>>>With analog, poor reception will give you snow, and a fuzzy picture. You can still make out most of the image, but it looks like crap. With digital, poor reception will give you choppy video and pixelation. >>>
Or worse: nothing. With analog my parents received 15 stations with just rabbit ears + UHF loop. With digital they get 3 stations; the other 12 display nothing but a blue screen because the signal is present but not decodable.
>>>As others have noticed, your average broadcaster only puts through 10% signal strength on their digital channels. It's really causing a lot more problems...
The broadcasters in Wilmington are putting-out 100% of their licensed power, and yet they still have tons of problems with viewers not seeing images.
Clicking on these links provides maps of the coverage. The one drawback is that these seem to be overly-optimistic for digital coverage (most of the stations the FCC claims I should see, I do not). But hey, at least it's a start.
>>>Anyway, their digital signal now has a wider reception area than their analog one!
Not according to a National Public Radio (NPR) study. Since the digital signal is only 1% of the analog signal (per FCC rule), its range is only 15-20 miles. The analog signal has a range of 50-60 miles since its one-hundred times more powerful.
Well the stupid congresscritters put a 90-day limit on the coupons. So if you got your coupons prior to July 1st, they're expired.
Almost HALF of the coupons go unredeemed, which was probably the original intent of the Congress - offer the coupons but make them expire before people have a chance to use them. That way Congress can look generous without actually being generous. (Those mail-in rebates work in the same fashion. Around 40% of mail-in rebates are past due and rejected...thus saving the company money.)
>>>The 350 MB episodes labled as HDTV actually are scaled down to well below 720p detail, but are good for slower computers, faster downloading/seeding, and still look better than most SD quality programs. >>>
Don't forget the 150 MB or 70 MB xvid asd files. They appear to be VHS quality, which is blurry but still very watchable and enjoyable. I like to seek out these smaller files, due to my slower connection (50k on the road; 700k at home).
>>>After the transition, they will all be pushed to full power.
No you're not understanding. Let me use an example: My WGAL-8 when it switches over from analog to digital on February 18, will go from 110,000 watts to just 7,500 watts. PER FCC RULE. Obviously it will have a much shorter reach than what it had previously, and even those nearby the station will suffer dropouts from trees, buildings, et cetera blocking the reduced power signal.
IMHO a lot of DTV problems could be fixed simply by increasing the maximum power allocation. But first they need to get the FCC's permission.
It depends. The Channel Master 7000 actually has an "audio only" mode where it freezes the image, but continues playing whatever sound it can pickup. That's a very useful innovation.
I wish somebody would invent a tuner that "degraded" digital similar to how analog degrades. Analog degrades by becoming fuzzier, and it would be cool if a DTV tuner could do the same thing - perhaps producing a 360x240 (VHS quality) or 180x120 (youtube quality) image using a "best guess" or "nearest neighbor averaging" of whatever data it can extract from a damaged bitstream. That kind of blurring would be preferable to blanking-out or freezing.
FROM THE ARTICLE:
>>>"FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said a smaller digital footprint may affect as many as 15 percent of television markets in the U.S. He told members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Tuesday that a possible solution would be for broadcasters to erect special "repeater" antennas to expand their reach.">>>
The main problem is that DTV signals are only operated at one-third or one-half of Analog's power, which of course means it degrades much faster & gets blocked more easily. If a station has a shortfall in distance, why not simply increase that station's power to double current limits?
Most annoying error message? NONE. The computer just freezes-up for no apparent reason, forcing the user to pull a plug. This has been a bane since the earliest days of Ataris, Apples, or Commodores, and it still happens thirty years later. Grrr!
Another common message:
?SYNTAX ERROR
I saw this on my Commodore 64 (MS-BASIC 2.0), but it also happens in other versions of BASIC too. It was the universal error on all computers from the 1960s upto circa 1995 (when GUIs took-over as the dominant interface). I hate the SYNTAX TERROR.
We do have thousands of representatives; 535 at the national level, and ~300 at the state level. Some also have representative councils at the county level. These guys are *supposed* to divide-up the work, with varying jurisdictions as defined by the U.S. and State Constitutions, but since FDR's New Deal, Congress now uses the "if it affects commerce, we will regulate it" argument to control just about everything.
That's a very poor way of handling things. The national government should not be able to regulate near-everything. MOST of the problems should be handled at the State level, where the representatives are closer to the common man.
>>>Listen to music produced today and compare it to what was around up to 15 years ago.
So 1993 or earlier. The tops hits at that time were New Kids, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, C+C Music Factory, Snap, Black Box, Boyz-II-Men, Will Smith, Salt-N-Pepa, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and so on. It was the middle of the dance music craze where almost all songs were composed around a simplistic beat box, with an occasional love ballad "to break-up the monotony of that hardcore dance that has gotten a little bit out of control".
Are you really sure your statement, that these artists were "better quality" than what's on the radio today, is accurate?
