#16
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I still would like a pocket size digital set.
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Just look at those channels whiz on by. - Fred Sanford |
#17
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Might be a good time to get a "deal" on a decent large screen analog tv, if you use satellite or cable, or if you will be using a "converter box".
Kevin
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stromberg6 |
#18
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I took the posted picture the other day, and it underscores my reason for liking analog. 27 year old $7 Zenith TV from the thrift store, hooked up to an outdoor antenna. Sure, the picture is awful snowy, but it has full and correct color and sound. It's watchable and listenable. This is a deep fringe station for me; I was surprised it came in at all. I don't know, but I have a feeling that with ATSC I will not be able to get any distant stations at all via antenna. Yes, in an emergency I can see this being an issue. By the way, the station in the picture is Spanish language, the only one anywhere in our area.
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Bryan |
#19
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I could just never go back to the visible scan lines and off-axis flicker of a standard-def CRT set for constant use. The flicker is one of those things that, in my case at least, I never realized how jarring/annoying it was until I lived without it for a while. I love old TV sets for occasional use.
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#20
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I noticed too at Walmart the VCR's do not have a tuner section, just audio/video inputs, I guess to get around the rules requiring digital.
I would really like to try a DVD recorder/digital tuner as I should be close enough to the TV transmitting towers to receive a good digital signal. It would seem like these units can output an analog video/audio signal right? (still using old analog TV's here!) |
Audiokarma |
#21
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I was at my local Wal-Mart supercenter today and noticed a VCR with digital tuner. So I guess some of them do sell them.
As this is $268, my mail order converter + RF converter is quite a bit cheaper for broadcast only use(which is what I have been doing). As for scan lines, I have never noticed these except on very large screens. I did see a projection NTSC TV that was something like a 48 inch screen-it looked horrible. Also never noticed any flicker and do not see any now when comparing CRTs vs flat screens showing the same signal(easy to do at the local Wal-Mart.) In addition, I again noticed that to me at least, the CRTs looked better for the low def signal that Wal-Mart sends to their TVs. (I do not know why the do not fork out the money for a true high def signal as Sears and Frys do). I stil believe that when analog is turned off, people in rural areas better have an alternative way to monitor the weather(such as a weather radio) as HDTV is just like satallite, not worth a crap when the weather degrades. |
#22
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The cable company in my area (Time Warner) recently began carrying local TV stations digitally. I asked one of the techs about that the other day; he told me that TW is trying to stay at least one jump ahead of everyone else, to be absolutely sure they are ready when the analog stations go off the air just under 18 months from now. The same technician told me he was planning to keep his 32" analog CRT TV as long as it works; I feel the same way about my two 19" analog CRTs, both of which work very well for their ages (my Zenith Sentry 2 has 12 years on it and works as well as when it was new, as does my RCA CTC-185 19"). As long as these TVs continue to work as well as they do now, I see no reason to get a flat panel HD set. I feel the same way about DVDs as well. Seems a lot of new movies are coming out these days on HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Won't bother me a bit as long as they will play in my current DVD player, or if Netflix still carries standard DVDs.
I did not realize that new TV/DVD systems do not have RF tuners or antenna inputs until I saw a post in this thread which mentioned that fact. (I'm learning a lot in these forums.) I guess we're going to be going digital shortly whether any of us likes it or not--it seems the government's rules about having analog stations go off the air in February 2009 and the current trend towards HD/DVD combination TVs now being manufactured without RF tuners are forcing us into the digital age, in some cases kicking and screaming, but...oh well. As Walter Cronkite used to say at the end of each night's broadcast of the CBS Evening News, that's the way it is.
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. |
#23
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Ok I confess, I work at Wal-Mart, and I sell tv's there. I was retired and my wife said I needed to get out of the house. Anyways, The vcr's with digital tuners are also dvd recorders. We do not carry any units that only record on tape with digital tuners or analog tuners for that matter. They start at $158 and go up. Still an expensive alternative for a converter and RF modulator. As for the TV display, Wal-Mart stores get their TV feed from satallite, some analog, some digital and some HDTV. On the "TV wall" there is a receiver feeding digital 1080i signal to the HDTV sets via componant video cables and distribution amplifiers, and the CRT sets are fed from the analog sat feed via coax and splitters. Most of the HDTV sets that we sell currently are only 720p sets, We only sell 1 that is capable of 1080i. The display in the main Isle is supposed to be fed from an upconverting dvd player. Problem is that they required us to use the RGB componant output, which is only 480p at best. I connected an HDMI cable to one of the sets so that we at least had 720p and that looked quite good. All of the current TV sets we sell have digital tuners. We do not sell any stand alone sets that do not have a built in tuner. Bill R |
#24
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It must be similar at the Wal-mart that I visit. However, even the 1080i(I did only see one as Bill R. mentioned) model had a fuzzy looking picture. From the local Wal Mart layout it appears that the 1080i model is on "the wall" as Bill also mentioned.
The ones at Fry's and Sears look great(at least in Austin, Texas). |
#25
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In our store it is the 46 inch Polaroid on the top shelf right next to the 50 inch Sanyo plasma set. Ours has a good clear picture. There may be a problem with the distro amps, or the sat feed. I keep thretning to come in with my own signal generator and set all of them up properly, but I already give away to much information that I would normally get paid for. You would think they would at least offer me a little more money because I do know more about electronics than anyone in the district, but no. Oh well it keeps me out of the house and out of trouble.
Bill R |
Audiokarma |
#26
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Lies. When we were having shitstorms almost every other day down here, my dish stayed crystal clear. Dishes that go to pot in the weather probably aren't aimed correctly.
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#27
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My mothers satellite TV was crapping out when during thunderstorms this summer in OK(during my visit). The ones at the Gym at work(also satellite) crap out here in Austin, Texas, during thunderstorms. The two satallite systems that I have experience with have trouble with bad weather.
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#28
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This past Saturday night, our local Detroit channels carried the following shows: 2 (FOX) Stupid Baseball 4 (NBC) Stupid Bionic Woman 7 (ABC) Idiotic Football 9 (CBC) Some weird Canadian crap 20 (MYTV) Some teenager crap 50 (CW) One of those "urban" shows about ??? 56 (PBS) Antiques Roadshow 62 (CBS) Some un-watchable Jerry Bruckheimer cop show So I DX'ed over to Ontario (Canada) public TV, channel 32 from Sarnia (I think). The station is plenty watchable, but with just enough snow that you couldn't get a damn thing if it was digital. They ran a solid 8PM-2AM block of: The Taking of Pelhum 1,2,3. Dog Day Afternoon The Chase Uncut, Uncensored, and with director's commentary in between!!! Yes, I know I could have just rented that stuff on DVD, or subscribe to cable, etc... But nothing is going to beat the thrill of DX'ing and finding gold like that on a DUD TV night!! I'll miss you non-corporate, analog TV
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From Captain Video, 1/4/2007 "It seems that Italian people are very prone to preserve antique stuff." |
#29
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Will Mexican analog TV also shut down? Do they have any channels in English? If so, then people near that border would then have watchable TV as well. But I'm in the New York City market, and we are not near a border. Wonder how often tropo ducting from Canada will happen? Is low power TV (LPTV) analog also supposed to shut down as well? |
#30
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When I was a little kid; my parents let me use their old 9" late '60's GE B&W set for my room. I remember being able to receive many distant TV stations either late at night or early in the morning. The pictures were usually not clear; but, they were watchable. This won't be the case with digital; since digital is either "all or nothing."
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Audiokarma |
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