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70 Comments
- kovac9478, on 06/06/2009, -0/+26When im watching murder she wrote in my recliner snacking on some werthers original, i often wonder if all the stuff in the harriet carter catalog really works. luckily, i can pick up my phone and rotary dial up the library to find out if they have a book on the subject. im seriously considering term life insurance, even though im over 45 and a smoker, there is no medical exam so i figure it is a safe bet. new york life is long established company i can trust. its a good thing too, because if i were to fall and die, my children wouldnt know what to do about the final expenses. lucky for me though, i have life alert. i use to worry about tripping on my shoelaces, but i took care of that with dr scholls velcro. my feet are of constant concern to me, as i have diabetes. thank god people like mickey rooney are there, bless his soul. my television was built in america and has served me well. with its massive 17" screen and fine wooden cabinet, it accents my living room. did i mention its color? thats right, full color. i made it through korea and vietnam, i sure as hell can make it through this blasted witchcraft called digital.
- coheedcollapse, on 06/06/2009, -2/+24In other news: Jumps forward in mediums render old hardware obsolete.
Surprising? No. I can't play a DVD in a VCR, I can't play a Blu-Ray in a DVD player, I can't cram a CD-ROM into my floppy disc drive.
Acting like the digital switch is all horrible because your old hardware is rendered obsolete is ridiculous. We've been given like three years warning to upgrade and make sure that crap is working. - FTWmovin2canada, on 06/06/2009, -0/+17"Warning Signs That You're in Cable Trouble:
...have you tuned into a cable TV station recently and noticed a message announcing that it's no longer available?"
Brilliant. - Ahnteis, on 06/06/2009, -0/+13Of course all these boxes and converters wouldn't be necessary if they'd just skip the added encryption. We could just use new TVs with digital capability instead of requiring a decryption box/cable card.
- Voide, on 06/06/2009, -2/+15They added a reply feature on Digg awhile ago. Should check it out
- edcrosay, on 06/06/2009, -0/+12No, it's not. I just creates a mess. Replying keeps everything nice and tidy.
I had to scroll up like crazy just to see what you were replying to, as I had everything expanded. If you did it correctly it would cause no confusion and your comment would probably get read more and not buried. - MarkyBear, on 06/06/2009, -0/+11People still pay for cable when digital programming is free over the air and internet? What a waste of $$$.
- Tenareth, on 06/06/2009, -1/+12Just another reason to not watch TV from a fixed feed.
- addakorn, on 06/06/2009, -1/+12Free over the air? You mean like when TV first started? Is that not what commercials are for?
- coheedcollapse, on 06/06/2009, -1/+11Yeah, because a great reason to not push forward in technology and free up large amounts of over-the-air bandwidth is because people want to be able to SEE the emergency broadcast instead of just listening to it.
A radio has always been sufficient for me in emergency situations. If it's really important that you see your emergency broadcasts I'm sure you can splurge on a handheld TV with a digital receiver in it. - Technopundit, on 06/06/2009, -3/+12Antenna all the way. Internet for anything additional. I will not be screwed over by Coxucker Cable!
- coheedcollapse, on 06/06/2009, -0/+9Like a portable TV that gets over-the-air digital? You know that after the transition you can still pick up signals over the air, right?
You know, like these?
http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/Portable_Digital_TVs.ht ...
Also I'm nearly positive that the emergency broadcasts will still go out over analog in situations where it is needed. - diemunkiesdie, on 06/06/2009, -0/+8They already have portable TVs with digital tuners in them. Don't be confused just because they are not flatscreen. And when the hurricane hit this year, I listened to the radio all damn day. I got plenty of vital information, sure I had to listen for longer, but it's not like I was doing much else.
Also, you are commenting on the wrong article. This is about a switch that cable companies are doing, not the switch the government is doing. - raptor87, on 06/06/2009, -0/+8My TV has a QAM tuner and i can get several HD channels from my cable company without a box I just had to scan for them.
- raydeen, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7Yep, Comcast started dropping channels a few months ago. We lost Cartoon Network, AMC, two of the local PBS channels and probably some others that I don't pay attention to. I'm strongly considering moving to one of the satellite companies (or FIOS - already use that for internet) as I can get all the channels Comcast offers at a much lower price. And I'm not worried about drop-outs due to weather as Comrap often lost it's signal to several channels when the weather got bad. It's no better than satellite in that area.
- timdorr, on 06/06/2009, -0/+7This is the best comment I've read in a while.
