You know, if we the people would quit electing the same people over and over, maybe then we could get some change that really meant something. They will not limit their own terms, so we should do it for them.
Everett
2008 GMC Duramax-Allison Extended Cab Dually Locking 3:73 rear end
Line-x bedliner Pullrite hitch hidden very nicely under Retrax Bed Cover---2008 Nu Wa DA 339RSB
I'll be the odd man out here, and say that I hold no hard feelings against our elected leaders for the digital change. The technology used for our television broadcasts was becoming severely outdated, being based on the state-of-the-art technology of the early 1950s. The new digital technology carries much more information in less bandwidth, and the frequencies that analog TV will vacate are needed for VHF radio and other uses that these VHF frequencies are more suited for than for TV broadcasts. And I get many more digital broadcast channels on the HDTV in our TT than I ever got on analog.
The pixelating of a weak digital signal can be annoying, as we're accustomed to being able to watch even weak analog video signals with a lot of "snow" and static, but with good enough sound reception to allow us to follow the show. Alas, the older we get, the harder it is for us to accept change, and I guess that's one of the few things that won't ever change.
I can understand your frustration at being a full-timer and not being able to get coupons for converter boxes, but just like any government program, rules and parameters had to be set someplace by someone, and unfortunately, this is not going to wind up being in the best interests of everyone.
Change is often difficult and seldom pleasant, but the change to digital TV was due. It's been put off nearly a decade already, and sooner or later, we have to "bite the bullet" and get on with the changeover. My son has witnessed the same digital tsunami in the avionics industry. Every new aircraft instrument or radio produced in recent history has actually been designed by, and around, a digital computer, and "glass cockpits" have replaced the dozens of mechanical dials and guages which once filled aircraft instrument panels to capacity. Some of our analog TV broadcast equipment is or soon will be so obsolete that obtaining parts for it will be nearly impossible except through a "black market" or eBay. When was the last time YOU saw, or needed, or went to the electronics store to buy, a replacement vacuum tube? It's hard, it's going to be aggravating for some of us, merely frustrating for others, but the change to digital TV must be made. Let's get it over with so we can gripe about something else!
2003 GMC Sierra Crew HD; 6.0L; Prodigy
2006 Thor Tundra 30RL-DSL; Reese Strait-Line & Dual-cam HP
2001 Honda Elite Scooter
Jim & Gayle Bryant
Murphy's Law: "Anything that CAN happen, WILL."
Bryant's Law: "31 years of RVing? Probably already HAS."
RV'ers are probably the smallest minority in the US, and FT's probably a generous 1/2% of those. Rather than complain about this that is guaranteed to get you nowhere, find someone that can't use their coupons or is on cable and can apply for you and call it a day. Just like RV'ers in general and DirecTV or Dish, we are nothing more than a minor irritation.
PS- Campercajun: I'm with you 100%.
* This post was
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JUrban wrote: Yeah, it's a bummer, but don't blame those who are administering the program, blame those idiots in Congress who in their all knowing wisdom passed the law. As long as the program impresses the masses and earns them a few extra votes, they blunder on. Common sense and fairness have nothing to do with it. The only way to solve this is at the ballot box.
John
Now THAT is worth repeating! It is exactly what I thought.
Yeah! But which one of the idiots running do you think even gives a rat's behind!
* This post was
edited 08/01/08 07:34am by an administrator/moderator *
Jerry, Dottie & Chan, "the little furry one"
98 Bounder 34V, 99 F-53 Ford V10 chassis
06 Saturn VUE 4I
campercajun wrote: I'll be the odd man out here, and say that I hold no hard feelings against our elected leaders for the digital change.
Poorly planned, poorly implemented, poorly thought out, poorly funded. Thats the best descritption I can come up with.
Many people in severe storm areas, like Florida, rely on small battery powered TV's to get news and information during power outages. No devices exist to do this via digital. Perhaps keeping 1 station analog in each city might have helped?
This whole coupon thing is beyond silly. They wrote the specs for what features can be on a converter that we can buy with the coupon. For example a converter that has any sort of digital output can not be bought with a coupon. So when your analog TV dies, throw your converter away. Great plan. Why not allow digital output so I can use it with a HD monitor? No one planed for a whole house unit? So my under cabinet LCD tv in the kitchen is just trash now, since I have no place to wire up this freaking converter box?
Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here.
----------------
2007 National Surf Side 34DE. Full timing since 1/06/08
2007 Toyota Matrix Da Toad
campercajun wrote: I'll be the odd man out here, and say that I hold no hard feelings against our elected leaders for the digital change. The technology used for our television broadcasts was becoming severely outdated, being based on the state-of-the-art technology of the early 1950s. The new digital technology carries much more information in less bandwidth, and the frequencies that analog TV will vacate are needed for VHF radio and other uses that these VHF frequencies are more suited for than for TV broadcasts. And I get many more digital broadcast channels on the HDTV in our TT than I ever got on analog.
The pixelating of a weak digital signal can be annoying, as we're accustomed to being able to watch even weak analog video signals with a lot of "snow" and static, but with good enough sound reception to allow us to follow the show. Alas, the older we get, the harder it is for us to accept change, and I guess that's one of the few things that won't ever change.
