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Confusion Reigns As Analog TV Begins Shutdown
As TV stations across the country switch off their analog signals, uncertainty reigns. Some 691 stations will have converted to digital broadcasting by midnight tonight (some interpreted the mandate as going digital by Feb. 17, not during Feb. 17, and shut down yesterday). This represents about a third of TV broadcasters nationwide. No one can say how many of the estimated 5.8 million households unready for the transition are in areas served by the stations that are switching now. The FCC added to the uncertainty by imposing extra conditions, making it unclear until last Friday exactly which stations would be switching at the beginning of the transition period. The article quotes a former analyst at Barclays Capital who said the whole process has been "botched politically."
Hmmm, my programming source still seems to be up.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Why the heck are we getting a story posted on this almost daily? Who cares? I've read the threads, and it's not a big deal. Anyone with half a brain will be fine. Anyone else, well, maybe there are survival of the fittest selection standards still hitting us, on occasion. I don't see that as a bad thing.
This is designed to get people off of their couch and out shopping!
As I have said time and time again, this has been a gigantic clusterfuck of enormous proportions.
1. The American public should have received a check (not a tax credit, not a credit card looking coupon, etc) for the total sale of the spectrum divided by every single citizen of this nation.
2. When the TV was moved to digital, it should have been better than what was offered before. Yes, the quality is better (when you can receive the signal) but most of the time (even with good equipment) the signal doesn't come in, you lose channels, and they randomly drop audio and video. At least with the old way, if it came in most of the way, I could still see and hear what was going on.
3. This was all unnecessary anyway. I don't care about opening up spectrum for other services when I am not directly benefiting in any way, shape or form by the change over. If you are seriously going to tell me that because I now have access to more channels, most of which rarely come in well after spending $20 on a box and $20+ more on rabbit ears or $40+ on a "HD" antenna, then you're wrong.
Boo on digital TV.
So some poor people won't get to watch their "stories". They should be looking for work anyway.
Frankly, I see something like this - the disruption of TV - as one of very few events that could get people off their butts to do something about their government. Spy on their phone calls? Eh... Take away their American Idol? Riot in the streets.
Truth, Justice. Or the American Way.
Turn off your phones. Grandma is calling.
At the end of Jim Carrey's movie, The Cable Guy; all local TV is knocked out... and people start to find enjoyment by reading books, sitting down to dinner together and doing activities besides TV...
You will NOT die if you don't watch Wheel of Fortune or your favorite soap opera...
...somehow I think our society will survive the demise of analog TV broadcasting. In fact, it might actually be improved thereby.
ObDisc: I currently have satellite TV and a large-screen HD TV. On the other hand, I watch very little TV -- maybe 2-3 shows/week, if that much. Most of the rest of the time, I have one of the 24-hour cable news channels on and the sound off -- sort of a big-screen RSS feed in my living room. ..bruce..
Bruce F. Webster (brucefwebster.com)
Honey, signal's out. Could ya give the betamax a kick?
If grandma hasn't upgraded the old Philco black & white by now, she probably never will (until forced). As for the coupons, there was no reason they couldn't have extended the coupon program but still kept the original timeline.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
"Across the country" Which country? My analog TV here in the UK is still working fine.
and television is pretty much their only outlet
now they are cut off from the world, and utterly devoid of understanding why television went away or how to get their television back
yes, they have been broadcasting infomercials about the transition for months. but you are talking about people set in their ways, with brittle minds, who wouldn't even conceive of the infomercials as having to do with them
of course the transition should happen, and you can't avoid people getting lost in the transition, but it's still sad
a bunch of old people are utterly adrift from their daily routine today, and they have no clue why
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Although I was opposed to this delay let's look at what will occur as a result of PARTIAL digital conversion. Joe Sixpack has been oblivious to the conversion (even now). Partial conversion will mean that a few, but not all, of his favorite channels not be broadcasting in analog. He might now be convinced that it's time to do something. The downside it that he will probably complain to his Congress critters instead of getting a converter box. At least now he will be aware.
I can't be the only one who just bought a DLP projector, hooked it up to an old computer, and configured it to boot to Hulu.com. With a bluetooth mouse, that's video on demand and zero need to get over-the-air broadcasts.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
I'm in a spot were I'm at least 20 miles from any TV broadcast so nothing really comes in well - lots of the blocking, no sound and many times the "no signal" floating box. Oh, my microwave disrupts the TV signal.
