(no subject)

I'm watching a whole load of films at the moment. Channel 4's recent programmes showing the results of their 100 Greatest Films poll, and the accompanying adverts for the Film Four channel, persuaded me to subscribe to it. I've found an awful lot of good films there, plus a few on The Studio (which is in my basic cable package). I'm taping a lot of these films and will inflict them upon Nattie when she gets here. (Unfortunately they will not include The Seventh Seal, because NTL's programme guide gave the wrong starting time for it. What I caught of it was stunning, though.)

I'm enjoying the films, and my current audio/video setup, far too much. The sound and picture quality from digital cable TV are excellent, though interference disrupts them for a few seconds from time to time (keeping cordless and mobile phones away reduces this). I love having an online programme guide, except when its listings are wrong. For programmes in a wide format - an awful lot of them on BBC channels, Channel 4 and its offshoots - the cable decoder lets me choose between letter-box or pan-and-scan presentation - so I can happily watch films in their original format even if other people prefer a full TV screen without the edges of the original picture. The VCR we bought in July is vastly better than the first one I got, 8 years ago, though it was somewhat cheaper. It'll even play back Nattie's American tapes without the need for us to convert them at great expense. I'm genuinely impressed at how well it works within the inherent limitations and problems of analogue video, at a very reasonable price. I'm sure this is all terribly geeky, but I needed to say it anyway.