Written by James Fohl

So you are sitting in your favorite recliner, watching your favorite television shows, while relaxing and eating some junk food. As the show you are watching comes to a commercial break, you bring the recliner back a notch, and think to yourself "What could be better than this".

Watching television is one of America's great past times, and millions of Americans do it every weekday during the evenings. One thing that television viewers love to do, is whenever the commercials come on, they like to surf to other channels, and see what else is on.

But what would all these channel surfers do if they did not have a television remote to change the television channels with? I mean think about it, the television remote is just as important as the television. Without it, you would not be able to sit in your comfy recliner and relax; you would have to sit inches away from the television set and change the channels manually, which really is not that much fund considering how many television channels there are today.

Sure back in the black and white days of the fifties and sixties, television remotes existed for some high end television models, but they really weren't needed. I mean after all, there were only a handful of television stations, and even then it was probably a best bet just to leave the same channel on.

It is not like today, where people with cable have a hundred or so television channels, and people with satellite television have several hundred, if not thousands of channels. Without a television remote, these people would be changing the channels manually long after the show they are looking for is over.


Today the television remote is just not for changing channels and turning the television on and off, but also for changing the settings of the television, and even for ordering pay for view movies.

If you still think that the television remote is not very important, then chances are that you have never lost a television remote. I remember a few years ago when I accidently threw away my television's remote in the garbage. I bought a universal remote to change the channels and all that simple stuff, but whenever the power went out I found out that my television was pretty much useless without the original remote. Because I couldn't access the settings menu using the new remote, I couldn't have the television tuner go past station 19, as it was using an antennae mode instead of a cable television mode. After trying several other universal remote controls, I had to ultimately go out and purchase a new television set.

In the end, if you love watching television then you just have to realize that the television remote is just as important as the actual television set. If you do not believe this, then maybe some day when you lose your television remote, and are unable to change your televisions settings, you will open up to this idea.

Written by James Fohl

If you take a minute or two, and sit down to think about it, pretty much every body living in the United States enjoys watching television. I mean, whether just for a few minutes a day, or for several hours a week, television is an important part of a lot of peoples' lives.

Going a bit deeper into the subject, everybody has their own favorite spot for watching their favorite television programs. Whether people like watching television in their living room, or their bedroom, they always have that specific area in which they sit.

Take for instance the living room, people enjoying television will be sitting on their favorite couch, relaxing in their own personal recliner, or just sprawled across the floor, glaring at the glow of the television.

In the bedroom, the obvious choice is laying on the bed, and drifting off to bed while watching the eleven o'clock news. In other rooms, such as dens, giant bean bag chairs often find themselves filling the niche of the perfect television watching companion.

Television had an impact on American culture back in the 1950's, and to this day still continues to influence our every day lives. Instead of reading a novel, people often go to their local video store and pick up the movie version of the same novel, and go home and watch it on their television set. Instead of eating dinner in the dining room, families huddle around the television set eating their food and watching their favorite television series.

If you think about it, television has really changed every aspect of our lives. From what we do in our spare time, to how we get the news and weather, television has ultimately become embedded into our every day life style. And if you think about it, ever since television became part of main stream American culture in the fifties, it has been under debate.

Sure, Americans may not get the same amount of exercise as they should be getting, and countless phrases such as couch potato have been invented, but you really have to look at the bright side of television.

Television enables viewers to see the whole world, and not just the viewer's local community. Because of this, people were able to learn about other cultures, and it really made the world a more united place. Not only this, but television is also an educational tool. Sure, you can learn a lot while in school, but with the wide degree of television programming, you can learn anything you want to know on pretty much any topic imaginable.

So from having a comfortable watching location, to learning about other cultures, television has really changed the American culture in the past fifty years. While there will always be people in this world trying to convince everyone that television is a bad idea, there will be a million others saying the exact opposite. It is true that television does have its bad impact on society, but so does every other great invention that changes humanity for the better.

Written by James Fohl

If you are planning on getting a new DVD player for yourself, or as a gift for someone in the upcoming holiday season, then you probably already have an idea of how much you are willing to spend on a new DVD player, as well as the features you are expecting for the price paid.

DVD players come in all different sizes, brands, and most importantly, prices. If you look hard enough in the circular advertisements and on the internet, you can find a brand new DVD player for as low as twelve dollars. Sure the unit may have been assembled in a country you have never heard of before, and the brand name is probably unpronounceable, but the fact remains that it will play your DVD movies (which probably cost more than the player) and is only twelve dollars.

When you look at the competition of these cheap ten to forty dollar DVD player, brand names such as Sony and RCA come into the picture. These companies have their own DVD players, and most contain the same features as the cheaper no name units, and pretty much look the same as the cheaper units, only with their own logos, however they are usually priced a lot higher.

Most people who are looking for a new, or additional DVD player will probably just go ahead and pick up one of the cheaper, no name brand DVD players. However, don't forget the golden rule when buying something; you get what you pay for. Sure, these cheap DVD players look good on the box, with their MP3 playback, and ability to even play home made DVD - R discs, but what these DVD players actually deliver is another story.

