Obituaries touting the death of NTSC television may be premature.

[Arkay]

Originally Posted by OvenMaster

...Seems half the time, what I or my family consider perfect for us isn't popular with most other folks!
Tom

Man, does that line ring a harmonic chord here! I suspect I may be seen as a weirdo by some acquaintances because I like the "old-fashioned" stuff that was built to last, instead of plastic junk cranked out with "planned obsolescence" in mind. [I suspect a disproportionate percentage of AKers would feel the same way.] As an American living in (98% Chinese) Hong Kong, I find a lot of things I like are unknown or unpopular here, which only adds to the feeling, and much of the popular culture here (Canto-pop songs, many movies, etc...) has no appeal to me. Very definitely not "mainstream tastes" in this household!

[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by Carmine

Just one comment... Planned obsolescence occurs in the free-market, meaning your TV/car/toothbrush might function perfectly well, but you simply don't want to appear to be the neighborhood nutcase or cheapskate because you're watching a 1965 TV set while the rest of the world has moved on to flatscreens.

This is government mandated obsolescence, when the feds FORCE citizens to broadcast (thereby receive) in a different format at the point of a gun. In a true free-market example, both analog and digital would co-exist until broadcasters decided it was no longer cost-effective to pay the electric bill for the analog transmitter.

Peace Out.

You're quite correct. Point taken. Perfectly good gear being relegated to the scrap heap for someone else's agenda and potential profit..
Tom

[bgadow]

I have almost no experience with satellite tv...how many local tv stations are available over the dish? This would seem to be a real issue to me. As others point out, the most ramshackle old mobile home out in the country has a dish these days but they are getting their local news & weather from rabbit ears, right? I can see this being a real problem for local stations, especially in rural areas where cable hits only a limited area.

As for me, I am still 100% over-the-air analog, and plan to be when the end comes. Looks like I have a couple years to find some deals on digital decoders.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by markthefixer

The next President of the United States gets inaugurated on January 20, 2009 and then on February 17, 2009 NTSC goes dark.... The NEXT President AND Congress is going to get SLAMMED on this.... a lot off yelling about discriminating against the poor is going to get slung. Unfortunately this is a technical issue that degenerates into politics.

It might even become an election issue.

At least that's ONE single thing that the public probably won't blame on President Bush.


I think what we'll see is a program of vouchers similar to the incandescent light bulb destruction programs here in Ventura County: The SoCal Edison Co has subsidized the sales of the fluorescent bulbs so that the retailers can sell them for about $1, when they actually cost about $6. They want to phase out all incandescent bulbs in a couple years, and there was an article in the LA Daily News this week about a possible law to ban incandescent bulbs in California.

So we may see TV signal converter boxes for sale at the grocery store for $9, courtesy of the taxpayers. I think I also read here or somewhere that the Feds will put out a program to give one free box to every American household. Trouble with that is that some of us have more than one TV........ Or more than 200? Oh well.

Charles

[colorfixer]

Hmmm, banning incandescent bulbs? In the words of Lee Ermey: "You gotta be S*&tting me"

Next they're going after the internal combustion engine, chewing gum and potato chips.

Its going to interesting, since I've yet to see an ATSC set-top box for sale at the box stores in the northwest.

[Carmine]

Say, I hate to mention this. . But I buy those bulbs on sale at our local hardware store for a dollar, or two dollars at the depot all the time without any subsidy or government light bulb smashing program.

[Pete Deksnis]

Not everyone ran out and bought a flat-screen HDTV for the Super Bowl. CRT sets easily outsold any other model, including flat-screen LCD's and (choke) plasmas.

A research group, NPD (whoever that is), reported that unit sales of CRT-based direct-view sets jumped 61 percent in the week before the game, and that includes both high-def and analog CRT sets.

The average CRT set was priced at $183, while the average flat-screen set exceeded $1000, which certainly had something to do with keeping the king on the throne for a little longer.

[Sandy G]

I REALLY hope the Feds get this one shoved up their tucchis like they did w/The Great Seatbelt Interlock Fiasco back in '74...the Imperial Federal Gummint needs to get reminded who's Boss every once in a while...Despite their best efforts to the contrary...

[frenchy]

[QUOTE=Pete Deksnis]Not everyone ran out and bought a flat-screen HDTV for the Super Bowl. CRT sets easily outsold any other model, including flat-screen LCD's and (choke) plasmas.
QUOTE]

Just bought my girlie a 32" Sharp tube tv for her birthday to replace her little 19 incher. Just doing my part to keep the 'flame of the tube' alive ; )
It has a great picture and a nice big screen for such a low price. Ok so it was a pain lifting it up into her entertainment center but I needed the exercise anyway : ) Why should I buy a thin set at that size, the picture would suck compared to a tube, and cost 3x as much.
Frenchy

[Richard D]

I know we are a tiny portion of the american consumer but what about folks who have several small portable TV's form the past, like the Panasonic CT-101 and Sony indextrons and such?

[Sandy G]

Guess we're just SOL, pal. You got an Indextron? I thought Sony got all of 'em back....

[ChrisW6ATV]

I haven't heard much lately about the program to provide $40 coupons for up to two $50 ATSC set-top boxes per household lately. Supposedly, there is a program to design and build a $50 set-top box to be made available in early 2009. Only households without cable or satellite will be eligible for the $40 coupons, though, and maybe also only if they are low-income. Considering that there are already 27" CRT TVs available with built-in ATSC tuners for $250, the $50 box should be easy enough to accomplish in the next 1-2 years. (No, of course, neither that $250 TV nor the $50 boxes will be HD, just capable of converting digital signals into NTSC analog, about the same as what a low-end satellite or digital cable box does today.)

[merrylander]

I would need to check the standard again,it has been too long, but IIRC the digital signal is supposed to include the old 4:3 525 line screen image so all the box would have to do is decode a digital signal.

Rob

[Richard D]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Guess we're just SOL, pal. You got an Indextron? I thought Sony got all of 'em back....

Not all, I have one somewhere that likes to eat it's own horizontal section, and the picture never had that bright, high contrast look of their older, larger 1970's era 5" Trinitrons. I see them on the "We print money" site every couple of months. Going for too much money, the last one I saw was for one that had a white cabinet, said it was for automotive use, and of course "untested" Right.
Richard.

[andy]

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