U.S. DTV Transition Not Going Very Well

[mrcoaster]

Personally, I don't see how people could not know this is going to happen. It's been all over the news for the last several years and for the better part of the last year tickers and commercials have been on TV explaining the switch over.

Partly, I'm astonished anyone but a very small percentage still recieves OTA signals, but I digress.

Personally, I think those of use awatiing, wanting and loving the digital revolution should just leave the luddites behind.

Well, more people would know about it if they slipped it in the daily reports about Angelina Jolie's 20 kids, Britney's latest crisis, etc.

I've been aware of it forever, but the average Joe Sixpack barely knows how to turn on his television. Being aware of any tech-related stuff is not going to be on his priority list.

I know it might be a bit cruel, but I think the broadcast world should all collaborate on a practical joke and start running a broadcast about the strange objects descending from the sky around the world and wondering about hostile intentions. Then they should say that they'll stay on the air as long as they can to get reports on what the situation is with these objects and possible aliens. Then the analog switch gets flipped to digital and suddenly they get nothing.

Hilarity ensues.

 

[Scout101]

^Nice, I like it. The same folks that somehow "haven't heard" are the very same folks that would be jumping up and down to believe that report. Can we slip the Weekly World News' Bat Boy into this somehow? I love that cute little tyke!

They've been running scolling "get ready for dtv" text across prime time tv shows for months, so if they missed it, they probably weren't watching tv in the first place

 

[Alpha_Geek]

If they extend the deadline (again, it's been done before... the original analog cut-off date was to be 2006. See this for some details) it will mean that every station currently ready for he transition will continue to have to run 2 transmitters, making ends hard to meet for what are often small business employing less than 100 workers.

In the current business environment...at least here at my bottom end of the TV market station, the employees need that money as we've had hours cut, overtime eliminated and comp-time required instead (meaning work simply doesn't get finished).

Way to help the working class there, Mr President elect.

 

[Tomato]

Guys this should be a good thing. More spectrum = more cell phone companies. More companies = more competition. More competition = lower prices.

Not really, in any of those points. More spectrum means existing companies buying it up - it doesn't necessarily follow that more companies will come into existence as a result. Nor does that mean lower prices, as there are already several lawsuits in existence over collusion and price-fixing amongst the cell providers - they're already overcharging for the bandwidth they provide and their costs incurred (did you know that transporting text messages is virtually free for cell companies, as it moves over the carrier that is sent out anyway that maintains the connectivity with your phone? Yet they are getting a pretty penny for all those messages that cost them nothing to send).

The lack of companies is an issue with the FCC and not designating newer companies get them. Without spectrum the chance of any competition is zero. At least with a spectrum auction there is a chance. And if it is currently uncompetitive than the FCC should take steps to make it competitive with the spectrum.

Phuleze.. With the txt messages. Do you know the capex involved in rolling out a cellphone network. Stacking it with call centre people, giving away cell phone subsidies, training the engineering teams. True it cost nothing for txt messages but how do the txt messages get sent?? Well it is all the freaking expensive equipment that carriers need to pay for and upgrade their system.

In Canada the switch to GSM in equipment is going to cost us at least a billion dollars. Who is going to pay for that?? Or should companies just give everything away because after they dump billions of dollars in equipment it cost them close to nothing to maintain their networks.???

This is all going to be at the corner of Cluster & F*** very soon; I'd suggest not standing there. The only people for whom this is actually a "good thing" in the short (2-5 years) term are the cellphone companies and the television manufacturers. So, yeah, it's all about money, not progress.

As mentioned in previous post people will benefit too from cheaper cell phone bills if the FCC does their thing right. In the Cdn we don't have a Metro PCS where you can have unlimited calling just because there isn't enought competition. Hopefully the AWS auction opening up we will begin to see some competitive price rates.

 

[Sakrysta]

Boy, does all this make me glad I watch all my current TV shows via the internet. Hooray for streaming video sites!

