Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas. Yea,
i know this first hand. I got my coupon, bought a $60 box for $20 and
the coupon, and while I used to get 7 channels (occasionally two
more), with the converter box, I get PBS. That's it. I can watch Mr.
Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and all the cruddy english garbage
they show, but no local news, no weather reports, no Soaps (that psrt
is OK, I hate soaps)...... I'll just miss the local news and weather
reports, and once and awhile South Park..... Either way, even despite
most of the crappy tv programs, like American Idol, all the Crime
shows, Survivor, and the Springer Show, I will still miss the tv. On
the plus side I will no longer have to climb on the roof to fix my
antenna after a windstorm.....

Of course there is one good thing about 2009, we'll lose BUSH !!!!
A much welcomed loss.......


It looks like 2009 may end up being NEUTRAL. We lose an asshole
president and out tv signals.

Happy New Year

Robert

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas.

Progress. At some point in technological life we have to move on and some
are going to be left behind. You can't buy leaded gas any more either. You
don't have to subscribe to cable, but you do need a digital TV. I don't
know how well that will work in your area compared to a box.

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at all and
not have a clue as to why. They've been talking about it every hour for
months but some will still say "no one told me"

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at all
and not have a clue as to why. They've been talking about it every hour
for months but some will still say "no one told me"

Of course they will. It's inevitable. :-)

Cheri

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at
all and not have a clue as to why. They've been talking about it
every hour for months but some will still say "no one told me"

Of course they will. It's inevitable. :-)

Cheri

For some, that will be true. e.g. those inthe frings areas. ALL the
adds talk about how great it will be, but NONE of them yet have
mentioned, that I see anyway, anything about fringe areas needing to add
better antennas and possibly amplifiers.

Another who gets only PBS on DTV.

On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 15:51:55 -0500, "Twayne"
wrote:

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
...

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at
all and not have a clue as to why. They've been talking about it
every hour for months but some will still say "no one told me"

Of course they will. It's inevitable. :-)

Cheri

For some, that will be true. e.g. those inthe frings areas. ALL the
adds talk about how great it will be, but NONE of them yet have
mentioned, that I see anyway, anything about fringe areas needing to add
better antennas and possibly amplifiers.

Another who gets only PBS on DTV.


I can get CBS, NBC, Fox (and probably ABC and CW after the
transition). I wish that included PBS.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons
worth $40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas,
because the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe
areas.

Progress.

Progress? The reason for the change from analog to digital is money,
nothing more. It allows removal of some VHF and UHF from TV use thereby
enabling those friendly, caring folks in Washington to peddle the freed up
frequencies. The feds get billions...and the manufacturers get to sell new,
"improved" TV sets. Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

dadiOH wrote:

Progress? [...]The feds get billions...and the manufacturers get to sell new,
"improved" TV sets. Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").

yeah, those original round screens are the way to go - who needs
"innovation"?

On Jan 2, 6:40*am, AL wrote:
dadiOH wrote:
Progress? *[...]The feds get billions...and the manufacturers get to sell new,
"improved" TV sets. *Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").

yeah, those original round screens are the way to go - who needs
"innovation"?

Exactly. Just what was wrong with a 6" round screen.

Harry K

"Harry K" wrote in message
...
On Jan 2, 6:40 am, AL wrote:
dadiOH wrote:
Progress? [...]The feds get billions...and the manufacturers get to sell
new,
"improved" TV sets. Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").

yeah, those original round screens are the way to go - who needs
"innovation"?

Exactly. Just what was wrong with a 6" round screen.

************************************************** ***********

And who was the idiot that decided we needed color?

"dadiOH" wrote in message

Progress? The reason for the change from analog to digital is money,
nothing more. It allows removal of some VHF and UHF from TV use thereby
enabling those friendly, caring folks in Washington to peddle the freed up
frequencies. The feds get billions...and the manufacturers get to sell
new, "improved" TV sets. Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").


You can even get color on the TV now. How's the old Zenith working out for
you? Can you still get tubes?

dadiOH wrote:

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Robert wrote:
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals.
[....]
Progress.

