"Ol' Duffer" bravely wrote to "All" (22 Nov 05 19:53:40)
--- on the heady topic of " HDTV freq. allocations, converter box
availability info?"

OD From: Ol' Duffer
OD Xref: core-easynews sci.electronics.repair:349386

OD In article .com,
OD says...
I for one am not happy the government is shoving this new television
standard down our throats. There was nothing wrong with our present
television broadcasting system that has worked so well for 60 years.

OD As often happens with new technologies, I fear that it will be used
OD to make things more profitable rather than higher quality. More
OD specifically, the digital standard is capable of very high resolution,
OD but I bet a lot of broadcasters will instead use it for multiple
OD channels of poor quality.

OD But there are technical advantages, like much more efficient spectrum
OD use letting broadcasters replace a roomfull of power-hungry class A
OD klystrons with an efficient solid state box not much bigger than a
OD microwave oven that covers the same square miles.


And there are disadvantages. For example, dx'ing will become near to
impossible. Many of a station's audience lives out in rural areas
without cable. A digital system is all or nothing without anything
inbetween. In a rural setting a little snow in an analog signal isn't
a big problem. However, a picture full of frozen squares or a blue
screen is going to be a bitch to watch. No more tv for those folks.
Satellite doesn't work so great in the fog or rain either.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... First Church of Binary Science (The Digitarians)