Free Republic

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a system that prevents channel switching? Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it. The pending patent, published on March 30, said the feature would be implemented on a program-by-program basis. Devices that could carry the...

Anyone have any experience with the LG LST-3410A unit? I have an old Replay and a Samsung OTA HDTV receiver which are basically incompatible. Any thoughts or experience would be appreciated. I love the OTA HDTV, ( on a Sony pfm42b2 plasma display) which up converts as necessary to 1080i 16x9 format. Off-air HD is amazing, and almost as good as the satellite based HD I get from a motorola 4DTV (c-band) dish and the HDD200 add on unit. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Jamie Kellner, chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., argued that if personal video recorders like TiVo Inc.'s and SONICblue Inc.'s ReplayTV are going to allow viewers to zap commercials, consumers should pay for the privilege -- as much as $250 per year. At a dinner with AOL Time Warner executives and the media Sunday in New Orleans -- gathered there for the National Show -- Kellner said he worries that PVRs that will eventually be installed in set-top boxes threaten to destroy commercial TV, which, he argued, is already a fragile business. He cited a new analyst report...