Congress Urged to Postpone Nation's Switch to Digital TV

Washington Post ^ | Thursday, January 8, 2009 | Kim Hart

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

The new digital stuff no doubt has built-in ‘Nielson Rating’ tracking cookie systems built in. Big Brother Boob Tubes.

To paraphrase an old hamburger chain ad,

Wheeeeeere’s the privacy?

[DevNet]

Only if they sell them at a loss. The BOM for a converter is around 9 - 11 dollars.

[DevNet]

It doesn’t. It has not transmitter or Ethernet connection to transmit the data even if it did collect it.

[KarlInOhio]

The new digital stuff no doubt has built-in ‘Nielson Rating’ tracking cookie systems built in. Big Brother Boob Tubes.

Does your tin foil hat pick up HD? The converter box receives the digital TV signal over the air, converts it to analog and sends it to the TV. How does that transmit anything to the FCC van sitting in your driveway?

[Pantera]

Hell, we have $700 billons plus another $1 trillion coming. Just buy everyone that can’t afford it a new HDTV. Why not? That’s what the majority of voters want isn’t it?

[ravingnutter]

According to the website, coupons are already gone...they are putting people on a waiting list with ones who have no access to DTV or satellite on any TV as a priority. Local cost here in Texas is $49.99 without a coupon, $9.99 with.

[The Electrician]

the consumer advocacy group said Congress should push back the transition "until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals."

Of course such a plan has been in place for more than a year. Such a silly statement does not inspire confidence in Consumers Union.

But then, get a load of the following quote from a clueless Consumers Union executive praising the choice of Tom Daschle as Sec'y of Health and Human Services:

DeAnn Friedholm, Consumers Union’s campaign director for health care reform, made the following statement today in response to news reports that Tom Daschle had been chosen by President-elect Obama to serve as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services: “Tom Daschle has been a leader on health care policy for a long time. Someone with his stature and clout, combined with his passion and expertise in health care, is an exciting choice. It’s a good sign that the Obama administration is serious about addressing the nation’s health care crisis.”

So, my conclusion is that Consumers Union is now fully- and irrevocably-committed to making silly public statements...

[We Dare Defend Our Rights]

I thought Hussein Obama spoke to us thru the air, not needing a TV signal.

No problem that a hug from “The One” won't solve

[KarlInOhio]

Only if they sell them at a loss. The BOM for a converter is around 9 - 11 dollars.

BOM? That's fancy eeeelectronics talk.

BOM = bill of materials = parts list, for those who don't know.

[usconservative]

I bet there will be quite a few people who will wake up on February 17 and not understand why their TV's can't pick up a signal.

Those would be Obama voters.

Here's a thought: maybe ... just maybe once they can no longer get their daily fix of propaganda from the boob tube they may actually wise up.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

[NoLibZone]

"Congress allocated $1.34 billion to provide coupons to help offset the price."

We paid 1.34 Billion. Those watching TV all day and waiting for their welfare checks don't have to worry about our nations infrastructure being updated.

[Big_Monkey]

". I bet there will be quite a few people who will wake up on February 17 and not understand why their TV's can't pick up a signal."

And, once again, we will be reminded how many Americans are complete morons.

[ravingnutter]

Oops, meant people who don’t have cable or satellite will be a priority...sorry, rough morning.

[Oratam]

In NYC, the local Fox affiliate performed the test during a 7:30 rerun of Seinfeld! I assume that means it's their highest rated program.

(Imagine "rainbow" test pattern and a nasal female voice repeating endlessly "This is a test of the digital signal scheduled to take effect on . . ." as the same words scroll down the screen. Awful. I thought it would last no more than a minute or two. It took up the whole 30 minute time slot!)

[Sig Sauer P220]

I urge them to postpone the switch over to Obama too. But that aint gonna happen.

[snarkpup]

Does anyone have any experience with how well the new digital format works in areas where analog reception is marginal? I.e., if my analog signal contains enough snow and multipath ghosting to be objectionable, will the new digital format clean this up or reduce the picture to pixellated garbage?

[The Electrician]

Critical thinking skills will not be tolerated under the Obama regime.

Expect your post to be placed into your dossier (um, I mean, your 'permanent record') so that it can be used as evidence against you...

[TankerKC]

...it will probably drop to $20 after all the coupons are gone.

True.

[Paleo Conservative]

I cursed the day that Monday Night Football got switched to ESPN. A sad day that a common man and his son couldn’t watch unless they had satellite or cable.

I like it, because ESPN has an HDTV signal that I can receive on cable; whereas, there is no HDTV signal on my cable system for NFL games broadcast on Fox or NBC. There's a reason why the transistion was scheduled for February 17. It's after the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, and NBA allstar game. After the digital transition, my local stations will switch to HDTV, and it will be possible to receive sports broadcasts from local stations both over the air and on cable in HDTV.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I purchased an RCA converter for the one TV we own (in our camper) and use during the Summer.
I hooked it up properly and set the unit to discover digital channels. It got bupkis. Not one. And I have a very nice roof top style antenna (with UHF element) on a 30 foot mast. So it can't be lack of exposure to signal.

I seriously doubt anyone with a "rabbit ears" set top antenna will fare any better unless they are in close proximity to the stations they want to watch.