Ironically, this comment complimenting his is content-less, and therefore one of the worst comments in a while. - diemunkiesdie, on 06/06/2009, -0/+6Is Comcast's digital transport adapter just a QAM tuner? I sure hope so, because I already have a QAM tuner in my PC.
- darkened, on 06/06/2009, -1/+7FUD.
- publiclurker, on 06/06/2009, -0/+6Actually, you can cram a CD-ROM into an old floppy disk drive. I used to work tech support.
- Philbert, on 06/06/2009, -0/+5I haven't seen any of this on FiOS. I assume FiOS is all digital already anyway.
- XenophobicAlien, on 06/06/2009, -0/+5Asswipe
- blankman, on 06/06/2009, -1/+5I don't know why everyone thinks digital tv is better. In my experience it completely sucks. I get less channels (but more variations of the same channels like pbs), there's a delay switching from channel to channel, and the channels just drop out if someone walks through the room. It just is so clunky, it doesn't seem worth it to me. The old analog signal was fast, easy, and you could watch the channel even if the signal sucked because it was just a little static-y.
I really hope after the 12th all the channels increase the power of their signals a lot. - diggduggjoe, on 06/06/2009, -0/+4This is more about forcing you to rent a box more than anything. I use analog cable for it, for now, offers all I wish. I do not watch a lot of TV, so I do not wish to have to rent a box for every room in my home. Each TV comes standard with analog cable support for free.
When they force digital on me and subsequently put my hacked Series 1 Tivo to sleep, I will drop cable all together. All the stuff I watch is a few sitcoms and PBS. I can get that once they go digital and the signals can go full power. The new Tivos support over the air digital, so I will upgrade then.
Screw the cable monopolies. If, we had true free markets for cable in each community the prices would drop without any governmental decree.
- Nothlit, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3PBS is broadcast over-the-air.
- bdbr, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3The worst part of all this is, these boxes usually aren't some new and better technology. Comcast sells it as digital==better, but when I tried a digital converter from Comcast, it was just a different kind of bad picture (overcompressed digital==bad, too).
Plus, it breaks any sort of time-shifting technology when they encrypt it (which they usually do with the channels that aren't free over the air). The whole point, it seems, is to charge customers for things they wouldn't otherwise need, like a DVR that must be rented from the cable company instead of just purchasing something generic (like VCRs were).
It was a good day when I cancelled my service with Comcast. FIOS still has those damned boxes, but the picture truly is better. - diggduggjoe, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3I fully agree with the goal being to force rental fees on equipment. They force me and I am pulling the plug. I spend so much time online, who needs cable, unless it is for data.
- XenophobicAlien, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3So do I
- Wolfghost, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3addakorn,
Technically correct. Broadcast was free, TV was not. Have you ever heard of coin operated TVs? They didn't start disappearing until the 1960s. And they was as inconvenient as they sound. - Y0tsuya, on 06/06/2009, -0/+3Here in the SF Bay Area, Comcast encrypts almost all their QAMs channels. Standard tuners can't decrypt it.
- coheedcollapse, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2That I can agree with. I was mislead by the title of the article and the first few comments. I instantly assumed that this was all a complaint about the digital transition and not what the idiot cable companies are doing to screw you over during it.
- adam2112, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2"Some 67 percent of Time Warner's customers are already are subscribing to digital packages"
When the other 33% (like me) start using Hulu, they can be happy that they are at 100% - Koushiro, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2Apparently never heard of a radio...
- davidjunit, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2It better just be QAM! There's not one damn reason to NEED a set top box to receive a digital broadcast on any TV that can browse QAM unless the cable provider needs to rip you off. In the Nashville area we used to be able to watch our neighbors' Pay-Per-View sessions over QAM but I guess Comcast finally caught wind of it and encrypted that. Other than that we already have all local channels and many other channels available on QAM in HD so hopefully they'll just go that route so no box is necessary for those with digital tuners.
- lurrker, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2SiliconDust "HD Homerun" FTW, if that's the case. I forgot I had one!
- douggmc, on 06/06/2009, -3/+5What an informative article ... if it was about 2002. This is old news.
- bytor4232fb, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2Old article is old. I've known about this for years, but its not a "sweeping" implementation. Not every cable company is cutting off the analog signal. Most of the rural areas have nothing to worry about, most of these changes are being made in the more urban cable companies. Comcast has turned off most of their analog signals already, my old man canceled his cable subscription because of the transition years ago, and that was just Flint.
On a side note, every day I'm thankful I'm on Charter. From another article:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/165545-3/how_the_un ...
