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Where the programming is brought to you by the DNC

I don't remember the last time I saw anything overtly political on PBS, but if it makes you feel better, you can also listen to talk radio, also for free. At least I think that there are some radio programs out there in between the 10-minute commercial breaks, it's been a while.

Where the programming is brought to you by the DNC

Do baluns cost that much at Radio Shack? Ouch.

http://www.current.org/wp-cont...

If I had mod points, you'd have one.

Our local PBS affiliate (the only channel I watch) switched early and broadcast at full power initially --- I was able to get the signal in my basement w/ rabbit ears --- until the other stations switched over and they also reduced power --- can't pick up the signal in my basement so had to run a line up to the living room and build a digital TV antenna:

http://www.current.org/wp-content/themes/current/archive-site/ptv/ptv0821make.pdf

When the weather is bad I have to pick it up from behind the couch and place it in the window.

If you're in Australia, beat the rush and grab any parts you need before the rush (or go into business making and selling them).

I dumped cable about a year ago. I made a digital antenna http://current.org/ptv/ptv0821make.pdf I live in an urban setting and get about 30 channels. I use 4g wireless to a Cradlepoint router. That is about $25 US a month. Over that I get NetFlix, You Tube and whatever else I want. I have an HP laptop with HDMI out as a DVR and an LG BluRay with wifi. Went from almost $200 U.S. a month for cable to about $40. I get HD Digital TV and like it just fine. I can't imagine gong back. The extra $160 a month would pay for a new DVD box set every month, but I haven't needed one. I just go to the movies more often.

I wish I were in that situation --- there are a couple of stations which we only get if the weather is perfect, several which we'll get if I position the antenna which I had to make ( http://current.org/ptv/ptv0821make.pdf ) just so and one station (broadcasting on 3 channels) which we get fine so long as the weather isn't bad.

The reason for this is the TV stations reducing broadcasting power --- when the local PBS affiliate switched to digital and other stations were still analog we received their signal perfectly, regardless of weather over rabbit ears in the basement --- now that they've reduced their signal strength ( http://www.current.org/tech/tech819d.html ) we barely get the signal w/ the afore-mentioned digital-optimized antenna located in the bay window in the living room.

William

I wish I were in that situation --- there are a couple of stations which we only get if the weather is perfect, several which we'll get if I position the antenna which I had to make ( http://current.org/ptv/ptv0821make.pdf ) just so and one station (broadcasting on 3 channels) which we get fine so long as the weather isn't bad.

The reason for this is the TV stations reducing broadcasting power --- when the local PBS affiliate switched to digital and other stations were still analog we received their signal perfectly, regardless of weather over rabbit ears in the basement --- now that they've reduced their signal strength ( http://www.current.org/tech/tech819d.html ) we barely get the signal w/ the afore-mentioned digital-optimized antenna located in the bay window in the living room.

William

After the local PBS affiliate reduced their signal strength I had to make an antenna to get a signal:

http://current.org/ptv/ptv0821make.pdf

Anyone who is having reception difficulties who hasn't tried an antenna specifically designed for digital reception might want to consider it.

William

Similar difficulties here in the past --- when the local PBS affiliate was broadcasting in digital while everyone else was analog, I could receive them just fine w/ the rabbit ear antenna in the basement as a digital signal despite that being a non-optimal antenna configuration / location.

Since the digital switch over they've dropped their signal strength and in order to even begin to receive a signal I had to make an antenna out of wire hangers and move it up to the living room:

http://current.org/ptv/ptv0821make.pdf

If you're using rabbit ears, try the weird looking antenna --- it's ugly, but it works.

William

If a Part 15 transmitter does cause interference to authorized radio communications, even if the transmitter complies with all of the technical standards and equipment authorization requirements in the FCC rules, then its operator will be required to cease operation, at least until the interference problem is corrected.

And how well can we expect that to be enforced?

Right now, there are millions of in-car transmitters out there used for relaying satellite radio to car stereos. They cause all sorts of interference with "authorized radio communications". But since they were only interfering with NPR broadcasts, rather than those of someone with money, rather than take serious action against XM the FCC agreed to let them send out cheap useless ferrite beads and leave it up to customers to install them.

I guess the MS Barney robot software was "informal"?

Apparantly Jennifer Aniston is looking to star in a movie version of Zora. It's quite an extraordinary story that this lady went through really. After reading the transcript I felt quite sorry for her, but also quite amazed.

You can read about Jennifer Aniston's bit here and the transcript of the audio file is here

Could this censorship of PBS have anything to do with the new Bush donor appointees to its board? Or tie in with the addition of rightwing moutpieces to the PBS lineup?

PBS has no R&D unit per se like the BBC has. PBS also does no production, thus it does not own rights to its shows, but only provides licensed distribution of that programming as well as satellite interconnection to public television stations.

That isn't to say that no R&D happens at PBS. Recently PBS developed the ACE highly automated and integrated master control model, aimed at reducing costs at public television stations. PBS also played a significant technical role in the development of closed captioning.

Bill Nye is, supposedly, putting together a new television entitled "The Eyes of Nye". Unlike the children's program, "The Eyes of Nye" will be aimed towards adults and will deal with controversial science topics. Also, Nye is serving as a professor at Cornell University, the university where he graduated from.
I'm glad to see him come back. I remember that he was a strong voice against the Kansas Board of Education's evolution nonsense. Although I was in college when the decision was passed, and my old high school wasn't even particularly governed by the KBOE since it was a private school, the ruckus that it created was quite loud. It was good to see a prominent science figure speaking out. Now that I'm an adult, I'm happy to see him speak to my current age group. Hopefully they can put out a good pilot, and hopefully someone will pick it up.

