Has sanity finally won out for once? Some people (namely senior citizens) aren't going to understand the digital switch until they can no longer watch their matlock re-runs. No amount of commercials is going to help them understand, because they no longer have the capacity. Flip the switch, and in a years time everyone that wants a converter box will have one, and we'll move on with our lives.
I have no doubt that plenty of people panicked and picked up a converter without needing one. Plenty of DTV signals are probably going into a converter right now, that then feeds directly into a digital TV that could have picked up the signal without the converter. In less troubling economic times the lunacy of spending tax dollars to make sure that people can continue to watch TV would probably be hitting me right about now, but considering that the cost is a drop in the bucket next to the bailouts, I'm just ready to forget that this whole switch ever happened, and put it behind me.
No, I think a ton of people think their analog TV won't be able to watch cable TV without a box and panicked and requested a converter box coupon when they didn't need one.
I _know_ at least some people said 'oh, a free electronic device' and applied for a coupon even though they knew they didn't need one, simply because it was free. Try to hack it, use it for parts, or just stick it in the closet. Why not? It's _free_ right?
The scary part is not the fact that granny cant get her Matlock. It's that I worked for (and have friends that still do) a fairly large TV & Radio Broadcast group and their Director of Engineering (for the entire group) doesn't understand this change completely... he thinks that SD TV (4:3) is going away... and that Digital & HD are terms that can be interchanged... It amazes me... Fear the idiots in charge.
I'm still amazed at the near-universal idea that "digital" equates to "better" all the time. Some people expect the DTV switch to happen, and for their TV shows to suddenly look high def on their old 4:3 tube TV's. Noone outside of...well..the group of people that read sites like Engadget has any clue what digital and analog even mean, much less why one is better than the other. All they know is the marketing BS spewed by every TV provider in the US.
I don't foresee the problem being old people that are suddenly TV-less as much as I see a problem with people that get their TV over the air suddenly losing their signal completely since Digital signals aren't as forgiving as their analog brethren. What used to be a decent picture with snow will turn into no picture and an error message, and suddenly these people are going to be asking for a subsidized antenna.
On second though, there are just SO many angles to look at this problem from, and so many ways that it can go wrong. A delay only makes the pain last longer. We need to rip analog off as if it were a band-aid.
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Has sanity finally won out for once? Some people (namely senior citizens) aren't going to understand the digital switch until they can no longer watch their matlock re-runs. No amount of commercials is going to help them understand, because they no longer have the capacity. Flip the switch, and in a years time everyone that wants a converter box will have one, and we'll move on with our lives.
Not everyone that wants one actually needs one.
Agreed
I have no doubt that plenty of people panicked and picked up a converter without needing one. Plenty of DTV signals are probably going into a converter right now, that then feeds directly into a digital TV that could have picked up the signal without the converter. In less troubling economic times the lunacy of spending tax dollars to make sure that people can continue to watch TV would probably be hitting me right about now, but considering that the cost is a drop in the bucket next to the bailouts, I'm just ready to forget that this whole switch ever happened, and put it behind me.
@Banana Boat
No, I think a ton of people think their analog TV won't be able to watch cable TV without a box and panicked and requested a converter box coupon when they didn't need one.
@chuckles
I _know_ at least some people said 'oh, a free electronic device' and applied for a coupon even though they knew they didn't need one, simply because it was free. Try to hack it, use it for parts, or just stick it in the closet. Why not? It's _free_ right?
I hate those people.
The scary part is not the fact that granny cant get her Matlock. It's that I worked for (and have friends that still do) a fairly large TV & Radio Broadcast group and their Director of Engineering (for the entire group) doesn't understand this change completely... he thinks that SD TV (4:3) is going away... and that Digital & HD are terms that can be interchanged... It amazes me... Fear the idiots in charge.
@Justin
I'm still amazed at the near-universal idea that "digital" equates to "better" all the time. Some people expect the DTV switch to happen, and for their TV shows to suddenly look high def on their old 4:3 tube TV's. Noone outside of...well..the group of people that read sites like Engadget has any clue what digital and analog even mean, much less why one is better than the other. All they know is the marketing BS spewed by every TV provider in the US.
I don't foresee the problem being old people that are suddenly TV-less as much as I see a problem with people that get their TV over the air suddenly losing their signal completely since Digital signals aren't as forgiving as their analog brethren. What used to be a decent picture with snow will turn into no picture and an error message, and suddenly these people are going to be asking for a subsidized antenna.
On second though, there are just SO many angles to look at this problem from, and so many ways that it can go wrong. A delay only makes the pain last longer. We need to rip analog off as if it were a band-aid.