 

[NCC1701MF]

I do have cable for my main TV. However, I do have a TV in the bedroom that is not connected to cable. The over the air signal in my area (NJ in line of sight of the Empire State Building) is great. The DTV information websites assure you that if you have a good OTA signal there will be no problem. Well I have a DTV converter connected to the roof antenna and while it "finds" about 23 stations, NONE of them are watchable. I either have a pixilated picture or the BSOD.

 

[John Picard]

I do have cable for my main TV. However, I do have a TV in the bedroom that is not connected to cable. The over the air signal in my area (NJ in line of sight of the Empire State Building) is great. The DTV information websites assure you that if you have a good OTA signal there will be no problem. Well I have a DTV converter connected to the roof antenna and while it "finds" about 23 stations, NONE of them are watchable. I either have a pixilated picture or the BSOD.

But, according to Babaganoosh, this is PROGRESS!!!111!!!

 

[Scout101]

then again, if he's already got cabel in one room, he can just wire the other with a splitter...

 

[John Picard]

then again, if he's already got cabel in one room, he can just wire the other with a splitter...

Nothing like stealing cable from yourself

 

[RobertVA]

then again, if he's already got cabel in one room, he can just wire the other with a splitter...

Some people have these pesky people like landlords that won't let you drill holes in the walls or don't have attics or crawl spaces to run the cables through.

 

[Jim Steele]

I do have cable for my main TV. However, I do have a TV in the bedroom that is not connected to cable. The over the air signal in my area (NJ in line of sight of the Empire State Building) is great. The DTV information websites assure you that if you have a good OTA signal there will be no problem. Well I have a DTV converter connected to the roof antenna and while it "finds" about 23 stations, NONE of them are watchable. I either have a pixilated picture or the BSOD.

But, according to Babaganoosh, this is PROGRESS!!!111!!!

Close the internet. One guy can't get connected, that means the global comms revolution must be bogus.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I do have cable for my main TV. However, I do have a TV in the bedroom that is not connected to cable. The over the air signal in my area (NJ in line of sight of the Empire State Building) is great. The DTV information websites assure you that if you have a good OTA signal there will be no problem. Well I have a DTV converter connected to the roof antenna and while it "finds" about 23 stations, NONE of them are watchable. I either have a pixilated picture or the BSOD.

But, according to Babaganoosh, this is PROGRESS!!!111!!!

Close the internet. One guy can't get connected, that means the global comms revolution must be bogus.

I could understand technical reasons for why it's not progress, like broadcasters compress the shit out of the signal so it's much worse than analogue picture quality, but then that's only true so long as you get a fantastic signal in the first place... or the all or nothing means that in severe weather and cases of emergency you may no longer receive anything, so no emergency broadcasts...
But arguing you can't get a good signal now, on the low power pre-switch over signal which will be boosted after switch over, isn't a good reason for it not being progress.

 

[Lindley]

It's only television. Not exactly a vital service. Just push the switch and then clean up any resulting mess later, I say.

 

[Scout101]

then again, if he's already got cabel in one room, he can just wire the other with a splitter...

Nothing like stealing cable from yourself

It's not stealing cable, provided that you're paying for service in the first place. 1 TV, 2 tvs, it's really all about the same to the cable company. Doesn't cost anything extra, and you've paid for the service, you'll have to run the part by me where it becomes stealing something you pay for?

then again, if he's already got cabel in one room, he can just wire the other with a splitter...

Some people have these pesky people like landlords that won't let you drill holes in the walls or don't have attics or crawl spaces to run the cables through.

On the other hand, I suspect very few landlords would have a problem if you were doing upgrades to the value of their property, provided you ask in advance. Especially if you paid the cable company to run it themselves. Not rocket science, it's about a $3 splitter and $5 worth of RG-6 cable, so... And the landlord now has an easier-to-rent property, as it's now been updated and is cable-ready in the bedroom (which can also be used for a cable modem).

