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Official DTV Converter Box Coupons for Americans
Ant writes "The official Digital Television/DTV Converter Box Coupon Program is now online. Congress created it for households wishing to keep using their analog TV sets and use over-the-air antennae to get TV feeds. After February 17, 2009. The Program allows American households to obtain up to two coupons, each worth $40, that can be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes. A TV connected to cable, satellite, or other pay TV service does not require a TV converter box from this program."
There were problems with the site yesterday morning (1/1), but it appears to be working fine now.
Talk about government waste all you want, the alloted money is going fast.
sweet.... digital pr0n from the government.....
Will it run Linux?
all I can say is "Welcome to 2001!".
However, I understand there's some difference (apart from just NTSC/PAL) between Europe and US.
Over here, televisions with built-in cable decoders do not exist. Your cable company provides you with a set top box which does the decoding. Same thing's true of satellite TV. We've started switching over to digital - at least one area has had the analogue TV signal switched off altogether - and set top boxes to decode a digital signal have been on the market for some time.
Interestingly, televisions without inbuilt digital decoding are still on the market today - though I can't think why.
I have had a digital tuner for about two years now. I was really jazzed when i heard that the networks were going to start transmitting in digital and/or HD. I ran out got the tuner for my HDTV and waited for something to watch. To date the only channels i get are the two OPB (Oregon public Broadcasting) channels. I have looked into it and from what I have heard none of the other networks plan on upgrading the transmission equipment in the area. So, it looks like I will not have anything to watch even after 2009. Anyone else have this problem in rural areas?
I ordered two coupons, one for my receiver set and one for my VCR.
Can anyone explain how the VCR's box is gonna know "record channel 10 at 8pm, and channel 12 at 10pm, and channel 15 at 2am" ??? Am I going to have to program the second decoder with parallel multiple programs to the VCR? Or will these boxes have time-programs?
Or does this kill multiple timed recording completely?
Yeah, um, I can't understand this. The USA resists things like a national health service — yet the Government is handing out coupons for digital set-top boxes?! Shurely shome mishtake. I mean, here in the UK we've got loads of the things going cheap (as low as £20 a shot), but no coupons... (I think it's like you said. Keep the hoards exposed to the fnords.)
In other news, the price of converter boxes just went up by $40...
Us in the UK do get coupons. I live in Cumbria, England and we've had our analogue switched off completely! Everyone I know has got them!!
In Finland we switched over to purely digital terrestrial broadcasting last year. And most people did indeed have to get a DVB-T STB (Set Top Box) in order to watch TV. Despite of this, the government did not subsidize this this switchover in any way. I find it almost sad that the United States government are willing to pay for something like this when Finland's (already broken) public healthcare system it still way better than it's US counterpart.
OK, so I might be trolling, but doesn't it say something about a society when TV is regarded as something important enough to subsidize? (Disclaimer: Finland has it's own equivalent to the BBC though, YLE.)
.: Max Romantschuk
We get coupons? Where? The Digital UK site makes no mention of them. The only people I can imagine getting coupons are people over 75 who already get free TV licenses.
Not that it actually makes much difference to me. Our reception was so poor (even on terrestrial, never mind our old Freeview box) that we moved to Sky and got a minimal package with the broadband included for about the same as we were paying for broadband on its own.
He doesn't have time to watch TV, except at meals, when he watches the news.
Best Slashdot Co
DTV converters have just increased by $40.
And a quick poll: How many of you think that the government issuing $40 coupons for converter boxes is going to raise the price of converter boxes by $40?
This is not my sandwich.
Well, that's in addition to the only three things that our government is currently subsidizing: the military, the high-fructose corn syrup producers/growers, and the labor costs for the high-tech companies. While this isn't perfect, it could be much worse.
I am sure in almost any other First/Second World country things are in fact much worse, and your govt also subsidizes your healthcare, your high school and college education, your low-tech and unskilled workers, your welfare bums, your media and TV companies, and so on.
