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US Switch To DTV Countdown Begins

Posted by timothy on from the we're-from-the-gov't-and-we're-here-to-help-you dept.

s31523 writes "In February lawmakers postponed the switch from analog to digital TV. Now, the new June 12th deadline is upon us with no sign of another delay. CNET is reporting that the President himself has stated, '... I want to be clear: there will not be another delay.' So it looks like it is going to happen, for real this time. Even with the delay, there are still estimated to be millions of unprepared viewers. Local stations may participate in the voluntary 'Analog nightlight' services in which TV stations agree to keep an analog signal turned on in addition to their digital signals to provide information about the DTV transition and to notify unprepared TV viewers of emergencies, such as hurricanes."

12 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. I have already faced my worst nightmare by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not afraid of the switch tomorrow. I've already spent the last few months getting repeated phone calls from my grandma complaining about the funny new box we put on her TV so she can still get her damn Judge Judy.

    The last one was the best. Grandma called up and informed me that her new remote was broken. So I called my cousin, who drives over to her house and finds that the "broken" remote is the result of grandma having put a fucking doily on top of the box (blocking its IR receiver). I shit you not.

    I love my HDTV. But it's a demanding love.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:I have already faced my worst nightmare by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There's tons of people who are going to be cut off because of this. Analog TV has much better range than Digital TV, and has much better tolerances with a bad signal. Think about when there's bad weather with your satellite dish. The picture is either there, or it's completely gone. With analog, you get varying degrees of static depending on how bad the signal is, but when there's bad weather, like hurricanes or blizzards, you can make out some of what's going on to get the news.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:I have already faced my worst nightmare by DaGoatSpanka · · Score: 5, Insightful

      During a hurricane or blizzard, turn on the radio if you can't get TV signal. A hurricane will more than likely kill power and my TV doesn't take batteries like my radio!

    3. Re:I have already faced my worst nightmare by DigitalSorceress · · Score: 4, Insightful

      During a weather emergency, the TV not the first place I go for relevant information. Noaa.gov, weather.com, and/or a local AM "News and weather station" are my collective first choice.

      However, I do know what you mean. If someone really is relying on the TV during really bad weather, analog would probably be more fault-tolerant.

      --

      The Digital Sorceress
    4. Re:I have already faced my worst nightmare by Ron+Bennett · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The pixellation / loss of DTV video is inconvenient, but the loss / breakup of the audio is downright annoying.

      It's a shame there's a lack of redundency for the audio channel in the ATSC standard to reduce the "cliff effect" on the audio portion.

      NTSC for all its faults, and it has many, degrades gracefully and remains somewhat usable well out into fringe areas.

      On a related topic, the U.S. version of DTV results in a noticeable delay to change channels / reacquire signal.

      Ron

    5. Re:I have already faced my worst nightmare by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Analog TV has much better range than Digital TV, and has much better tolerances with a bad signal.

      The short and simple solution to this problem is to do what your Grandad did in 1950 and his Grandad in 1925:

      You spring for a good external antenna - and you install it by-the-book.

    6. Re:I have already faced my worst nightmare by emkyooess · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The government is not the people. It is (supposed to be) a representative of the people.

  2. seriously... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If someone hasn't figured out they need to pick up a DTV tuner, and gone out and obtained one by now, but they can sit there and watch the static. There has been AMPLE warning that this was coming, so even stupidity and laziness wont cut it for an excuse.

    1. Re:seriously... by tttonyyy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If someone hasn't figured out they need to pick up a DTV tuner, and gone out and obtained one by now, but they can sit there and watch the static. There has been AMPLE warning that this was coming, so even stupidity and laziness wont cut it for an excuse.

      I work for a company the supplies a large proportion of the world with digital content distribution equipment (as a s/w engineer, it's a rather cool job - quite a lot of what people watch/hear has been touched (not necessarily in a good way ;) ) by my code).

      Your observation is easy to say from the viewpoint of someone technologically aware - but you have to recognise there are plenty of people that just "don't get it" because even a basic level of technology is more than they want to get to grips with. These people don't understand how cordless phones work, and have little interest in internet connectivity. The whole digital television thing is a blur. But, they are happy like that; the digital switch over is just an annoyance they don't understand.

      I don't think that makes them lazy or stupid - its just a different set of life values that people in our demographic don't understand.

      Maybe one day our kid's kid's will be complaining about how we haven't had our brains flash frozen for inclusion in the AI singularity grid. Don't we know organic matter will be obsolete in a couple of years? :)

      Thankfully until then the progress that I do understand pays the mortgage - and I hope the numerous beers don't dull my excitement over new technology - though as I get older, I feel that certain inevitability that it will. Maybe one day we'll be left watching the static too...

      --
      biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
  3. Re:We're Doing this for You ... r Money by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No matter how much they try, the US can't mandate anything to do with the internet, because it doesn't own the internet. You can tell everybody in the US to switch to IPV6, but that isn't going to make everyone else in the world immediately comply. Same as a shutting down internet gambling. You can shut down the US based ones, but you can't shut down offshore ones.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  4. The delay was unnecessary by theurge14 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only way to get the masses to switch is to force it upon them. Hence the continuing popularity of Windows XP.

  5. Finally... by cyn1c77 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am psyched! My wife and I were getting Direct TV until a few weeks ago. We recently got a new TV and tried to tune into the digital channels over the air and were pleasantly surprised. In fact, the increased quality of the network channels for free prompted me to cancel our basic cable (well, dish really) package instead of paying MORE to "upgrade" HD cable.

    I figure why pay pay to watch commercials when I can get them in HD for free?

    The cable company was a little disappointed, but they can go die. I can't believe they expected me to pay MORE money to upgrade to HD digital service when low rez analog service was going away anyway.

    The best part is that you get to keep the dish on the roof! Bonus!