The Slashdot summary is wrong. (Surprise.) It's 10.5% for places that allow the user to pick his/her songs. But broadcast internet radio, where the DJ controls the music, is still unresolved. They are still paying the "per play" royalty fee.
So places like Shoutcast are still in danger of going bankrupt due to the tyrannic fees imposed from above.
I'm okay patents & copyrights, but there should be a time limit.
7 years or maybe 14 years, but that's it. Plenty of time to make a profit & recoup the costs of the invention. If a company can't make money during 14 years time, then that company doesn't deserve the patent; it should go public domain.
You just described what I consider "stuck up". I guess "elitist" is the non-slang term. The person behind the yahoo account (me) might very well be working for Lockheed Martin, and merely doing some work from home, and using his/her home account to ask some questions about product. Do you really want to "brush off" a potential sale to Lockheed Martin (me again) or some other purchasing agent for a major corporation???
IMHO, you shouldn't prejudge people upon arbitrary & meaningless characteristics (image, color, sex, or email address). At least wait until you've had a conversation with them before you judge whether they are serious customers; otherwise it might cost you a lost sale.
>>>instantly makes your company look amateurish from a prospective customer
Well..... I AM just a one-person "company". If they are expecting the kind of service from me they receive from an amazon or other major corporation, then maybe I'm not the right fit for that customer. Again, having troy@gmail.com helps weed-out those with unreasonable expectations who might be more headache than they are worth.
>>>I feel that having GMail or Yahoo email domains on my business card isn't really a professional touch.
I have both a yahoo and google domain for my email, and I don't feel ashamed by it. If my future employer or customer is that "stuck up" about something so trivial, then I don't want to deal with them..... they're more likely to make unreasonable demands or frequent returns. I'd rather just avoid those people.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>With analog, poor reception will give you snow, and a fuzzy picture. You can still make out most of the image, but it looks like crap. With digital, poor reception will give you choppy video and pixelation.
>>>
Or worse: nothing. With analog my parents received 15 stations with just rabbit ears + UHF loop. With digital they get 3 stations; the other 12 display nothing but a blue screen because the signal is present but not decodable.
>>>As others have noticed, your average broadcaster only puts through 10% signal strength on their digital channels. It's really causing a lot more problems...
The broadcasters in Wilmington are putting-out 100% of their licensed power, and yet they still have tons of problems with viewers not seeing images.
How much will 700 billion pennies buy?
1/100th of a Wall Street bailout. ;-)
>>>Each station has its own coverage maps... and that information seems to be restricted
Not really. Goto http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WGAL and type in the call letters of your favorite stations. Once there you'll see this:
Site: Region Map Area Map Local Map
Clicking on these links provides maps of the coverage. The one drawback is that these seem to be overly-optimistic for digital coverage (most of the stations the FCC claims I should see, I do not). But hey, at least it's a start.
>>>Anyway, their digital signal now has a wider reception area than their analog one!
Not according to a National Public Radio (NPR) study. Since the digital signal is only 1% of the analog signal (per FCC rule), its range is only 15-20 miles. The analog signal has a range of 50-60 miles since its one-hundred times more powerful.
Everybody makes fun of 8-tracks, but in the 1970s they were better than the alternatives:
- records - tend to skip
- cassettes - still in infancy, and sounded like an 8 kbit/s MP3. 8-tracks had better fidelity.
And that is what is wrong with a monopoly (especially a government monopoly).
(1) You have no choice.
(2) They don't need to do a good job. They get your money anyway.
(3) Which is why our government services (like school) are so lousy & yet we're stuck with them. Sad.
Well the stupid congresscritters put a 90-day limit on the coupons. So if you got your coupons prior to July 1st, they're expired.
Almost HALF of the coupons go unredeemed, which was probably the original intent of the Congress - offer the coupons but make them expire before people have a chance to use them. That way Congress can look generous without actually being generous. (Those mail-in rebates work in the same fashion. Around 40% of mail-in rebates are past due and rejected...thus saving the company money.)
The actual number is ~85 out of 100 homes already have cable or satellite service.
Only 15 out of 100 watch over-the-air.
>>>The 350 MB episodes labled as HDTV actually are scaled down to well below 720p detail, but are good for slower computers, faster downloading/seeding, and still look better than most SD quality programs.
>>>
Don't forget the 150 MB or 70 MB xvid asd files. They appear to be VHS quality, which is blurry but still very watchable and enjoyable. I like to seek out these smaller files, due to my slower connection (50k on the road; 700k at home).
>>>After the transition, they will all be pushed to full power.
No you're not understanding. Let me use an example: My WGAL-8 when it switches over from analog to digital on February 18, will go from 110,000 watts to just 7,500 watts. PER FCC RULE. Obviously it will have a much shorter reach than what it had previously, and even those nearby the station will suffer dropouts from trees, buildings, et cetera blocking the reduced power signal.
