The only problem with this subsidy is that it's perfectly useless.
I have a wonderfully beautiful example of economics at play via the sprint/nextel 2ghz relocation plan. (a certain spectrum of the frequency was sold off, but with the mind that all of the existing equipment would be replaced by sprint/nextel)
If you were lucky you could have purchased some old gear fairly cheap from a less informed soul and had it replaced with an upgrade. However, attempting to purchase this equipment new is just a dreadful cost. The last time I had looked into picking for wireless transmission the costs had not flinched a bit. Vendors certainly knew about the relocation package and business was never better.
The upshot is that with all of these new purchases I've seen some fairly nice advancements because everyone is trying to pimp their new innovations. When the cost is free to most you need to pitch something other then the value of the dollar. Nice for some, kinda crappy if you need to actually pay for it.
Back to the point...
The original subsidy (around 55$) was actually intended to buy a receiver. At the time of it's conception it was thought that a vanilla receiver would reach a market price somewhere very near this area. However, for some reason I don't believe that a $50 dollar receiver will go for anything less then a $100 at this point.
Remember the Tivo $100 manufacturer rebate that spurred the cost of the base unit down to essentially the cost of subscription? Remember the price nearly doubling overnight to meet the new rebate?
A great deal of the populous has no idea what digital television is. If you ask someone what a digital television is they will either tell you it's an lcd/plasma screen or the new menu on their old analogue set.
There hasn't been a great deal of education through the medium in which people are watching. I'm surprised a PSA of some sorts has not been created to address this issue. The TV guys need to take a hint from the radio guys and advertise the hell out of it. I actually can't get away from the radio ads here and I don't believe analogue radio is going away anytime soon.
I think you have your priorities a bit screwy here.
Filling our prisons with those who commit fraud is a horrible waste of resources that would better be served by enclosing those who would pirate movies and music.
I believe we all know who the *real* criminals are.
A manager I worked under once had a similar experience.
There were lots of red flags that this was just a bad deal waiting to happen. Never mind he was getting a laptop at $500 off the cost anyone was selling it for.
Every time he asked me a question about the deal I said don't do it. In fact, I wasn't the only person who said don't do it and he didn't listen. Needless to say, he wasn't a bright man and he was blinded by greed. (not the first time).
He actually did send the money via western union to some place.
Guess what? Well it's not hard to understand the laptop never showed up.
The best part is he fought like crazy trying to get some one to cover the cost of his folly. eBay, the credit card company and I think he even tried speaking to western union. He was never very good at admitting he was at fault or it was his mistake.
It's operating on a skeleton crew and have once again gone through a fun session of axe a mole.
Don't get me wrong, they know how to send employees off to greener pastures, but given their current state of affairs it must have been too costly to outsource everything.
It was flat out bad thinking to attempt the job for nothing, but then again this is how they get into those little fiscal messes.
So, is it unprofitable? I can't say for certain, but I do know whose opinion on the matter I would not bother listening too.
He really isn't going to earn them much in interest charges. Unless the man is lazy whipping his accountants I do believe he will be quite on time with the FULL payment. This is really rather dreadful and such they did the proper course of action.
No Bill, no visa for you today, but perhaps he will have good luck with that Diners Club card! Unfortunately, I believe the 7-11 here will probably write the letters LOL on a sheet of paper before pointing toward the door.
The deadline has already come and gone. I forget when, but there was a low power compliance period and then a full power dead line. If I recall correctly, June was the deadline for full power ATSC transmission. There were very few exceptions granted or rather some stations may simply have not elected to stay in compliance.
The new deadline is the analog cutoff for full power licenses and that is about 2 years away. So at this point, if you can receive the NTSC signal of station then they should have a digital foot print to match.
There are not a horrible amount of guide lines as to what should be aired and as such the transmission could just be a simulcast of the analogue feed converted to digital. This at least gives a studio feed level of quality and it can be a bit of a jump.
However, a great deal of syndicated content still comes down over analog satellite transmission. So, surprise surprise, that SD ATSC feed simply eliminates the issues that crop up with the transmitter and your receiver.
All in all, the only shows that really benefit are those that travel along an all digital path. (This is gaining more ground with syndication, but it is still not the primary means of transportation for many shows.)
Local broadcasters already submit them to a central authority.... well... self proclaimed central authority. (that's another rant for another time). Many broadcasters already provide their listings on the web as well.
The national stuff is easy as they already have to send their schedules to many local broadcasters and cable co. Format access can be as easy as an ftp, http or email. Up until recently buena vista had a lovely dial-a-fax option to send a show format to your desired fax line.
