Digital OTA transition Delayed to June 12

[DonK]

Ok is it me or is the idea that the digital transition needs to be moved back to June 12 really STUPID?!?

I think the administration needs to get a grip. They're using the excuse that about 5ish million people will be caught without tuners when the switchover happens....

To that I say: SO FREAKIN' WHAT! They've been tooting about this transition for YEARS and the last year has been nothing but total inundation from the media about the switchover, and yet the small percentage of the population who are either a) too stupid to comprehend that they just have to buy a small box and their tv will work fine or b) too damn cheap to get a digital tuner box or a newer TV, or c) so grossly misinformed because they haven't bothered to pay attention to the media when it's being drilled out constantly: "Hey.... If you are using an antenna for OTA tv, then buy a tuner box, if you're on cable or sattelite, you're FINE and don't NEED to buy one."

I hate some of those commercials that scare people by saying "your tv will become useless" when the switch happens... grrrr when they just have to say: "Due to the change to digital TV, your TV signal is being transmitted in a way your analog tuner on your tv doesn't understand. So instead of throwing away your tv, buy a digital tuner that can understand these transmissions, plug it into your tv and enjoy a nice clean picture!"

HOW FREAKIN HARD IS THAT?!?

And the excuse (yes, I said EXCUSE) that the "poor and elderly" are going to be left out, all I can say is: You've had several YEARS to save up the 50 bucks to buy a tuner. If you're out of work, maybe you should go find a J-O-B instead of plopped on your butt watching TV?? Ya think?

As for the elderly, well... uhhhh I don't know about you, but I look out for my elderly relatives, and one would *think* that one of Grandma's children would make sure Grandma won't miss her episodes of Matlock when the switchover occurs by springing for a box for her.

IMHO, this whole delay is nothing more than the Democrats pandering to their constituents at the expense of the stations, who are all geared up and ready to go. They are spending thousands of dollars a month on electricity to run both analog and digital, yet no one seems to care about that! I hope a lot of stations switch over on the scheduled date and thumb their nose at Congress and Obama, because then the switchover will get those 5 million or so people off their la-z-boys and out to the stores to buy a tuner. Until people are FORCED to do it, you'll always have those stragglers.

[Nick Burns]

We're still a GO for February, the delay bill died in the House. See this thread for further discussions

[DonK]

Check the news again, they fasttracked it second time around and it passed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29003127...5829?GT1=40000

[Nick Burns]

Originally Posted by DonK

Check the news again, they fasttracked it second time around and it passed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29003127...5829?GT1=40000

Ah... no I hadn't checked the recent update on it. Thanks!

Bummer.

But as it's been said before, if they ain't ready now, they ain't going to be ready in June.

EDIT: Ha! NBC Nightly News is reporting on it right now.

[gambitpvr]

I totally agree that the delay is stupid. However, on the plus side, the new deadline is not a new dead drop date like the last bill had. It says that stations have until June to make the switch. Stations can switch on the orginal Feb date, if they want or anytime between the original date and the June date.... and we all know what type of confusion that's going to cause !

Of course, when the June date comes, someone will want to delay it again and again and again for the same reasons. Hopefully, sanity will prevail and stations will just go ahead and make the switch this month.

[redlion4]

Political stupidity, plain and simple. For those that have not prepared by now, 4-5 more months makes no difference at all...

[DonK]

And for those who *haven't* prepared, 4-5 more months won't make a difference either, they won't get off their ass and do anything about it until they turn on the tv and only get static or a public service announcement screen saying analog transmissions have been terminated.

[enigma9o7]

Agree agree agree. It's been delayed too many times already, just turn off analog broadcasts already.

I think one of the main confusions that people still have is people calling it a switchover or changeover. NO ITS NOT. Most stations have been broadcasting digitally in addition to analog for years, and certainly are by now, so they're not all of a sudden switching from analog to digital... they're just shutting off the analog.

So it sounds like the new version means stations are allowed to shut off analog after Feb 12 (or whatever date it was), they just aren't required to until June. Argh, but whatever. I just want the analog to go away cuz my tv is retarded and doesn't let me remove analog channels from its lineup... so if I'm watching live tv on the tv using channel up/down on the remote I have to flip thru all the analogs that I dont need between the digital versions.
(This doesn't effect BTV, however, as I've only ever recorded digital w/BTV ever since v3.8 a few years ago - hell thats the reason I bought it, long before I had an actual HDTV, but even if I set up the analog tuner I could remove those stations from my lineup if desired).

[lsilvest]

A lot of stations are going to shut down the analog on the 17th anyway citing the expense of delay. Essentially that makes it worse and just adds to the confusion - which also escaped the geniuses in Washington.