See, there's a reason US of A is still number one.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Because $80 per household has much less of an economic impact compared to spending billions of dollars on a new healthcare system. The effects of the two subjects are so vasty different that it is absurd to mention them in the same sentence.
subsidized healthcare != subsidized television converters
The converter boxes are subsidized because the FCC mandated this switchover and set the timetable for it. They're the ones pushing for it because they want spectrum for emergency services and to auction off a chunk for mobile devices. I'm sure whatever the government is paying to subsidize these boxes will be made up for by what they get from Verizon, Sprint, et al.
Hey Slashdot, I think your forgot to clear your DIVs!
A TV connected to cable, satellite, or other pay TV service does not require a TV converter box from this program.
Of course they don't. These companies will hike your rates to cover this cost for you. Comcast has already raised their rates by at least $1, one can only guess, in anticipation of having to go digital, and thus being required to provide converter boxes for a portion of their clients.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
I've already heard on usenet that they expire after 90 days. If you don't think you'll buy a box (or even be able to find one) within 90 days, then WAIT before asking for coupons!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Let the signal go dark and give up TV altogether. This is probably the best thing ever to hit the airwaves. Analog, Digital, or HD crap is still the same -- crap.
*Don't* invest in DTV equipment or accept DTV coupons. Get out of the house and enjoy *real* life.
That's what I plan to do.
DTV -- Just say no.
Don't know if it's buried in the fine print somewhere else on the website, but after you request one, you're told that it will be mailed and that it's valid for 90 days from the date of issuance....
This sig has exceed its monthly bandwidth allotment.
Can't you get a digital tv box for $40? In the UK you can get DVB-T boxes for £20, which is about $40, and things are generally cheaper over there.
See, there's a reason US of A is still number one.
What, number one amongst the 3rd world nations?
Becuase that's the group the USA is in due to *not* having universal healthcare. Just about all other civilized nations who can afford it have some version of universal healthcare. Oh, and by the way, it's cheaper than allowing drug and health insurance companies etc. to rip off the entire nation with their cartels and patented drugs. So you could have universal healthcare of a reasonable standard and still have more money in your pocket. But that would be Communism! (Very strange though that most Americans who oppose universal healthcare don't oppose the government/state provision of education, roads, streetlighting etc. etc. - isn't that communism as well?)
Bringing up farm subsidies and set-top TV boxes as a counterpoint to this, to highlight the politically-aligned selectivity of the objections is quite relevant. People who believe in small government believe in small government, and would object to this subsidy just as they would object to farm subsidies.
The problem is that many who claim to believe in small government don't really believe in small government. They just use the phrase to sloganeer against those programs they don't like, while being okey-dokey with government outlawing gay marriage and marijuana/prostitution, redefining torture, exempting the President from any and all laws, and and so on. Small government indeed.
Great News, now we can watch the glories achioevements of our dear leader in HD on our SD sets.
How else will we know what to think, and more importantly , what to consume.
It's great that we consumers have such forward thinking leaders, showing us the way to consumption.
CONSUME! CONSUME! CONSUME!
This isn't a subsidy, its a vote buy.
Buying votes and getting people to turn to government. Yes it is only $80 or so.
Please quit trying to dismiss us as a society lost, the big thing wrong with the US is the government. Our society is just fine otherwise. The real sad thing is that the 2008 election won't change anything
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Are you serious?
We are leading the World in terms of health-related research, new drug discoveries, successes in complex surgical procedures (such as multiple organ transplants, hearth surgery, brain surgery, etc.). What sucks is that we have to pay for the rest of the world as well since your socialist governments invest jack shit in research and the Americans foot that bill.
Also, guess why we only lost 3k soldiers in Iraq while the Russians lost 200k in Chechnya? Because our medics are so good that the wounded just don't die!
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Oh no! Socialized television! We're a bunch of dirty red commies!
