southsideirish71

QUOTE (joeynach @ Apr 13, 2008 -> 07:07 PM) The short version is that comcast is making an active effort to keep adding HD channels and content, and they make this very clear with their advertisings. What they dont tell you is that in order to keep adding HD channels to the cable system they need to constantly reduce the quality of their HD feeds, via compression, in order to keep up with Satellite in the HD offerings war. It has become quite apparent on HD cable channels, AE-HD, TNT-HD, HBO-HD, History-HD, Discovery-HD, etc. They dont seem to compress and reduce bit rate quality as much on sports and local channels. Nonetheless the evidence and the whole story is listed here. IMO, the problem is inherent with coaxial cable as technology. It offers a certain maximum bandwidth and for all intensive purposes that max has been reached. The only thing left for comcast and cable companies to do is sugarcoat the whole thing with campaings highlighting their additions of HD channels, while keeping mum on the fact that in order to so they must sacrifice HD image quality of many stations. The details are referenced in comcast's decision to now supply 3 HD channels in 1 QAM, where as it used to be 2, thus reducing quality. The theory was 2 Channels per QAM supplied the mimimum bitrate, 19Mbps, that was needed to produce true HD images. Since they recently enacted the quantity over quality policy that notion went out the window, which is somewhat understandable given their HD war with satellite. I dont really know capabilities of satellite systems, but it seems an easier problem to fix. If satellite needs a massive bandwidth upgrade all the consumer has to do is get a new dish/box, where as for cable we are talking about region wide hard infrastructure, whole different ballgame. So the solution, yep its fiberoptics. Fiberoptic technology is nothing new, but getting it to your home and community will take a comprehensive infrastructure investment, as was cable 20-30 yrs ago. Fiberoptic cables will basically supply all the present and futuristic communication needs you can think of. Its already being rolled out in select markets by Verizon's FIOS and ATT's U-Verse. As soon as these services are offered in our area I say we all jump on it and send comcast packing. I find your comments about compression as if it was a bad thing interesting. You should re-read that thread. The native TV feed comes out at Gig speeds, then is compressed, bounced off a bird in space, then recompressed into a format that can be distributed. The medium at the end has its issues, but the idea of ripping up everyones backyard so they can notice a slight fractal difference in their HD is beyond me. You forgot to talk about the FIOS fiber distribution cabinets that regenerate the light signal, and retransmit the feed to the houses on your block. Cable providers are rolling out DOCIS 3.0 this year, which will support at lot more per channel on the cable plant. Fiber is not the end all and be all cabling to the node. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS I have no issues with my Comcast HD channels on my HD tv's in my house. Then again, I wired my house with high end cable rated for HD, not the house cable crap you get from RadioShack. The channels look great, and I have no issues. My only issues is that the current HD box is a bit flimsy and breaks at least once a year. Also Analog channels look like s***, but thats more with the Mottorola chipset and their digital to analog conversion than the cable plant itself. I have done a lot of work with compression algorithms with Video retransmission as well as large multicast designs. You can get a lot out a crappy coax cable. And for those who have talked about Wireless as the last mile. You are on the right path. I have been running a pre-Wimax 100 mb link for disaster recovery for the last 3 years. We had such great success on the 100mb wireless link, we have transitioned it to our primary. It is the most reliable thing I have used yet. No fiber cuts from Joe Jackhammer missing his mark, no local loop charges. Its great. I am using that type of technology as the primary now in 5 of my locations.

Nice game pitched in horrible conditions. Keep the wins going.

The big swing attack is back. Huge cuts being taken with men on by Joe. Then he tries to check one, and he dribbles it to polanco.

So after Thome works a walk, Konkero decides that one pitch is enough to see on an ace. that makes sense. Shocking that he is hitting 200 with a balls out great approach like that. The Juan uribe approach to working over a pitcher.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 11:06 PM) I didn't catch the game tonight as I went to a AAA home opener. Seemed like an odd lineup. How was Quentin leading off? Anderson, Hall? Quentin was good. He saw a lot of pitches, walked. Anderson was decent. Hall sucked. the 3-4-5 took the night off.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 09:39 PM) I'm really confused by his "new" approach. He's really far off of the plate. The problem is this is inviting the opposing pitcher to throw even more sliders than usual. We all know these are the pitches that Uribe struggles with. If anything, he should be right on top of the plate. He is off the plate with an open stance, trying to park every pitch onto the fundamentals area. Its not hard to see how he would struggle with low and away pitchers, and those with a changeup or a slider. What you see is why he was traded from the Rockies.