There are essentially two ways to automate this process. Propose an information exchange standard for all to follow. In a show listing you can merely tag it with the episode number and that can be used to retrieve the show description from a database. The big guys don't want this as there is already a huge industry around guide data.
Broadcasters provide the skeleton schedule and the central db fills in the meat.
As an exchange of benefit, make this guide data available for the broadcaster. Create tools to manage the data, export and whatnot. (Trust me, you'll save them several thousand dollars if they are purchasing the service from tribune for ATSC EPG data)
If you need to fund the op, at a reduced rate you can sale the guide data to cable ops and third party application designers.
The system in place is a great deal more manual then one would believe. A little work to integrate this whole process with their respect schedule managers would go over well with pretty much everybody.
I always toyed with the idea, but it's really a lot of hassle. I suppose I probably should have started my own guide data company a while ago. Oh well;)
I semi-expect this year's christmas to bring a bit of an explosion.
Some nicer models are coming down in cost and the holiday season is typically where fools will part with their money. In any event, I'll probably wait til I can find a nicer set when they hit the 400-500 range. (Nicer being not the best, but better then the current crop in that price range).
I built my single tuner box for the cost of the tuner. I had a fairly nice small form factor box serving up video with a dxr3 (em8300) already. The box itself cost me nothing as I did some favors for a local computer shop. (they had a complex client).
Now, my solution is pretty, but you could probably find a decent older p3 or p4 box and stick a pvr350 on it. Run it headless after the install with serial support or frame buffer console for booting issues. For X needs, I run vnc on the little bugger.
I've begun investing a bit more time in it and the next incarnation will be a little more expensive. I have a dual tuner waiting to go and I'll probably pick up a QAM tuner. (something HDC5000 I think?). I'm probably going to drop the 350 as the output device and use an nvidia card.
Either way, the setup can be complex, simple, cheap or even expensive. It really depends on how evil you want your mythbox.
I haven't tried sage in a while, but MythTV is setup fairly nicely now.
They boards during the beta periods were going crazy with ideas. I didn't have the game and I frankly didn't want to play it either. However, the idea of being able to shape the things that come was a fairly intriguing idea.
So, myself and friend worked on stopping the devastation to crafting. *I have no idea what has happened to it since* Overall, we had some positive changes in the game. (He played, I theorized, we posted).
However, there was a flurry of activity and while you really shouldn't listen to the forum whores too much... it isn't a bad place for inspiration.
Forum whores, they shout the loudest and often appear to be the majority, but often they are quite the minority. Thus, what they say should be taken with a grain of salt. This is a problem nearly every MMO suffers from. (Though I believe WoW just bans players... so they might have solved this one;) )
All I heard was, blah blah blah... that is so unfair.
Don't sale CDs then if you are worried about the used market.
This is the problem of doing business through this particular medium. Not so oddly enough, I haven't heard of a digital used music shop yet. However, digital distribution of course has it's own woes.
Every now and again, someone will rant and rave and attempt to create additional taxes on used cds. I find this hilarious every time it comes up.
In any event, I'm not angry nor even a bit bothered by any of this. I should note that I find it highly entertaining! I guess I'm part troll after all. So fume, retort or whatever it is you will do to justify your position. I'm just going to laugh!
Slashdot Mirror
The only problem with this subsidy is that it's perfectly useless.
I have a wonderfully beautiful example of economics at play via the sprint/nextel 2ghz relocation plan. (a certain spectrum of the frequency was sold off, but with the mind that all of the existing equipment would be replaced by sprint/nextel)
If you were lucky you could have purchased some old gear fairly cheap from a less informed soul and had it replaced with an upgrade. However, attempting to purchase this equipment new is just a dreadful cost. The last time I had looked into picking for wireless transmission the costs had not flinched a bit. Vendors certainly knew about the relocation package and business was never better.
The upshot is that with all of these new purchases I've seen some fairly nice advancements because everyone is trying to pimp their new innovations. When the cost is free to most you need to pitch something other then the value of the dollar. Nice for some, kinda crappy if you need to actually pay for it.
Back to the point...
The original subsidy (around 55$) was actually intended to buy a receiver. At the time of it's conception it was thought that a vanilla receiver would reach a market price somewhere very near this area. However, for some reason I don't believe that a $50 dollar receiver will go for anything less then a $100 at this point.
Remember the Tivo $100 manufacturer rebate that spurred the cost of the base unit down to essentially the cost of subscription? Remember the price nearly doubling overnight to meet the new rebate?
gg fcc
Your reasoning is flawed.
A great deal of the populous has no idea what digital television is. If you ask someone what a digital television is they will either tell you it's an lcd/plasma screen or the new menu on their old analogue set.
