"Delay the analog to digital transition"...Yeah, that's what I expected.

[never_retreat]

Every other frekin commercial i see on tv is about the switch over. If you are so stupid that you can't figure it out by now.... (insert favorite answer here)
And yes I understand that some people are technological inept (old people are the only ones with an excuse). I mean they may have seen the very first tv transmission ever. But....
I say keep the old signal alive for a week after the switch and just display an 800 number to call for help. Hell set it to ring in the oval office. He ant got anything else to do constructive.

[Gewehr98]

The local network affiliate stations have indeed been scrolling transition warnings across the bottom of the screen over the last few months.

Are you planning on giving them the old TV as well?  Any bought in the last couple years should already have the digital tuner in it, even if it's only standard definition.

They each have large-screen CRT analog televisions (albeit older) in their bedrooms. No digital tuners. There's only one HDTV/digital tuner TV in Casa de' G-98, and that's my big Hitachi plasma.

Save for that, every one of the other 6 televisions in the house are analog tuner sets.  It's not really a big deal, since they all have Charter Cable feeds, bypassing the whole digital transition thing nicely.  I'm just planning for the day when they are using those same televisions elsewhere and may not want to spend for either cable or dish.  If the televisions are still functional, I'm not going to simply scrap them just because they don't receive digital signals. 

I'm kinda bummed that my little Casio color LCD handheld TV won't get as many channels after the transition, but I understand a couple of the local independent stations are still going to be broadcasting low-power analog signals afterwards. 

[Manedwolf]

A lot of pocket TVs can use cable if you get a coax adapter to its antenna input jack. They don't tell you that, but the circuitry is in there.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Was listening to the local talk radio guy this afternoon as I was driving about.  Caller on the show is griping and complaining about the fact that they're "taking away his rights" to watch TV, forcing him to change, blah blah blah.

Already in my mind I'm thinking, "Luddite."

So host asks him, "Do you have an 8-track player in your car?"  Poking the bear as it were....

Guy answers, "Yeah!"

Host: "Well, umm." Takes a couple seconds to gather his thoughts again. "Do you expect the local shop to carry 8-track tapes for you?"

Caller:  "Well no, but they're forcing me to change blahblahblah!"

Host:  "Do you have a VCR?"

Caller:  "YEAH!"

Host, again after taking a couple of seconds to regather his thoughts: "Well, can you still get new movies on VHS?"

Caller:  "Yeah, the local Costco carries some of them."

Host:  "Well, do you expect them to continue carrying them forever, or what are you gonna do when they stop carrying them?"

Caller:  "Well, I'll have to get a DVD player, but they're FORCING ME TO CHANGE WHINEWHIMPERWHINE."

Luddite....

[Gewehr98]

A lot of pocket TVs can use cable if you get a coax adapter to its antenna input jack. They don't tell you that, but the circuitry is in there.

Yeah, I suppose I could do that.

Gonna be awkward as hell dragging a coax cable along to the next football game, though.   

[Manedwolf]

You know what is wierd in that it is completely absent from the US market?

Portable, handheld digital TVs.

They've been in Japan for years now...H.264 HD pocket TVs, but of course, PAL video. There are NONE that are NTSC in the US that I have seen.

I'm not sure if they just don't see sales for them...or all the makers would rather sell cellphones to providers, with contracts to charge you an arm and a leg for crappy, "please wait, buffering" fuzzy video on phones. 

[MicroBalrog]

Luddite....

I don't think you understand. Had analog been superceded by a free-market process, you'd have been right. This however is not the case here, to the best of my understanding.

[Firethorn]

Portable, handheld digital TVs. ts to charge you an arm and a leg for crappy, "please wait, buffering" fuzzy video on phones. 

They're out there:

For example Haier HLT71 7-Inch Portable LCD TV
Accurianâ„¢ 7 Portable Handheld TV 
There's still more...

[Owens]

MicroBalrog,

Correct. The initiative to go digital and the final mandate and and all between those two points was kept pretty much hush-hush. Not much was let to the public during the process. Although they (FCC) did have 'calls for public comment' at various times, you had to know where to look for them. I discovered this a few years ago when I stumbled onto one of their calls on the FCC website. Of course, the deadline for filing comments had already passed. Never saw any of those comments either.

All water under the bridge now.

[geronimotwo]

just do the switch already. if you lose your signal, it obviously means your doing something wrong, and if you really want t.v. you can fix it.

i mean really. its freeking t.v.  

sorry, this is one of those 'emergancies' i just don't get.  

unfortunatly the politicians in washington do "get it". what it boils down to is if the people have somethiong to occupy their time they "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". if tv were suddenly unavailable, people would be more aware of how our nation is being run. that would ruin a lot of washington's careers.

[Perd Hapley]

if tv were suddenly unavailable, people would be more aware of how our nation is being run.

How do ya figure? 

[BlueStarLizzard]

unfortunatly the politicians in washington do "get it". what it boils down to is if the people have somethiong to occupy their time they "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". if tv were suddenly unavailable, people would be more aware of how our nation is being run. that would ruin a lot of washington's careers.

but the thing is T.V. is not unavailble to the majority of folks out there. in fact i would bet the majority of folks have cable or dish, niether of which is affected by the change.
and i would bet most who do have regular t.v. have already changed.
this isn't about the majority. its babysitting those few who, for whatever, reasons, havn't gotten off their butts.

[Gewehr98]

this isn't about the majority. its babysitting those few who, for whatever, reasons, havn't gotten off their butts.