If you are planning on buying a cheap DVD player from the internet, just read the reviews of the product, and you will see. The cheap DVD players usually overheat within a half hour, causing movies to skip, stop, and ultimately lead to the overall death of the DVD player. The cheap DVD players also usually have very sketchy warranties, and usually require you to pay to ship the unit back to the factory in China. This practice here will cost you more than the amount you originally paid for the DVD player.

While it is true that not every one of these cheap DVD players break, they have a very high rate of failure. Pretty much they are a novelty item, as they are sold to lure customers into buying other items. If your unit breaks, you can always take it back to the store, but these no name DVD players are constantly changing their brand names, so you might get stuck with a broken DVD player, or if you are lucky; your money back.

So when it all comes down to buying a new DVD player for either yourself or for somebody else as a gift, its best to just spend the extra twenty dollars on a brand name DVD player. Sure it will cost a little extra, but you won't have to worry about the unit breaking after only watching a few movies, and if the unit does break at least you know that the company that made your unit will be able to support the warranty.

I remember times in the past when most of what could be considered educational in television was found on PBS and shows such as Sesame Street and Mister Rogers to teach "the basics" to preschoolers. There was an occasional documentary but not much more.

Today, however, whether we are watching an "old fashioned" television set, or one of the exciting new high definition or flat screen models of televisions, the chances to "learn something new every day" have been greatly increased by the addition of new programming. These additions help to keep up with the demand of consumers wanting more and more options.

One of my favorite learning stations is the food channel. No matter when I turn the station on throughout the day, there is someone cooking great looking recipes and either giving me ideas for dishes to cook or teaching how to do a new method or prepare a new recipe.

If you do not enjoy cooking, maybe you would enjoy learning about different parts of the world. The Travel Channel does this very well by sending their crews all around the world to show where the best (and sometimes worst!) vacation spots are including where to find the best hotels and eateries.

Many people enjoy tuning into the History Channel as often as possible. Here is where to find everything from ancient history of the world to the more modern history of America and other parts of the world. No matter when a viewer tunes in to this station, there will certainly be something to learn from it.

And those stations are just the beginning. There is programming now that covers things like crafts, home improvement, and many do-it-yourself projects. For many topics of things to learn, there is Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. If you wish to learn more about the religions of the world or just hear some sermons from your own religion, there are numerous television stations covering religion.

As I am making the list of television stations that are available for learning, it strikes me that as long as one has a television in the house (well, and cable or satellite!) there should never be a problem with boredom. I remember the days when there really wasn't much on the tube at all and if you got more than three of the local stations, you were very lucky indeed.

If you want to learn more about how the government works, tune into C-Span for a while and watch the inner workings of the United States congress. The same goes for Court TV station if you want to learn more about the law and courts.

This was not in any way a complete list. I cannot possibly list all of the cable stations that serve as a learning tool for viewers of any age. I know that it is easy for the population in general to complain about the television programming that is available, but we really don't have to tune into the worthless programming! We can instead learn how to cook a special dinner, start a scrapbook, re-enact a civil war battle, build a bookcase, go to Paris, or any other number of fabulous things that are at our fingertips to learn on any given day.

My husband and I bought a high-definition-capable television two years ago or more now. Our old television was simply getting old, with little glitches and a low-quality picture, and it was time to look in to getting a new model. At the time, it seemed that HDTV was right around the corner, so it would have been remiss to not pick up a new TV that was capable of receiving high definition transmissions. So we put out the extra money in the hopes of saving money later when we didn't have to buy an HDTV-converter. I have to admit that I had to be convinced, whereas my husband was sold on the idea before we even entered the store. In the end, though, I saw the value of purchasing the high-definition model, even if it cost quite a bit more.

Yet the deadline for high definition transmissions keeps getting pushed back. I don't remember the exact dates, but it seems like HDTV was already supposed to be here by 2005, if not a year or two before. But now I hear that stations still have a couple of years or more before they will be forced to convert to the digital format for their broadcasts. I can understand that there are difficulties involved in the switch, but I feel like this has been dragged on way too long. But maybe I'm just bitter because I paid extra money for a feature on my television that I can't use yet.

Now I'm not a huge television watcher, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities of high-definition television. From what I've heard, HDTV offers crystal-clear pictures and channels of specialized programming enabled by the digital transmission. I think it could definitely make for a better television-watching experience.

Yet even though my television set hasn't been able to fulfill its high-definition promise, televisions that are equipped for high-definition digital transmissions are helpful in other areas. First, since HDTV will be broadcast in widescreen, HDTV-capable televisions come with widescreen-dimension screens. This is perfect for watching DVDs of the latest Hollywood releases as they were meant to be seen. But you can also change the screen settings to the standard 4:3 ratio so that you can watch network television and pan and scan DVDs without having to watch strangely stretched-out characters.

The picture quality of an HD television is also superior. Now, if you use an antenna, the picture won't suddenly be crystal clear, but digital cable and satellite transmissions should look great. The value of this would depend on what kinds of programs you prefer to watch, but imagine a nature show or sporting event that looked like it was taking place right in front of you.

I believe that some digital cable and satellite providers currently provide high-definition channels. So while you're buying an HDTV for future use, you can also take advantage of some programming right now.

So overall, I wouldn't go out of your way to buy a high-definition television, but if you're otherwise in the market for a new TV set, you should definitely consider an HDTV, especially as prices continue to drop.