There hasn't been a great deal of education through the medium in which people are watching. I'm surprised a PSA of some sorts has not been created to address this issue. The TV guys need to take a hint from the radio guys and advertise the hell out of it. I actually can't get away from the radio ads here and I don't believe analogue radio is going away anytime soon.
Tutorial
Q: Should tutorial be the new fad?
A: Yes.
Q: Does it seem weak and unimaginative?
A: Yes.
Q: Then why persist?
A: In the mere hopes that it offends at least one person.
I think you have your priorities a bit screwy here.
Filling our prisons with those who commit fraud is a horrible waste of resources that would better be served by enclosing those who would pirate movies and music.
I believe we all know who the *real* criminals are.
Actually, the big bang usually comes after consuming the chili. (I'll share the recipe if you like, it's quite tasty)
Initially, I was a firm believer of dark matter expansion, but then I was hit with some major insight one morning while preparing breakfast.
I started making pancakes and after I stirred the batter I noticed it was quite lumpy.
I thought,"Eureka!, these same constants in my pancake batter help me better to understand the expansion of the universe!"
Why it's so lumpy and not smooth at all... you would need to stir the universe for a billion or two more years before it's smooth.
That my friends, is generally how I came to where I am today.
Now, let me explain how I came to understand string theory.... while making chili.
Not particularly a new thing...
I can goto the grocery store here, grab a wireless scanner and scan junk as I throw it into my cart.
Once I'm done, I just put the scanner up on the cradle and leave.
Needless to say, if there was any crime rate here that wouldn't work so hot.
Personally, I don't use it because a) it's just an incident waiting to happen and b) I like my groceries bagged.
A manager I worked under once had a similar experience.
There were lots of red flags that this was just a bad deal waiting to happen. Never mind he was getting a laptop at $500 off the cost anyone was selling it for.
Every time he asked me a question about the deal I said don't do it. In fact, I wasn't the only person who said don't do it and he didn't listen. Needless to say, he wasn't a bright man and he was blinded by greed. (not the first time).
He actually did send the money via western union to some place.
Guess what? Well it's not hard to understand the laptop never showed up.
The best part is he fought like crazy trying to get some one to cover the cost of his folly. eBay, the credit card company and I think he even tried speaking to western union. He was never very good at admitting he was at fault or it was his mistake.
That sounds like a great band name... "My Chemical Genius"
Offer me money.
In fairness you don't need two more wiimotes. Two is just fine.
So,
Wii - $250
Wii Play w/Remote - $50
Nunchuck - $20
Component Cable - $20 (optional 20 really_
In reality, it's 320 with an optional component cable. 90% likely to find knock off component cables for $10 somewhere.
As a side note I do happen to like some of the games on wii play.
However, I really do like the Zapper (+30) and Classic Controller (+20).
On the plus side Link's Crossbow is actually fun, but I've never really used the classic controller.
In any event, that was also the first thing to come to mind when I was playing on my friends system. So much extra junk.
What is extra interesting to note.
With GH II and GH III, you can discern a cover from the original artist by the title
Covers are refered to, As Made Famous By and I believe original recordings simply state the band.
Dunno, might save them in court, but it really isn't up to me to decide.
Earthlink is in it's death throws.
It's operating on a skeleton crew and have once again gone through a fun session of axe a mole.
Don't get me wrong, they know how to send employees off to greener pastures, but given their current state of affairs it must have been too costly to outsource everything.
It was flat out bad thinking to attempt the job for nothing, but then again this is how they get into those little fiscal messes.
So, is it unprofitable? I can't say for certain, but I do know whose opinion on the matter I would not bother listening too.
I think the reason here is fairly obvious.
He really isn't going to earn them much in interest charges. Unless the man is lazy whipping his accountants I do believe he will be quite on time with the FULL payment. This is really rather dreadful and such they did the proper course of action.
No Bill, no visa for you today, but perhaps he will have good luck with that Diners Club card! Unfortunately, I believe the 7-11 here will probably write the letters LOL on a sheet of paper before pointing toward the door.
You are one of those people who only wears the required amount of flare!
;) )
(I saw that and had to make some flare joke... forgive me
However, it does make the point well doesn't it.
The deadline has already come and gone. I forget when, but there was a low power compliance period and then a full power dead line. If I recall correctly, June was the deadline for full power ATSC transmission. There were very few exceptions granted or rather some stations may simply have not elected to stay in compliance.
The new deadline is the analog cutoff for full power licenses and that is about 2 years away. So at this point, if you can receive the NTSC signal of station then they should have a digital foot print to match.