What purpose did Ozzie's comments have, outside of some self involved tough guy routine. Act like you are in management. You get your say, get thrown out of the game your purpose is served. You stood up for your guys. There is no reason to get into constant pissing matches in the paper with umps. Eventually you will see the sox having to beat the other team, and the team in blue night in and night out.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 09:29 PM) I hate Juan Uribe. ^^^ Agreed Snacks and Cakes seems to be working real hard his free agent season. He may hit .225 this year with his approach.

I wonder if we can have Guillen get into more verbal sparing matches with the umps this year. Maybe Ozzie can keep his f***ing yap shut on the men in Blue.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 09:20 PM) Nice to see Crede trying to hit a homer when down 3. Get used to that, he and uribe are in payday mode. Homers pay a lot more than singles.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 09:42 PM) Tuesday's day off killed this team's energy. That and giving days off to people who have had 2 days off this week is another pisser. Have to make sure that Hall makes it into the lineup enough. Its not like AJ caught 5 games this week. Swisher is out for what. To rest him from the day off he had yesterday. Or the game he came out of early on Wednesday.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 08:05 PM) Grilli is such a pile of s***, and here we are, 3 hits total. Take Swisher and AJ out of the lineup, and the corpseball kids are back. I hope they can play just about every game.

Well our 3-4-5 hitting like its 07.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 07:58 PM) C'mon guys, you HAVE to make Grilli pay, he is as bad as normal, now make him pay! Nah we are into lift and pull concourse mode. We are going to hit the 15 run homer every AB and let some medicore pile of dung shut us down by going low and away. Now Thome gets tossed. Hopefully Swisher takes over for Jimmy.

Time to score some run. Maybe we can scratch out more than the 3 hits we have off of Cy Aquino off of Jason and hit batting tee fastball.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 07:41 PM) This umpire Uribe is absolutely pathetic. Fixed

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 07:39 PM) So much for Lopez tiring....he's made the last two guys look silly. He is using the Joe Mays formula. Spot the pitch low and away, then start the slider away and allow the magic to happen.

Crede sporting the long looping pay me power swing.

I could care less how much Cuban Pride Contreras has. He doesnt have chick problems this year, either throw over the top or be an expensive mop up guy.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Apr 11, 2008 -> 07:30 PM) At least we can still depend on Juan sucking at the plate. I am glad that his FA year is motivating him into being a better hitter. Hopefully someone gives him money to stay away from this team next year.

Dumbest rain out was last year. I had great tickets for the Yanks series, right by 1st base. It had rained at the start of the game, so it was delayed. The rain cuts off and it mists. No rain, just mist. There is no water puddles. And lots of people are sitting in their seats, enjoying a slight misting. Then after 9pm, they tell us that the game is cancelled and you had to be there by 1pm the next day for a split game doubleheader. I wasn't able to go and was livid. The sox made up for it by giving those who had tickets a new game. The only thing was that the game was upper reserved. But hey, it was a sox game. So I didnt care. Now they could of played that game but they cancelled it for no reason.

Game called off, according to the Score.

QUOTE (DBAH0 @ Apr 10, 2008 -> 06:12 AM) Is your interview with a big 4 company Keith? Just to add on Kap's and NSS72's points, they've pretty much hit the nail on the head. When I talk about my weaknesses also, I tell the recruiter about things that I've done to try and improve them. E.g I hate public speaking, but I said I took a class at University called Business Communication and one of the main assignments was doing a public presentation in front of a whole bunch of people. Most of all, good luck, and the interview will be really good experience regardless of the end result. Things not to say in an interview. "What is your weakness" "I guess if I had a weakness, its that I work to hard, and care too much."

QUOTE (max power @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 10:11 PM) Its just a little physical pain, what's the matter with you guys? Well I am sure you base this on the number of 94 mph baseballs you have fouled off your foot in April.