Perhaps they can improve their lives by learning to meditate as they stare at the snow on the screen.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Six years to prepare, advertisements all over TV; if these old codgers are too "set in their ways," then I suppose a rude awakening is in order.
Of course, there is always the old Victrola (you know, the old Talking Machine,) or RCA set which could still bring hours of enjoyment.
I do agree, however, that it is sad that there are some out there who are disparate from reality and do not have anyone to take care of them. They will get lost in the TV transition, but the world will not end.
Think five months for the transition is causing confusion? Try five years: the UK is in the process of doing exactly that. It started in 2007 and will not finish until 2012. In addition another, incompatible, type of digital TV will start to be rolled out from next year at the same time.
If you do not get your broadcasts over the air (ie you use cable, satellite, U-verse, Verizon, etc.), you are unaffected, period. If you have a television that has a decimal point or a hyphen on your remote in the numbers area (on the remote that came with the TV), you are fine. In this case, you may need to start entering stations in other ways, such as 11.1 as opposed to 11. The ONLY time you need to get a converter box is if you have an analog-only tuner in your television, as most 4:3 tube televisions have, AND you receive your television via antenna.
If only there were some way to, you know, advertise the change in advance? Perhaps some sort of announcement to the public would serve the purpose? A form of public service announcement?
Wait, what are all these commercials with a TV in the middle of a swimming pool all about?
Program Intellivision!
Actually, they'll hallucinate.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/graphics/011109_hacking_your_brain/
Can all fish swim?
This article just seems fitting for posting about this book I read for shits and giggles once. Also had a suggestion of taking a week off the computer, away from tv, no music, nothing electronic whatsoever (aside from the unavoidable, like work, but if you're into the idea you won't go looking at /. at work *evil*)
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Pretty interesting.
Why didn't they just switch every channel to a screensaver type message explaining the basics of the switchover and giving a helpline number for more info?
I'm sure 48 hours with that on every channel before they're turned off would've been relatively cheap and easy, and I don't think anyone could possibly have claimed not to have heard/understood then.
(Maybe they did, I guess, but I don't get that impression from the coverage I've seen)
I *wasn't* supposed to turn my TV into a fish tank today? Huh?
If people haven't heard what to do then they're not watching enough tv. They've had plenty of test blackouts scheduled with numbers to call if they are not receiving a digital signal.
My 90 year old grandmother was ready 6 months ago. She watches the least amount of TV of anybody I know. I really don't think it's old people that aren't setup.
It is a good time to stop watching TV to start new hobbies.
Politics are to technology as sugar in the gas tank is to a Lamborghini Countach. The tech might run for a little while, but not the way it's supposed to.
I piss off bigots.
But also
Confusion. Uncertainty. Who reigns, and who is merely the figurehead, its strings pulled by the other?
Personally, I vote (yeah right, as though we get to vote on this) for Confusion to reign. It evokes images of people running around with their hands up in the air, yelling hysterically. A Reign of Uncertainly merely makes me think of people grimacing, with their eyes darting back and forth.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
EEEEEE, HEHEHEHE, I DooDoo'd in my dydee!
Do I eat in my room? where's my violin? Lotta work isn't it? got a union?
Can't see the TV, must be the Fu-Manchu! Cranked the Phone and the Keystone operator didn't come on the party line, I'll harness up the buckboard and drive into town and see what's wrong!
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
When you do something like this, you do it so only a small number of end-users will be affected.
With TV, this means if more than a few hundred thousand customers will have to buy a converter box or begin subscribing to pay TV, it's too many. If more than a few tens of thousands have to buy a high-gain antenna or switch to a pay service, that's too many.
How it coulda/shoulda been done:
*Require all devices with analog tuners to advertise "not digitally compatible" starting shortly after the rules were written.
*Have a very long delay, probably 10+ years, before analog-only tuners and TVs are made and the analog spectrum is turned off. This puts the "planned" back in "planned obsolescence." Only allow exceptions for items which are not designed to last a long time. In the case of TV tuners, I can't think of any.
*Provide for people who still have old equipment and cannot reasonably afford replacement equipment, provide a way to buy a device that gives them basic functionality without requiring a subscription service. Subsidize this out of funds paid for by industry.
