Moving into the dorm no longer means deprivation from your favorite cable channels or a viewing schedule restricted to three Simpsons episodes a day.
For the first time, residents of university housing can access 20 cable TV channels by logging on to the Internet. The system, known as NUTV, converts cable signals to a digital format that pass through Northwestern’s computer network.
Students accessed NUTV 10,000 times on Friday, said Tom Board, director of technology support services.
Many viewers said they were surprised by the good picture quality and felt the service was worth the increase in room and board.
“It’s gonna kill us, man,” McCormick sophomore Chris Liu said. “It’s worth the money, but I want more channels.”
Freshmen may never know a cable-less campus, but they can see advantages of the unique digital system.
“It’s nice because you don’t have to bring a TV,” David Maunu, a McCormick freshman, said.
Trial runs held last spring helped Information Technology staff work out bugs before introducing the technology to the entire campus.
Testing was important because the technology is very new, said Morteza Rahimi, vice president and chief technology officer for NUIT.
Board said the only problem so far was a hardware glitch Saturday morning. Working with the hardware vendor, Cisco Systems, Inc., the situation was remedied within a few hours.
The only other major issue has been confusion over the viewer’s operation. Many students have complained about the small picture size, not realizing that the image shown in the program guide is only meant for preview, Rahimi said.
A slight time delay when switching channels has also caused frustration.
Working out problems as they arise and making sure students learn the new system is NUIT’s first concern.
Students can offer feedback at the NUTV web site or via the Associated Student Government, who lobbied for the service last year through the Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee.
“We’re glad that it’s here finally and hope students like it,” said ASG president Rachel Lopez. “If not, we’ll lobby to improve it. What we want to do all year long is gather student input.”
