Obituaries touting the death of NTSC television may be premature.

[andy]

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[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by andy

It's funny that so many people have been putting off buying a DVD recorder until they make ones with digital tuners. You'd think this demand would cause them to make them, but they aren't doing it until they have to. So much for the free market...

That's precisely the reason I have not bought one: the built-in analog tuner would need a vaporware converter box on D-Day. I have a strong distaste for buying something "just for a couple of years" and then have to buy the latest and greatest to replace it, due to (obviously) planned obsolescence.

Plus, apparently there are people with money to burn, so they figure "Ooh, a new toy! Gimme!", buy an analog-tuner'd DVD recorder, and then think nothing of buying a replacement. Sorry, but money's too hard to come by in my house to toss things so easily. Seems half the time, what I or my family consider perfect for us isn't popular with most other folks!

Tom

[Carmine]

Originally Posted by OvenMaster

I have a strong distaste for buying something "just for a couple of years" and then have to buy the latest and greatest to replace it, due to (obviously) planned obsolescence.

Plus, apparently there are people with money to burn, so they figure "Ooh, a new toy! Gimme!", buy an analog-tuner'd DVD recorder, and then think nothing of buying a replacement. Sorry, but money's too hard to come by in my house to toss things so easily. Seems half the time, what I or my family consider perfect for us isn't popular with most other folks!

Tom

Just one comment... Planned obsolescence occurs in the free-market, meaning your TV/car/toothbrush might function perfectly well, but you simply don't want to appear to be the neighborhood nutcase or cheapskate because you're watching a 1965 TV set while the rest of the world has moved on to flatscreens.

This is government mandated obsolescence, when the feds FORCE citizens to broadcast (thereby receive) in a different format at the point of a gun. In a true free-market example, both analog and digital would co-exist until broadcasters decided it was no longer cost-effective to pay the electric bill for the analog transmitter.

Peace Out.

[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by Carmine

Just one comment... Planned obsolescence occurs in the free-market, meaning your TV/car/toothbrush might function perfectly well, but you simply don't want to appear to be the neighborhood nutcase or cheapskate because you're watching a 1965 TV set while the rest of the world has moved on to flatscreens.

This is government mandated obsolescence, when the feds FORCE citizens to broadcast (thereby receive) in a different format at the point of a gun. In a true free-market example, both analog and digital would co-exist until broadcasters decided it was no longer cost-effective to pay the electric bill for the analog transmitter.

Peace Out.

You're quite correct. Point taken. Perfectly good gear being relegated to the scrap heap for someone else's agenda and potential profit..
Tom

[Thyratron]

[QUOTE=Carmine]"...your TV/car/toothbrush might function perfectly well, but you simply don't want to appear to be the neighborhood nutcase or cheapskate because you're watching a 1965 TV set while the rest of the world has moved on to flatscreens."

People must really think I'm the nutcase then (drive a '60s car, use rotary phones and no cell phone, use a typewriter, have 8-tracks, etc.)

[peverett]

The converters are not vaporware. I have one. They do seem to be only available by mail order though. I purchased mine from Newegg.com.

It works ok on over-the-air signals as I am fairly close to the transmitters. As long as it does work, it is great-no snow at all. When it doesn't work it is fairly irritating as the picture pixellates or freezes and the sound stops.

One thing that I have found is that the stations HDTV signal strength varies greatly here-Austin, Texas. The lone VHF station(thanks to LBJ), Fox, has a very weak HDTV signal, but a very strong analog signal. I cannot receive their HDTV signal(As do not ever watch them, it does not matter to me). I can receive the other network stations on HDTV as well as their UHF analog signals. The suprise is PBS. I get them much better with two seperate channels on HTDV, but can barely recieve their analog UHF single channel signal.

I do not know if the stations will change their HDTV signal transmit power levels here once the analog signals are turned off.

[RVonse]

Originally Posted by peverett

I do not know if the stations will change their HDTV signal transmit power levels here once the analog signals are turned off.

I'm having an awful time with reception as well. The old VHF antenna still on the shingles of my roof won't work at all for UHF digital. So I hosted a UHF antenna onto a 15 foot pipe anchored to my chimney and even at that I can't get anything in the summer. After the tree leaves fall I can get most of the stations in the winter though.

I'm afraid thats about as tall as I can go with the antenna before I get into trouble with wind problems. I don't think the neighborhood will approve of a bigger tower than I have either.

[Arkay]

Originally Posted by OvenMaster

...Seems half the time, what I or my family consider perfect for us isn't popular with most other folks!
Tom

Man, does that line ring a harmonic chord here! I suspect I may be seen as a weirdo by some acquaintances because I like the "old-fashioned" stuff that was built to last, instead of plastic junk cranked out with "planned obsolescence" in mind. [I suspect a disproportionate percentage of AKers would feel the same way.] As an American living in (98% Chinese) Hong Kong, I find a lot of things I like are unknown or unpopular here, which only adds to the feeling, and much of the popular culture here (Canto-pop songs, many movies, etc...) has no appeal to me. Very definitely not "mainstream tastes" in this household!