This phasein was entirely too short. You could still buy analog-only computer tuners as recently as a year or two ago and small televisions only a few years before that.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
My 89 year old mother, who won't even say the word computer, is ready for the switch. I know, I know, anecdotal, I'm sure there are maybe dozens of people who will go to turn on their TVs and not get a signal and wonder, "Hey, this is supposed to be Dancing with the Stars?!" Seriously. The only people I have had any experience with that are confused about the process are the government and the politicians. Does that surprise me? NO! If the hype is to be believed there should be well over 1 in 100 that are not ready. Are YOU not ready? Where are you? Maybe if the stupidest of people don't get a converter box then there will be better programming on the TV.
Today is an ephemeron, doomed to the crypt of yesterday.
who doesn't care about TV anymore? I don't even own one of the damn things; I watch DVDs on one of my computers (mostly old shows and movies). Anything else I look up online (Hulu, etc.) Way better to see a few 10-30 second ads than sit through the average, bothersome, unnecessarily long commercial breaks. Maybe I just figured out that there are better ways to spend time (as I post on Slashdot =P).
This is not hatred. This is retribution. This is not revenge. This is justice.
It's all very well moving into the brave new world of digital television but just how many citizens actually asked for it to happen? A small minority I suspect.
The point is, the whole change over was driven by corporate greed. Technical changes drive transactions and each transaction is an opportunity to fleece the customer.
The population would have been perfectly happy with the old technology if the new technology hadn't been foisted on them.
After that, they put up the old Indian Head test pattern and audio tone for a couple of minutes. At the stroke of midnight, it cut to static. It was just like nightly sign-offs when I was a little kid, and it almost made me misty-eyed.
The one that went out this afternoon showed a bunch of snippets from the past 50 years, then they showed a live coverage of one of their engineers out in the transmitter shack pushing the "OFF" button. The instant cut to static was good for a laugh.
Oh the humanity! And everyone is screaming! Their friend (the TV) is out! I might have to talk to people! Honest! My TV's just sitting there! What to do?!
So no only do you want me to "think of the childern" but now I have to "think of the elderly" too?
Where is Darwin when you need him?
The article states 641 stations are shutting off, but the summary incorrectly states 691. That it doesn't say is if I should get my pitchfork and torch out.
"No TV and no beer make Homer, something something."
people still watch TV?? i used to have a TV. it had a pick axe through the screen.
Lets face it - the ads were not compelling enough. Stations should have broadcast an analog feed and a digital feed. A Half-screen ticker on the analog feed stating "To get rid of this message, Pick up a digital converter, Switch to cable/Sattelite, or switch to our digital feed on Channel XX.X. Tune to channel 2 for more information." over top of people's programs (not during commercials) would have been the only suitable option. An FCC produced channel on channel 2 should have been broadcast in ALL locations explaining the whole process of switching to Digital, and been on a continual loop. 10 minutes explaining who needs the upgrade, when the change occurs, and what TV's are affected. 10 minutes for generic hookup instructions, and 10 minutes on how and why this change was occurring. Every half hour the cycle would repeat.
The nice thing is, with a simultaneous Analog and digital feed, and with cable operators already converting the digital signal to Analog cable, they wouldn't get the interruption message. if you target people with the message, and REALLY interfere with their viewing 6 months before the change, most people will switch to avoid being annoyed.
sure you might piss a lot of people off, and yes you incur a huge cost in broadcasting the education information, as well as saturate the airwaves with duplicate feeds... But at least people would be forced to get educated. Some people I'm sure, don't know there's a switchover happening or what it required to keep watching TV, or aren't sure it applies to them.
Me thinks we will either have either a surge in domestic violence rates or a surge in birth rates as a result of this switchover. When you think about, TV is probably the most effective birth control device known to man... all the countries with high per-capita television ownership also have low birth rates.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Who with any perceptive acuity and fundamental understanding of economics thought that everyone would pay more to continue to see free television? Especially when the recession train was in sight?
The Congress and FCC? Well, there you go.
Screw any idiots who don't have cable or satellite and haven't gotten off their lazy asses to get a digital receiver. If it was SUCH an important thing to them they would have done something about it already.
We could wait another 20 years and there would still be morons crying about it. Yank the band-aid off fast and be done with it.
Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
Over 12 months of wall-to-wall "PLEASE UPGRADE YOUR TELEVISION BY FEBRUARY 17, 2009!" covering the entire bottom of my screen.
If you haven't seen that by now and made plans you deserve to have your TV dropped on your head.
According to the spreadsheet that was compiled it looks like most or all their stations said "screw it" and converted en masse. Where I am, only a couple rerun stations went for it.