I don't agree with that at all.

Having lived in some pretty darned rural areas myself, cable was not an option. 

Dish can be an option, if one wants to pay through the nose for it. 

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of folks getting broadcast band programming from nothing but the aerial on the roof. 

Calling them lazy is disingenuous at best.   :|

Hell, I even have the local broadcast band stations (6 of them in the Madison area) set up to run through my digital HDTV in case another snow/ice storm knocks out cable - which has in fact happened several times since I moved back up North.  Hence my getting a digital converter for our analog sets. 

Maybe I need to get off my butt?   :rolleyes:

[BlueStarLizzard]

I don't agree with that at all.

Having lived in some pretty darned rural areas myself, cable was not an option. 

Dish can be an option, if one wants to pay through the nose for it. 

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of folks getting broadcast band programming from nothing but the aerial on the roof. 

Calling they're lazy is disingenuous at best.   :|

Hell, I even have the local broadcast band stations (6 of them in the Madison area) set up to run through my digital HDTV in case another snow/ice storm knocks out cable - which has in fact happened several times since I moved back up North.  Hence my getting a digital converter for our analog sets. 

Maybe I need to get off my butt?   :rolleyes:

maybe you should talk to someone who doesn't live in a rural area and doesn't have dish or cable? can't afford dish or cable.
but, looky looky, i gots a converter box.

[Gewehr98]

So, what's the problem?

I'm not seeing it.

You can't afford dish or cable, or don't want to pay for either, but have an older TV.  What are you supposed to do?

Hell, my late grandmother was on a fixed income, and did just fine with an older 27" RCA. 

A converter box would have let her still watch the 5 or so broadcast band channels via the antenna on her roof, without having to spring for a replacement television set.

Lazy?  I think not. 

Broad brush strokes, BSL - be damned careful with them.

[roo_ster]

You can't afford dish or cable, or don't want to pay for either, but have an older TV.  What are you supposed to do?

Buy a converter box or read more?

[geronimotwo]

How do ya figure? 

the majority of people, correct me if i am mistaken, watch tv for entertainment (ie sitcoms, soaps, sports). i think this causes enough of a distraction that they don't pay attention to how our nation is being run (what rights or amendments get trampled on, what wars we wage, etc.).

[Balog]

the majority of people, correct me if i am mistaken, watch tv for entertainment (ie sitcoms, soaps, sports). i think this causes enough of a distraction that they don't pay attention to how our nation is being run (what rights or amendments get trampled on, what wars we wage, etc.).

And you think that if a family lost their tv they'd suddenly care? Naive....

[Perd Hapley]

If you can't watch broadcast TV, you can still watch DVDs or play video games.  Failing that, you can entertain yourself on the interwebs, or in other ways. 

Besides, people get a LOT of their political news from TV.  Take that away, and they might just be less informed. 

[BlueStarLizzard]

G,
i thought this thread was about the people in charge going "wait, wait, wait... we can't switch to digital yet. People arn't ready"

i was saying that that is bull and if they don't got the box by now then tough. just do the darn switch already.

[Firethorn]

Maybe I need to get off my butt?   :rolleyes:

You already did.  

Me, I got the converter box then ended up buying a new tv anyways(great deal, and had been looking for a while).

So the only people being called lazy at this point would be the ones who
1.  Get a converter box because they have an older TV without the tuner and watch/want to watch broadcast TV
2.  Haven't done so yet.  I have sympathy for those waiting for coupons, but that can be fixed either by the person buying the box without a coupon, or the government pushing more funding into the coupon program and getting the requested ones out.  

Now, televisions can have multi-decade lifespans.  At this point anybody running around with a 5+ year old set isn't likely to be replacing it anytime soon.  I just replaced my decade old set, and the old tube still works fine.

Thus the converter box.  Personally, I think there should have been more boxes with passthrough options, dozens of inputs is a MODERN feature.  My nice-when-bought set has three, coax, s-video in the back for VHS/DVD and a composite in the front intended for game stations and such.  My new TV has three component, three digital, in addition to the coax.  No s-vid, but the components also have composite.

For the most part, those that haven't gotten the box yet aren't going to do so until the switch.  Extra time isn't going to help much.

[Perd Hapley]

I'll cop to being lazy.  I haven't even upgraded my TV to any kind of outside feed at all, just DVD/VCR.   

And I didn't even work for the money to buy one retail.  I'm using a borrowed one right now.

[geronimotwo]

And you think that if a family lost their tv they'd suddenly care? Naive....

not necessarily that they would care, but they wouldn't be sated. this leaves them in a position much more easily exploited for civil unrest.

[Perd Hapley]

No, it absolutely does not.  As I said previously:

"If you can't watch broadcast TV, you can still watch DVDs or play video games.  Failing that, you can entertain yourself on the interwebs, or in other ways.

Besides, people get a LOT of their political news from TV.  Take that away, and they might just be less informed."

[geronimotwo]

No, it absolutely does not.  As I said previously:

"If you can't watch broadcast TV, you can still watch DVDs or play video games.  Failing that, you can entertain yourself on the interwebs, or in other ways.

Besides, people get a LOT of their political news from TV.  Take that away, and they might just be less informed."

well, i can't argue your point on video games the way that they can be played endlessly. on the dvd's at least they have a begining and an end, unlike current tv programing which is a constant bombardment on the senses.

as far as the lack of news, if people were to look outside and talk to there neighbors once in a while they might get better first hand info.