Obama to Bail out Ghost

[ghostjmf]

The coupon gives you $40.00 free. 2 coupons, actually, so you get 2 x $40.00 free.

But there's always some "reason" the boxes sell for more than $40.00. Mine were supposed to be $50.00, but Sears was selling them for $60.00, & all in all I'd much rather deal with Sears than Dish Network. (Dish has since spun off a seperate site, so people don't keep getting "0 dollar service bills" each month after having only bought a convertor box.)

[Jeemie]

There is a market reason for the digital broadcast change, but the market is that the analog frequencies are supposed to be up for sale XXXXX licensing for the big bucks. I'm assuming the government owns the frequencies, not the current licensees; as far as I know the airwaves at least theoretically still "belong to us all". And, of course, people who were confused & raced to buy digital TVs they did not in fact need (if they get cable, they wouldn't need them 'til 2012) greased the TV manufacturers' market pretty good.

Sorry- I meant the simple market forces of supply and demand.

If "we the people" still wanted analog broadcasts, by what right did the government decide that they could change that?

[nitrah55]

This is only tangentally related to the discussion, but I have to say it out loud once:

We should remember that the government mandate to go digital was preceded by the FREE distribution of digital bandwidth to broadcasters who already held licenses for analog frequencies.

The government did not SELL the bandwidth, or have auctions or anything. They gave it away.

This whole thing was conceived for and by broadcasters, cable and satellite carriers to force people to make over the air signals obsolete. And the American public, in whose trust the FCC et al regulates the airwaves, did not get a dime out of it.

Boy, should I switch to decaf or what?

[minimetoo26]

This is only tangentally related to the discussion, but I have to say it out loud once:

We should remember that the government mandate to go digital was preceded by the FREE distribution of digital bandwidth to broadcasters who already held licenses for analog frequencies.

The government did not SELL the bandwidth, or have auctions or anything. They gave it away.

This whole thing was conceived for and by broadcasters, cable and satellite carriers to force people to make over the air signals obsolete. And the American public, in whose trust the FCC et al regulates the airwaves, did not get a dime out of it.

Boy, should I switch to decaf or what?

If the government mandates the switch to decaf, you should get a coupon for free Vivarin.

[Jeemie]

This is only tangentally related to the discussion, but I have to say it out loud once:

We should remember that the government mandate to go digital was preceded by the FREE distribution of digital bandwidth to broadcasters who already held licenses for analog frequencies.

The government did not SELL the bandwidth, or have auctions or anything. They gave it away.

This whole thing was conceived for and by broadcasters, cable and satellite carriers to force people to make over the air signals obsolete. And the American public, in whose trust the FCC et al regulates the airwaves, did not get a dime out of it.

Boy, should I switch to decaf or what?

I know all this.

Why do you think I'm upset about it?

[nitrah55]

This is only tangentally related to the discussion, but I have to say it out loud once:

We should remember that the government mandate to go digital was preceded by the FREE distribution of digital bandwidth to broadcasters who already held licenses for analog frequencies.

The government did not SELL the bandwidth, or have auctions or anything. They gave it away.

This whole thing was conceived for and by broadcasters, cable and satellite carriers to force people to make over the air signals obsolete. And the American public, in whose trust the FCC et al regulates the airwaves, did not get a dime out of it.

Boy, should I switch to decaf or what?

I know all this.

Why do you think I'm upset about it?

I started my post before you posted, so the juxtaposition was purely coincidental.

I posted for the benefit all the others out there who might not know or forgot that this started with a giveaway in the great tradtion of mining and grazing rights on US land. And to raise my voice and stamp my feet, because that makes me feel better.

[minimetoo26]

The switch to digital will free up bandwidth for emergency communications. But they should have made someone pay for it besides The Usual Suspects. Meaning us. Again.

I'm tired of being left holding the bag.

[silvercamaro]

It's going to happen again, you know. We will be forced in 2012 by our beloved government to switch to the "new, improved, energy-saving" light bulbs, which cost far, far more than the old, familiar bulbs, which no longer will be available. More important to me than the initial cost of the fluorescent bulbs is the fact that they don't fit into any of my existing ceiling fixtures. I've tried. If I have to switch out all the fixtures, that will cost me many times the price of a converter box.

If the slight flickering of the new bulbs triggers migraines for some and seizures for a few more, that's just a darn shame (to Congress,) too.

I consider basic light more important than television, so I am angrier about this than the switch to digital broadcasts.

[peacock2121]

It's going to happen again, you know. We will be forced in 2012 by our beloved government to switch to the "new, improved, energy-saving" light bulbs, which cost far, far more than the old, familiar bulbs, which no longer will be available. More important to me than the initial cost of the fluorescent bulbs is the fact that they don't fit into any of my existing ceiling fixtures. I've tried. If I have to switch out all the fixtures, that will cost me many times the price of a converter box.