After this wonder demonstration of government incompetence I say let us let them manage our Health Care and Health Care records!
At least we know they are demonstrably bad at most of what they do, so we won't have higher than normal expectations.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
the disruption of TV
A communications disruption can mean only one thing - invasion.
My Allegro (35QBA FWIW) motor home has both Satellite and HDTVs with OTA ability.
I get better reception with satellite in the rain than I do with HD over the air. Even tuning it in doesn't solve it. I get stutter/frame freezes about every ten to fifteen minutes. Its enough to ruin some shows, you just know its got to happen during the "gotcha" moments. Now not all stations are equal but for the most part the quality isn't there. Perhaps they aren't at full strength or perhaps tuners just aren't up to measure, for built ins. I haven't tried an external tuner yet.
Now all is not bad with HD OTA. I can get reception in some places that analog just doesn't come in. However satellite stomps it at all times. Even in some nicely wooded campgrounds I can find a satellite signal. Tuning satellite is as easy as looking up my initial setting based on my zip code of where I am and tuning it once.
I haven't tried it while underway, I guess I need to test which works while moving : YES WHILE I AM NOT DRIVING.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Tons of places did plenty of tests. Every one of my local stations did a thing where they said planinly: "We're about to shut off the analog signal for 30 seconds as a test. Ok, if you can still hear me, you're fine. OK, if your TV just stopped working for 30 seconds then you need a converter box if you want to continue to receive television past February 17th.".
They also all ran TONS of ads. The local PBS station in the last few weeks ran one between every show. At this point any idiot who couldn't tell that they're going to lose signal should just be shipped to a retirement home and spoon fed for their few remaining days, as they're obviously not competent enough to live unassisted. I'm sure the nurses there will get their TV working fine.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Here's a thought, when you make a plan...stick to it.
The few people who aren't ready for the digital conversion now will likely fail to be ready by June.
I agree... I'm so tired of the "old people don't know what's going on...." canard. My grandmother has asked me about it and knew it was coming, and she doesn't even OWN a TV.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
OMG incompetent guvmunt can't do nuthin right, right?
I'm so sick of this argument, especially as it relates to health care. We pay more and get less in return than the citizens in dozens of other countries. The difference? People in other countries ceded some and varying levels of control of health care -- a basic human necessity -- to an entity without a profit motive.
No amount of anecdotal "waiting lists" or complaints about phantom lawsuits driving up costs can change the objective fact, which is that we're being ripped off by the existing private system. It has failed to expand the reach of care, to control costs or to improve the health of the nation. Yet we continue to fall for idiotic "government can't do anything right" arguments despite all the real-world examples of governments that are succeeding in keeping their populations healthy while spending less per capita.
A: Several confusing postponements, followed by a Flag Day that's actually smeared over several days, followed by several months of "Hey, whenever, dude...".
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Finance has crashed, housing has crashed, oil is crashing, retail is crashing, now here begins the media. Maybe now I can get some peace and quiet.
lolz
the internets will take over now that you see the mass media conforming to this mass media signal purification to control the minds of the public. you will not stop the militant pirate tv nerds from taking over the signal and airing max headroom spoofs on top of this thing. there is not a way to run and there is not a way to hide from this form. what have you found in this form? nothing, that is that the slashdot mechanisms of relating the internets have not allowed the mind to function! never again we say as you have all been doomed into this digital life of 1's and 0's as we would tell Marty! Don't you see that this is all an illusion you fools! Fools of illusion! If this message didn't take 12 beers and a pack of cigarettes to get through it might have come from another dimension. The dimension in which I type you lamers! Wake up and see! Wake up and see, we say to you television viewers to never turn on the television again. Do it for your mind, turn off your television now we say! Do it for us, do it for you.
There were severe limitations on the $40 coupon. A relative's analog VCR will soon be useless for time-shifting recording of more than one channel at a time, which is one of the "basic functions" of a VCR.
I didn't see a box that had a VCR-compatible "save your favorite shows and the box will send them out the analog outputs at the times you want" box for $40 or less.
The $40 coupon had another side-effect: It set an artificial floor on prices, meaning anything but the most basic unit cost more than $40.
A better way to go would've been a voucher that was only available to people who were either already on public assistance, in school, on unemployment, or people whose previous-year tax return showed an income below some threshold. Sure, this would've stuck it to the middle class who would've had to pay the full cost, but if there had been a 10-year phase in relatively few middle-class people would've been affected.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I missed the part in the Constitution about being entitled to analog TV...
