Hawaii IPTV review: Is it worth the money?

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There’s something about tv in Hawaii.  It’s the warm aloha of local newscasts, cooking shows, various cable access shows and even the commercials.  Whether you lived in Hawaii or visited on vacation, you find when you’re away, you yearn for the local flair.  Enter Hawaii IPTV.  I was so excited when I saw this because if there’s one thing I miss when I’m not in the islands, it’s watching Guy Hagi tell me the weather or Sam Choy tell me what local cuisine I can whip up.  At Christmas time, I got $250 as a gift from my mother in law and saw this as a perfect opportunity to bite the bullet and put it toward subscribing to Hawaii IPTV for a year.  (The start up cost including S&H is $344.99)

I was very glad to see they changed the set top box to a putty color rather than that hideous big bird yellow they had previously.  We were so excited when it finally arrived.  Immediately apparent is some of the broadband technology on which it runs on is outdated which the company needs to address.  Now time to get to the good stuff, we tuned in to the “live” programming which is just the newscasts from KGMB, KHNL and KFVE.  It’s implied you can watch the newscasts live from your time zone but we’ve yet to ever see one live.  Over the past week, we are only able to see KGMB and none of the other two newscasts work for ANY of the days, only color bars and a delightful piercing audio.  I emailed them a few days ago about it and have yet to hear back.  I mean, KGMB is who we watch anyway but that’s not the point, we’re paying for all of the newscasts to be available.

Basically, in the course of a month you could watch every single program on there as nothing seems to be added since we’ve had it.  We were especially excited to watch Sam Choy’s Kitchen cooking show and while there are probably 40+ shows, they’re all 11+ years old and the audio is bad to boot!  The audio is bad on a lot of the shows.  You have to do a lot of finagling with the audio on the remote that comes with it and your tv remote to get it to the point where its not completely grating.  Some shows have a decent amounts of episodes like Sam Choy’s Kitchen and then you get Eh, U Da Kine, Ah? with Tony Solis and there are only 2 episodes and the audio is so bad you can barely hear what’s being said.  I have to say that had the total cost been the bulk of my own money, I would be highly disappointed.  Well, any amount, I’m still highly disappointed.  The biggest reason I went ahead with it is the hint that they are negotiating to possibly get UH Sports for this year.  If we could see Warrior Football, that would be a major plus but if that doesn’t happen, I have to wonder if this is worth keeping once the subscription is up.

Bottom line:  Good idea, poor execution.  I think the problems this system has are VERY fixable if the company wants to do so and build a good reputation.  If the menu stays the same throughout the year with no new licensing agreements and added shows, people who are already subscribers are going to drop like flies.  It’d be like deciding if you want to pay a monthly fee for newscasts which is nice but apparently not so much at this point in time for the KHNL and KFVE newscast viewers.

Local chef Sam Choy on Food Network tonight

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Make sure you tune in tonight to see adored local chef, Sam Choy on Dinner: Impossible on Food Network at 10pmEST.  (Check local listings)  The description as listed on Food Network’s website is as follows:

Late for the Luau
Robert is given his challenge oceanside and told that he will have to create a luau for 150 people including resort guests and Hawaii natives. Renowned Hawaiian chef Sam Choy will give him a lesson in luau food and Robert will have to create multiple dishes with the food and equipment provided and work with some special local help. Can Robert speed up Hawaiian Time or is this Dinner Impossible?

For those of you unfamiliar with Sam Choy, you’ll want to definitely make sure you tune in.  If you ever wanted to see the aloha spirit in its physical form, Sam embodies it.  We’ll be tuning in and hope you will too!