If the slight flickering of the new bulbs triggers migraines for some and seizures for a few more, that's just a darn shame (to Congress,) too.

I consider basic light more important than television, so I am angrier about this than the switch to digital broadcasts.

Start hoarding the old bulbs.

We are.

[Jeemie]

It's going to happen again, you know. We will be forced in 2012 by our beloved government to switch to the "new, improved, energy-saving" light bulbs, which cost far, far more than the old, familiar bulbs, which no longer will be available. More important to me than the initial cost of the fluorescent bulbs is the fact that they don't fit into any of my existing ceiling fixtures. I've tried. If I have to switch out all the fixtures, that will cost me many times the price of a converter box.

If the slight flickering of the new bulbs triggers migraines for some and seizures for a few more, that's just a darn shame (to Congress,) too.

I consider basic light more important than television, so I am angrier about this than the switch to digital broadcasts.

Start hoarding the old bulbs.

We are.

My guess is- there will be quite the black market for incandescent bulbs.

Then again, the world's supposed to end in 2012, so who cares?

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I'm thinking about asking for a coupon so I can donate it to the prisons so the inmates can still watch tv.

[earendel]

I'm thinking about asking for a coupon so I can donate it to the prisons so the inmates can still watch tv.

No need - I'm sure they already have the 42" HD plasma screen TVs in their rec rooms.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I'm thinking about asking for a coupon so I can donate it to the prisons so the inmates can still watch tv.

No need - I'm sure they already have the 42" HD plasma screen TVs in their rec rooms.

Actually there was a story about the S.C. prisons not having cable and no decoders.

[earendel]

I'm thinking about asking for a coupon so I can donate it to the prisons so the inmates can still watch tv.

No need - I'm sure they already have the 42" HD plasma screen TVs in their rec rooms.

Actually there was a story about the S.C. prisons not having cable and no decoders.

Doesn't that come under the heading of "cruel and unusual punishment"???

[ulysses5019]

No need - I'm sure they already have the 42" HD plasma screen TVs in their rec rooms.

Actually there was a story about the S.C. prisons not having cable and no decoders.

Doesn't that come under the heading of "cruel and unusual punishment"???

Only if they have to watch reality shows.

[littlebeast13]

It's going to happen again, you know. We will be forced in 2012 by our beloved government to switch to the "new, improved, energy-saving" light bulbs, which cost far, far more than the old, familiar bulbs, which no longer will be available. More important to me than the initial cost of the fluorescent bulbs is the fact that they don't fit into any of my existing ceiling fixtures. I've tried. If I have to switch out all the fixtures, that will cost me many times the price of a converter box.

If the slight flickering of the new bulbs triggers migraines for some and seizures for a few more, that's just a darn shame (to Congress,) too.

I consider basic light more important than television, so I am angrier about this than the switch to digital broadcasts.

Start hoarding the old bulbs.

We are.

My guess is- there will be quite the black market for incandescent bulbs.

Then again, the world's supposed to end in 2012, so who cares?

I have one celiing fixture which has 2 bulbs. I replaced the burned out one a few months ago with one of the long lasting "squiggly" bulbs.

3 days ago, the squiggly bulb burned out. It didn't even outlast the older incandescent.....

lb13

[Rexer25]

Start hoarding the old bulbs.

We are.

My guess is- there will be quite the black market for incandescent bulbs.

Then again, the world's supposed to end in 2012, so who cares?

I have one celiing fixture which has 2 bulbs. I replaced the burned out one a few months ago with one of the long lasting "squiggly" bulbs.

3 days ago, the squiggly bulb burned out. It didn't even outlast the older incandescent.....

lb13

You really have a light fixture in your room?

[littlebeast13]

My guess is- there will be quite the black market for incandescent bulbs.

Then again, the world's supposed to end in 2012, so who cares?

I have one celiing fixture which has 2 bulbs. I replaced the burned out one a few months ago with one of the long lasting "squiggly" bulbs.

3 days ago, the squiggly bulb burned out. It didn't even outlast the older incandescent.....

lb13

You really have a light fixture in your room?

I am only allergic to sunlight....

I spend more time under fluorescent light though than anything....

lb13

[gsabc]

Do that many people really still have non digital televisions?

We sell buttloads of converters, so apparently, yes.....

lb13

See my second paragraph. People getting converters does not necessarily mean they need them.

Plus, I'm sure some people actually think they needed them. My mom has fairly new televisions (not HDTV but within the digital age), plus she has cable. And she's still not quite sure that she doesn't need one of them there government boxes, despite our repeated attempts to reassure her. I think all of those important, official, persistent crawls across the bottom of the screen, along with all the stern warning advertisements have just scared people.