There are not a horrible amount of guide lines as to what should be aired and as such the transmission could just be a simulcast of the analogue feed converted to digital. This at least gives a studio feed level of quality and it can be a bit of a jump.
However, a great deal of syndicated content still comes down over analog satellite transmission. So, surprise surprise, that SD ATSC feed simply eliminates the issues that crop up with the transmitter and your receiver.
All in all, the only shows that really benefit are those that travel along an all digital path. (This is gaining more ground with syndication, but it is still not the primary means of transportation for many shows.)
Local broadcasters already submit them to a central authority.... well... self proclaimed central authority. (that's another rant for another time). Many broadcasters already provide their listings on the web as well.
;)
The national stuff is easy as they already have to send their schedules to many local broadcasters and cable co. Format access can be as easy as an ftp, http or email. Up until recently buena vista had a lovely dial-a-fax option to send a show format to your desired fax line.
There are essentially two ways to automate this process. Propose an information exchange standard for all to follow. In a show listing you can merely tag it with the episode number and that can be used to retrieve the show description from a database. The big guys don't want this as there is already a huge industry around guide data.
Broadcasters provide the skeleton schedule and the central db fills in the meat.
As an exchange of benefit, make this guide data available for the broadcaster. Create tools to manage the data, export and whatnot. (Trust me, you'll save them several thousand dollars if they are purchasing the service from tribune for ATSC EPG data)
If you need to fund the op, at a reduced rate you can sale the guide data to cable ops and third party application designers.
The system in place is a great deal more manual then one would believe. A little work to integrate this whole process with their respect schedule managers would go over well with pretty much everybody.
I always toyed with the idea, but it's really a lot of hassle. I suppose I probably should have started my own guide data company a while ago. Oh well
You are doing it wrong if you can't do sticky hand practice without a partner.
I semi-expect this year's christmas to bring a bit of an explosion.
Some nicer models are coming down in cost and the holiday season is typically where fools will part with their money. In any event, I'll probably wait til I can find a nicer set when they hit the 400-500 range. (Nicer being not the best, but better then the current crop in that price range).
Nah,
It's a simple method of placing an industrial sized flash fryer in a pit.
Animal falls in, flash fries and is instantly a tasty crispy treat!
Because someone would come out with an anti-aim, anti-whatever and turn all of those new features off.
You just can't win with these damned kids.
I built my single tuner box for the cost of the tuner. I had a fairly nice small form factor box serving up video with a dxr3 (em8300) already. The box itself cost me nothing as I did some favors for a local computer shop. (they had a complex client).
Now, my solution is pretty, but you could probably find a decent older p3 or p4 box and stick a pvr350 on it. Run it headless after the install with serial support or frame buffer console for booting issues. For X needs, I run vnc on the little bugger.
I've begun investing a bit more time in it and the next incarnation will be a little more expensive. I have a dual tuner waiting to go and I'll probably pick up a QAM tuner. (something HDC5000 I think?). I'm probably going to drop the 350 as the output device and use an nvidia card.
Either way, the setup can be complex, simple, cheap or even expensive. It really depends on how evil you want your mythbox.
I haven't tried sage in a while, but MythTV is setup fairly nicely now.
The original Jedi Knight had an interesting ability to create new force powers. This resulted in a lot of issues, but I thought it was quite fun...
I created a jump that shot sparkles and aoe damage. Ok, so it was not a fair weapon, but the concept was interesting.
Too bad it relied on horrid peering to play.
The funny thing about SWG...
;) )
They boards during the beta periods were going crazy with ideas. I didn't have the game and I frankly didn't want to play it either. However, the idea of being able to shape the things that come was a fairly intriguing idea.
So, myself and friend worked on stopping the devastation to crafting. *I have no idea what has happened to it since* Overall, we had some positive changes in the game. (He played, I theorized, we posted).
However, there was a flurry of activity and while you really shouldn't listen to the forum whores too much... it isn't a bad place for inspiration.
Forum whores, they shout the loudest and often appear to be the majority, but often they are quite the minority. Thus, what they say should be taken with a grain of salt. This is a problem nearly every MMO suffers from. (Though I believe WoW just bans players... so they might have solved this one
All I heard was, blah blah blah... that is so unfair.
Don't sale CDs then if you are worried about the used market.
This is the problem of doing business through this particular medium. Not so oddly enough, I haven't heard of a digital used music shop yet. However, digital distribution of course has it's own woes.
Every now and again, someone will rant and rave and attempt to create additional taxes on used cds. I find this hilarious every time it comes up.
In any event, I'm not angry nor even a bit bothered by any of this. I should note that I find it highly entertaining! I guess I'm part troll after all. So fume, retort or whatever it is you will do to justify your position. I'm just going to laugh!