Progress? The reason for the change from analog to digital is money,
nothing more. It allows removal of some VHF and UHF from TV use thereby
enabling those friendly, caring folks in Washington to peddle the freed up
frequencies. The feds get billions

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/politics/story/58733.html

$174,000 X 535 senators and representatives = 93090000 dollar laugh...



....and the manufacturers get to sell new,
"improved" TV sets. Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").

using the public's natural desire to covet and crave coupled with
their gluttonous inherent appetite for the newest toys has long
been the means by which industry has been able to keep the cash
flowing into their coffer.

On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 09:05:46 -0500, "dadiOH"
wrote:

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons
worth $40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas,
because the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe
areas.

Progress.

Progress? The reason for the change from analog to digital is money,
nothing more. It allows removal of some VHF and UHF from TV use thereby
enabling those friendly, caring folks in Washington to peddle the freed up
frequencies. The feds get billions...and the manufacturers get to sell new,
"improved" TV sets. Wide screen ones at that (another useless
"innovation").

You hit the nail right on the head with what you said. The govt will
make a killing selling these frequencies to cell phone companies. so
those companies can continue to pollute our youth with their toy
cellphones. If cellphones were only used for business and personal
emergencies, like they were intended, we would nto need more
frequencies.

I dont buy the "Progress" concept at all. In a fringe rural area, I
can get analog signals that may be a bit snowy at times, but I can
still watch them. With digital tv, it's ALL or NOTHING. I can NOT
watch a program when the screen goes blank every few minutes. As far
as picture quality, their ads say how much better it is. To that I
say BULL****. At least not on a standard tv with converter. But
then, I have always been satisfied with a regular tv picture. I am
not trying to get a home theater, I just watch tv. About the only
real improvement in many years was stereo sound.

Like you said, Wide screen is just another useless "innovation". I
personally could care less. And for those who think HDTV is better, I
disagree. I have looked at many of the HDTV sets on the stores, from
the low end cheap ones to the most expensive. For some reason I
always end up watching the cheapest ones referred to as SDTVs. The
ones with the CRT. For some reason those LCD screens give me a
headache, (literally), and I do not care for the picture. It looks
fake. Closeups of faces look like they are made out of plastic.
Nature scenes look a little better, but I still much prefer the CRT
sets.

But like everything, these companies will continue to brainwash
consumers, particularly the youth who have been programmed to NEVER be
satisfied with any consumer product, and always want more. I'm
elderly, I have been watching analog tv on a CRT for many years.
There have been great improvements since the 1950s, and the tv sets
made since the 1990s have been superior. Now we can all go back to
the 50's where we have poor reception. Poor reception, but in wide
screen HDTV color...... Whoopie. I AM NOT IMPRESSED !!!!

Robert

as to the DVD player, I recently saw a blue ray one for 99 bucks.

now DVDs are cheaper to make than videotapes, for new movies etc

so buying a cheap DVD player or DVD VCR combo might be a good move.

or take a DVD and copy to videotape. it breaks copyright rules but
videotapes arent nearly as good picture quality as a DVD

On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 15:32:19 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

or take a DVD and copy to videotape. it breaks copyright rules but
videotapes arent nearly as good picture quality as a DVD

lol

How MANY tapes would that take to accomplish?

wrote in message
...
as to the DVD player, I recently saw a blue ray one for 99 bucks.

now DVDs are cheaper to make than videotapes, for new movies etc

so buying a cheap DVD player or DVD VCR combo might be a good move.

or take a DVD and copy to videotape. it breaks copyright rules but
videotapes arent nearly as good picture quality as a DVD



I do have two DVD VCR combos, but the regular old VCR was just fine, until
they stopped releasing new movies in the VHS format. The DVD's don't wear
well at all, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to return them to
the video store because they're skipping, scratched etc. Once in a great
while you would get a VHS that didn't sound good or something, but not
often, with DVD's it's a crap shoot. I also hate that you can't FF through a
lot of that crap on a DVD, and on some, you can't even FF through the
previews.

Cheri

In article ,
lid (Robert) says...

