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#150235 - 09/27/08 12:15 PM Re: Digital TV [Re: JCWohlschlag]
jshannon Offline
Addict

Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 647
Loc: North Texas
There is portable (small, watched while still) and then there is mobile (smaller, watched while moving as in car).

Noboby has ever really had good reception with even an analog tv while moving down the road in an rv have they? I was not impressed when I saw it in the 90's.

And, nobody has really ever made a true mobile tv?

There will be a demand for both portable and mobile tv when you can get HD picture quality from a cheap antenna, IMO....watch.

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#150375 - 09/29/08 05:29 PM Re: Digital TV [Re: comms]
Hikin_Jim Offline
Sheriff
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 10/12/07
Posts: 1804
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: comms
I am soooooo sick of this information campaign. This may make me unpopular but I don't think the gov't should be subsidizing this turnover. If someone hasn't bought a new tv in the last 10-15 years that is digital ready or have a cable converter, its not the taxpayers responsibility to fund a tv for them.
On the other hand, I resent the government making a decision that will cost me money. About a year and a half ago, my wife bought a flat screen TV. Now, through no fault of our own, we'll have to buy additional equipment to run the TV.

Why the conversion to digital? Sure, it's an upgrade, but the real driving force is money. The gov't can make a lot of money auctioning off the parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum formerly used by TV, and the corporations purchasing those portions of the spectrum will make more money still. A decision has been made that will be of monetary benefit to government and business but will cost the average American. The government isn't subsidizing this cutover, you and I are. Unless they pay 100% of the cost of conversion, it is we who are subsidizing them, not the other way around.
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#150382 - 09/29/08 06:23 PM Re: Digital TV [Re: Hikin_Jim]
Yuccahead Offline
Member

Registered: 07/24/08
Posts: 199
Loc: W. Texas
"About a year and a half ago, my wife bought a flat screen TV. Now, through no fault of our own, we'll have to buy additional equipment to run the TV."

Jim,
As I understand it, if you have cable or satellite TV, you shouldn't need to buy anything else. If you get your signal over the air, you will need a TV with an ATSC tuner or a converter box. If you bought a TV without an ATSC tuner, you saved money versus buying a TV that had one. Now you just have to pay up. You probably saved $100+ back then and now only have to pay $50 or so.

Finally, there was a earlier government deadline that required all 25" or larger TVs being manufactured after July 1, 2006 to have an ATSC tuner. [There were later deadlines for smaller TVs]. Unless you wife bought a close-out 18 months ago, it should have an ATSC tuner.
_________________________
-- David.

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#150427 - 09/30/08 12:50 AM Re: Digital TV [Re: Yuccahead]
Erik_B Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 08/10/07
Posts: 315
Loc: Somewhere in my own little wor...
i just can't believe .gov could pass a universal declaration like this without We, The People having a say in it. or was this on a ballot somewhere and i just missed it? this country sure has changed. there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with how the TV broadcasting worked before. i really don't need, nor do i want, to get Wolf Blitzer's reports in "better than real-life HD picture quality." in fact, i find the idea rather frightening. *_*

rant deleted on account of it seeming a bit vulgar after I'd cooled down a bit.


Edited by Erik_B (09/30/08 02:25 AM)
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Camping teaches us what things we can live without.


Originally Posted By: ironraven
...Shopping appeals to the soul of the hunter-gatherer.

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#150439 - 09/30/08 02:01 AM Re: Digital TV [Re: ChadHahn]
haertig Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/13/05
Posts: 2322
Loc: Colorado
Originally Posted By: ChadHahn
Sometime in the near future the VHF channels (2-13) will quit broadcasting in their entirety and the channels will revert back to the FCC. What they are going to do with the frequencies then I don't know.

This is incorrect. These VHF channels will still be available to TV if the stations want them (many stations want UHF now, so they have abandoned their old VHF frequencies). Also, many stations are currently broadcasting their digital signals on UHF as a temporary measure, but will be MOVING BACK to their old VHF frequencies at the cut-over date.

One of the purposes of the all-digital broadcast requirement is to free up UHF channels 52 thru 69, not the VHF channels. Low VHF, channels 2-6, are not well suited for digital transmission (due to interference concerns) so you won't find many stations still operating there after the cut-over. But a few will remain. Upper VHF, channels 7-13, will be hosting many digital broadcasts after the cut-over.

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#150445 - 09/30/08 03:13 AM Re: Digital TV [Re: haertig]
BobS Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/08/08
Posts: 924
Loc: Toledo Ohio
Originally Posted By: haertig

One of the purposes of the all-digital broadcast requirement is to free up UHF channels 52 thru 69, not the VHF channels.