Maybe I'm missing something. If the purpose of Digital TV was to free up UHF frequencies, then shouldn't it be possible for the stations to continue broadcasting on the UHF frequency for a couple of months? Of course, not actual programming, but some message like "I told you so" only maybe more helpful? They obviously have been broadcasting both digital and analog for awhile now (at least in my area), so they have both transmitters.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Colorado PBS affiliate KBDI can't delay. Their analog transmitting antenna was badly damaged, and it's not worth the cost to fix it for a few more months' service even if they had the money (and like most PBS stations, they don't have much to spend). Besides that, repairs on that mountain really should wait until the weather improves--which isn't likely until May. Such is life when the antenna is at 11,500 feet!
I am so glad I don't have to see those warnings anymore. I don't know how anyone could possibly not know about it.
The channels here are switching off analog on the original timetable from before the extension. And I have cable anyway so I didn't even need to do anything (except call my parents to make sure they were ready).
There's a perfect xkcd for my sig but I'm too lazy to look it up. sudo someone go find it.
What was that episode where there was no TV or something and suddenly all the kids go outside and start playing? This article made me think of that.
This whole thing is a complete mess. What's the point in delaying the mandatory switchover when all the companies who would have already ugpraded their equipment by now can go ahead and switch anyway? It's just costing them money to run the old stuff, so why would they care if a few people out there never got boxes to keep watching? The majority of their viewers aren't using the broadcast version anyway.
Of course, you could argue that there's no excuse for anyone to not be ready for this switch by now considering how long the country has prepared for it. And in my opinion that's true too. But the fact remains that making this switch optional for the next few months was just nonsensical. It should have been all or nothing.
I'm confused...
That recycling initiatives are being rolled out at a more significant pace. I know some of the electronics retailers are doing more to accept used TVs and such things for recycling.
Sure, we know that you can watch digital TV on your old analog set from 1982. But do you really want to have to get up to change the volume? And while most people know that you don't have to go HDTV for digital, I doubt many retailers are losing much sleep over customers buying new sets because they don't know any better.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
If I were in anyway related to the financial industry, I wouldn't exactly be calling out anyone else for "botching" anything at this time...
And who NEEDS to watch television? NOBODY!! So why is this even an issue?
Because it affects our most isolated and vulnerable populations. the elderly, the poor, and the disabled.
Look around you.
Find out where these people live.
How these people live.
Four hours spent on a rural bus run can be very educational.
The third-rate nursing homes.
The group homes and apartments built on barren agricultural lots five miles from the nearest traffic light.
The tenant houses and run-down trailer parks you never gave a thought to.
$90 a month as a personal allowance.
Out of which will come your co-pays for therapy and drugs and blood work.
Capped at perhaps $300/yr.
Life-Line phone service at 10 cents a minute.
Not for nothing, but this cutover has been in the works for ten fuckin' years. I first read about it when I was in college. People who are scrambling now kind of deserve what they get. Go read a book or something if you can't watch Idol.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Possible, yes. But incredibly costly. From what I understand, the electric bill for each transmitter and amplifier can be over $10,000 per month.
Poor people have been left without television broadcast reception! Fears are spreading that without their daily dosis, they may turn into real walking humans with thinking abilities! SPOOKY!
I read or heard somewhere that a big part of the reason for the delay was because of concern for folks in remote yet high alert areas, like the hill-folk in the Ozarks of Oklahoma, for instance. If their TV's go dark they won't see the Tornado warnings and other Emergency broadcasts.
Seeing as how our Government has spent sizable sums of money on the Emergency Broadcast system, some Congress people weren't happy about the system going dark where it is needed the most.
I reckon there may be a good size portion of those hill folks who weren't ready for the switch. And maybe some of the poor broadcast stations in that area weren't ready either.
That's funny I haven't seen a warning like that even once. I already switched over to digital. It's called hulu.com.
-- QED
You just reminded me of a story in "Freakonomics" where the authors traced back the decline in youth / gang crimes to a Supreme Court ruling a generation before - which allowed women on welfare to have their abortion paid for by Medicare or welfare (I don't remember, and I'm not american, so please excuse me there).
They don't want to have customers out there that they can't turn into consumers by advertising.
And, a bit like the Simpsons Episode Marge vs Itchy and Scratchy, these couch potatoes may find that they don't really NEED the goggle box and do something else if the TV stops working.
