A lot of people are talking about the switch to digital television, but nobody is talking about the disaster it is going to cause. and i'm not talking about the $50 conversion box.
Every tv station has their "get ready for february 2009, it will be awesome!" commercials. it will be awesome... an awesome disaster (applause). i'm baffled why no one is warning people of the real reason it will be a disaster. here it is...
In february, even after people pay for a "conversion box", many people will lose the ability to watch many channels.
here's the deal. I won't go into a full blown discussion of the background, so i'll do a lousy job of summing it up. First of all, the switch to digital television in february does NOT affect cable or satellite tv users, which seems to cover many people. The disastrous switch will only affect you if you have rabbit ears on your tv or an antenna on your roof. And let me emphasize... MANY people still use rabbit ears and antennas. and usually these are people who are less inclined to like technology and change. and usually these people have guns and get pissed off easily.
more background... in february, tv stations will change the way they transmit the tv signal from their station to antennas at home. Right now, they are broadcasting both "old" and "new" signals. The new signal uses different frequencies. In february, they will stop broadcasting the "old" signals so they can sell the old frequencies to verizon or jared or some bullshit like that... not important. When a tv with an antenna receives a signal, it has the guts to change the signal into a picture. "Old" tvs are set up to change the "old" signal to a picture. "old" tvs cannot change the "new" signal to a picture. In february, stations will stop broadcasting the "old" signal, so "old" tvs won't work.
Now, the technology of converting a "new" signal into a picture for an "old" tv doesn't seem to be a big deal, and it isn't. You can just buy a converter box for your old tv (or just buy a "new" tv). People will piss and moan about having to buy this $50 (or so) converter box (for each tv), and this will cause some trouble, but won't be the major problem. here is the major problem...
even with a converter box or new tv, people won't be able to get as many channels as with their old tv. HOLY SHIT!
here is what no one is telling the public (as far as i can tell)...
With the OLD SIGNAL, if you can't pick up a channel really well, the channel is a little fuzzy, but WATCHABLE. Right? We've all fooled with rabbit ears and eventually say, "good enough". This fuzziness allows most people to watch all the free channels. for example, right now, i live in birmingham, AL and with my old tv and rabbit ears, i can watch ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, MYTV, PBS. all are out of brimingham, except ABC, which is out of tuscaloosa, about 60 miles away.
With the NEW SIGNAL, if you can't pick up a channel really well, the signal is pixelated and choppy and UNWATCHABLE. No one is mentioning this. Again, without too much technical detail, the new signal is digital as opposed to analog, which leads to this difference when dealing with a weak signal. people are going to lose channels and be pissed. for example, right now, i live in birmingham, AL and with my "new" tv and rabbit ears, i can watch FOX and PBS most of the time. I'VE LOST 5 CHANNELS.
This is going to happen all over the place and people will be mad. i predict it will be big news.
Can you imagine living in Montana and the government tells you you have to pay $50 if you want to continue watching tv? And they promise you better picture and sound quality. You're pissed, right? but you go and buy one damn converter box, because you sure as hell aren't buying two. I guess you'll just throw away that second television. Now you get it home and find out you only get one channel. You figure something is wrong, so you return it, get another one, and it still doesn't work. You are getting pretty pissed off, and are told that the "new" signals require an antenna bigger than rabbit ears. You punch the clerk and buy a $50 antenna and mount it to your roof. now you get 4 channels, but not all 7 you used to get. And you are out $100 bucks! Just so the government can sell tv frequencies to cell phone companies for some money they'll end up wasting on poor people!? where's my gun? (even worse, imagine if he buys a nice new $500 tv!)
Notice i tacked on some extra info about antennas. I bought a $100 antennae for my roof. I can now get 6 of the 7 channels in birmingham, but sometimes even those 6 aren't great and i have to hop on the roof to fiddle with it. ABC from tuscaloosa... no chance. If the super bowl was on abc, i'd be screwed.
as a final follow-up, birmingham is hilly, but cripes, i live 5 miles from the tv stations. i should be able to get them with rabbit ears. maybe this problem won't be as much of a problem in flat areas, but all the states ain't flat.
i suppose there may be some way to "boost" the signal, but i've never heard anyone discuss that.
in closing, has anyone heard anyone talking about this (regular people losing channels)? as i hint at above, it's extra salt on the wound that the ads keep talking about how great the new tv signals will be.
also, i must admit that i really like my antenna and when you can pick up a channel with a HDTV, it is damn beautiful. much better than the pixelated compressed crap that cable and satellite give you. i'll save that for another post. right now i do have cable, and hate myself for it.
| Updates: #1. I have emailed ABC to find out if they admit they will be losing Birmingham. And I twittered James Spann, somewhat feigning concern about my weather coverage. Spann Responds! "If you can't receive the digital signal now, the antennas will be raised to the top of the towers later this year. That should help" #2. Get your converter box discount coupons NOW. They are all out and running a waiting list. I signed up around Jab 8th. We'll see if i make the cut. https://www.dtv2009.gov/ #3. I’m cutting my cable and will probably write a follow-up entry about it. #4. Dateline 2010. I was completely wrong. for my lame excuse, see upcoming post about tuners. |
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