My mom has gotten calls from her cable company which, according to her, told her she needed to upgrade something in order to get the digital signal. They may have been trying to get her to buy a more expensive channel package with more digital and HD stuff. I had to work to convince her that she's okay simply by having cable. Her TV, which Sis and I bought for her a couple of years ago, is analog. She'll have to replace the kitchen TV, though, which isn't on cable and needed replacing anyway. We have that same kitchen TV situation in our house.

HS, OTOH, has our old humongous analog TV and can't afford a new one. We got a coupon and bought the box for him, along with a better antenna.

[ghostjmf]

gsabc says:

My mom has gotten calls from her cable company which, according to her, told her she needed to upgrade something in order to get the digital signal. They may have been trying to get her to buy a more expensive channel package with more digital and HD stuff. I had to work to convince her that she's okay simply by having cable. Her TV, which Sis and I bought for her a couple of years ago, is analog. She'll have to replace the kitchen TV, though, which isn't on cable and needed replacing anyway. We have that same kitchen TV situation in our house.

A lot of that cable-package selling is, tragically, to people who do not know that their analog TVs can't get those digital channels without added help, no matter what source is feeding them the signals. And a convertor I don't think would help them; my sister's cable company, for instance, has put its HD channels in the 700 # series, & its "regular digital" channels in the 200 # series; I don't know if convertor boxes can convert #s that high to analog, as they were built to expect broadcast-TV signals, broadcasting on a lower channel # series.

If all you want out of cable is a standard package, meaning the area's broadcast stations & whatever exta stations they give you at their lowest, "basic package" rate, it all should remain analog-compatible courtesy of the cable company until 2012, at which point they'll cut your mother & all others like her loose. As a convertor box expects a broadcast signal, not whatever the cable is sending, I dunno if it would help her to put a convertor into the link after 2012. But if the signal they're sending is identical to broadcast but just in a higher channel-#-spectrum, I guess all you'd need is a convertor that can tune in to that higher # spectrum. By that time they should be out there.

My sister is a knowing victim of the cable-co snare in that she pays for some movie channels she wants. These only come over on the higher-#-channel spectrum. So she has to get those channels tuned via cable-box. But, strangely enough, when you put a splitter on the cable after the cable box you find you are sending the exact same channel chosen to both halves of the split. Whereas if you have a splitter before the cable box, as she does, you send the non-box-but-still-cable signal to a seperate device, & can tune in a different channel than the one you are watching via the box.

But I'd guess a lot of people have paid for high def channels, & not read through the very confusing cable company literature to find out that the only stuff really coming over in high def is, in fact, well, those high-def channels. And the only stuff coming over digitally at all is the digital channels. So they brag about their great TV even though its just "regular digital", or, heaven forfend, a good old analog signal.

[ghostjmf]

gsabc says:

HS, OTOH, has our old humongous analog TV and can't afford a new one. We got a coupon and bought the box for him, along with a better antenna.

I hope the better-antenna is better at UHF signals. I'm putting off buying the better antenna until the switch is actually upon us, whenever it really happens, because I don't want to shell out for an antenna that gets both better VHF & UHF, because pretty soon there will be no VHF for me to tune in. The UHF-only better antennae are rated, well, better. But I still need my VHF antenna now.


I also am not really excited about going over to the "tune your convertor boxes & VCRs in tandem" situation I have outlined until I really have to. Yeah, I still hold out hope for that DVR/DVD unit that will tune in 2 simultaneous stations on one machine, & output converted-to-analog as an option. The machine that doesn't quite exist yet. Though DTVPal DVR is almost there. They only just have to add the DVD part. Darn it.

[Jeemie]

I have one celiing fixture which has 2 bulbs. I replaced the burned out one a few months ago with one of the long lasting "squiggly" bulbs.

3 days ago, the squiggly bulb burned out. It didn't even outlast the older incandescent.....

lb13

Some of the compact fluorescents are better than others.

We can't get a certain brand of compact fluorescent recessed lights ("Bright Horizons", I think- or something like that) for the same reason- they burn out in a week.

[ne1410s]

Just a comment:

Both ghost's and WG's posts give me headaches, but, sometimes WG's make me laugh. Carry on.

[ToLiveIsToFly]

The switch to digital will free up bandwidth for emergency communications. But they should have made someone pay for it besides The Usual Suspects. Meaning us. Again.

I'm tired of being left holding the bag.

I couldn't agree more that they shouldn't have stuck us with the bill.

But the switch to digital will only free up bandwidth in the sense that tv broadcasters will no longer have BOTH digital and analog bandwidth, which they have for the past, what, dozen years? If there was no switch in the first place, the digital spectrum would be available.

[ne1410s]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-d ... 7360.story

Answers a plethora of questions concerning said topic.