Where's McCarthy when you need him... =)
Once again we have government having to spend money and create a bureaucracy to solve a problem it created. If they hadn't mandated the switch to this new TV transmission format, we wouldn't be faced with this problem of either having to buy an expensive new TV or be force steal from your fellow citizens and participate in this program. If this format was really that great the TV stations would have switched by themselves b/c its viewers would have demanded it. However I suspect most folks are like me and think the current picture delivered is quite exceptional quality. The only folks who really wanted this was the companies who make these new TVs.
Socialism? WTF are you smoking? We are the most socially backwards nation in the industrialized world!
Smoking? Ok, I know wht you're getting your Rush from. At any rate, since you apparently get all your news from the fox in the henhouse, you wouldn't know that there is no more Public Aid. The entitlement Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC) was shut down under the Clinton (D) administration. We now have Transitional Assistance for Needy Familiues (TANF) which is NOT an entitlement and has a two year limit, five years in a lifetime.
You might also know that also unlike any other undustrial nation, we don't have universal health care. The politicians are pushing for it, but guess what? The insurance companies who are the leeches at the heart of our health care woes are still in the game under plans by both wings of the Republicrat party. The Republican wing wants tax incentives and the Democrat wing wants expanded dcoverage to the poor who are called "lower middle class".
Anyone who thinks the US is Socialist is nothing short of a Facist.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
"The American Empire has entered its "Bread and Circuses" stage, and tax money is going directly into making its citizens sit on their asses watching television and eating Twinkies. "
Apparently the stage you're in is no better. As has been mentioned often enough these coupons are being paid for from the spectrum auction proceeds.
If everyone is receiving analog cable using analog TVs... exactly how is this a problem? Cable companies are unaffected by the end of analog broadcast transmissions (cause, you know, "cable" companies send their signals via cable, and not over the air.)
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
there's a reason US of A is still number one
remanence
Digital broadcast and my MythTV are all the tube time I want and need. By the time people realize conversion sucks hopefully commercial HD broadcast sets will be plentiful.
It's a giant commercial joke. I've seen these so-called set top boxes and all they are is a tuner with an MPEG decoder built in, and then an RF modulator to put it back on channel 3. They want $200 + for these boxes and it appears the pricing is only the bottom of the rung. I suspect they will be priced to encourage you to toss out your CRT based old TV and buy one of the new flat panel sets instead. I smell a real huge money deal for all who participated in the successful lobby of Washington for this.
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
The U.S. military/industrial complex retains its medium of propaganda at taxpayer expense, thereby excluding candidates that would challenge its power.
It has nothing to do with "companies who make these new TVs" and everything to do with inefficient use of the available broadcast spectrum in this country. Up to 16 digital programs can be broadcast in the same slice of bandwidth that is currently allocated to ONE legacy analog program.
At least the gub'mint is doing this for television users and the millions of TV's that wont receive JACK on Feb 19, 2009. Imagine yourself the owner of an On-Star equipped vehicle that uses the analog cell phone spectrum - those networks are being shut off later this year and those folks are left holding the bag - no coupons to upgrade.
The available spectrum freed by the switch to digital TV broadcasting will be used for emergency frequencies and additional service provider networks that cant exist today because of the lack of spectrum.
Last year, the FCC website said that converter boxes were available "now." I emailed them about it, because I couldn't find any, and they simply emailed me back a long email with the same text that appeared on the website... text that said they were available "now." No hints about what companies were providing them or where I could get one.
I was on the mailing list for email updates, and a couple of months ago, they emailed an update that the coupon program would begin on January 1st, 2008 and either stated or clearly implied that converters would be available then.
I called the 800 number on that date and, indeed, it is possible to request the coupons... but the message says that converters are, in fact, not yet available and that the coupons will not be mailed until mid-February.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
> I suspect most folks are like me and think the current picture delivered is quite exceptional quality
Well, that would be a big no. If that was true, DVDs and their quality increase over VHS/SDTV would have never taken off. And since HDTV has 5x the resolution of DVDs, the quality difference versus SDTV is obvious to most people.
