Read this article and it raises some good issues...a Consumer's Union is pleading with Congress about this issue...Here in Ohio there are towns that don't even have enough converter boxes....And on another level many families and elderly are struggling to put food on the table should they be forced to give up their Rabbit Ears because they are poor ?
Now Obama's Team is also Urging Delay as well....
DO Read the Comment thread below as DrKnow our Own Expert on this complicated issue explains ALOT that we did not know.....also go visit his blog,he is a thougtful fellow worth the read, Gone Like the Wind....
8 comments:
Having been deeply involved in the electronics/video/broadcast/computer world for 35 years, there are other objections to the digital switchover; one of which is National Security. Large EM pulses, such as large solar flares or nucular weapons, are decidely prone to killing complicated electonics such as digital TVs.
Analog is much easier to implement in case of disaster, and much less costly. A hobbiest can build an analog TV, including the homemade vacuum tubes, but a digital TV will never be duplicated without, apparently, a worldwide contribution of programmers and specialty IC manufacturers. In other words, should there be a massive EMP discharge, we would all be in the dark. Literally. I truly wonder if that's not what the Powers That Be would prefer.
Another issue is that the VHF spectrum was broken up and handed to cell phone and PDA providers due to its less direction nature.
It should have been phased in as an optional top-shelf alternative, not a replacement. The cost to taxpayers for this boondoggle is astounding as well. I don't see AT&T paying for it, either. Nor Comcast, but you can bet there will be a lot of new activity in those markets, if anyone can afford it by then.
By the way, nice old Philco - used to have one (and worked on them as well as a kid), they are cult classics.
DrKnow::
thanks for educating us on this- I might have to update this post- you gave some info that we all need....I think Time Warner Comcast etc...NONE of them care about us....
( about the TV - my grandparents used to have a TV like this in the "guest" room-where we kids spent alot of time....I think I see LBJ and Kennedy and MLK so grainey because of that TV.....it was great...)
I didn't realize this was such a costly thing. But in talking to my old Dad a couple days ago, he said now he's gonna have to pay to have a converter box added to the bdrm TV. It'll cost him a one-time fee (I think he said $50?) and then a monthly fee of $5 + tax to add the bdrm to his cable tv pkg. He's always just used the antenna for the bdrm TV, to watch local news or PBS. He feels the airwaves are being held for ransom. $5/mo might not seem like so much, but for an elderly person on social security, it might mean he can no longer use the TV as a sleeping aid!
FWIW, have your Dad hook it up and pay the cable company nothing. He doesn't need a converter box unless his TV is so old it doesn't have a synthesized tuner, or he wants digital cable - completly different from Over The Air Digital. Not illegal to do so, BTW.
That's like renting a phone from the phone company - no one does that anymore. But they'll sure take your money should you opt to, and the high pressure sales pitch can make it seem the only alternative.
DrKnow::
here the Cable Company said the same thing...that if you have an old TV, you have to rent the Box, or pay the 5 dollar fee, and the box is a one time fee of 40-50 dollars...and alot of the stores have already run out of them...( alot of my older neighbors are wrestling with this- as they have TV 's from the 80's...pre-cable...some are even older....)
It's a way to screw the poor ( like me) and the elderly and also the college kids in our hood...not right....making aTV a "luxory", when it should be considered an essential for safety etc, the other thing is that FCC should have set up some kind of Roll Out Plan and made it easier for ALL to be included in this...
I think it was really about trying to get Everyone to BUY NEW TV;s .....but what do I know...as I sit here with my OLD 1987 29 dollar 2nd hand TV.....which I refuse to give up....
We shouldn't call you DrKNOW...we should call you Dr TV....thanks for helping folks figure this out....
( I will be over tonight to read your latest post..just got home from the Salt Mines...)
DK::
I am sorry about your dad, all my older neighbors are going through this too....it's wrong..really is....
I hope DrKnow's advice helps....
Actually, the "plan" has been rolled back several times already. The original transition was to be in 2004; it got delayed, partially because the equipment wasn't up to snuff. The FCC and the standards committees have had problems with sound sync and compatibility issues. The first broadcasts I saw back in early 2000 were horrible. Even now, much of the content is transcoded from analog, so it isn't really "High Definition" anyway.
The amusing part is that the comapnies that originally rammed this stuff through are now mostly out of business.
Brief Technical Overview of HDTV
Enjoy...
One more thing. The box used to receive ATSC (local broadcasts received with an antenna) is NOT the same as a box from the cable company used to view QUAM digital cable signals.
Also, rabbit ears don't work very well with ATSC digital, if at all. It's an all or nothing thing with DTV - either you have a signal strong enough to view, or you get nothing (or choppy, stuttering nonsense.)
With analog, the signal degrades gracefully until "snow" drowns out the signal. Marginal analog signals are still viewable - not so with DTV.
The antenna issue has brought forth a morass of WAY overpriced "HDTV Antennas" from a variety of bogus Chinese import companies. The complicated converter box (essentially a self-contained computer) costs $50 and up, but the plastic and aluminum piece of crap antennas they sell cost that and more. It's a racket. Look for the Silver Sensor or some of the better CH 7-69 Channel Master or Wineguard outdoor antennas. Even the Silver Sensor is overpriced, and is worth about $10. I believe it sells for $30 at this point in time.
This is my HDTV antenna
Cost? $0. Made from scrap foam, wire, tubing.
Good Luck.
I love the antennae- awesome...very cool...and thanks for helping explain things..( you saw I linked you >?)
Post a Comment