Comments on: Turn off analog TV? It’ll never happen

By: John

John — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:17:13 +0000

You're so fuckin wrong now….

By: TV-GUY

TV-GUY — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:17:28 +0000

It looks like it happened. So much for never…although it took a decade to happen.

By: Gadgeteer

Gadgeteer — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:24:02 +0000

The losers — the entire US citizenry. There will be no pocket TV’s, no radios with TV sound, no tv allowed away from home. The “pseudo-portable” sets may fit in a large purse, but only run for an hour. Tulsa Oklahoma lost power 12/07 to an ice storm, 1-3 weeks or more. All watched pocket TV’s, or at least listened to the CBS affilliate on standard FM radio. Any chance of “emergency TV” or “portable tv” ends February; this is not acceptable.

The five “benefits” of DTV are bogus; the costs considerable. Each household MUST buy 4-6 converters — living room TV, vcr/dvdr, bedroom tv, kid’s-room, guest-room, bathroom, garage — anywhere there is a receiver. Digital sets are complex, thus more likely to fail, and expensive (or impossible) to repair.

WE DON’T HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY to allow analog to shut off. I don’t care how big a fan you are of DTV, sign the pettition if only to protest “dictatorship”. No one’s giving us a choice.

In two months non-subscription viewers will lose channels (reception goes from about 70 miles to as little as 20). More commercials, because HD is expensive; 2-hour movie now has nearly an hour of commercials.

Truth is, analog is better; analog does not have “digital distortion”. Human eyes are low-resolution, “full screen”, and analog. “I-Max” is the best theater — and it’s full screen.

We are not supposed to be a dictatorship. WE are the government; they do what WE say — but we’re being told “you WILL do what GOVERNMENT says”.

Scream at your congressman, and sign the pettition; it’s not too late. Or keep quiet, and watch all your freedoms disappear, and prepare to pay and pay.

One pettition to stop “analog shutoff” is at http://www.stophdtv.org

By: Daevid Vincent

Daevid Vincent — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:59:32 +0000

Maybe the government will provide medical coupons for people like you to help take their foot out of their mouth… ;-p

By: Ravin

Ravin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:53:03 +0000

first of all to the opening poster, what an epic fail this was, apparently im smoking crack as you put it, because i see commercials all over the tv about how in 2009 all tv will switch over to digital.

now… I read alot of posts from people with the old tv’s that dont know what to do with them, well I have an idea…..

what happens when all tv switches to digital and analog is abandoned? well if you live near my hometown then i suggest you start flipping around the old analog channels after they go down. we already have a crew out here working on the nations first guerrilla television station! thats right, the old tv’s wont be worthless any longer, as long as you live near any free thinkers. so bust out yout rabbit ears and throw away the digital box. real tv is comming soon

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:42:54 +0000

I’ve been holding out hoping they would extend the deadline. We’re in the middle of a serious recession. I know people that can’t even afford enough food to last a month, and are selling their posessions on eBay to pay utility bills and for gasoline. It seems to me that this is the worst time the government could require this. I have 7 analog TV sets. Only one of them even has a coax connector. The rest have 2 screws for the 300 ohm flat lead. I ordered my coupons for converter boxes 2 months ago. I haven’t received anything. It looks like we don’t have any choice. They keep running the propaganda about DTV on local channels several times a day. The senior citizens are really confused about this. I used to repair TV’s back in the 1980’s and still get 3 to 4 calls a month from people that have an old TV in each room and don’t know what to do. I’ve also heard that if you’re in the inner city with a lot of tall buildings around, or in a fringe area out in the country, you may lose your signal altogether, even with the converter box. I read on a tech site that DTV will cut in and out like a cell phone does when it breaks up if you live in these areas. They estimated that as many as 11 million people nationwide will lose their signal. DTV will not go through tall buildings and will not go as far as analog TV does. This is going to be a real problem. The advertisers should be lobbying to extend analog TV at least another 5 years.