I wouldn't care since it really doesn't affect me in any way, except our local NBC affiliate is so ludicrous with their announcements about the change. They interrupt almost every show (on the digital channel no less) with wide, gaudy pillarboxes and a thick banner at the bottom ("if you're watching this using an antennae your picture will go dead on February 17, 2009"). They claim the announcements are mandated by the FCC which isn't really surprising. You'd think somewhere along the line common sense might prevail. Then again, the term SNAFU has government(military) origins.

[lsilvest]

This transition just gets better all the time:

Read this

[ZetaVu]

Oh god no, we can't live without TV! For christs sake, there was a time when most households did not have tvs, and the world continued to rotate. I still know people who don't have tv sets, and they don't curl up and die. There is absolutely no reason why anyone who wants to end analog transmissions shouldn't be able to do it. If someone who absolutely needs television hasn't acted by now then they deserve a few months of static. And its not a matter of people getting news, there are things called radios, which honestly the people who I know that actually needed the converter boxes I picked up (yes, I kept one for my old projection tv, the other three were given away) really didn't watch the tv much, but usually had the radio on most of the time.

I think the government is really catering to the laziest of the lazy. Sure, a lot of people may have been unaware of the conversion, but those people do not live and breath television, many of them won't care. The ones who live and breathe television and did not do anything about it, well they have no excuse. The were aware a long time ago and just didn't bother to act. Why the hell should we drop everything just to cater to the lazy? Make a plan, do as good a job as you can executing it, then flip the switch.

Regarding converter availability, the only place that sold out was Walmart because those boxes were $10 after coupon, everyone else had plenty of boxes (usually $20 after coupon) and they were also available mail order. I can understand wanting to save an extra $10, but really, in the grand scheme of things, there's no reason someone who got a coupon shouldn't have been able to use it before it expired.

[TomXP411]

Oh god no, we can't live without TV

You're forgetting that TV and radio are primarily a public service. As far as the government is concerned, TV and radio aren't there to make money. They exist for the primary purpose of communicating with the country. In times of emergency, broadcasters are the primary means of communicating emergency information to the public.

The wildfires that came through Southern CA in 2003 burned down my parents' house and 2 homes that I'd previously lived in. (I was living out of town at the time.) During the 2007 fires, We were evacuated, and our only source of news was a portable radio and my little 2" portable TV.

The next fire season, that little TV won't work. Quite frankly, I'm a little... no, I'm a LOT bothered by that. I'm going to get a converter to keep in the motor home, but we'll have to run the generator to use it. A battery powered tv is a lot more useful in those situations.

Originally Posted by ZetaVu

but really, in the grand scheme of things, there's no reason someone who got a coupon shouldn't have been able to use it before it expired.

Really? When I got my coupons, there were no boxes on the shelf anywhere. It wasn't a matter of saving $10. I literally could not buy one at any price.

Now that they're everywhere, my coupons have long since expired. I'm still going to get a converter, but I'm a little ticked that I've got to spend the extra money.

[Nick Burns]

Originally Posted by TomXP411

You're forgetting that TV and radio are primarily a public service. As far as the government is concerned, TV and radio aren't there to make money. They exist for the primary purpose of communicating with the country. In times of emergency, broadcasters are the primary means of communicating emergency information to the public.

The wildfires that came through Southern CA in 2003 burned down my parents' house and 2 homes that I'd previously lived in. (I was living out of town at the time.) During the 2007 fires, We were evacuated, and our only source of news was a portable radio and my little 2" portable TV.

The next fire season, that little TV won't work. Quite frankly, I'm a little... no, I'm a LOT bothered by that. I'm going to get a converter to keep in the motor home, but we'll have to run the generator to use it. A battery powered tv is a lot more useful in those situations.

Until portable TV's with digital tuners become common, I can see that being an issue, however, isn't the "old" bandwidth going to be used for emergency services? Would they not just broadcast on that bandwidth to those with portable TVs? Just wondering.

[ZetaVu]

I can see your point Tom, however I've never relied on small tvs for emergencies, always went with the radio for that. If you couldn't find boxes anywhere when you had coupons then yes, that was a problem. I saw them at every store but Walmart.

According to this faq there is supposed to be at least one converter that has a battery pack, and there are new battery tvs that are digital http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html#faq18. The FAW also talks about low power tv stations not limitted by the date, and that radioes are still around for emergency broadcasts. Tv stations on radios will stop working. From what I see they won't be saving any analog channels for emergency purposes, you'd think they'd keep at least one frequency for emergencies only.

[TomXP411]

Hmm.... I'll have to see if any of the converter boxes have an external DC converter. If that's the case, I can rig an adapter easy enough. (I use a portable 12v pack to do a lot of things. Rigging up a converter box to my portable DVD player would be child's play.)

Of course, I could also pick up a cheap USB stick tuner and throw it in the laptop bag. In fact, I may pick up the new Eee with the 9 hour battery for just this kind of thing.