> Charter: Charter will offer an analog simulcast of broadcast stations. According to the company,
> some regions have migrated to the digital tier, but as yet it has no plans to go all-digital systemwide.
> Charter says that it's treating the digital migration as a gradual process. A spokesperson notes that
> only a handful of channels have gone from analog to digital in expanded basic, but eventually all of
> them will migrate. "We have tried not to make any sweeping changes for our customers," the
> spokesperson says.
There is really no reason to cut off the analog signal to their more rural customer base. There is nothing to be gained, whatever services they can offer after such a transition is fairly negligible. They have a hard enough time getting their customers to pay for premium channels and higher speed broadband, let alone any additional services they think they could get away with. - OLTP, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2My parents don't have cable, but they've always been happy with their analog selection from the 2 nearest major cities. However, once analog is dropped, they will no longer be able to get any free TV, because the digital just doesn't go the distance. This is seldom mentioned in articles likes these. I love progress, so long as you're not losing anything in the process.
- portnoy, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2I'm seriously considering dropping cable tv (Comcast) in favor of getting digital tvs and downloading non 'over-the-air' programming over the net. I don't watch many shows anyway, I'd probably save money by getting them from iTunes.
- ohreilly, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2Here in "we've had digital terrestrial television since 1998" land, there are quite a few portable (7 inches downward) digital TVs.
I don't think their battery life is outstanding, but neither were the analogue ones of days gone by. - Pardis, on 06/06/2009, -1/+3Nice but the problem is, even if you have a new digital tv, the cable co's are going to make you get a digital box to decrypt the signal. And that box will come with an extra charge each month on top of the already high cost of cable. I just wish the cable co's would let you pick what channels you want, I only watch a few shows. Tis why I turned off my tv portion of cable and just have internet. Get the shows i want from iTunes
- diggduggjoe, on 06/06/2009, -0/+2I would check on that. Even pre-transition, low power, levels, I get DTV better than I ever received analog with the basic antenna I have. It depends, but the digital is either there or not. I could always get the audio (FM) great, but the analog video just wouldn't cut it without a directional antenna and a booster. If, you can get line of site, go with a high antenna, you may be surprised.
- bsonline, on 06/15/2009, -0/+1I had cable and internet through Charter. I can't get anything else due to where I live, for either service. Unless I cut down some trees...
I turned off the cable tv, left the internet on. Although I can still watch cable tv in the bedroom, I use tpb and media extenders for anything worth watching. - coheedcollapse, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1Raptor, I did the same thing. It's a tradeoff in the end though. You have to choose between On-Demand services and just straight cable. I had straight HD cable in my living room and On-Demand in my bedroom. Still sucked I had to choose.
- Maddoktor2, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1After switching over to converter and digital antenna setup, we now receive 30 channels instead of 9.
2 Access HD converters (one for each TV) and the Lava digital antenna cost $120 on eBay brand new in box from reputable sellers with eBay Stores.
It was a one-time expense that paid for itself over the first 2 months.
'Nuff said. - bdbr, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1You enjoy your QUBO and ION, I'll enjoy Discovery, Science, Smithsonian, History, BBC, and HD movies. Each to his/her own.
- FyberOptic, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1Yeah I already know Charter is trying to screw us. They've removed many channels, and claim it's because of the digital switch. In reality, it's because they know they can make more money by doing it. For one, you can pack more digital channels into the same analog spectrum, so every time they remove an old analog station, they can add up to half a dozen or so into the digital tier. They also know that some people will switch to digital in order to keep getting certain channels that they removed from analog.
So it's really just a con job. There's no reason why every channel we always got can't still come through analog cable. They're just trying to trick the public into thinking that the digital switch is causing this, which is completely dishonest. I would know, because this is the exact ***** line they told me when I complained to them about it. When I told them that I know that's *****, and spent forever getting bounced between employee to employee who barely knew what the digital switch was, I eventually got to an employee at the company who admitted the part about fitting more channels into the same bandwidth. But they tossed in a "for the customer's benefit" line to make it sound as if it's something I want, when I don't even want digital cable.
Worse yet, despite removing our channels, every few months they've been raising our bill again, too.
So ***** you, Charter..! You've been doing it to us for years. - inactive, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1Cable companies trying to screw Tivo? No, it's unthinkable.
- stonebear, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1How's that clapper working out for you?
- publiclurker, on 06/06/2009, -0/+1You can get all the emergency information you need from a radio. Not only that, but the battery life is a lot better. You wouldn't happen to be one of those losers that called 911 to complain that the hurricanes knocked out cable and they couldn't watch Opera are you?
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