You hit the nail right on the head with what you said. The govt will
make a killing selling these frequencies to cell phone companies. so
those companies can continue to pollute our youth with their toy
cellphones. If cellphones were only used for business and personal
emergencies, like they were intended, we would nto need more
frequencies.

My local police and fire dispatch are pretty happy that they will be
able to use a dedicated frequency for voice and data communication.
right now they have to share bandwidth with microwave ovens and cordless
phones. The range is limited and there is a boatload of interference.

The old analog TV was a bandwidth waster for sure. It's about time they
shut it down.

--
For email, replace firstnamelastinitial
with my first name and last initial.

Larry Caldwell wrote:
In article ,
lid (Robert) says...

You hit the nail right on the head with what you said. The govt will
make a killing selling these frequencies to cell phone companies. so
those companies can continue to pollute our youth with their toy
cellphones. If cellphones were only used for business and personal
emergencies, like they were intended, we would nto need more
frequencies.

My local police and fire dispatch are pretty happy that they will be
able to use a dedicated frequency for voice and data communication.
right now they have to share bandwidth with microwave ovens and
cordless phones. The range is limited and there is a boatload of
interference.


It's a bitch when emergency responders have a bad string.

Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception,

Good riddance to it.

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:06:11 -0600, Caesar Romano
wrote:


Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception,

Good riddance to it.

I think there's one station around here that won't be affected (it's
low power), but the programming is REALLY crappy.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

In article ,
lid (Mark Lloyd) says...

I think there's one station around here that won't be affected (it's
low power), but the programming is REALLY crappy.

Good point. Low power stations are not required to shift to digital
broadcast.

--
For email, replace firstnamelastinitial
with my first name and last initial.

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:50:31 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:


"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to start
the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our tv
reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh yea,
they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth $40
for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because the
digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas.

Progress. At some point in technological life we have to move on and some
are going to be left behind. You can't buy leaded gas any more either.
You don't have to subscribe to cable, but you do need a digital TV. I
don't know how well that will work in your area compared to a box.

Buying a digital TV should make no difference with the reception part of
it. A 42" flat screen won't get any more stations, although retailers
would like us to believe that they do.

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at all
and not have a clue as to why. They've been talking about it every hour
for months but some will still say "no one told me"

Already, it may be too late to get a coupon in time. Rather than being
open ended, the funding is for a specific dollar amount. When all the
money is out there in the form of redeemable coupons, new applicants have
to wait for coupons to expire, unredeemed.

On Jan 2, 6:46*am, Ann wrote:
On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:50:31 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"Robert" wrote in message
.. .
Welcome to 2009. *The year we lose our TV signals. *What a way to start
the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our tv
reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. *Oh yea,
they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth $40
for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because the
digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas.

Progress. At some point in technological life we have to move on and some
are going to be left behind. *You can't buy leaded gas any more either.

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:36:48 -0800, Harry K wrote:

On Jan 2, 6:46Â*am, Ann wrote:
On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:50:31 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"Robert" wrote in message
.. .
Welcome to 2009. Â*The year we lose our TV signals. Â*What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv.
Â*Oh yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons
worth $40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas,
because the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe
areas.

Progress. At some point in technological life we have to move on and
some are going to be left behind. Â*You can't buy leaded gas any more
either. You don't have to subscribe to cable, but you do need a
digital TV. Â* I don't know how well that will work in your area
compared to a box.

Buying a digital TV should make no difference with the reception part of
it. Â*A 42" flat screen won't get any more stations, although retailers
would like us to believe that they do.

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at
all and not have a clue as to why. Â*They've been talking about it
every hour for months but some will still say Â*"no one told me"

Already, it may be too late to get a coupon in time. Â*Rather than being
open ended, the funding is for a specific dollar amount. Â*When all the
money is out there in the form of redeemable coupons, new applicants
have to wait for coupons to expire, unredeemed.

Well, if someone can't get one whose fault is that. It has been promoted
endlessly for at least 6 months.

