22 replies to this topic

[YoKenny]

Quote

Tips for the Transition to Digital TV

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Do you need a new antenna for the transition to digital TV?
Here are a few tips:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...isrc=newsletter

[Icedrake]

Direct TV here, and there's commercials saying DirectTV is 100% digital so you don't need anything. No prob for me.

[davey]

YoKenny, on May 20 2008, 01:50 PM, said:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...isrc=newsletter

That article was brief but the last sentence is important for all do-it-yourself TV viewers.
davey

[larry39]

If you have cable or satellite TV, you will not need a converter box or antenna.

If you receive over the air TV signals, you will need a converter box. If you are in a strong signal area, an indoor antenna (rabbit ears) will do.
If you are in a weak signal area, you will need an outside antenna.
If you are in a very weak signal area, you may also need a rotor and/or pre-amp

[1984]

how about if you get your tv from your phone line.....

[Corona]

That's digital. Shouldn't be a problem.

[TwistedMetal]

Actually, DirectTV or any satellite signal is not 100% digital. But, it won't effect anything.

[YoKenny]

Quote

Wilmington Verdict Is In
At least, the verdict is in from the perspective of the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC released details today about how prepared viewers in Wilmington, N.C., really were for Monday's switch to digital programming.

Wilmington was the first market in the country to through the digital transition as a trial run so the agency could get a better understanding of how to make the process go smoothly when every other market makes the switch in February.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/...ml?nav=rss_blog

[Corona]

Nobody registers their boats in Wilmington NC. They do it in Wilmington DE.

Oh, and TV stinks.

[Andavari]

Corona, on Sep 11 2008, 12:44 PM, said:

Oh, and TV stinks.

With all the ad's they show every few minutes that can't be more than true, which is why I use my DVD recorder to record the shows I like so I can skip by all the commercials which I'd think people paying for TV would pay for in droves (so why all the commercials). I mostly use my TV for video games now, and very rarely do I watch something as it's being aired.

Years ago some news channel stated the government was supposedly going to put a limit on the amount of commercials shown, still waiting for that though and wish it would become true however I know that's wishful thinking.

[Talldog9]

One of my million dollar ideas is a small cheap device that automatically detects when a commercial is on and mutes the audio until the show's back on. It could use several methods to do this including detecting rating information which is not usually sent during ads. It would be configurable and have a USB connection to your computer to download 'rules' for detecting ads. The software for it would be written in some cross platform language for compatibility.

I was also the first to think up ice cubes that were gel contained in plastic, so your drink would never be watered down and it would only need to be rinsed and frozen again.

[Andavari]

Talldog9, on Sep 11 2008, 05:25 PM, said:

One of my million dollar ideas is a small cheap device that automatically detects when a commercial is on and mutes the audio until the show's back on.

There's already devices from the 1990's that would pause a VCR during commercials, the resume it when the show started. Now there's Tivo which I thought about, but I'll be damned if I pay for some device then have to pay a monthly subscription to use it.

Editing out the commercials to encode to Xvid/DivX isn't difficult at all, I use DVD Shrink to do it, then I encode what I want to keep, then finally merge all the separate AVI's with AVI-Mux GUI - but it is rather time consuming editing out the commercials.

[Talldog9]

I don't see why some other company won't just create a tivo alternative that just costs a one time fee. Sony or something.

[rridgely]

There are tons of DVRs around. I have one that came for "free" from direct tv.
It does most of the same stuff tivo does and it doesn't cost a monthly fee apart from the tv bill(but there is no tacked on fee for it.). I dont watch tv too much anyway though but when I do, I deffinitely don't see commercials.

[Talldog9]

Ah ok, I never really looked.

[Andavari]

rridgely, on Sep 12 2008, 10:25 PM, said:

There are tons of DVRs around. I have one that came for "free" from direct tv.

DVRs are cool and all, but if I'd use one there'd have to be some sort of support integration with Windows in order for me to keep the programming I want.

When everything goes digital my Sony DVD Recorder just may not work anymore with the signal.

[Winapp2.ini]

My local TSC (The School Channel) just went digital.

I use Interactive Optimum (IO Digital TV) so no problems for me :›

[Andavari]

The only digital "TV" I've got at the moment is encoding stuff on my PC with Xvid, then it's all 0's and 1's.

Wait I do have HD because my analog cable TV connection sure is Horribly Degraded.

[YoKenny]

Some say "To REALLY foul things up requires a computer" but get lawyers and politicians involved and they can do a better job

Quote

Lawmakers See Challenges for TV Transition

By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

In the next five months, federal officials preparing Americans for the conversion to digital television have to clear up reception glitches, sort out problems with hooking up converter boxes and find a way to make sure coupons for those converters get to the viewers who need them.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...isrc=newsletter

[Andavari]

YoKenny, on Sep 17 2008, 07:59 AM, said:

Some say "To REALLY foul things up requires a computer" but get lawyers and politicians involved and they can do a better job http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...isrc=newsletter

True. They've had several years though to make the transition as smooth as possible, however when they tested it out in a whole town they had issues. They should've been installing the infrastructure years ago since the law makers made it the law one would think they would've made an attempt at a better much earlier years ago head start.