So, I got Foxtel.

And it's so far, so good, then so bad.

I wasn't home for the installation, but when I got home, that glorious set top box sitting on where my (failing HD) DVB-T STB was sitting previously, yelling, "Watch Me! Watch Me! WATCH ME!"

And I did. I got the "newer" boxes (they look different, and they've got a totally new-looking firmare, possibly the same manufacturers of the IQ2 box?) and the quality, considering it's SD, was brilliant.

There's a reason I got it - I saw too many of those Foxtel ads on FTA, and every time I saw it, my craving for overpriced, ad-riddled subscription television got even deeper. And, so, after some teadious budgeting (yeah, I admit, the financial crisis is hitting me too), I was able to fork out ~$70 for Basic + My World + Disney for the little 'un. At least the this month is free.

And, anyways, I turned on the box, and it was brill. I'm having trouble remembering all the channel numbers, but I've got some stuck in my head: 601 for Sky News, 605 for CNN, erh, Arena's 118?

And, while I am familar to the Active Service, I got a bit too excited with the Weather Channel Active showing detailed weather for my suburb. And, after more channel surfing, I got a bit of a surprise - MTV's got it's own Active channel (although unaccessable for some reason at some time).

But now I'm getting pretty pissed at it. Not at the channels themselves, but the freggin' hardware. So I was watching Jeopardy on W (why is it on W? Men watch it too!), and the show was up the last Jeopardy question thing, then it went to an ad break, so I pressed the Power button on the remote (as a force of habit), and so it went to sleep. Went to get a drink, pressed the Power button, and it wouldn't turn on. Turned it on via the STB and it turned on. I turned it back off, pulled out the cord, and plugged it in, thinking it would solve the problem. It didn't, and furthermore, it was downloading the guides... and when it finished after a minute, it ended up on 999 Help, and I was furiously flicking through to W on my knees, using the STB because the remote was still bloody stubburn, and when I did get to W, it was already in the credits!

And, you know what pisses me off? The remote turned off the STB on command when I got pissed at it shortly after.

And, so, meh. Foxtel channels: Brilliant. Foxtel Hardware: Disasterous. Seriously, if I get more problems with this POS hardware...