I can understand your frustration at being a full-timer and not being able to get coupons for converter boxes, but just like any government program, rules and parameters had to be set someplace by someone, and unfortunately, this is not going to wind up being in the best interests of everyone.
Change is often difficult and seldom pleasant, but the change to digital TV was due. It's been put off nearly a decade already, and sooner or later, we have to "bite the bullet" and get on with the changeover. My son has witnessed the same digital tsunami in the avionics industry. Every new aircraft instrument or radio produced in recent history has actually been designed by, and around, a digital computer, and "glass cockpits" have replaced the dozens of mechanical dials and guages which once filled aircraft instrument panels to capacity. Some of our analog TV broadcast equipment is or soon will be so obsolete that obtaining parts for it will be nearly impossible except through a "black market" or eBay. When was the last time YOU saw, or needed, or went to the electronics store to buy, a replacement vacuum tube? It's hard, it's going to be aggravating for some of us, merely frustrating for others, but the change to digital TV must be made. Let's get it over with so we can gripe about something else!
Not against the digital change, but rather the discriminatory manner in which government is doing it.
First off, let me say that I'm only addressing apr67's post because it mentions some specific complaints. The issues are wider that that though and apply to many, many complaints about these converters.
apr67 wrote: So when your analog TV dies, throw your converter away.
Most reasonable people would conclude that if your analog TV dies you'd replace it with a new one. And all of the new TVs being sold are required have digital tuners in them already (although some places are scamming people by selling TVs that don't have them!). Why would you want to keep the external digital tuner for that TV at that point anyway? Seems pretty redundant...
Quote: Why not allow digital output so I can use it with a HD monitor?
Because the purpose of the program was not to provide you with HDTV???
Quote: No one planed for a whole house unit?
Who would invest the $$ in desighing one and how many would get purchased? A whole house system would require a broadband conversion system. You'd have to convert the entire spectrum from digital to analog or else everyone in the house would be forced to watch one channel at a time. The jump to a single channel HDTV tuner will bump your cost to over $150 as it is. Who would by a $1,000 whole house tuner knowing that as they replace their TVs the things owuld be useless to them?
Quote: So my under cabinet LCD tv in the kitchen is just trash now, since I have no place to wire up this freaking converter box?
If you have a coax or composite cable feeding to it right now then you have your option. All of the digital converter boxes in teh program have coax and composite outputs. You can mount the converter box anywhere you'd like and run a cable from it to anywhere else in the house.
IMO, most of the kvetching about these boxes is that people want/expect them to provide them with a complete home theater system and that was never the intention of the program. The boxes do exactly what they were intended to do.
No, they don't provide you with HDTV.
No, they don't have multiple tuners built in.
No, they aren't designed to provide you with 7.1 surround sound.
No, they don't come in 57 decora colors so you can match the paint in each room you install them in.
But yes, they DO convert the ATSC signal to NTSC so you can use your old TV during the transition. The entire puropose of the program was to ensure people could continue with what they have. It is not to provide them with additional "wants" at taxpayer expense.
I do see the original complaint here as valid though. There isn't any reason someone shouldn't be able to get the coupons just because they live in an RV. The lack of 12v options is a good complaint too. I may have to come up with a little project to figure out how to convert some of these things to run on 12v.
* This post was
edited 08/01/08 08:41am by JimInMA *
Most reasonable people would conclude that if your analog TV dies you'd replace it with a new one. And all of the new TVs being sold are required have digital tuners in them already (although some places are scamming people by selling TVs that don't have them!). Why would you want to keep the external digital tuner for that TV at that point anyway? Seems pretty redundant...
Seems pretty wasteful.
Quote: Because the purpose of the program was not to provide you with HDTV???
Seems pretty wasteful. If I elect to spend $100 of my bucks and use the coupon to make it $140 what difference would it make to the program?
Quote:
Who would invest the $$ in desighing one and how many would get purchased? A whole house system would require a broadband conversion system. You'd have to convert the entire spectrum from digital to analog or else everyone in the house would be forced to watch one channel at a time. The jump to a single channel HDTV tuner will bump your cost to over $150 as it is. Who would by a $1,000 whole house tuner knowing that as they replace their TVs the things owuld be useless to them?
$1000? Geeze back when cable came out whole house CATV systems were cheap, less than $100. They just took the 100 or so cable channels and rebroadcast them on the existing UHF/VHF bands for those who didn't have cable ready TV's.
Quote: If you have a coax or composite cable feeding to it right now then you have your option. All of the digital converter boxes in teh program have coax and composite outputs. You can mount the converter box anywhere you'd like and run a cable from it to anywhere else in the house.
Its using an antenna if it was on Cable what would I need the box for?
Quote:
But yes, they DO convert the ATSC signal to NTSC so you can use your old TV during the transition. The entire puropose of the program was to ensure people could continue with what they have. It is not to provide them with additional "wants" at taxpayer expense.
This whole program costs the taxpayer nothing, as the huge income that the federal goverment is getting from re-auctioning off these frequencys is a windfall of waste. Taxpayers should be the ones getting all the benenfits as it isn't the Goverments frequencys, its the peoples.
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