And then EVERYTHING breaks down.
That's why it is getting pushed back.
Advertising.
OMG incompetent guvmunt can't do nuthin right, right?
I'm so sick of this argument, especially as it relates to health care. We pay more and get less in return than the citizens in dozens of other countries. The difference? People in other countries ceded some and varying levels of control of health care -- a basic human necessity -- to an entity without a profit motive.
No amount of anecdotal "waiting lists" or complaints about phantom lawsuits driving up costs can change the objective fact, which is that we're being ripped off by the existing private system. It has failed to expand the reach of care, to control costs or to improve the health of the nation. Yet we continue to fall for idiotic "government can't do anything right" arguments despite all the real-world examples of governments that are succeeding in keeping their populations healthy while spending less per capita.
Govt. an entity without profit motive. The same entity that take 40% of GDP. Where members of both parties have gone to jail for corruption.
At least with the private sector I still have choices.
Some stations have the option to go back to their old channel as a digital station. That means that these stations will be giving up their second channel that they have been using as their digital channel. Here in the Los Angeles area the following channels will go back to their original channel. 7, 9, 11, 13, 18, 28 & 34. The rest will remain on their second channel while their analog channel goes dark. I should call some of the stations like channel 5 to see if they will be changing their logo, since their second channel that they have been using is 31.
Make sure that when the big transition day comes, that you perform a channel scan on your TV or converter box. That way you will be able to view the channels that have made the change.
Channels assigned for Los Angeles:
7, 9, 11, 13, *28, 31, 34, 36, *41, 42, 43
Here are some documents to look at from the FCC.
DTV Assignments
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-138A1.pdf
DTV Assignments Appendix B
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-138A2.pdf
They don't start to transmit until 2011 you insensitive clod!
http://www.chextv.com/aboutCHEX/faq.html#1.
Do I eat in my room? where's my violin? Lotta work isn't it? got a union?
Can't see the TV, must be the Fu-Manchu! Cranked the Phone and the Keystone operator didn't come on the party line, I'll harness up the buckboard and drive into town and see what's wrong!
See, the Bursar agrees.
Na ba la wa zu Enki da.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
I'm sorry, but there comes a time in poker, when you just have to get the pain of that hand over with....call it!
Lets get the cards on the table and see what we have to fix.
Enough of these maybe issues.
Switch and see who is affected. Stagger the roll out so they can see problems coming, but lets get on with it!
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
Not all Canadians live in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal!
Seriously though, from what I have been told, those in major population centers (see Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal) will have had some already switch over to digital or will switch over to digital before the deadline. Some of these will also offer analog alternatives as well. However for the rest of Canada most will be switching on the deadline set by industry Canada and not before, which is in 2011, still 2 years away.
So in other words if you were looking into buying anything ATSC and do not live in the Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal areas, don't bother.
Great, Mary Snowcrashed.....happy now?
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
but they ran the SAME ads on Analog and Digital.
I agree with FingerSoup, that all analog channels should have had a red bar at the bottom with instructions, all the time... and the HD channels would not. A lot of people with Digital TVs still tuned to Analog channels if the TV wasn't set up correctly. For example my cable company would actually SWITCH to the analog feed (on the HD channel) to run the PSA about digital.
The whole thing was totally botched to the general public.
the industry pressured the government to change before the original goal.
For over 20 years this ahs been going on. The goal was when 85% of the consumers have digital capable in the home, then the switch would begin.
But then the market wasn't going there quick enough, so the industry forced the issue.
Well, when you change a plan towards the end point, confusion happens. When you don't have a good plan to switch to, it's even worse.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Let me propose a question...
If a person actually can not figure out how to watch television after the switch is made, then should that person really be watching television in the first place? Perhaps if they are that far behind the rest of the public in intelligence, then they would benefit from more productive activities than television, eh?
Why do people insist on catering to dumb people? I will never understand it..
... is if they now cancel the whole switch to digital TV altogether. Seriously, could they have screwed the pooch on this whole thing any worse if they actually tried to be this incompetent?
where there are no 'rebates' for converting to digital pay TV. If you want to continue watching television after the analogue switchoff, you have to pay for a converter and a subscription to 'Freeview' (and that's on top of $200 equiv a year for a TV licence). And when you've spent your money, you find that the channels are defaced with unremovable advertising logos and interrupted by red button messages. The BBC's promotional campaign for digital pay TV has been strangely quiet about these differences.