Just relating how the coupon thing works ... which I didn't know until
recently. If one is to believe www.dtv2009.gov a coupon ordered today
should be mailed on the 19th of this month. But apparently that's in
doubt.

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:25:39 -0500, Ann wrote:

...
Just relating how the coupon thing works ... which I didn't know until
recently. If one is to believe www.dtv2009.gov a coupon ordered today
should be mailed on the 19th of this month. But apparently that's in
doubt.

https://www.dtv2009.gov/WaitingList.aspx

"The TV Converter Box Coupon Program has reached its funding ceiling.
However, coupon requests from eligible households will be filled on a
first-come-first-served basis as funds become available from expiring
coupons. You will not receive coupons until funds becomes available. If
you would like to apply for a coupon today and are eligible, you will be
placed on a waiting list. ...


Consumers who have an analog TV and rely on a rooftop antenna or rabbit
ears to receive their programs are encouraged to take action to ensure at
least one TV in their home is prepared for the digital television
transition. You may:

* Purchase a TV converter box without a coupon;
* Buy a TV with a digital tuner, or;
* Subscribe to cable, satellite or another pay service."

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas.

Progress. At some point in technological life we have to move on and some
are going to be left behind. You can't buy leaded gas any more either. You
don't have to subscribe to cable, but you do need a digital TV. I don't
know how well that will work in your area compared to a box.

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at all and
not have a clue as to why. They've been talking about it every hour for
months but some will still say "no one told me"


Hi,
Progress has price. Digital signal needs less power. That is nature of
digital technology. Price of flat panel digital TVs came down a lot.
Time to move on. Or erect an antenna with more gain. Also LCD panel TVs
use lot less power compared to old CRT TVs.

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
...

Progress has price. Digital signal needs less power. That is nature of
digital technology. Price of flat panel digital TVs came down a lot.
Time to move on. Or erect an antenna with more gain. Also LCD panel TVs
use lot less power compared to old CRT TVs.

Not according to the article in the paper today. It said:

"Sales of television sets are growing by 4 million a year, the vast majority
of them flat-panels. LCD -- liquid crystal display -- sets use 43% more
electricity, on average, than conventional tube TVs; larger models use
proportionately more. Plasma TVs, which command a relatively small share of
the market, need more than three times as much power as bulky, old-style
sets."

On Jan 2, 6:50*am, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message

...

Welcome to 2009. *The year we lose our TV signals. *What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. *Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas.

Progress. At some point in technological life we have to move on and some
are going to be left behind. *You can't buy leaded gas any more either. *You
don't have to subscribe to cable, but you do need a digital TV. * I don't
know how well that will work in your area compared to a box.

I have to wonder how many people will wake up and not have any TV at all and
not have a clue as to why. *They've been talking about it every hour for
months but some will still say *"no one told me"

I know everyone is digital crazy and I feel the odd one out. But I
find these sets
obnoxious. The compression artifacts and the 'crinklyness' of the
whole thing doesn't allow
me to watch anything. I find I'm looking at the technolgy half the
time. I hope this
is the year the set disappears and it's the show I start watching.
(Football games AAAAhhhh. As the depth of field changes, you just get
sucked right
out of the chair. And the grass. If the camera doesn't move it
pointy, and when it
moves, turns into pea soup. And a law should be passed. No closeups
closer than
two or three heads. And damn it!, quit moving the camera all the damn
time)
There. I feel better.

On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:46:11 -0600, Robert wrote:

Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to start
the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our tv
reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. ...

What cable TV? (Nor is the southern horizon accessible from my house.)
But, except for those who don't have winter, we aren't going to know
for sure how this will play out until the trees have leafed out this
spring.

The one possibility is that "white space" (TV Band) devices will work out
and be reasonably priced. That way we would be able to download at least
some TV programs. I'm not holding my breath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Spaces_Coalition

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas. Yea,
i know this first hand. I got my coupon, bought a $60 box for $20 and
the coupon, and while I used to get 7 channels (occasionally two
more), with the converter box, I get PBS. That's it. I can watch Mr.
Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and all the cruddy english garbage
they show, but no local news, no weather reports, no Soaps (that psrt
is OK, I hate soaps)...... I'll just miss the local news and weather
reports, and once and awhile South Park..... Either way, even despite
most of the crappy tv programs, like American Idol, all the Crime
shows, Survivor, and the Springer Show, I will still miss the tv. On
the plus side I will no longer have to climb on the roof to fix my
antenna after a windstorm.....

