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Satellite TV From a Moving Car

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the focus-people dept.

An anonymous reader sent us an article about an in-car digital satellite television system. that can stay trained on the satellite even while moving. Of course, Most amusing is all the comments about how TV in cars is for passengers, because as we know, the drivers are too busy talking on their cell phones.

5 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. DVD Movie Murder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Twenty-eight-year-old Erwin "Jamie" Petterson Jr. was arraigned in Kenai Superior Court on four charges of second-degree murder in the killing of an Anchorage couple. Troopers say he was watching a movie on a DVD player installed in his dashboard when the crash occurred. (http://www.msnbc.com/local/ktuu/M295450.asp)

    Guy was supposed to go to trail last August but I haven't seen anything about him in the news for months.

    http://www.accidentsjusthappen.com

  2. If you can do it in airplanes... by SamDrake · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...then I guess you can do it in an SUV. I'm always amazed by the system that JetBlue uses, which must be similar to this one - JetBlue has DirecTV onboard, and their antenna system tracks the satellite during most manoeuvers. Only when the plane goes into a really steep bank during final approach will the sat go out for a few seconds.

  3. on cell phones in cars by Evil+Willow · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I am hard pressed to see the difference between talking on a cell phone and talking with passengers in the vehicle. Watching how people tend to interact, I'm imagining someone swiveling all over the seat while talking to several people in the car. I am also hard pressed to see the differecnce in someone dialing a number and changing the radio station, or searching for a CD.


    Yes, cell phones can be a distraction, but are they any more of a distraction than the many, many things people do in their cars? I watch people read the paper across the steering wheel, I watch them put on makeup, I watch them eat entire meals, I even watch them search around the backseat of their cars - All while driving. If you take a hard look at what a lot of people do in their cars, cell phones are by far the least of the problem.


    There are a lot of places people dont need to be talking on their cell phones - Movie Theaters comes to mind as a prime example. Because of this I believe its become quite the trend to frown upon seeing anyone on a cell phone any time. The reality is they do have a place and they are here to stay - get used to it.

  4. Re:How about some conversation by q-the-impaler · · Score: 1, Interesting
    I think most people would not want to think that they are basically raising their children to be ignorant, negative consumers...
    First they have to realize that they are ignorant, negative consumers themselves.
    A lot of people I know act more like grandparents than parents (i.e. spoil them, babysit them, give them back to the people who raise them [daycare and school]). And they don't see that they are doing anything wrong.
    --
    Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform
  5. Re:Simple-Road Show. - PBS by RoundSparrow · · Score: 2, Interesting

    PBS is the most problem channel for 'on the road'! If you are a full time RVer or trucker, you can get Distant Network service that allows you special options.

    I guess the big problem is sports. People with RV's would go to sports games and have tailgate parties in the parking lot of the stadium during regional blackouts!

    You have to sign a special waiver to get the local network feeds when mobile. DirecTV does directional broadcast of 'local channels' only to the regions they are required. Once you drive out of your region, you can't get your local channels.

    They let you get around this by getting ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX from both New York and Los Angeles. Problem is that you can't get UPN / WB / PBS when you are outside your "home area". When you full time in a RV (no house, just live in your RV) - this is a pain - as your home area is just where you get your mail sent, not really where you are!

    PBS is the most problem. They really want those local pledge drives, so they won't let you have the "national PBS feed" unless your "home area" is in a place where there is no local PBS channel on DirecTV. So 90% of the locations you can't get the national PBS feed if you have the Distant Network package.