DTV switch doesn't kill TVs, drunk septuagenarians with guns kill TVs
By Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 20th 2009 1:19PM
posted Feb 20th 2009 1:19PM
[Via Multichannel News, Image courtesy of Phrank.com / Sledge Hammer]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
First!!!! good lad.
Now that's what I prefer to practice on my computer!
HAHA! This made my day! (Luckily no one was hurt)
let's be honest, folks. Who HASN'T accidently picked up the wrong gun when trying to play some drunk duck hunt?
He probably just thought it was the remote. After all, he had been drinking ;-)
Trust me, i know what I'm doing.
I love the Sledgehammer picture. You youngins have no idea what I'm talking about.
lol I was about to say the same thing...man I loved that show.
I know exactly what you're talking about. :D Child of the 80s!
Wow! I was wondering where that was from. Man, 80's shows rocked!
On the one hand, I protest Sledgehammer for its inaccurate portrayal of my peoples. On the other hand, I can't help but love the cop show equivalent of get smart.
One of the best shows I've ever seen.
Maybe he thought it was the remote.
Oh yes, because somehow the power button magically transitioned to a trigger position...
well he was drunk
and old
Maybe the Wiimote?
ah, good ol' Missouri. How I miss you.
I don't. Good drugs, though.
Things you can do when you are drunk :
a)sleep.
b)puke.
c)flirt.
d)Drive.
e)start a flamewar on Internet.
f)take a weapon and ...let's start the party.
Solution:
Make alcohol illegal.
Legalize and tax marijuana.
Out with the crazies and in with the calm and mellow.
Prohibition failed in the 1920s. It only made things worse.
and the drug war fails too
let it all be legalized but EDUCATE people about the CONSEQUENCES
John likes this.
The war on POT was originally the war on HEMP, they made hemp illegal because the cotton growers of the time were losing to much money to HEMP, so when HEMP went illegal so did POT. OUTDATED LAWS FOR AN OUTDATED SOCIETY. (most of em will pop off soon enough).
plus whats with this guy, his cable works fine for now or didn't they push it back to June 12th after all?
@SUPERGOOMAN
It was pushed back, but I think that date is just a deadline so the broadcasters can flip the switch before then.
sounds like Jello Biafra
Blame it on the a-a-a-alcohol
Sledgehammer was a legend:
"Well two thugs came into the store proceeded to rob the place. Thats where I drew my magnum and killed them both. Then I bought some eggs, some milk... and some of those little cocktail weenies."
"Sir did you feel that was necessary?"
"Oh yes yes I didn't have any groceries at all.."
And my all time favorite...
"I don't watch the news.... I make it." - Sledgehammer
I'm confused - I thought the DTV deadline was extended to June 12.
Nope, the bill to push it back was voted down.
Well, the deadline was extended to June 12, but each individual channel has the option of whether to pull the plug or not until June 12. Many already converted on February 17.
Nope, that bill passed.
I have a few stations in my area that have gone off the air and a few others that will hang around until June. If Missouri is anything like Pittsburgh, he probably only has 2 or 3 local stations and may have lost two or more of them.
I can sympathize with the guy.
My local NBC affiliate switched to their permanent digital channel on the 17th, and in doing so they went from a nice, meaty UHF signal to a weak, bouncy VHF signal which I cannot receive anymore, thanks to the landscape and apartment buildings in my surroundings. I can't get any antenna (that my apartment allows me to have) to pick it up for more than a few minutes at time. I've effectively lost my NBC station on OTA.
So I had to pick up basic cable, which will be fine since I'm pretty sure my Samsung HDTV has a QAM tuner and I should be able to get my locals in HD with the basic subscription.
But over the past few days of my readjusting the antenna(s), reconnecting new ones, and rescanning for channels, I was just about ready to throw a hammer through my TV. If I couldn't get anything, ever, that would have been acceptable. What bugged me was that prior to them switching, I was getting their temporary digital channel, on UHF coming from the exact same location, without any problems. After the switch, it's like they turned the transmitter down to 1% power for people on this side of town.
Very frustrating. If you own a home, and do OTA, make sure you have a good outdoor antenna. If you are in an apartment and any of your locals switch to a VHF digital channel, you might want to consider cable... VHF sucks when it's bouncing off apartment buildings and walls, and you're stuck with an indoor antenna.
Don't be a cheap ass buy your cable like the rest of us!
See that's whats wrong with YOUR society, too used to getting things for free and now that you have to pay you're all up in arms over it. It's TV, it isn't that great anymore and plus you can watch all your shows commercial free online, so really ask yourself: Do I really need cable tv?
We've had free TV almost since tvs were first made. Not everyone can afford cable.
If you live more than 30 miles from the broadcaster just get cable or stock up on dvd and vhs tapes from goodwill. Cause you ain't gettin enough signal to make it work without a good signal booster and a bit of line of sight luck.
This will be the biggest boondoggle foisted upon the rural populace since social security.
buy some stock in direct tv. those ugly dish things are going to multiply after this hits
Cable still doesn't offer local channels I know that for a fact in my area there are 18 local channels excluding sub channels and only 7 of them appear with cable and none with satellite
Rooftop antenna. Its not hard. If you rent then ask for landlord to install one. Its a one-time cost for lots of free programming.
The real problem here is that the digital cliff isnt as forgiving as the analog. People watching grainy analog channels that go in and out should expected to install an antenna. Our entire digital infrastructure cant be held back by some cheap hicks. Society advances. You cant leave you horse parked in the street anymore or have tigers as pets.
so you may see the hicks in the sticks as below contempt, but consider the cost of law enforcement, criminal activity and social welfare that you find per person in chicago vs the rest of the entire state of Illinois and I say back to you that we can learn something from the hayseeds...
Besides, is it seriously realistic for each major market customer who has enjoyed rabbit ear reception to shell out to get the rooftop uglies just cause the feds override market demand and force them to? I'm talking anyone living beyond 10 miles will have more than some fuzzy screen~!
Try a hauppauge tuner on a laptop and tell me the quality is there to make it worth our while to force this on people.
There's a map over at http://tvmap.org of the DTV stations that transitioned on the 17th. Looks like this guy was trying to get the CBS station there.
It's interesting that some areas of the country that you think would be all digital - like Silicon Valley - had only a few stations make the transition.
They should put a breathalyzer on guns. What the hell was he doing watching TV with a loaded gun beside him?
so the guy drank in *his* own home and shot *his* own gun in *his* own home at *his* own tv. freakin bunch of nannies.
Exactly I think it's utterly stupid they arrested this man.
Bullets go through walls. Want to shoot? Do it out in the country.
Grow up.
of course, had he been not drunk but stoned he would've just calmly watched the blank screen for 3 hours before passing out, only to wake up and eat everything in his kitchen.
why is this shit illegal still? if the world's greatest swimmer to ever live can't enjoy inhaling smoke from a freaking plant without getting shit on by all the "responsible" people in the world, then what has this world come to? How else is the man supposed to eat 10,000 calories a day. For fuck sake's he has been training non-stop everyday for the last 10 years, let him get a little high. Had he been holding a glass of 100% moonshine in his hand drunk out of his mind everyone would have been ok with it. Hypocrits
haha yea i heard this, i came close to punching or kicking my pc monitor before, throwing remotes, and thats all because Im watching Jeopardy, lol j/k
Is that an opening scene from Mattlock? It just strikes me as how every episode starts.