As for the 'no attic or basement to run cable in' argument, I went through the same thing when I lived in an apartment. In the first one, the cables were just run along the bottom of the hallway wall, tucked under the rug. Not pretty, but could have bought the cheap cable hiders to string along with it to dress it up. In my second apartment (same complex), i caught them as they were redoing the rugs, and when I asked if I could do it, they laid the cable under the new rugs, and wired up both bedrooms at their own expense.

Flimsy excuses to avoid a very cheap and easy fix. Then again, this IS the internet...

 

[Spot's Meow]

^I dunno, I don't think it's that common that the landlord would let you do that stuff. Our landlord said no to that, but later said that if we really wanted to we could find a way to get cable into the bedrooms but we had to decide all that with the cable company. But the cable company refused to do it because they would not crawl into our little attic area (they said it was too much of a safety hazard). They also said that due to the layout they didn't think they could do it anyway. I suppose we could run wires through the rest of the apartment, but the way that it's set up makes that really unfeasible. So I think that living in an apartment often times IS an excuse for not being able to get cable anywhere but your living room.

 

[Kail]

Personally, I don't see how people could not know this is going to happen. It's been all over the news for the last several years and for the better part of the last year tickers and commercials have been on TV explaining the switch over.

I agree. Anyone who watches even a little TV should have seen this coming for a long time. The airwaves have been SATURATED with this deadline for over a year.

 

[jkladis]

We all know they've seen it. But let's face it, Americans are sloooow at adapting to something new. We love being gelatinous and resistant to change. While ancient cultures are attached to more primitive traditions, Americans attach themselves to their previous modern era innovations. We changed the world in a few decades with TV. A little more than 10 years to shake it up is not that bad.

It's both a blessing and a curse. We're slow. Otherwise, all our cities would look like Tokyo.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I do have cable for my main TV. However, I do have a TV in the bedroom that is not connected to cable. The over the air signal in my area (NJ in line of sight of the Empire State Building) is great. The DTV information websites assure you that if you have a good OTA signal there will be no problem. Well I have a DTV converter connected to the roof antenna and while it "finds" about 23 stations, NONE of them are watchable. I either have a pixilated picture or the BSOD.

But, according to Babaganoosh, this is PROGRESS!!!111!!!

Ah, yes, talking about somebody behind their back, how open-minded we all are!

 

[John Picard]

I do have cable for my main TV. However, I do have a TV in the bedroom that is not connected to cable. The over the air signal in my area (NJ in line of sight of the Empire State Building) is great. The DTV information websites assure you that if you have a good OTA signal there will be no problem. Well I have a DTV converter connected to the roof antenna and while it "finds" about 23 stations, NONE of them are watchable. I either have a pixilated picture or the BSOD.

But, according to Babaganoosh, this is PROGRESS!!!111!!!

Ah, yes, talking about somebody behind their back, how open-minded we all are!

It's an open forum, so I'm not talking behind your back

It's like a discussion here a while back about locks. "Oh gee, get with it. Electronic locks are TEH FUTURE!!! They are soooooooooooooo much betterer than keys. Who uses keys? " Yeah, until there's a power failure, software issue or something else. Sometimes, tried and true technology can't be beat (ie. the standard transmission versus the automatic transmission).

Anyway, I like the fact that the spectrum will be opened up for broadband Internet. It's just a shame it didn't happen 8 years ago, now that I'm moving from the sticks

 

[Tom]

It's only television. Not exactly a vital service. Just push the switch and then clean up any resulting mess later, I say.

I tend to agree, Pushing it off another year does nothing, in January of 2010 we will be here talking about the same thing, how people are not ready and they should push it off even another year (2011), and the cycle goes on and on.. Get it done already, maybe it will wake some people up to see WTF is actually going on in the world vs. keeping your head in the sand.

I do like someones idea here of switching it over but also leaving the analog on for a month or so with just the same infomercials (no other programing) only to show what you have to do to watch tv etc.. So at least people will be informed vs. thinking theres a nuclear war or something and it knocked there tv channels out. LOL