So the government is airing commercials about how in 2009 broadcast companies will broadcast exclusively in digital. Those who have cable wont be affected by this change but if your still watching TV with “Rabbit ears” then you’ll need to go buy a converter box.
Not to worry tho’ log onto: (I forget the website) and you may qualify for a government coupon to help get you a converter box.
What cracks me up about this commercial is that it’s ONLY BEING AIRED ON CABLE CHANNELS!
Me thinks the government is missing their target audience.
You’ve obviously slipped and hit your head. The same commercials air on the local stations via cable or standard broadcast. So, if you have channel 6 (a local station as one of your cable options) then you’ll see the same commercial as the guy with rabbit ears whose also watching channel 6.
Well, duh. I get that. But I’m pretty sure they don’t need to advertise on the Discovery channel.
However, Edward The Head says he’s seen them on the regular networks. I have not. So I digress at least half my argument.
And not everyone who has cable has it on all of their televisions, or in their cottage/cabin/whatever. And not everyone who watches cable is at home. And some people who watch it on cable will mention it to people who don’t have cable.
There are lots and lots of perfectly valid reasons to include cable channels for this message.
Speaking of television, I saw today, with my own eyes, a Gold Star TV that is so old it had manually operated tuners; you actually had to get your lazy butt off the sofa and go twist a knob to change channels. And it worked. And it had a good picture. In living color, too.
Well after Feb 2009 that GoldStar TV with the manual knobs will be a new Remote Control Operated Wonder, because it will need a converter box, which will have a remote control.
Of course no one’s VCR will work any more. I never see much talk about that one. The VCRs will work only for the channel that the converter box is tuned to. Digital TV Signal -> Converter Box -> VCR
We have 3 sets: a 2004 Wega which may not even need a converter box; a 1995 Penney 13" color portable that will probably need it; and a 1988 Gold Star black-and-white portable that will almost certainly need it. (This last one is in the kitchen, where we can watch it during meals; the other two both have DVD players and VCRs.) I have seen no sign of coupons yet.
On both our PBS channels they’ve been airing commercials starring Kevin Whatshisname and Norm Abram from This Old House extolling Things That Are To Be in the Great Television Revolution. Also, on Jeopardy! they’ve been running a little reader strip along the bottom of the screen telling about it too. When I had rabbit ears, these were the three stations that came in the best for me.
Otto, they are talking about the cessation of over-the-air broadcasts of analog signals, I assume that those without digital cable will be able to receive signals once the cable company de-digitalizes it for them The cessation of analog cable is not affected by this new regulation which is meant to increase available bandwidth over the air since digital takes up far less. Altho it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m wrong and analog cable is somehow affected by this, considering it’s the government.
That’s been the way mine’s been since I got digital cable. I used to be able to watch one cable channel and record another (although I think I needed a splitter but maybe not). Now I can tape a cable channel and watch a broadcast. I suppose I should get me one of these free gummint boxes.
Yeah, it is interesting that this is not mentioned more (or at all). It is the only aspect of keeping out old TV and using the converter box that pisses me off.
Other than that it has been great. The picture quality is great and we have a mute button again. (The replacement remote I got years ago didn’t have one.) I just wish there was a way around the VCR recording problem.
On this side of the Atlantic we have a different standard (DVB-T) but it is basically the same thing. Here you can buy converters containing dual receivers. They cost a bit more but they still start in the upper two-digit range (in EUR.) For a bit more money there are also hard disk recorders containing dual digital receivers.
It’s still around. Although the providers are pushing for digitalization there is still analog cable and some analog satellite TV. There are also some small pockets of analog over-the-air TV left but IIRC that’s supposed to change this year.
In addition to that all analog-era TVs still expect PAL as their input and consequently our converter boxes output that.
Furthermore, although it’s not actually PAL, our digital TV comes in a resolution and frame rate inspired by the former PAL broadcasts.
The cessation of analog cable is not affected by this new regulation which is meant to increase available bandwidth over the air since digital takes up far less. Altho it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m wrong and analog cable is somehow affected by this, considering it’s the government.