And, while I don't think the incentives were necessary, I also don't agree with your assessment of the changeover. You're arguing for a free market solution, where a free market doesn't exist. The airwaves are (by necessity) tightly controlled by the FCC, and broadcasts are tightly controlled by the networks. The broadcasters are given access to spectrum, and supposedly provide a public benefit. If there was unlimited spectrum, or no problem with interference, then free market forces would be fine.. A new broadcaster would come in and broadcast in HD, stealing customers away from the broadcasters stuck in their 1950's SDTV technology. That type of competition may become reality as the Internet matures, but not on local broadcast spectrum.
The other half of the equation is that broadcasters would be fine keeping the analog spectrum and continuing to broadcast. But, the government wants that spectrum back, so they can license it for other uses. The proceeds from that re-use are what they justify the $40 transition coupons with.
Currently, in Australia, you can get a digital set top box at Kmart for $50 or less. They only decode standard definition, but then again the TVs that these will be plugged into won't show HD anyway.
Why on earth would you need a subsidy?
The government doesnt subsidize anything in those countries....their taxes are through the roof!
Yeah, um, I can't understand this. The USA resists things like a national health service -- yet the Government is handing out coupons for digital set-top boxes?!
You're right. We'll start handing out $40 coupons for health care, too.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
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Thanks!I have an uncle out in Kansas who doesn't have an actual service. Rather, he has an HDTV and an HD broadcast reciever (way ahead of the game). Virtually everything he gets is in HD (about 10 channels in his area iirc), and everything he doesn't get over the air he downloads. A bit risky, but cheaper than Comcast or satellite. Seems that might start becoming an economical solution for anyone wanting HD but wanting to avoid expensive services.
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
I moved back to Finland from California last year and brought my 61" Samsung HDTV set with me wondering if it might not work.
I got a Topfield 5100 DVB-T PVR and despite the many annoying Topfield bugs could barely be happier. While in America the NTSC SD picture was so grainy it hurt your eyes, the Finnish over-the-air PAL SD picture upscaled by the Topfield is even better than most DirecTV HD programs in the U.S. (fewer compression effects)! The digital programs are mostly broadcast in the 16:9 format in Finland, and I suppose instead of the black pixels, they are sending more detail.
What's more, the five unscrambled Finnish TV channels have few or no commercials, and show some of the best American TV programs from network primetime as well as HBO and Showtime. We have a hard time keeping up with the programming that gets recorded by the PVR.
Unfortunately there are no plans to start broadcasting HD in Finland. What would benefit greatly from HD is sports: in America, I used to watch year-old NHL games just because they looked so great in HD!
Russians lost 200k in Chechnya
Huh? Where do you get your figures? They didn't even lose half that many during their ill-fated invasion of Afganistan. Wikipedia
It's not about picture quality. It's about the government selling spectrum for billions and spending a couple million on the public to make it happen.
I have googled many of the qualifying boxes and none of them seem to have a price set, much less be available for purchase. If the cost is around $50, I would consider buying one, but if I'm going to have to pay $100, (that is, $60 out of pocket), well, screw that, I'd rather just not watch TV. It's not like I watch much now as it is.
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
I love how they will send the coupons out when the THINK the first boxes SHOULD be aviable. Then will expire the Coupons in 90 Days. How come I see some big delay in this whole proccess which will render many coupons useless. Are there reviews for any of these boxes?
I fully expect that more coupons will be redeemed than there are converter boxes in existence. Like all govt programs, their will be over night businesses created for the sole purpose of racking in this money without any converter boxes being sold.
Clue: the FCC-mandated switch has NOTHING to do with standard-def versus high-def programming. It has only to do with freeing up huge chunks of RF spectrum for use elsewhere. (And if we are very lucky Google will acquire enough of it to launch NLOS broadband for the entire country, marking the beginning of the end for phone companies, cable companies, AND television stations)
I think you meant to say - these are the reasons why US of A is no longer number one in anything but military spending. Really - check your facts - because that is all USA ranks tops in now. Truth is even that's a lie - the Chinese spend billions of dollars less per year, but since they actually spend that money buying guns and bullets whereas our 400 billion dollar military budget is actually 399 billion in subsidies for friends of the Defence Department.