There is a reason for her voice sounding the way is does.

"Doctors earlier this year began treating Rehm for spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition in which the vocal cords constrict when they're not supposed to."

Not that you can't continue to hope somebody dies simply because you dislike the way they sound on the radio.

John

and they stream mp3, too! I also spent high school and college listening to WRSU, Rutgers, New Brunswick and WKDU Drexel University. God save college radio!

And for all you NPR fans, check out Current.org. I used it to find a bunch of different streaming NPR stations for my SliMP3 player. Worked like a charm until I brought my streaming server to the office :( I really need to bring my PC home.

I would hardly equate "Bowling for Columbine" with NPR's All Things Considered. And that's about as close as you're going to get to "government run news" in the US.

Yeah, NPR is so left wing that they appointed Kevin Klose, Director of the International Broadcasting Bureau, as their president. The IBB is the US Government run network which operates the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio and TV Marti and Radio Free Asia.

Yes, they're thinking the same things as you.

Guess who opposes it? The prosecutor.

Texas is #1 in U.S. executions and so is of particular interest for a capital trial. The show is the kind of thing I'd like to see, and Frontline is pretty level-headed, but not if it were possibly damaging to a life/death decision. So I'd like to see it but don't think they should do it. :)

Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan 15.

There are some reports here, here, and here. A general thing from the military is here. I don't have time to find a more radical critique, as I'm in the middle of class.

My opinion though is that the executives are lying concering what they knew, it just isn't feasable that top corporate executives wouldn't at least gets a little wink wink from their secretaries or whoever. They may not have encouraged it, but they certainly acquised. The U.S. military has a long tradition, at least since the perpetual wars we've been fighting since Vietnam (read your history books, we've been in constant war since WWII), of actively manipulating the domestic press to suit its own purposes. In addition to active maniplation, they lie constantly in press briefings. Whether they have a good reason to do this, I have no idea, but they're certainly not acting like the Constitution decrees.

"Fox probably thought, 'Since widescreen at 480 is good enough for the millions who watch DVDs, why spend a lot more to please the few purists?'"

As much as I hate to admit it, from a purely business standpoint the network executives are probably being most prudent in not commencing with the conversion at this point.

Uh... no.

The article was wrong here, as well as in some other points. Fox has done some of the conversion to HD already, although they're the slackest of the five broadcast networks (the leader is PBS, which probably surprises a lot of people). All the other networks are broadcasting in either 1080i or 720p at some point during the day.

The catch here is that the cost difference between broadcasting a high-def digital format vs a standard def digital format (both of which fall under the umbrella of DTV) is minimal. Really. Either way you have to buy a boatload of new equipment -- new digital cameras, digital editing equipment, encoders, decoders, a new antenna and all it's associated equipment, yadda yadda yadda. This is not cheap. By the time you've paid for all of that the difference between resolution costs is truely minimal.

So why doesn't Fox want to do HD? Because Rupert Murdoch would prefer to use the bandwidth, which was given to the broadcasters for free for digital interactive services, multiple channels, etc. Despite the minor nit that this was not what the spectrum giveaway was for.

Anyone who has actually seen HD on a decently setup monitor knows just how good it looks. And how shabby 480, even 480p, looks in comparison. The issues are rampant though, and I'm seriously doubting that HD will take off now.

The biggest issues, which were missed completely by the article, are the FCC and the content providers. The content providers (e.g. - hollywood) are once again wringing their hands over copyrights. A connection and encryption standard was finally set about a year ago, but there are still companies complaining that they want the right to reach into any recording device and delete, limit the viewings of, or otherwise invalidate a recording. The FCC has made all of the problems with HD even worse by doing absolutely nothing. They refused to beat the industry into a connection standard, a set-top box standard, or anything else beyond vague warnings that if the industry didn't set a standard then they would. Sometime. Really.

Probably the worst decision, and the one that is likely to doom HD to dieing, is the FCC's decision that HD does not fall under the "must carry" rules for cable. Under US law cable providers must carry local broadcast channels to their designated broadcast areas. When HD came about it was unclear if these new signals would fall under that law as well -- they were broadcast by the same channels, but it wasn't any "new" information, just higher bitrate. The cable companies don't want to touch HD because it eats too much of their bandwidth - which they'd rather use for another dozen or so low bitrate channels. The FCC ruled in favor of the cable companies. The problem is that 80% of the US receives ALL of its television over cable. And for HD, mere rabbit ears don't cut it. You have to have a full blown rooftop or attic antenna. Preferably directional. Because 8-VSB sucks.

If you really want to learn more about all of the crap that's gone on, I highly recommend Stereophile Guide to Home Theater. They've done a pretty good job of keeping on top of it, particularly on their website.

Check out this article:

Unionized technicians at NPR rejected a contract offer Jan. 11 [2002] that would end longstanding rules governing who at the network can record audio on location, mix pieces for broadcast and perform other duties...NPR management proposed the contract to take advantage of new digital technology that renders analog tape machines obsolete and makes it easier for producers to finish taped reports. Technicians, some of whom spend an estimated 65 percent of their time mixing pieces, worry that the contract might make their jobs obsolete as well.

Don't let big corporations continue to buy up all the bandwidth and hold us hostage with it.

Or, in the case of LPFM, those hypocrits at NPR.