about the coming Digital TeeVee thingy:
This is not "the biggest thing since tv went color"--it's bigger. The color conversion of the mid-60s didn't shut anybody out. Heck, until 1985 my personal in-room tv was black-and-white, as are many of my tv memories. Gradual consumer demand controlled the pace of the color switch, not the government fiat of forced obsolecence.
Many people who make the digi-switch but live a long distance from their towers are going to discover the Digital Cliff problem. With an analog signal, it gradually fades out. Some stations come in better than others; some are only affected in bad weather; some have a permanent snowy picture but are still viewable. Digital is all or nothing--if you move your antenna too far away, you'll suddenly get nothing. That is Some Bullshit.
Everything here is on cable, but I still have a six-inch battery-powered tv I got during the post-K days. Next month I'm gonna drag that out so I can watch the signals cut off at midnight while the cable keeps going. :(
Flashback! You young'uns won't believe this, but until the 60s there were only 3 tv stations in Nashville. A PBS affiliate started up in 1962, and the ABC transmitter was something like five watts. Then the company that owned the ABC affiliate bought the PBS station's license and they switched transmitters. This involved a one-hour, IIRC, simulcast in 1973 that was hosted by . . . wait for it . . . Big Bird.
Many people who make the digi-switch but live a long distance from their towers are going to discover the Digital Cliff problem. With an analog signal, it gradually fades out. Some stations come in better than others; some are only affected in bad weather; some have a permanent snowy picture but are still viewable. Digital is all or nothing--if you move your antenna too far away, you'll suddenly get nothing. That is Some Bullshit.
Everything here is on cable, but I still have a six-inch battery-powered tv I got during the post-K days. Next month I'm gonna drag that out so I can watch the signals cut off at midnight while the cable keeps going. :(
Flashback! You young'uns won't believe this, but until the 60s there were only 3 tv stations in Nashville. A PBS affiliate started up in 1962, and the ABC transmitter was something like five watts. Then the company that owned the ABC affiliate bought the PBS station's license and they switched transmitters. This involved a one-hour, IIRC, simulcast in 1973 that was hosted by . . . wait for it . . . Big Bird.