Okay...one more thing. Last night I switched on another one of my shiny new gadgets that is very intriguing: the Roku. No, it's not a Hawaiian dance routine. It is a cool little player that works with your HD TV and gives the ability to show streaming Netflix movies on TVs that don't already have a Netflix streamer built into a separate Blu-Ray player (If all that jargon just flew right over your head, suffice it to say that in a few years, everyone will be enjoying instant streaming of movies, and probably through a gateway such as the Roku!).
Netflix is killing the neighborhood video store with it's "mail to your home" and "keep as long as you like" feature. Who wants to rent a movie for $4 and pay a late fee on top of that because you forgot to get in your car and return it last night? Netflix allows you to have a maximum of, say, three movies at a time (there are several tiers). You maintain a queue of movies you want to see and when you mail in a viewed DVD, you receive a new movie in a few days. Miraculous! Ingenious! The bonus is the "watch instantly" feature. You build a queue of shows to watch and from your computer, Wii console, Blu-Ray player (has to have software that is included, not all do...) or Roku, you can watch shows or movies any time you want- stop, pause, rewind, fast-forward!
The HD quality of the selections is incredible. I have a 36" screen in my bedroom and the resolution is killer! I was watching a movie last night on the Roku player that I saw being filmed while on vacation with my family in 1969. The movie is Mackenna's Gold with Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif. The memories have faded but the deep-blue lagoon that we visited is even more spectacular on screen.
I know all of this tech stuff can get boring and certainly expensive but the Roku is a terrific answer to folks who want to limit cable and watch only the shows they select. The beautiful thing is, the "watch instantly" feature is limitless. You can choose and watch as many shows as you please. It is only on the physical DVD portion of the plan that you have a limit.
My dad always says, "They've done all they can do, right Jamie?" No, Pop, they're just beginning!
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