IMHO a lot of DTV problems could be fixed simply by increasing the maximum power allocation. But first they need to get the FCC's permission.
It depends. The Channel Master 7000 actually has an "audio only" mode where it freezes the image, but continues playing whatever sound it can pickup. That's a very useful innovation.
I wish somebody would invent a tuner that "degraded" digital similar to how analog degrades. Analog degrades by becoming fuzzier, and it would be cool if a DTV tuner could do the same thing - perhaps producing a 360x240 (VHS quality) or 180x120 (youtube quality) image using a "best guess" or "nearest neighbor averaging" of whatever data it can extract from a damaged bitstream. That kind of blurring would be preferable to blanking-out or freezing.
FROM THE ARTICLE:
>>>"FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said a smaller digital footprint may affect as many as 15 percent of television markets in the U.S. He told members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Tuesday that a possible solution would be for broadcasters to erect special "repeater" antennas to expand their reach.">>>
The main problem is that DTV signals are only operated at one-third or one-half of Analog's power, which of course means it degrades much faster & gets blocked more easily. If a station has a shortfall in distance, why not simply increase that station's power to double current limits?
Surely that would extend the reach.
Urban Legend.
Not true.
Most annoying error message? NONE. The computer just freezes-up for no apparent reason, forcing the user to pull a plug. This has been a bane since the earliest days of Ataris, Apples, or Commodores, and it still happens thirty years later. Grrr!
Another common message:
?SYNTAX ERROR
I saw this on my Commodore 64 (MS-BASIC 2.0), but it also happens in other versions of BASIC too. It was the universal error on all computers from the 1960s upto circa 1995 (when GUIs took-over as the dominant interface). I hate the SYNTAX TERROR.
"7" is codified in many, many laws. And now it's become a kind of default.
Never say never, no not in nary a way nor shape nor form.
Opening a business in alcohol is a sure way to survive the recession/Depression.
Food is also a necessity, so maybe buy-up a few grocery stores.
Excellent post.
We do have thousands of representatives; 535 at the national level, and ~300 at the state level. Some also have representative councils at the county level. These guys are *supposed* to divide-up the work, with varying jurisdictions as defined by the U.S. and State Constitutions, but since FDR's New Deal, Congress now uses the "if it affects commerce, we will regulate it" argument to control just about everything.
That's a very poor way of handling things. The national government should not be able to regulate near-everything. MOST of the problems should be handled at the State level, where the representatives are closer to the common man.
>>>Listen to music produced today and compare it to what was around up to 15 years ago.
So 1993 or earlier. The tops hits at that time were New Kids, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, C+C Music Factory, Snap, Black Box, Boyz-II-Men, Will Smith, Salt-N-Pepa, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and so on. It was the middle of the dance music craze where almost all songs were composed around a simplistic beat box, with an occasional love ballad "to break-up the monotony of that hardcore dance that has gotten a little bit out of control".
Are you really sure your statement, that these artists were "better quality" than what's on the radio today, is accurate?
I honestly don't see much difference in talent.
The Slashdot summary is wrong. (Surprise.) It's 10.5% for places that allow the user to pick his/her songs. But broadcast internet radio, where the DJ controls the music, is still unresolved. They are still paying the "per play" royalty fee.
So places like Shoutcast are still in danger of going bankrupt due to the tyrannic fees imposed from above.
I'm okay patents & copyrights, but there should be a time limit.
7 years or maybe 14 years, but that's it. Plenty of time to make a profit & recoup the costs of the invention. If a company can't make money during 14 years time, then that company doesn't deserve the patent; it should go public domain.
You just described what I consider "stuck up". I guess "elitist" is the non-slang term. The person behind the yahoo account (me) might very well be working for Lockheed Martin, and merely doing some work from home, and using his/her home account to ask some questions about product. Do you really want to "brush off" a potential sale to Lockheed Martin (me again) or some other purchasing agent for a major corporation???
IMHO, you shouldn't prejudge people upon arbitrary & meaningless characteristics (image, color, sex, or email address). At least wait until you've had a conversation with them before you judge whether they are serious customers; otherwise it might cost you a lost sale.
>>>instantly makes your company look amateurish from a prospective customer
Well..... I AM just a one-person "company". If they are expecting the kind of service from me they receive from an amazon or other major corporation, then maybe I'm not the right fit for that customer. Again, having troy@gmail.com helps weed-out those with unreasonable expectations who might be more headache than they are worth.
>>>I feel that having GMail or Yahoo email domains on my business card isn't really a professional touch.
I have both a yahoo and google domain for my email, and I don't feel ashamed by it. If my future employer or customer is that "stuck up" about something so trivial, then I don't want to deal with them..... they're more likely to make unreasonable demands or frequent returns. I'd rather just avoid those people.
>>>To the powers that be it probably shows "great promise" and, since it is a machine, would be "unbiased."
That's how we got those junk Diebold voting machines; they were supposedly better than a simple handcount of paper ballots. Not.