Radio discussion on NTSC shutdown & HDTVs

[Bill R]

Maybe we should start capturing all these flaky reception problems and start complaining to the FCC now. Tell them to leave things alone and forget ablut digital. I would be really upset if this kind of reception was a common thing.

Bill R

[site123a]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Here's Levines Site, if you can find proof of this I'd like to see it. http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a40/

Take away a Californians car!? That would be a sure fire ticket to being voted out of office.

Originally Posted by dtuomi

Anne Onymus columns on Low End Mac are satirical articles. They're meant to be funny, although I can't say I found this particular one very amusing.

Anne Onymus is an idiot (and maybe on drugs), I tried to ask her some questions, but she just drove me in circles. So there is no proof Eric H (I checked). The only thing true about the article was the part on the light bulbs. The rest of the article was just lies.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by site123a

This is leading up to a bigger motive. Take a look at this:

Under the proposed legislation, all CRTs in the state of California would have to be turned in to the state government for recycling by the end of 2008. This would include television sets, computer monitors, arcade machines, and all-in-one computers such as the early Macs and the G3 iMacs.

To compensate citizens for their loss, the state will issue $25 gift cards to Best Buy for every CRT turned in to the state.

The future could be even more chilling for Californians, though. As if losing incandescent light bulbs and CRT displays won't be bad enough, Levine's next energy saving mandate will require that Californians abandon their cars for destinations less than five miles away, although there will be an exception in case of emergencies.

by Anne Onymus

Full article
http://lowendmac.com/rumormill/07/0201.html

I hope and pray that this is a joke. It's gotta be a joke, right?! If not, they can have my '82 Zenith and others when they can pry them from my cold, dead hands. Lock and load.

This crap makes the old USSR look like a free and open society in comparison.

It's got to be a joke, right?! I hope so.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by dtuomi

Anne Onymus columns on Low End Mac are satirical articles. They're meant to be funny, although I can't say I found this particular one very amusing.

David

Yeah, she got me on that one, I've been "punk'd." Still, it is sad that we live in a world to where we think that something like this would be true.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Bill R

Maybe we should start capturing all these flaky reception problems and start complaining to the FCC now. Tell them to leave things alone and forget ablut digital. I would be really upset if this kind of reception was a common thing.

Bill R

Good ideas. Plus I think it would be a good idea to give Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton a jingle and tell them how it would affect the poor. In that case, I think we could get some more traction.

[Einar72]

Thanks, Site123a, for the mp3. I listened to about half of it, and had to stop because my blood was boiling. The only good thing I heard was a badly-needed repeating of the fact that "HDTV" reception can be had using an antenna.

What we really have here is multinational fascism. A self-anointed industry group, the ATSC, has decided we no longer can function as sentient beings, let alone a society, without abandoning our NTSC-standard TV's. The U.S. government, always willing to bow to powerful foreign industry, with $$$ in all the right pockets, has given them the ability dig deep into our wallets and wreak economic havoc on our citizenry WITHOUT A VOTE.

But wait, you say, won't Uncle Sam mail you the coupons to get a converter? Sure he will, but not before he has handed foreigners millions of our (borrowed from other foreigners) Federal budget dollars to build them elsewhere, like most of the TV industry shamefully does. A wonderful opportunity for American ingenuity and entrepreneurship never offered nor desired by those in the Star Chamber.

Also, no mention anywhere of open-source code being made available for decoding the algorithms nor schematics or parts for constructing the hardware from scratch at home, and if you manage to, some flag-waving lackey having your home raided (remember the persecution of cable-box experimenters in the 80's)?

So, next time you rub elbows with the wretched masses on the lower rungs of society, ask them if they are ready to buy an HD-ready TV, so the tomatoes on the Whopper can glisten in glorious HD detail. God save us all.

[andy]

I just read about an interesting loophole in the digital tuner rule. Apparently, it only applies to things designed to receive over the air TV, not to things designed for cable. That means that all the manufacturer has to do is change the firmware to remove the over the air tuning mode and they can still set the same analog only products. This explains why the new Tivo box can only be used with cable TV and not broadcast TV. They can also remove the tuner entirely if they want.

[compucat]

Originally Posted by Bill R

Maybe we should start capturing all these flaky reception problems and start complaining to the FCC now. Tell them to leave things alone and forget ablut digital. I would be really upset if this kind of reception was a common thing.

Bill R

The FCC does not care about us (unless you run an illegal transmitter). This is all about money making for special interests like telecom companies. They could take a dozen UHF channels to give to first responders and leave the rest alone. Maybe a few TV stations would have to move down the dial - no big deal. This forced digital switchover is not necessary. Analog NTSC is good enough, especially with satellite or cable. The government is trying to justify this electronic eminent domain spectrum grab by saying we'll get better TV. I have yet to see any real benefit.

[compucat]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

Yeah, she got me on that one, I've been "punk'd." Still, it is sad that we live in a world to where we think that something like this would be true.

You can have our guns and our gold Mr. president but you're not getting my round tube color TV.

[Pete Deksnis]

A new television set bought starting today (now including small sets) must include the ability to receive an ota Digital-TV signal along with the Analog.

Other reports indicate that politicians are beginning to sweat their jobs if February 17, 2009 comes along and millions get pissed in a rocky transition... with talk of even giving converters to needy people, er, voters.

[andy]

I just did a little looking on some manufacturer's web sites. Sony doesn't even make a TV under 27" any more and no VCRs. Panasonic's only CRT TV is a 20" DVD combo. Toshiba (Orion) does actually offer a 14" TV/DVD combo with ATSC tuner. It will be interesting to see what happens with portable TVs. This will probably be the end of B/W TVs.

[site123a]

Its bad that Sony stopped making TVs under 27", there the only brand around that still makes a TV thats made to last. See “Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America” if you don't believe me.

[compucat]

I went to Circuit City's web site and they only offer three portable TVs: a 5" black and white, a Casio handheld and a Curtis 7" flat LCD set. None were listed as having ATSC tuners in them.

When are the ATSC portables coming out?

[Bill R]

Well the FCC doesn't care about us, but I would bet the politicians would. Well they would if there were enough of us to offset the money. It would be intersting to see what would happen if this was made into a big election issue.

Bill R.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by andy

I just did a little looking on some manufacturer's web sites. Sony doesn't even make a TV under 27" any more and no VCRs. Panasonic's only CRT TV is a 20" DVD combo. Toshiba (Orion) does actually offer a 14" TV/DVD combo with ATSC tuner. It will be interesting to see what happens with portable TVs. This will probably be the end of B/W TVs.

There's also Samsung.