Of course there is one good thing about 2009, we'll lose BUSH !!!!
A much welcomed loss.......


It looks like 2009 may end up being NEUTRAL. We lose an asshole
president and out tv signals.

Happy New Year

Robert

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who will
have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed line.
This can be costly if professionally installed.

JohnR66 wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas. Yea,
i know this first hand. I got my coupon, bought a $60 box for $20 and
the coupon, and while I used to get 7 channels (occasionally two
more), with the converter box, I get PBS. That's it. I can watch Mr.
Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and all the cruddy english garbage
they show, but no local news, no weather reports, no Soaps (that psrt
is OK, I hate soaps)...... I'll just miss the local news and weather
reports, and once and awhile South Park..... Either way, even despite
most of the crappy tv programs, like American Idol, all the Crime
shows, Survivor, and the Springer Show, I will still miss the tv. On
the plus side I will no longer have to climb on the roof to fix my
antenna after a windstorm.....

Of course there is one good thing about 2009, we'll lose BUSH !!!!
A much welcomed loss.......


It looks like 2009 may end up being NEUTRAL. We lose an asshole
president and out tv signals.

Happy New Year

Robert

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who will
have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed line.
This can be costly if professionally installed.


My house resembles that second remark. :^(

I have satt, so it isn't urgent. But my satt local package doesn't carry
ALL the locals, and doesn't carry the secondary channels they are adding
with digital. Plus, knowing Murphy was an optimist, I always try to have
a backup for everything. Don't really wanna spring for a rotator, which
I would need to get all the signals in this fringe area, so trying to
devise a spot to put the mast where I can just reach out the window,
loosen a thumbscrew, and rotate the mast by hand, for the very
occasional times I need to point the other direction.

--
aem sends...

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who
will have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed
line. This can be costly if professionally installed.


My house resembles that second remark. :^(

I have satt, so it isn't urgent. But my satt local package doesn't carry
ALL the locals, and doesn't carry the secondary channels they are adding
with digital. Plus, knowing Murphy was an optimist, I always try to have a
backup for everything. Don't really wanna spring for a rotator, which I
would need to get all the signals in this fringe area, so trying to devise
a spot to put the mast where I can just reach out the window, loosen a
thumbscrew, and rotate the mast by hand, for the very occasional times I
need to point the other direction.

--
aem sends...

In this case, add a second antenna pointing in the direction of the other
signal. mix the signals at an inline amp.

JohnR66 wrote:

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who will
have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed line.
This can be costly if professionally installed.

Andy writes

I think you are incorrect....

In my area, stations have been broadcasting digital signals together
with the old analog signals for over a year.,

I have one of the free $40 digital converter boxes, so I can watch
either the
old analog signal or the new digital signal, as I choose....

The digital signals have a better picture quality, although I am
using
only an old standard definition color set.

Each analog channel, in addition to the analog signal has an
additional
three digital channels,.... so I get three times the number of
channels without
any detrimental effect.....

For instance, the old channel 12 analog is now 12.1 , 12.2 and
12.3 and
separate programs are transmitted on each.

When the analog signals are ended, each channel
will be able to broadcast FIVE digital standard definition channels,
or 2 or 3
high definition channels (I forget which). The choice of programming
is , of course, up to the station, but in all cases it will be the
same or
better, or more numerous....... a business decision.

So, with NO loss of quality, and with no change in the antenna,
after
February 17th , using my $40 decoder box (which the government
paid for and I got it for free, as can anyone) I will have more
channels,
a better picture, and additional features, since the decoder boxes
have
"guide", "signal strength" and a bunch of other built-in features
that the
old analog system doesn't have...

The only requirement is that I plug in a cheap , free, converter
box OR
buy a new TV......