The purpose of the switchover to digital TV is pure greed on the government’s part.

There is a very limited amount of radio spectrum, the low end is sound and the top end is light waves (sound, radio and light waves are basically the same thing only different frequencies.)

The government rents out space on the radio spectrum to whoever has enough money to buy its use.

Digital signals take up less space then analog signals. This translates to a lot more space to rent out and collect money for its use by the government.

There is no commercial gain for television networks from the push to go digital.
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You can run, but you'll only die tired.


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#150448 - 09/30/08 03:39 AM Re: Digital TV [Re: BobS]
Yuccahead Offline
Member

Registered: 07/24/08
Posts: 199
Loc: W. Texas
Quote:

There is a very limited amount of radio spectrum, the low end is sound and the top end is light waves (sound, radio and light waves are basically the same thing only different frequencies.)


Just to clarify, light and Radio waves are both part of the electromagnetic spectrum. So are microwaves and X-rays. Sound is not.

One end of the spectrum is represented by low frequency radio waves with wavelengths around 10^3 meters. The other end is gamma rays with wavelengths around 10^-12 meters. Visible light wavelengths are between .4 and .7x10^-6 (400 to 700 nanometers).


Edited by Yuccahead (09/30/08 03:56 AM)
Edit Reason: more info.
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-- David.

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#150737 - 10/02/08 06:54 PM Re: Digital TV [Re: BobS]
Brangdon Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/12/04
Posts: 1204
Loc: Nottingham, UK
Originally Posted By: BobS
The purpose of the switchover to digital TV is pure greed on the government’s part.
That's a bit negative. The analogue TV broadcasts are very inefficient in their use of spectrum. As you point out, the radio spectrum is a very limited resource. Digital TV needs less of it to offer the same services. The saving can be used for new services, of which there are potentially many.

In the long run it's the best thing to do. How the transition is managed is another matter; I can't really comment on American policy. Here in the UK it's been brewing for years. (It looks like we messed up the high-definition element, so people who bought digital TVs will have to buy again to get HD.)
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Quality is addictive.

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#150741 - 10/02/08 07:50 PM Re: Digital TV [Re: Yuccahead]
Hikin_Jim Offline
Sheriff
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 10/12/07
Posts: 1804
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: Yuccahead
"About a year and a half ago, my wife bought a flat screen TV. Now, through no fault of our own, we'll have to buy additional equipment to run the TV."

Jim,
As I understand it, if you have cable or satellite TV, you shouldn't need to buy anything else. If you get your signal over the air, you will need a TV with an ATSC tuner or a converter box. If you bought a TV without an ATSC tuner, you saved money versus buying a TV that had one. Now you just have to pay up. You probably saved $100+ back then and now only have to pay $50 or so.

Finally, there was a earlier government deadline that required all 25" or larger TVs being manufactured after July 1, 2006 to have an ATSC tuner. [There were later deadlines for smaller TVs]. Unless you wife bought a close-out 18 months ago, it should have an ATSC tuner.
Whether I pay for it then or I pay for it now, I'm still paying for it -- while the government and big business make money off of the deal. I'm subsidising them; that's what it boils down to.

Hopefully there is a net benefit to the public in that more services can be offered since more of the spectrum will be available post-conversion, but I'm still subsidizing the conversion. Those benefitting are not paying for the true cost of the benefit that they will receive. In effect, at least in the government's case, it's a new tax. Oops, I meant "revenue enhancement."
_________________________
Adventures In Stoving

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#150743 - 10/02/08 08:12 PM Re: Digital TV [Re: Brangdon]
BobS Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/08/08
Posts: 924
Loc: Toledo Ohio
Originally Posted By: Brangdon
Originally Posted By: BobS
The purpose of the switchover to digital TV is pure greed on the government’s part.
That's a bit negative. The analogue TV broadcasts are very inefficient in their use of spectrum. As you point out, the radio spectrum is a very limited resource. Digital TV needs less of it to offer the same services. The saving can be used for new services, of which there are potentially many.

In the long run it's the best thing to do. How the transition is managed is another matter; I can't really comment on American policy. Here in the UK it's been brewing for years. (It looks like we messed up the high-definition element, so people who bought digital TVs will have to buy again to get HD.)


It’s the truth, in the years to come the government will make billions off rental of something they talked us into believing they own. This is about money, plane and simple.
_________________________



You can run, but you'll only die tired.


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