USA world literacy ranking: 21th
USA health care ranking: 37th
USA infant mortality rate: 40th
These are our actual positions on a few world issues. Still want to brag? Ra Ra, go USA!
The advertising hype doesn't claim that at all. It claims a cleaner signal capable of delivering more channels, which is true.
In practice, I've found that of the 15 or so digital channels I get over the air, I get about even thirds each 480/720/1080, all with superior quality to what is delivered over cable, since Comcast decodes, processes (over-saturates color and blows out the contrast), then re-compresses the digital feed to squeeze more out of their pipe.
1.5 BILLION dollars of our tax money is going into upgrading peoples TV. Thats every cent of tax paid by about 210,000 middle class families this year. When TWO!? of your TVs get cut off and you can't live without them then get off your fat ass and earn the $80 yourself.
$80 per household spent on health care will give you a much greater ROI than 80$ spent on TVs. But that's only if the return you're looking for is public welfare and not corporate enrichment.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
What next? Free tickets for the movies for all?
The site is clogged up with nerds who already have cable/satellite/fios and who have no need for these boxes to begin with.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
TV? People still watch that thing?
Yes. This tactic transformed Finland from a preindustrial agricultural ex-colony ravaged by civil war and later invaded by Soviet Russia into one of the richest nations on the planet with high standard of living and rock-stable democracy in less than a century. Sadly, our society has slowly deteriorated the past few years, mainly because our current crop of leaders cares more about making themselves feel important by embracing global capitalism than advancing the welfare of their citizens; but as long as we stick to the tenets of free public education up to and including university level, we'll survive and prosper.
When you fall from the shoulders of giants, it takes a while to hit the ground. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be a really good idea to try to grap onto something before you do, thought.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Your information on corn, at least, is massively, totally wrong. Feed corn is still raised by family farmers. I suppose that there might be some corporate entities which aren't actually famlies seeking tax and lawsuit protection that rent out farm land to family farmers, but it is the family farmers who are doing the farming. The farms are further apart these days, thanks to the government's cheap food incumbent-protection policy, but they are still family farms.
Under "takings" Government regulation has increased cost to you, so the government has to make it up to you.
How many analog channels could you get before? You'll probably need an outdoor antenna if you are in a fringe area, regardless.
Everyone probably knows this already, but if you are in a fringe area, digital reception is all or nothing. You'll either get a picture, an intermittent picture, or nothing. Although there are some anecdotal reports that here in the SF Bay Area it's easier to acquire a digital channel than its analog counterpart in our hilly, urban terrain. Most likely because a modern receiving box has better RF performance than some crappy old TV it's hooked up to.
You're only missing the big networks, though. No great loss. Spend the money on a Netflix subscription instead.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
I tried to sign up but got a "Runtime Error":
Server Error in '/' Application.
Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.
Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>
Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>
But what about areas with poor signal quality?
I live in an urban valley. I might be able to get a zoning variance to put up a tall antenna, but it's not certain. Rabbit ears suffice at the moment, but the signal quality is poor enough that digital equipment will reputedly not provide ANY visual image. And we don't watch enough TV to warrant cable. (Personally, I haven't watched a single show in the past 3 years, and my wife hasn't seen one in a year or so. Some furniture would need to be re-arranged.)
My guess is that we will just totally quit watching TV. Either that, or I'll get so fed up with my ADSL service that I'll switch to a cable for internet connection, and get cable for TV as a bonus.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
. And since HDTV has 5x the resolution of DVDs, the quality difference versus SDTV is obvious to most people.
Provided that the screen is large enough, and that the transmitter doesn't overcompress. Otherwise, it's subtle, at best.
Like most people, the V-Chip is critical to my television watching experience. Will the converter boxes have the same high level of quality of support for this advanced filtering technology?
not just those selling TVs
the current analog TV channel takes up a large swath of spectrum; Spectrum the FCC can KA-CHING -Sell, if the TV channel is limited to a smaller digital footprint. Over the air this will mean, instead of a fuzzy, not quite, in but you can see it, signal for the marginal stations you just. LOOSE the marginal stations. Improvement #1
It will mean, when cell phoen service, or some other service transmitting on what was once the remainder of channel 8 causes static on your TV when that pizza deliver car drives by, you loose channel 8 Improvement #2.