Don't worry about antennae ---- if you get a decent signal now, you
will get
a better signal in the future, since the digital processing is more
efficient
than the analog.

If you get a really bad signal now, you will still get a really bad
signal, which
might not be able to be processed........ But the customer really
needed a
fix for that anyway, and maybe a higher, or larger, or rotatable
antenna
will help....Maybe not.... but there won't be any change in their
need.....

NONE of my above discussion applies to cable, or satellite
signals.
They do not change at all....

By the way, this stuff has been advertised and talked about for
the last
three years. Someone would have to be in a coma not to know about
it.
I got my first FREE digital TV converter box about a year or so
ago....
THAT has been advertised for a year and a half, and they started
accepting
applications for the free coupon in january 2008.

If one googles " D T V converter box " they can learn all about
it.


Andy in Eureka, Texas

PS I now have several converter boxes, which I have compared, and I
like the RCA one very much. I do not like the Magnavox one
very
much.....

On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 06:02:03 -0800 (PST), Andy wrote:



JohnR66 wrote:

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who will
have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed line.
This can be costly if professionally installed.

Andy writes

I think you are incorrect....

In my area, stations have been broadcasting digital signals together
with the old analog signals for over a year.,

That leads to a point that nobody else has mentioned. When they pull the plug
on the analog side, many stations will dramatically up their digital power.
Broadcasting at reduced power on digital is mainly an economic move. A high
power station can run a power bill just for the transmitter of $20k a month or
more (that's about what Ch11/Atlanta ran when I moonlighted there in the 80s).
Running high powered digital with not much audience just didn't make sense.
Once the analog financial burden is gone and everyone is moved to digital, it
makes sense to go full power.

A call to the stations that one is interested in will quickly elicit whether
they're currently at reduced power or not.

John
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com -- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
What do you call a blonde's cranial cavity? Vacuum chamber?

On Jan 2, 7:05�pm, Neon John wrote:
On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 06:02:03 -0800 (PST), Andy wrote:

JohnR66 wrote:

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who will
have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed line.
This can be costly if professionally installed.

Andy writes

�I think you �are incorrect....

�In my area, stations have been broadcasting digital signals together
with the old analog signals for over a year.,

That leads to a point that nobody else has mentioned. �When they pull the plug
on the analog side, many stations will dramatically up their digital power.

"Andy" wrote in message
...


JohnR66 wrote:

I suspect the only people who really should be ****ed are the ones who
already had a good quality, high mounted antenna and are having trouble
getting the signal. This should be very rare. Second are the people who
will
have to upgrade their antenna, get a higher mast and upgraded feed line.
This can be costly if professionally installed.

Andy writes

I think you are incorrect....

In my area, stations have been broadcasting digital signals together
with the old analog signals for over a year.,

I have one of the free $40 digital converter boxes, so I can watch
either the
old analog signal or the new digital signal, as I choose....

The digital signals have a better picture quality, although I am
using
only an old standard definition color set.

Each analog channel, in addition to the analog signal has an
additional
three digital channels,.... so I get three times the number of
channels without
any detrimental effect.....

For instance, the old channel 12 analog is now 12.1 , 12.2 and
12.3 and
separate programs are transmitted on each.

When the analog signals are ended, each channel
will be able to broadcast FIVE digital standard definition channels,
or 2 or 3
high definition channels (I forget which). The choice of programming
is , of course, up to the station, but in all cases it will be the
same or
better, or more numerous....... a business decision.

So, with NO loss of quality, and with no change in the antenna,
after
February 17th , using my $40 decoder box (which the government
paid for and I got it for free, as can anyone) I will have more
channels,
a better picture, and additional features, since the decoder boxes
have
"guide", "signal strength" and a bunch of other built-in features
that the
old analog system doesn't have...

The only requirement is that I plug in a cheap , free, converter
box OR
buy a new TV......

Don't worry about antennae ---- if you get a decent signal now, you
will get
a better signal in the future, since the digital processing is more
efficient
than the analog.

