Digital by Law?

EK · Post by EK » Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:29 pm

Ayn Rand wrote:
Darcie wrote:I believe you are thinking of freedom of speech,

Which is part of the first amendment.

Darcie wrote:but I was referring to allocation of frequencies, radio and TV call letters, and the like.
It doesn't matter, the government shouldn't control those things. Would we let the government allocate printing presses? Of course not. Speech and the median by which it is transmitted must be with out government controls for free speech to be real. Otherwise the government can shut down radio and TV at will or refuse to give frequencies to stations the government doesn't like.

They're not essentially taking away our access to the content- they're just switching to a new medium. But meh- they abridge the first amendment by regulating the content of the broadcasts anyway so why should you be angry- censorship is already there.

Thursday Next · Post by **Thursday Next** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:15 pm

By going digital you get more sub-channels which will mean more content (not that I'm saying that's a good thing). The other thing by going digital you either have the signal or you don't. Polar bears in snowstorms on the tv will be a thing of the past. Those people who where on the fringe of the signal will most likely be able to pull in a clear picture.

John Chrysostom · Post by **John Chrysostom** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:48 pm

ek wrote:They're not essentially taking away our access to the content- they're just switching to a new medium. But meh- they abridge the first amendment by regulating the content of the broadcasts anyway so why should you be angry- censorship is already there.

The problem is that the government decides who gets to use the medium. As I said previously it would be like the government allocating printing presses to newspapers and magazines. They have the power to shut off the tv media if they choose to, while they haven't abused that power yet they could.

COWBOY OF TEXAS · Post by **COWBOY OF TEXAS** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:09 pm

I wonder how much the companies making the new technology will make off of all this.

$$$$ $\:D/$

-Cowboy

Post by **bookworm** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:28 pm

But no one answered my question:

Don't you need to buy a special receiver or something for this if you don't have cable?

I mean, if you do you would need to buy it right? And that means that this transition is the equivalent of the government forcing you to spend money on this right? Because otherwise you can't receive anything?

STRYPER · Post by **STRYPER** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:24 am

Yes, if you don't have cable or anything you will ultimately have to buy a receiver device. These won't be available, however, until later next year...

Me · Post by Me » Fri Dec 07, 2007 2:02 am

That is actually somewhat incorrect. Most television sets constructed in the last five years or so already have the digital tuners built in. If you have a relatively new TV, you probably won't have to worry about it.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:47 am

*doesn't have a newer tv*

*probably won't even bother, as by that time won't want cable anyway*

The Top Crusader · Post by **The Top Crusader** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:48 am

Yeah we have a really old TV... though we do have another year and 2 months to worry about it...

EK · Post by EK » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:23 pm

Yeah my TV already has it on there...I need to get a HD reciever though....just because...HD y0.

Movieman · Post by **Movieman** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:35 am

I'm not sure if I want to save up to get HDTV, or save up to get a PS3 and just play blueray discs off of that.

Me · Post by Me » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:18 am

But then the bluray features would be useless without an HDTV...

Movieman · Post by **Movieman** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 12:10 pm

Me wrote:But then the bluray features would be useless without an HDTV...

How could you watch HDTV without an HD player? hehe

(a parodox?

)

Me · Post by Me » Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:28 pm

If your laptop has a DVI port, then you can hook it straight up to the TV, if it has the right input.

(A most ingenious *almost* paradox)

Post by **bookworm** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:52 pm

sorry to bump this up again but...

We got a converter box for our TV, and it isn't picking things up. It works though, because we get a new channel with four stations, so it is obviously digital; but it doesn't pick up the local stations.

It should though because they are running commercials saying "even though the complete switch isn't until feb. we are now digital and you can see us if you have a converter box" and stuff like that.

Also, it gets rid of the antenna channels. So we have to choose the one digital channel, or our normal channels, and hook or unhook the box accordingly.

Has anyone else gotten a box yet? Having any problems? Is it just us?

The Top Crusader · Post by **The Top Crusader** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:31 pm

bookworm wrote:sorry to bump this up again but...

We got a converter box for our TV, and it isn't picking things up. It works though, because we get a new channel with four stations, so it is obviously digital; but it doesn't pick up the local stations.

It should though because they are running commercials saying "even though the complete switch isn't until feb. we are now digital and you can see us if you have a converter box" and stuff like that.

Also, it gets rid of the antenna channels. So we have to choose the one digital channel, or our normal channels, and hook or unhook the box accordingly.

Has anyone else gotten a box yet? Having any problems? Is it just us?

We've had similar problems. We get two of the stations we got without the box, plus their extra stations that come with them... .2, and .3 or whatever.

However we lose our Fox which we watch some, and CBS and ABC which never came in THAT great anyway, so we don't miss them as much but apparently all three of those (they're owned by the same company and broadcast from the same location) are under some certain law that since they are such low frequency, they don't even have to upgrade to digital... and the box is a pain to connect and disconnect so for now we just aren't using it.

Post by **bookworm** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:20 pm

That's exactly what happens to us.

As I believe I already stated, we just have a roof antenna.

So our normal stations are ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX

Okay, so we hook up the box; all those are gone, and we get what is apparently the only digital station on the air in our area and its four digital station channel thingies: 22-1, 22-2, 22-3, 22-4

But no regular TV. So we just unhooked ours as well.

We no longer need the box however because our TV blew out and we got a new one, which has the box built in, but still; if we didn't we would really be stuck.

We figured that we would just not use it until the complete switch in February, then we would see for sure what we got and could tell someone if something wasn't right.