It will mean, when new digital DRM is mandated by copyright yamemr, we will all be int he position of not being able to get aroudn it Improvement #3
There are more.. but you get the picture (or will for +40 bucks)
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
It's possible to find DTV converter boxes in the UK (where we've just started switching off analogue transmitters) that cost less than $40 (even at the present rate of exchange), so are US retailers planning to give change? I guess that owing to the lack of direct video/RGB input (the SCART aka Peritel aka EuroConnector), US converters will have the additional cost of an NTSC encoder and RF modulator, but otherwise the requirements are not dissimilar so it seems like there's a lot of fat in that pork barrel.
and tax money is going directly into making its citizens sit on their asses watching television
Taxes are not subsidizing these devices. This money is coming from the sale of the analog television spectrum.
The government is selling the Analog television spectrum, and will take in billions of dollars from the sale.
Which is a bigger circus? A onetime $40 voucher to buy a DTV receiver so that I can watch my free television broadcasts, or people paying $100/month for a cable/satellite subscription? The federal, state and regional governments have spent money to help with the cable/satellite television infrastructure.
Units with digital tuners have been under $130 at Best Buy and Wal*Mart for months now. They'll only do standard defintion, but that's all a standard definition TV needs.
The price of digital antennae rose by $40 today, amid concerns over turmoil in the middle east.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
gov budget/GDP = socialism ratio For the USA this is around 25% for sweden about 80% Of course if you want to live in a Socialistic nation, you might want to move to Europe or China or Cuba, but please don't push us down that path.
Money doesn't come from thin air. All they're doing is taking $40 from people who don't watch TV (like me) and giving it to people who do. Or, depending on your perspective, they're taking $40 from everybody, and giving it back but only on the condition you spend it on your TV. That sounds pretty fucking absurd to me. (And stop calling me Shirley.)
Ah, the government is finally making money. Yet why do I have the sneaking suspicion that our national debt isn't going to be paid down with these profits?
The government didn't subsidize the original purchase of any of these TVs. I still missed the reason they need to subsidize an upgrade for them. If you could afford to buy a TV, you can afford to pay $40 more for a one-time upgrade. Nobody owes you free TV, least of all your non-TV-watching neighbors (or your TV-watching neighbors who had the foresight to upgrade already).
Read Article I Section 8 again, and tell me which clause grants the power to hand out $40 TV upgrade rebates. "To provide and maintain a Navy"? "To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting"? "To establish Post Offices"? Come on. (If you say Interstate Commerce, I'm going to throw up.)
$80 per household spent on health care will give you a much greater ROI than 80$ spent on TVs.
That is far from clear. There are indications that the marginal value of health care spending is roughly zero. (On the other hand, research might be more productive).
But that's only if the return you're looking for is public welfare and not corporate enrichment.
People actually do enjoy watching TV.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
The FCC rule says TVs 13" and bigger have to have CC capability. That makes good sense to me (more than I'd usually expect from a government agency). Why would anyone want closed captioning on a 12" TV? It would almost certainly be too small to read at any distance. Actually, why would anyone want a set that small even without closed captioning? Do they even sell sets that small?
And you're right--I'm sure there was a massive amount of hand-wringing and whining when the rule was passed.
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When the analog signals get switched off, is there any plan to improve the digital signals? I have a digital tuner but I can only get two channels on it. Digital signals seem to be harder to pick up, and tend to be all-or-nothing. (They jump from a black screen to a perfect picture, and then back to black.)
