A conversation I overheard on the train:
"So, we want to switch to digital television and we buy this Digitenne set. We install it, and then it turns out that you can only record the TV program that the decoder is set to. Why would I want to record the program I am watching? No one told me about this. I was really mad, had to call customer service and talk to them for a long time."

Better picture quality, more channels, less ease of use
Just an example of how watching television via cable and satellite decoders has given us a broader choice of channels and an increase in picture quality, but reduced the usability of watching TV, if you compare it to a simple coaxial cable. The woman in the train simply expected 'digital television' to work the same way as analogue television. And no-one pointed out to her that digital decoders only emit one channel at a time. That, obviously would reduce her motivation to purchase the product.

The network is the weakest link
Individually the products I use at home to watch television (a decoder, a television, and a home cinema set) are pretty decent when it comes to usability, but if you would look at the usability of the system as a whole, that's even worse than the usability of what used to be the icon of hard to use products: the VCR. I'm hoping for a new generation of televisions with integrated hard disk and tuner. No more hassle please.