Originally Posted By mawnck >>Still, I was stating that the commercials say they are making it a law because it's better, which is a ridiculous reason. Now, if they said, "This is being made a law because it will save millions of watts of electricity per day which will reduce our dependence on foreign oil" that would send more of a message. But to simply say it's better??......<< Welllll, you have to remember that they have only 30 seconds in those ads. It's more important to tell people what is going to happen and what they need to do about when. Convincing them it's a good thing is secondary, since it's a done deal. Err ... WAS a done deal ...
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Well, Lost is not all I'm interested in. I really like Food Network (and it's my daughter's favorite channel) and TV land (basic, very basic remember), but they are my analog channels. I like that show Big Bang Theory, and The Mentalist too. I just don't watch a whole lot of TV other than TV Land because I think most current TV is junk, and I'm not into reality TV. I don't know what is going to happen to my cable at this point. Comcast hasn't given me any indication that there will be a change. Right now I pay $14.00/month.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Comcast hasn't given me any indication that there will be a change.<< You might be safe then. For now. Might be.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Hey, this is totally OT, but has anyone seen the "crush center" at the top of this page? Apparently two of my friends from SF have a crush on me. WTH is this all about?
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Hey, this is totally OT, but has anyone seen the "crush center" at the top of this page? Apparently two of my friends from SF have a crush on me. WTH is this all about? >>> I would wager that by clicking on the ad and entering your credit card information, you'd be able to find out!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney ^^^No thanks! Yesterday I got an e-mail from Chevron saying I won $500,000!!! As much as I'd love to win that much money, I'm not that gullible!
Originally Posted By mawnck The absolutely final unchangeable immovable set-in-stone transition date of February 17 is about to become June 12. <a href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/162261-Rockefeller_Fast_Tracks_DTV_Bill.php" target="_blank">http://www.broadcastingcable.c...Bill.php</a> There is no such thing as "too cynical."
Originally Posted By mawnck And now it's passed the Senate. <a href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/162780-Senate_Agrees_To_Move_DTV_Transition_Date.php" target="_blank">http://www.broadcastingcable.c...Date.php</a> Before you relax too much, please note that the bill probably will not FORCE stations to continue in analog, since that would be a major financial hardship for some of them. That means that quite a few stations are going to shut off the analog anyway, creating even more mass confusion than if they'd just gone ahead and done it on the original date.
Originally Posted By mawnck Good news ... Joe the Plumber is on the case! <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/25/joe-the-plumber-now-cutti_n_146392.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...392.html</a>
Originally Posted By mele Oh holy hannah! A SERIES of videos?! And he tells people how to get their goverment vouchers? Oh my god, my head is exploding.
Originally Posted By avromark Don't complain my digital TV bill is over a hundred a month. My Internet is over 80 plus some *slight* over bandwidth charges. We're throttled Bell calls it "optimizing" (to slower than dial up speeds during peak usage hours on my slingbox) The CRTC (my FCC) is siding with Bell. If you think your DTV is a mess, just wait until we do the switch over Why can't our system be like Japans?
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I've been watching DTV ever since I bought a DVD/VCR with a built-in digital tuner. The thing I love is now I get NHK World, the Japanese public broadcast.
Originally Posted By mawnck <a href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/video/DTV_VIDEOS/1000-Spike_Feresten_Takes_On_the_DTV_Delay.php" target="_blank">http://www.broadcastingcable.c...elay.php</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck The transition delay just got voted down in the House. The transition day remains at February 17th. No doubt another bill will be introduced any second now, but the clock is ticking.
Originally Posted By mawnck The revised version of the delay bill has passed the Senate and is on the way to the House, with the vote probably being Tuesday, with no 2/3 majority requirement this time. However, if you haven't hooked up that converter box yet, you still better get a move on: "At our monthly SBE luncheon in Sacramento Tuesday, we coincidentally had a presentation by a representative from the FCC. He said that he had been given no direction to back away from the Feb. 17 date. In view of the unanticipated extra costs of running an analog transmitter (and all associated support equipment) four extra months, broadcasters in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles are leaning toward shutting down as originally scheduled. None have budgeted for the significant extra cost. Legally, they are covered, having given viewers much more than 30 days notice of their intent to shut down on the 17th." "If those markets go all digital on the 17th, I'd imagine just about everybody else well." <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15698667#post15698667" target="_blank">http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb...15698667</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry That's interesting. At least the first version of the bill the Senate passed allowed stations to "voluntarily" shut down the analog signal if they so chose. I suspect that clause was put in there just as a face-saving gesture to those that would complain about the significant cost that's already been incurred to prep for the Feb 17 transition, but with the expectation that few stations would elect to do so. After all, the supposed reason was that too many members of the general public were not ready, not that certain broadcasters were not ready. That being the case, allowing voluntary decommissioning of the analog signal on Feb 17 anyway makes no sense: the members of the public that are not ready yet still would lose their signal to those stations that stuck to Feb 17 - the fact that it was a voluntary action on the station's part as opposed to government mandate would make no difference to those people. And, if the broadcasters in a particular market decided together to stick to Feb 17, then the whole thing is mute anyway. It's been interesting to see how this whole thing has unfolded.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I see it as just another damn excuse to allow people to act irresponsibly and then blame someone else for their troubles. This has been in the works for a long time. Warning after warning after warning has been issued. If the people that they claim will be affected aren't prepared, to bad. Bet they will take care of it soon once the signal is lost. I also wonder how much TV they watch. If they watch it a lot they would have known about the change over. One cannot possibly, coincidentally be going for a beer every time that announcement is made. If changes are made in other fields without "consumers" needing governmental protection, why this? Did anyone get a rebate because they owned a beta player or an eight track tape player or a TV that couldn't process HD? Absolute necessities of life...OK! Food, shelter and so on. TV, I think people can survive without for the time it takes to correct the problem. If they cannot afford it then they have to wait until they can, just like with anything else in life.
