Digital TV delay - & old VCR warning!

[ziggy29]

This whole delay thing is stupid. Procrastinators won't be ready if we delay it four months or four years or four decades.

 

[OAG]

Wonder who benefits from the delay - must be some motive for voting on this BS twice in a couple of weeks.

 

[ziggy29]

Wonder who benefits from the delay - must be some motive for voting on this BS twice in a couple of weeks.

The economy sucks, we're losing half a million jobs a month, but hey, they can say they saved analog TV for a few more months. Glad our priorities are so well in order...

 

[REWahoo]

Modified DTV delay bill set for House revote Tuesday - Ars Technica

The latest version of the delay bill makes the delay voluntary, allowing broadcasters—who had complained about the cost of continuing to broadcast both analog and digital signals—to decide when to drop analog broadcast, with June 12 as the final deadline to make the switch

...and...

Delay or no, about 16 percent of broadcast stations are expected to have made the switch to digital by the original February 17 deadline.

Since the law in question determines the date TV stations must turn off their analog transmitters and 16 percent are reported to have already done so by the original deadline, I wonder how many others will avoid the expense of broadcasting on both and go ahead with the 2/17 switch even if the delay is passed?

I'm thinking this bill may be nothing more than our elected officials pandering to the public to make it appear that they are "doing something". What are the odds?

 

[ziggy29]

I'm thinking this bill may be nothing more than our elected officials pandering to the public to make it appear that they are "doing something". What are the odds?

And they'll only make it worse if SOME stations cut off analog after 2/17 and others wait longer. That would really create confusion.

There are a lot of stations which plan to cut off analog on 2/17 if they don't have to keep it on. Some full-power UHF transmissions cost $20-30K per month just for the juice, and right about now many stations, like everything else out there, wants to cut costs aggressively whether they can.

 

[OAG]

I wonder what the "law" will say. It is going to confuse people and may prove very costly IF the rule is that "they" (broadcasters) can, at their option, go DIGITAL anytime they want to but MUST continue to ALSO broadcast ANALOG until 15 June (or whatever date they come up with).

 

[ziggy29]

I wonder what the "law" will say. It is going to confuse people and may prove very costly IF the rule is that "they" (broadcasters) can, at their option, go DIGITAL anytime they want to but MUST continue to ALSO broadcast ANALOG until 15 June (or whatever date they come up with).

The proposals I saw basically said the broadcasters could pretty much choose when to cut off their analog. They could cut it off on 2/17 or any time with 30 days notice until 6/12. Frankly, each market should have the same cutoff for all stations to eliminate confusion and too much channel scanning on the tuners and converter boxes.

As written it was a compromise because there was substantial opposition to forcing all stations to keep analog alive for four months (with all its costs and disruptions to schedule and allocated resources for the shutdown).

 

[samclem]

Another thing made worse by a "voluntary extension": The frequencies freed up by the conversion (to include those to be used by emergency services providers) wont be available as planned if some TV stations stay on their analog freqs. So, the ripple of greater costs and delayed improvements continues--remind me again why it is necessary at this late stage for Washington to mess with the plan?

 

[clifp]

This is crazy they should do the switch over as scheduled. Hawaii did the transition back on Jan 15. The week before there was articles in the paper and on the PBS station with several alarmist predicting several people would lose TV reception. The change over was 2 weeks ago and I haven't seen a single story about poor folks being render TV-less.

I know people are really hurt economically but a quick scan of Craigslist shows lots of HD ready TVs for $50 to $100 and VCRs are $25. I suspect the universe of people who are regular TV watchers, and don't have cable or a new TV and can't afford $100 is very small. Sure there are folks like my sister who never watch TV, and own some old TV that in theory are effected. But in reality her TV hasn't plugged in for 10 years, and the timing of the conversion is non-event for her.

 

[Jeb-NY]

Government really knows how to stimulate the economy. The makers of converter boxes have pretty much shipped all the boxes they think will be needed, so the retailer has paid for them and have them sitting in their stores and warehouse where they expect to have their investment back no later than 2/17. The broadcasters planned on saving thousands of dollars per month after 2/17 when they can shut down the redundant transmitter. Companies that have bought the rights to the freed up frequencies have spent millions getting equipment in place so they are ready for 2/17 to start getting a return on their investment. But because some Democrats have misread the constitution and thinks it is the god given right for all Americans to watch TV they want to delay.

Yet again those of us that plan ahead wait for those that can't get their act together.

Jeb

 

[Hal3]

GE 24775 Quantum Indoor HDTV Antenna

I am getting HDTV with This:

http://www.amazon.com/24775-Quantum-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B000W8XQJC

 

[bongo2]

"Hawaii did the transition back on Jan 15 . . . The change over was 2 weeks ago and I haven't seen a single story about poor folks being render TV-less."

The other thing that I love about all this hoopla - how big of a hardship is it really to be without TV for a few days? Is not being able to watch TV even newsworthy? You'd think we were cutting off people's oxygen or something! It might do some people a little good to turn off the tube every once in a while.

 

[ERD50]

I just had to rant on this one more time, as I happened to see the "TEST" announcement they had a week or so ago in the Chicago area.

My fears were confirmed - I can't believe how stupid they are being with this. Remember, the real warnings/tests are for people who are out of the loop. If you are even a novice "techie", you already know what, if anything, you need to do.

So, here's the problem:

They come on with this 10 minute (IIRC) ANNOUNCEMENT that if you see this red banner and can hear this, that you NEED a new TV or a converter box!

WRONG!

The reason I saw the TEST was that DW had turned on our new DIGITAL TV but had just entered "7" on the remote, and she was tuned to the ANALOG channel. So she got the message that she needs a new TV!

At NO POINT did they say "try tuning your TV to 7.1" or anything like that.

My Mom was confused by this, even after I spent 3 days at her house in picking out a new DIGITAL TV for her, buying the new furniture she needed to replace her old console set, getting that all assembled and then showing her how to use it. And pointing out all these new DIGITAL channels, and how clear the wide-screen DIGITAL picture is. Yet, she still thought she had to worry about this test when she saw it!

So how many people are being confused by this little detail - they may have a new TV, all set for digital, but choose the old analog channel out of habit (my wife AND Mother both do this - drives me nuts). They are going to see this test and be all worried that they still need something. Crazy.

-ERD50