Observation Affects Reality??

[Stiffler]

A strange thing happened to me tonight....

I decided to watch a movie, so I went to Comcast On Demand and rented "Runner Runner" (don't judge me, I've already watched the good movies). No sooner does the movie start, and the sound drops out & the picture pixalates; I hate Comcast. After rewinding the movie several times, I shut off the cable box & start over. I restart the movie, and sure enough the sound is cutting out & the picture is distorting. It took me half an hour to watch the first 15 minutes, and it's getting annoying as hell. I know tomorrow I'm going to have to argue with Comcast to get a refund, and that's when it hit me: record the movie so that I have evidence.

You see, earlier this evening I went out and purchased a Gopro Hero 3+, and while this was going on I had it set up in another part of the room taking time lapse photos. So, I grabbed the camera, changed the settings to video, and positioned it on my love seat so that it captures all of the instances where I have to rewind the movie to catch the audio. After that, the movie played FLAWLESSLY. How bizarre!! This kind of reminded me of the double split experiment, and of the whole 'does a tree make a sound' theory...Could observation really have had an effect on the outcome? I'm sure this is a stretch, but I still found it quite interesting.

[The_Doctor]

I reckon it's just flow control. Demanding it meant something decided it had to give it to you eventually. When Napster was new, and I was after Tangerine Dream bootleg recordings from Eastern Europe, the connections were so tenuous they'd dry up like stream beds in summer within a few tens of seconds, every time. So the only way to solve this was to fire up ten connections to one host every few tens of seconds, wait till the surge hit peak flow, then kill all but the one I wanted. Its surge peaked like a Q-switched laser, for about twenty seconds, then slowed, dropped out completely, and I'd do it all over again, and again, nursing and nudging it like a plane on an empty tank, trying for the longest flight I could get out of it, night after night. (I'd contact the person at the far end too, and they usually supported the effort, it wasn't caused by them in the first place, and they were interested that someone cared enough to try to get something they liked too. Also amazing was how many east Europeans could write English fairly well). Internet is way better these days, but I imagine flow control is still as crude as it ever was, at times. Even now, if a browser won't give me what I want, or an email server won't connect, I force it, cut it, force it, three, maybe five times in rapid succession. It nearly always works. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, says I. Once they know you're there, and insistent about it, it pays to go gently though, respect the far end for respecting you, and it usually stays working longer. The trick is to get the needed attention in the first place.

[TechJunkie]

Comcast sucks. The only problem is all the other cable companies suck harder. I hate Comcast with a passion, they try to milk every dollar thay can from you.

I had an issue with On Demand one time, just to find out they dont run the on demand service, its another company. They told me I had to contact the other company and complain. I asked if they employ that company, they said yes, then I said why the hell do I have to deal with a company THEY employ. I was livid.

The only good thing about them is if you bitch enough you'll get your way most of the time. I've literally saved thousands griping to them over the years over their crap service. I could give you a 2 mile list of all the issues I've had with them.

A strange thing happened to me tonight....

I decided to watch a movie, so I went to Comcast On Demand and rented "Runner Runner" (don't judge me, I've already watched the good movies). No sooner does the movie start, and the sound drops out & the picture pixalates; I hate Comcast. After rewinding the movie several times, I shut off the cable box & start over. I restart the movie, and sure enough the sound is cutting out & the picture is distorting. It took me half an hour to watch the first 15 minutes, and it's getting annoying as hell. I know tomorrow I'm going to have to argue with Comcast to get a refund, and that's when it hit me: record the movie so that I have evidence.

You see, earlier this evening I went out and purchased a Gopro Hero 3+, and while this was going on I had it set up in another part of the room taking time lapse photos. So, I grabbed the camera, changed the settings to video, and positioned it on my love seat so that it captures all of the instances where I have to rewind the movie to catch the audio. After that, the movie played FLAWLESSLY. How bizarre!! This kind of reminded me of the double split experiment, and of the whole 'does a tree make a sound' theory...Could observation really have had an effect on the outcome? I'm sure this is a stretch, but I still found it quite interesting.

[turbohead]

Sounds much like the heisenberg uncertainty principle...

[Stiffler]

All I know is that I'm gonna keep that little GoPro close by for the next time my cable starts fucking up!!

Regarding the general suckyness of Comcast, they have among the worst customer satisfaction ratings of all US companies. Yet somehow, aside from my rent, they are the single largest bill I pay every month and for WHAT???? The programming SUCKS!! It seams like each channel only runs a few shows a day, but repeats them every couple hours; WTF?? And don't get me started on On Demand- $5.99 for a movie for 24 hours, that is probably not going to play smoothly?? I miss Blockbuster & the likes.

[bungy]

Comcast has altered the skyline of Philadelphia by building the tallest skyscaper in the city in 2008. They just announced that they're building a new skyscraper in Philly that's even taller. And Comcast has just purchased Time Warner.
Spend a dime on enhancing their system? No way.

It infuriates me that I still get the same crappy experience (pixellation, audio cuts out, video skips, etc) on a daily basis. Not to mention the stone age interface with incredible lag.

It is clear that Comcast does not care about its customers.

[TechJunkie]

They charge a $1 extra for HD movies now. So its not bad enough I have to pay for an HD box, but I have to pay extra to watch a HD movie now.

They upped my internet speed 3 times. Every time it got slower than original. They kept saying everything was fine and it was on my end. I find out months later, because of a billing SNAFU, that I was supposed to have the new modem they offered. They never told me I needed it. Then on top of it all you have to buy the battery for the back up now ($40). The old one was free. So for 8 months I got shafted on bandwidth, and have to pay $40 if I want to keep it on if the power goes out.

I've been dealing with crap like this for 10 years. Like I said earlier, the trouble is all the other cable companies are worst, and FIOS is too slow in my area. So I'm stuck.

[Stiffler]

In a free market economy, goods & services are only worth what the consumer agrees to pay. So apparently, we are all a bunch of fucking suckers!!! SmDh....

[TechJunkie]

Google came out with a super internet, phone, and TV package that dwarfed everything out there for quality, speed, and price. Its suppose to revolutionize the whole market, but so far its only available locally around the Google headquarters. I've been waiting over a year for it to hit the open market, but for whatever reason its stalled.

[Stiffler]

I imagine Google is waiting for it's fleet of wifi weather balloons to be deployed nation wide.