IP-007 Why?
America needs change. I’m Russell, and I approved this Internet Pumpkin message.
Change can be a double edged sword. It can be good, and it can be bad. Having been in Electronics for thirty muffled years, I’ve seen my fair share of change. In most cases, it’s been for the better. I remember the horizontal and vertical hold controls were right on the front panel of the TV because you had to adjust them you changed channels. Often even in the middle of a show! Manufactures found a way to sync the picture better, and those controls moved to the rear of the set and seldom needed to be touched. Today, the only such controls are to center the picture left, right, top and bottom in a menu, and perhaps a frequency control to match a PC resolution.
Carol Evans, former Assistant Chief Engineer for WITN-TV always quoted “The only thing in television that remains the same, is that everything changes”. It has been my motto ever since, and is still true not only in TV, but everywhere. Each Manager at NBC 17 has a triangle on their desk. Not to remind us where we live, but as the mathematical symbol for Delta, Δ, or change. When life throws you lemons, make lemonade, or bake a pumpkin pie with that IP.
Many people fear change, and with fear comes anger and a whole lot of emotions both good and bad. “It’s been working fine all these years, why mess with it now?” I’m in my comfort zone, leave me and my TV alone. How much is this going to cost me? Why?
Some of us will run the gambit of emotions before we reach the pinnacle of enlightenment and experience the “ah! factor”. That point when you get all the signals scanned in crystal clear, and then you say to yourself “how did I put up with snowy pictures all this time”? It’s very similar to the grieving process, and yes, I believe the TV is part of the family as I have posted earlier, but in this case, we are giving Gramps a face lift, new legs, and a clear voice. It will be better. It is better.
The earlier you embrace the change to digital TV, the better. Get those emotions out of the way now, and don’t wait until February 18th to dial the hotlines for help if you are having problems. I know, I know. I already covered procrastination.
This revolution is happening worldwide. Canada makes the switch August 31, 2011 and Mexico has a schedule that covers the country in stages. Many countries have already switched, and things are just fine.
Most people will plug these new receivers in, scan for the channels, and get the “ah! factor” right away. That is great, and we need you to go next door and help your neighbor get it. Then they will go next door and help another neighbor. Remember August was Help A Digital Newbie Month? We’re all in this together, and we can help each other make the switch. Don’t be selfish about it. When was the last time you actually visited your neighbors anyway? I have great neighbors, and it’s common when you see them outside, to go over and talk to them. Many evenings you can ride by and see 2-3 households represented standing on the corner talking to each other. And if we can’t stop when we drive by, at least we wave!
We have to help ourselves, and we are very concerned about those that can’t do it on their own. The elderly, people with special needs, and those that can’t afford it to name a few. We need to come together and find others that are not ready for digital over the air, and see what we can do to help. It could be as simple as dialing the 888-DTV-2009 number and ordering their coupon for them, or online at www.dtv2009.gov
We need to change. It’s up to us to make it work, but please don’t expect Washington, DC to fix it for you. Don’t expect the TV stations to fix it for you. You have to take the first step, and embrace the change to digital yourself, then drag your neighbors into it!
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Comments
My only question in this whole DTV changeover is “Why is the government involved in it??? If it was a decision that the networks made to improve service or cut expenses or whatever, I wouldn’t be concerned; But why has the government made it mandatory (”By law” in Feb 2009 all brodcast will be in digital)? Almost sounds like they are setting up for something…kind of “big brotherish”.
Hi Glenn,
It appears to be a “mere” matter of
money and politics. The FCC can rake
in a pile selling the discontinued
part of the VHF band and powerful
interests are looking for bandwidth
to exploit.
Do your best to follow Russ’ best
efforts to cut the financial hit
though.
We have not even discussed the big
“elephant in the living room” yet.
As I see it, the biggest need to
go cheapo is the matter of HDCP;
If **you** were in business to
make money creating content, you
would be anxious to cut down on
pirated copies; the present idea,
which may or may not be activated,
is the HDCP scheme which is rather
imperfect. The hackers (and also,
as an obvious bit, the offshore
big players–who can really do a
job on the producers) do already
know how to get around it.
My prediction is that it won’t
take long before the current HDCP
is scrapped in favor of another
major equipment change to enable
some kind of crypto approach that
may even have us subscribing to
a code update service as part of
the price for our entertainment.
Yes, I agree with Russ that it’s
best to be a pessimist. There are
better surprises that way.
Regards,
Gene
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We, citizens of Ocotillo, California, are about to lose our TV signal due to the DTV changeover. The DTV web site calls us the signal fringe folks-who will lose over the air signals and not be able to receive the replacement digital signal (the digital signal will not carry horizontally to fringe areas as does the over the air signal). Our entire community will be placed in eminent danger if this conversion is allowed to happen.
One third of community was washed away in a flood in the late 60s. Our ONLY access to weather and National weather warnings are from CBS and NBC in Yuma Arizona-both of which, offer us an excellent over the air picture but no digital picture. We are left with Fox,located in El Centro, which we receive via digital signal but they offer NO local news.
The government has left us out before. No one required Communication giants to extend their offerings to rural folks, hence we have NO high speed internet. We have NO Time Warner cable etc. Now this government is telling us on the DTV website that the “majority” will receive better picture and sound with this conversion. Does this justify endangering our lives?
Our only digital reception staion Ch9-Fox of El Centro, Ca., has split the high definition signal 3 ways so that they are no longer high definition but a mess- characterized by large pixels and a glassed-over appearance on a par with a VHS tape running at slow speed. To insult us even further they are broadcasting in a foreign language aimed at a foreign country on 9-3. The FCC in tolerating this behavior is acting irresponsibly as the protector of our air waves!
The DTV propaganda is more govenment lies pushed at the people without a debate or hearing on the issues.
We have already suffered enough! My “digital” tv cost me $1500-which was not digital so I had to buy the conversion box plus the computer conversion kit plus hours spent writing DTV (who does not respond to our e-mails over this issue). The antenna cost $89 and the mast $60. All the best and get but one signal.
We feel we have a constitutional right to these air waves, as they belong to we citizens-all of us not just a majority. No citizen left behind.
TV for All