If you get a really bad signal now, you will still get a really bad
signal, which
might not be able to be processed........ But the customer really
needed a
fix for that anyway, and maybe a higher, or larger, or rotatable
antenna
will help....Maybe not.... but there won't be any change in their
need.....

NONE of my above discussion applies to cable, or satellite
signals.
They do not change at all....

By the way, this stuff has been advertised and talked about for
the last
three years. Someone would have to be in a coma not to know about
it.
I got my first FREE digital TV converter box about a year or so
ago....
THAT has been advertised for a year and a half, and they started
accepting
applications for the free coupon in january 2008.

If one googles " D T V converter box " they can learn all about
it.


Andy in Eureka, Texas

PS I now have several converter boxes, which I have compared, and I
like the RCA one very much. I do not like the Magnavox one
very
much.....

Why incorrect?
I understand about the clear picture and more channels. I have a convertor
on my old TV since Spring and get the extra all the sub channels.
My point was people who live in the country 40 plus miles from the city may
have an issue picking up some of the channels without investing in a high
performance antenna system.

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas. Yea,
i know this first hand. I got my coupon, bought a $60 box for $20 and
the coupon, and while I used to get 7 channels (occasionally two
more), with the converter box, I get PBS. That's it. I can watch Mr.
Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and all the cruddy english garbage
they show, but no local news, no weather reports, no Soaps (that psrt
is OK, I hate soaps)...... I'll just miss the local news and weather
reports, and once and awhile South Park..... Either way, even despite
most of the crappy tv programs, like American Idol, all the Crime
shows, Survivor, and the Springer Show, I will still miss the tv. On
the plus side I will no longer have to climb on the roof to fix my
antenna after a windstorm.....

Of course there is one good thing about 2009, we'll lose BUSH !!!!
A much welcomed loss.......


It looks like 2009 may end up being NEUTRAL. We lose an asshole
president and out tv signals.

Happy New Year

Robert

What's the big ****ing deal? Get a dish. Move. Get cable. Throw away
that piece of **** antiquated television and get another one. Learn to
read. Buy a DVD player. Quit watching so much tube and do something else.

As to Bush, at least give this purple lipped big eared cocksucking
non-citizen of the US liberal a year to give away even more of your money
than Bush could ever do, and then comment. Bush at least kept the oil
flowing with all that money. Big Ears is going to give it to every lazy
mother****er who goes down and fills out the paperwork, although a $80,000
per year plus benefits government worker will have to fill them out because
lazy mother****er can't read or write. That is, the money that's left over
after him and his cronies take their vig, and IF there's any left.

WHERE'S MAH CHECK! or DONDE ESTA MI CHEQUE?

It's coming. Bend over.

Steve

On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 06:17:29 -0800, "SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas
wrote Re The year we lose our TV signals:

What's the big ****ing deal? Get a dish. Move. Get cable. Throw away
that piece of **** antiquated television and get another one. Learn to
read. Buy a DVD player. Quit watching so much tube and do something else.

As to Bush, at least give this purple lipped big eared cocksucking
non-citizen of the US liberal a year to give away even more of your money
than Bush could ever do, and then comment. Bush at least kept the oil
flowing with all that money. Big Ears is going to give it to every lazy
mother****er who goes down and fills out the paperwork, although a $80,000
per year plus benefits government worker will have to fill them out because
lazy mother****er can't read or write. That is, the money that's left over
after him and his cronies take their vig, and IF there's any left.

Well put.

"Caesar Romano" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 2 Jan 2009 06:17:29 -0800, "SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas
wrote Re The year we lose our TV signals:

What's the big ****ing deal? Get a dish. Move. Get cable. Throw away
that piece of **** antiquated television and get another one. Learn to
read. Buy a DVD player. Quit watching so much tube and do something else.

As to Bush, at least give this purple lipped big eared cocksucking
non-citizen of the US liberal a year to give away even more of your money
than Bush could ever do, and then comment. Bush at least kept the oil
flowing with all that money. Big Ears is going to give it to every lazy
mother****er who goes down and fills out the paperwork, although a $80,000
per year plus benefits government worker will have to fill them out because
lazy mother****er can't read or write. That is, the money that's left over
after him and his cronies take their vig, and IF there's any left.