It seems lame that by "improving" the broadcast signals they'll be effectively cutting people off from some channels which only come through in analog.
aManFromMars??? (people reading theregister should know ;)
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dtv-plan-will-help-first-responders-provide-adequate-funds-for-consumers-2007-06-13.html
The broadcasters now say 69 million televisions rely on antennas, including unconnected televisions in cable and satellite homes. They say that after a broadcaster-sponsored consumer education effort, consumers will want coupons for one-third of those televisions. That comes to 23 million coupons, and the initial $990 million allocation can fund 22.25 million coupons. If really necessary, additional funds will underwrite another 11.25 million coupons.
"Just about all other civilized nations who can afford it have some version of universal healthcare." uhhh...then WTF is Medicaid, Medicare and CHIP? Don't be fooled by your liberal leaders, they know it would be far simpler to just add some programs to the already existing Medicaid, CHIP, or etc then changing the whole system to a "Universal Healthcare". It would also allow them to make sure people who can easily afford private insurance don't get something for free(based on the posts here most of you would want the coupons regardless of your actual need, just like what would happen with a Universal Healthcare) ...uhhh, yeah I am opposed to giving the coupons it is not governments responsibilty.
nor is healthcare.
That's when cable companies will no longer be required to transmit an analog signal. And when all those folks who get analog cable without a box get shutoff, and people findout how piss poor the CableCard implementation has been done, that's going to be funny.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
First the government forces this change upon every television station and standard-TV viewer in the country. No chance for the people to vote on it. Sure, the government took public comments...as a formality. It was a done deal. It never mattered to them if the people wanted it or not. Once again the government did what it wanted to do, and the American people end up paying the price.
Now the government plans to issue coupons for converter boxes. Guess who's paying for that.
In before trollfarm, etc..
The US government is willing to pay people to watch more television, but won't spend money on healthcare or infrastructure?
I realize that people need televisions (most common communications method, emergency broadcasts, etc, etc..) but something doesn't sit right with me here...
http://www.xkcd.com/354/
well, that would be a big no. If that was true, DVDs and their quality increase over VHS/SDTV would have never taken off.
Look how blue-ray and hd-dvd are doing. Look how laserdisk and VCD did (not counting the brief resurgance of VCD as a poor mans recordable DVD).
DVD had numourous advantages over VHS, quality was only one of them. Others included better longevity, better robustness, smaller size, easier inspection (important for rental places) and special features.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
It's not nearly so easy in the US. The switch to digital is happening concurrently with the switch to high definition.
So, US converter boxes have to accept a much, much higher bandwidth signal, demodulate it with all error checking and correcting; decode a full 20Mbps of 1920x1080 MPEG-2 video, and downscale and output to standard TV resolution.
So, the boxes can't be nearly as cheap as those in DVB-land, which is a big part of the reasoning behind subsidizing the boxes.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
It appears that your fellow Rushies have mod points today, as I'm apparently trolling. Not that it makes any difference that I actually believe what I wrote, since there is no "-1 I disagree" mod, "Troll" will have to do I guess. Sucks to be them when the metamods hit them in the karma.
My karma still stands at excellent (check for yourself) and I don't even try or I wouldn't post opinions that some would disagree about, like the above. Pretty good for a so-called troll, ya think?
As to your ratio, pork != socialism. All that government money is going to the corporates, not social programs. A corporate run government is a facist government, by definition.
Attn mods, you can mod this one troll too. I don't care, I will continue to speak what I believe.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
The digital conversion doesn't free up spectrum. If that was the gov's only concern, they would have just stayed SD, and maybe juggled some channel assignments around. Digital stations use the exact same amount of bandwidth as analog, 6MHz. In the transition overlap time, broadcasters were allocated both an analog and a digital channel because there was no way to do a snap cutover. The analog end date just gets them back to where they were before the transition.
The intent of the conversion from analog to digital in the first place was to move the technology along, so move from an analog broadcast standard which originated in the 40's. While it's true that HDTV was not mandated in the change, and stations can use the digital location any way they please (such as several SD sub-channels instead of HD), but the reality is that the major broadcasters HAVE switched a large, and growing, percentage of their shows to HD. Other benefits include DD5.1 surround sound and integrated guide data.