Digital (and maybe smart, android, HD or HDMI or HDD…) TV

We all know that analog is giving way to digital everything and

everywhere, so it was no surprise when the Swiss TV announced the cessation of analog broadcasting. For me this means parting with my 15+ year old heavy, boxy set and getting one of the sleek new thin screens. Rather fun, I thought as I perused the ads in the flyer accompanying the newspaper. And how inexpensive! I do not want one of the humungous, living room-dominating screens, but rather a discrete affair enough bigger than my old one to be kind to my aging eyes.

Then I began reading the details. Smart or, presumably, dumb? 4 K? Ultra high definition? And what is this HDMI? And what about HDD-recording and android, whatever those are? Or let’s consider DLNA network function. Sounds like a good thing. Continuing with the alphabet salad, here is one with DVB-T2/C/S2 Cl+ tuner: surely Chinese would be easier to decipher than all this arcane language.

Nothing for it but a trip to the shop to confess my incredible ignorance and to ask for guidance. Delivery is also going to be costly but a necessity for me in my carless state. The very pleasant clerk commented that the one I liked weighs less than 4 kilos and I had a picture of myself staggering down the street with a big clunky box weighing 4 kilos. No. Considerably enlightened, I inquired about programming the thing – well, there are instructions on the phone company website.

Home to the phone company’s website, which is a marvel of good organization, presenting either/or questions so that one branches off stepwise in the appropriate direction. I feel quite smug when I know immediately that I do not need a converter. I was, however, brought up short by their wi-fi connection using Horizon. Horizon? Seems it is associated with its own box and is used to change the SSID. I’m so glad to know this. Instead of Horizon there is a mediabox or a smart card or a DigiCard/Cl+. It was immediately clear that to the expensive of delivery is to be added the expense of programming, which is rather steep.

Maybe I will stick with watching TV on my computer. Not as good for the eyes, probably, but a lot less complicated.