’m stunned. Some things I simply can’t seem to live without today didn’t exist when I was born and most didn’t become part of my everyday life until the last decade.

For example, recent estimates (http://ask.yahoo.com/20010116.html) indicate there are more than 8,600 man-made satellites orbiting the earth—that do everything from tracking weather and allowing us to call Europe by phone to facilitating the Internet and beaming pristine, pretty pictures to our TV sets.

The irony is that when I was born, back in the dark age of 1955, the ONLY satellite orbiting the earth was the moon.

That’s right. The only satellite orbiting the earth was its natural one—no man-made objects had yet been launched. That didn’t happen until the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik I on Oct. 4, 1957, about seven weeks before my second birth day.

Of course, I don’t remember any of that, but I do remember the USSR-US space race that followed, and that became a big part of my childhood as I geekishly followed the Gemini and Apollo launches and the ultimate Apollo lunar landing on grainy black and white TV delivered to my home through a rooftop antenna.

But, in my lifetime, we’ve gone from one natural satellite—that’s still out there quietly circumnavigating the blue orb we call home—to nearly 9,000 artificial ones (and that number doesn’t include the approximately 16,000 man-made objects that are in some state of orbital decay and are no longer serving their original functions). Seems we might next need to launch some kind of giant space vacuum cleaner to suck up all our space junk.

Anyway, some of those nearly 9,000 satellite that are still functioning serve to deliver crisp high definition television to my home—which is one of those technological advances I discovered within the past few years that I now can no longer live without. Sometimes, when I look at what I now spend on my current personal entertainment budget, I’m shocked and decide I must cut something. But what? I can’t do without the SciFi Channel or BBC America or the Science Channel or Boomerang or during Ancient Egyptian Month or UFO Month, even the History channel. That’s very ironic in that until 1998, I subscribed to neither cable nor satellite TV service and depended upon rabbit ears or a huge antenna suspended from my attic trusses to deliver some of my favorite TV programs to me in colorful, but snowy, glory. (Sometime I’ll have to share the lengths to which I was willing to go with metal rods and coaxial cables to receive Babylon 5 over the air when it was first syndicated in the early 1990s.)

This all comes to mind because I received an e-mail notification from my satellite TV provider (DISH Network, for the curious) today that effective Aug. 1, they begin broadcasting HD content in 1080p resolution. Wow! And according to their news release, no one else is yet doing that. And this is all possible due to the recent successful launch of a new satellite. (Does this make 9,000 and one?)

So, what does that mean for me?

In the short term, not much. I mean, it’s another nice technological advancement of which I’m sure I ultimately will take great advantage. But for now, I have two HD TVs, both of which are 30 inches or smaller, and neither of which can display a 1080p signal. One maxes out as 1080i and the other at 720p. Also, to receive the 1080p signal, I would need to buy or lease a new, special DVR. So, to take advantage of this wonderful, new advance in broadcasting, I would need to buy the DVR (up to $500 on the Internet) and a new TV (anywhere from $1,200 to $2,500 depending on brand, features and size).

Anyone who knows me understands how much I like to spend money, especially when I’m dropping coin on a new gadget.

But not this time. No thanks. I’ll wait.

I’ll remind myself of my and my planet’s humble origins with respect to satellites, natural or man made, and savor the advances I already enjoy for a while.