Jake Shimabukuro on Conan O’Brien tonight

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Hawaii’s premier ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro will play on Late Night with Conan O’Brien tonight.  If you’re not a stay up late kind of person then set the TiVo/DVR/VCR or whatever other recording apparatus you employ for your viewing pleasures.  (Check local listings)

Any time a Hawaii artist can get national exposure its a good thing because people tend to completely rethink what they have always considered to be “authentic” Hawaiian music.  Mainlanders and those who have never been to Hawaii seem to thing it’s all slack key of old Hawaii.  While slack key is definitely a part of Hawaii and very popular as demonstrated by the Grammy’s the past few years, contemporary and instrumental remains largely undiscovered outside the islands.  As we’ve seen with Iz’s “Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” medley, all it takes is one song and many bought Facing Future because of that song that normally wouldn’t have bought a Hawaiian artist.

Here’s wishing Jake a great reception and opening up people’s minds to the ukulele’s potential when placed in the hands of a truly talented representation of Hawaii.

Update:  In case anyone missed it, here’s the performance below.  Check it out while you can as they tend to yank Conan’s stuff off YouTube pretty quickly.

WPvideo 1.10

Study up television shows and advertisers!

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I don’t know if any of you have seen the new Helio Up Flickr commercial featuring Hawaii but I know when I did, I was HIGHLY irked!  Now I get that if you haven’t been to Hawaii that there are all kinds of misinformation floating around by people who would rather assume things.  Like Honolulu is the name of the island where Waikiki is (you don’t know how many times I’ve heard that) or that you can take a 20 minute boat ride between all of the islands and all kinds of other assumptions that have people in the know shaking their heads.  To me the worst offenders of perpetuating these myths are advertisers or television shows who find it easier to slap together a bunch of footage from various islands and call it Hawaii.   Yes, it encompasses the STATE of Hawaii but when you’ve got Samantha Brown driving on Oahu and then have a shot of Ali’i Drive in Kona on the Big Island as filler as though “you too can find the *Kona Gallery* on Oahu,” then I get a little frustrated.  (And Girl Meets Hawaii which has long since stopped taping there was one of the more accurate shows–the Travel Channel has thrown up some pretty pathetic and inaccurate “facts” about the islands onto our screens over the years.)

Now I see the new commercial for the Helio Up Flickr and I have to roll my eyes and mutter under my breath every time.  If you want to see the commercial click here.  On the right side under Services TV Spots, it’s the 3rd one down for Helio-Up Flickr.  Go ahead and watch it real quick, I’ll wait.

Did you spot it?  I thought so!  If not, pay attention, I’m about to school you!  LOL!  Starts off with a beautiful shot of the Kalalau Valley on Kauai.  Then they proceed to make up a name for Kalalau Valley which I believe was “Mount Wilia’nunun” and as he types in what to name the picture he types “Mt. Pu’u Ohulehule.”  Then the guy tells him to look it up and it says “name your location” and he enters Oahu and when it maps it for him, it shows it on the Big Island around the Kamuela area.  Really?  I mean REALLY?  It would’ve taken you what, 10 minutes to research that and actually put the *right* info in the commercial.  Instead you have 3 islands that have all been misrepresented and believe me when I tell you that there are people out there that see that that are going to be looking for Mt. Pu’u Ohulehule on Oahu that looks oddly enough like the Big Island. 

Advertisers…TV shows…anyone in the mainstream media…I beg of you, get it right or use somewhere else as your exotic locale!  It only perpetuates the myriad of stereotypes mainlanders or people who haven’t visited the island have about Hawaii.  People could get a nice little education in that 30 seconds instead of being mislead and it would’ve cost you what, 30 minutes MAX in someone doing and double checking the research.  Hele on Helio, hele on.

*Stepping off soapbox*  :)

Bounty Hunter grants first post scandal interview to Fox

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Dog Chapman appeared on Hannity and Colmes last night on Fox in which he gave a teary apology and appeared with his African American pastor Tim Storey.  The 8 month old private conversation which was sold by his paroled son, Tucker to rag mag site The National Enquirer for a rumored $15,000 contained an angry Dog using racial slurs.  When asked what could motivate a son to turn on his father for such a thing, Chapman speculated it could’ve been drug motivated.  Chapman also saw his son’s girlfriend for the first time in an interview she granted the National Inquirer website.  He cried as he watched it and said she was a cute little girl and said “I’m so sorry honey.”