Well put.

If you're an idiot.

SteveB wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas. Yea,
i know this first hand. I got my coupon, bought a $60 box for $20 and
the coupon, and while I used to get 7 channels (occasionally two
more), with the converter box, I get PBS. That's it. I can watch Mr.
Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and all the cruddy english garbage
they show, but no local news, no weather reports, no Soaps (that psrt
is OK, I hate soaps)...... I'll just miss the local news and weather
reports, and once and awhile South Park..... Either way, even despite
most of the crappy tv programs, like American Idol, all the Crime
shows, Survivor, and the Springer Show, I will still miss the tv. On
the plus side I will no longer have to climb on the roof to fix my
antenna after a windstorm.....

Of course there is one good thing about 2009, we'll lose BUSH !!!!
A much welcomed loss.......


It looks like 2009 may end up being NEUTRAL. We lose an asshole
president and out tv signals.

Happy New Year

Robert

What's the big ****ing deal? Get a dish. Move. Get cable. Throw away
that piece of **** antiquated television and get another one. Learn to
read. Buy a DVD player. Quit watching so much tube and do something else.

As to Bush, at least give this purple lipped big eared cocksucking
non-citizen of the US liberal a year to give away even more of your money
than Bush could ever do, and then comment. Bush at least kept the oil
flowing with all that money. Big Ears is going to give it to every lazy
mother****er who goes down and fills out the paperwork, although a $80,000
per year plus benefits government worker will have to fill them out because
lazy mother****er can't read or write. That is, the money that's left over
after him and his cronies take their vig, and IF there's any left.

WHERE'S MAH CHECK! or DONDE ESTA MI CHEQUE?

It's coming. Bend over.

Steve


You are one nasty piece of ****! Good thing you're not my neighbour,
asshole!

"Oldfart" wrote in message
...


SteveB wrote:
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Welcome to 2009. The year we lose our TV signals. What a way to
start the year, knowing in another month and a half, we will lose our
tv reception, unless we subscribe to costly cable or satellite tv. Oh
yea, they tell us we can get convertors and even give us coupons worth
$40 for the $50 and up boxes that DO NOT work in rural areas, because
the digital signals are under-powered for those in fringe areas. Yea,
i know this first hand. I got my coupon, bought a $60 box for $20 and
the coupon, and while I used to get 7 channels (occasionally two
more), with the converter box, I get PBS. That's it. I can watch Mr.
Rogers, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, and all the cruddy english garbage
they show, but no local news, no weather reports, no Soaps (that psrt
is OK, I hate soaps)...... I'll just miss the local news and weather
reports, and once and awhile South Park..... Either way, even despite
most of the crappy tv programs, like American Idol, all the Crime
shows, Survivor, and the Springer Show, I will still miss the tv. On
the plus side I will no longer have to climb on the roof to fix my
antenna after a windstorm.....

Of course there is one good thing about 2009, we'll lose BUSH !!!!
A much welcomed loss.......


It looks like 2009 may end up being NEUTRAL. We lose an asshole
president and out tv signals.

Happy New Year

Robert

What's the big ****ing deal? Get a dish. Move. Get cable. Throw away
that piece of **** antiquated television and get another one. Learn to
read. Buy a DVD player. Quit watching so much tube and do something
else.

As to Bush, at least give this purple lipped big eared cocksucking
non-citizen of the US liberal a year to give away even more of your money
than Bush could ever do, and then comment. Bush at least kept the oil
flowing with all that money. Big Ears is going to give it to every lazy
mother****er who goes down and fills out the paperwork, although a
$80,000 per year plus benefits government worker will have to fill them
out because lazy mother****er can't read or write. That is, the money
that's left over after him and his cronies take their vig, and IF there's
any left.

WHERE'S MAH CHECK! or DONDE ESTA MI CHEQUE?

It's coming. Bend over.

Steve


You are one nasty piece of ****! Good thing you're not my neighbour,
asshole!

Reality sucks. You're an adult. Cope.