Replying to this here so as not to derail the “Site Feedback” thread.
I’m not sure what you’re arguing with the television standards comment, but I think it’s a good example of the point I’m trying to make. The argument that some have been making is that you can’t expect “old” tech to support new features. But with television, when we say NTSC is “old” we mean that it was first deployed in 1941. At that time, all televisions were black and white, and all used CRT tubes, so the NTSC broadcast standard was designed for black and white transmissions and optimized to prevent CRT flicker.
When colour television came along, some very clever engineering adapted NTSC for colour television, and moreover, made it backwards compatible with older black and white television receivers. The same thing happened with the popularity of stereophonic sound – stereo could be received by sets so equipped, but it, too, was backwards compatible with older sets.
It was when high definition came along that the ancient NTSC standard hit a brick wall. Broadcasting had to move to digital ATSC, and there was no way it could be backwards compatible any more, but even so, as you mention, converter boxes were available for those who couldn’t buy new TVs.
My point is this. If television tech was treated the way we treat computer tech, you’d have to throw out your TV and buy a new one every couple of years. And there would be no converter boxes.