Chapman was blasted by his pastor who said he was shocked when he heard the tape and angry and came at him with that energy but knew that wasn’t the man he knew.  The bounty hunter said whatever he needs to do to make this right, he’ll do.  He’s trying to formulate a plan but needs direction.  He said he knows he’ll never be forgiven and probably doesn’t deserve to be.  In regards to his high rated A&E show Dog the Bounty Hunter, Chapman says when they call he tells his wife to tell them he’s “in the bathroom” because he’s scared to talk to them. 

So far A&E has halted production of the current season and has pulled the show from it’s programming schedule but has stopped short of a full blown cancellation.  Many are speculating the imminent cancellation of the show since the Dog the Bounty Hunter box set that contains 4 discs has been slashed to $20 and has been selling like hotcakes on Amazon.com. 

Time will tell if Dog can do enough to make people believe he is truly sorry, has learned his lesson and can be forgiven.

Dog the Bounty Hunter goes local

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The new season of Dog the Bounty Hunter will include more local music to showcase the wonderful musicians Hawaii has to offer.  Some of you may have heard local island hip hop group Sudden Rush in the earlier episodes like when Lucky the dog got injured.  The executive producer of the show, Mona Wood, was quoted as saying:

“We have talented people here who do everything from traditional to contemporary Hawaiian, to Jawaiian and jazz,” Wood said. “We’re thrilled about that.”

Dog and Beth are fresh off of a Maui book signing at Walmart and are ready to continue shooting the 5th season of Dog the Bounty Hunter which is scheduled to begin airing in April.

Don’t forget!

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Tonight on ESPN you’ll be able to catch the Hawaii Warriors take on San Jose State at 8pm EST (check local listings in your neck of the woods)  Colt Brennan says he’s geared up and ready to go.  If you didn’t read about last week’s game, Colt had to come out after the first quarter, scoring 10 pts.  BUT the final score was 52-37 against Utah State which means that we have a kick ass team this year overall! 

Oh man, not that I want Ohio State to lose but as Hawaii continues to crawl up the ranks the dream game of OSU playing UH could come true and this would be one happy wahine!!!

Hawaii vs San Jose State
ESPN/ESPN 360 (online)
8pmEST

Just a reminder about our events calendar

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If you’re looking to get your “Hawaii fix” on your TV, check our events calendar on the left side of the page.  Light green dates have a Hawaii related program.  Roll your cursor over the date and it will list the program, the channel you can find it on and the time.  (Times are EST/PST, check local listings) 

 This calendar is updated for the current month as well as the next month.  I try to keep it updated as much as possible because I know what its like to need an escape!

On DVD today: Dog the Bounty Hunter-The Arrest

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If you want a piece of reality TV history on DVD, the Dog the Bounty Hunter episode where the boys are arrested by federal agents was released today.  The official description is as follows:

Tim, Leland and Dog’s recent capture of convicted serial rapist Andrew Luster should have culminated in celebration — instead, it led to their own arrest. Dog The Bounty Hunter: The Arrest investigates Dog’s shocking incarceration through first-hand accounts of the events leading up the arrest, and exclusive interviews with Dog, Beth, and their feisty posse.

Dog the Bounty Hunter mini-documentary to air tonight

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Tune in tonight for an hour long mini-documentary about Duane “Dog” Chapman on A&E at 8pm.  (Check local listings)

In this one-hour special, we will travel through the past with Dog as he makes a present-day journey through Colorado and Texas (with Beth and the Posse) to re-connect with old friends and mentors, and re-live significant moments from his past. Dog’s life has always been extraordinary: from his wild outlaw-biker days to his rehabilitation in a Texas prison to his long journey since then to become the world’s greatest bounty hunter.

For other showtimes, check the “events” calendar.

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