I don't really know what's on TBN these days. Didn't have it in Chicago, and haven't looked for it since moving out here. I'm just operating there on the principle that any kind of variety in the wasteland that is broadcast television is better than no variety. Alternatives are essential.
TBN is Trinity Broadcast Network and is the largest Christian television network. I believe it was founded by Jan and Paul Crouch along with Jim and Tammy Faye.
To be honest I do not know what sort of programming they push out but I do know that Paul and Jan are often seen on there sitting on their gold chairs in their hugely overdone studio telling you how they and God need your money.
You're right. I was thinking of TNN or TNT, rather than TBN, but the station in question is indeed a TBN affiliate. OK, no loss there. As you might expect, I'm not exactly up on television stuff, since I only use it for news and weather.
Thanks for the thought. It's not really as big as my commentary might make it sound. We really don't watch television at all except for the news occasionally. I'm just irritated by the bureaucratic nonsense over it all, and the pointlessness. I really think the change was made without any regard for rural areas and with a lot of interest in making money for the electronics manufacturing sector, who were pushing HDTVs and not getting enough sales.
Rotator? You mean you can actually move your aerial on the fly? This might be due to a difference in the way things work. In the UK ALL channels are broadcast from twenty or thirty transmitter towers./ I am willing to be that in the US each station has it's own transmitter and as such you need to orient your receiving equipment to that individual transmitter. Am I correct?
Remember the difference in distances here, and the fact that I'm not very close to any major city. Television stations are usually located in or near large urban populations. They do tend to cluster their transmitting antennae at optimal locations, so the tops of tall buildings are often loaded with them (along with other various radio services
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So yes, we have a "steerable array" antenna that was installed on the house shortly after it was built in the 1970s
Aye..that;s what I was getting at. What a fantastically brilliant idea. I am used to the things just being set once, screwed into place and then moving. For reasons I explained earlier. :D
Digital television is very, very picky
I've been viewing digital TV for some time now. I must admit I am not overly keen on it. While a selection of more than 5 channels has a novelty value for a bit, it soon wears off when you see the quality of output deteriorate in front of your eyes. I can almost give you an exact year when TV moved from watchable to total dross.
Then there is the quality of the picture. Widely advertised as being superior to analogue I was very disappointed by the highly visible compression artifacts on some channels (Virgin 1 is APPALLING for this.) Woe betide you if you're viewing something like "The Hunt for Red October." The shades of sea water are supposed to change gradually. Not all of a sudden!
Oh, and of course, everything there in the UK is, or at least was, run by the BBC so yes, very likely all the transmitters and antennae were in the same place for any given region. Here radio and television stations are all private commercial ventures that are merely licensed by the government and set up their equipment wherever they can find a usable site.
I find your whole series of DTV posts very amusing. Reminds me a bit of the late 80s and these strange rotating devices and massive antennae you would find in the catalogues of the time. :)
Then again, the only time I've been without any television reception at all was when I was living in a flat where the cable TV had been disconnected and the DVB switchover had already taken place save for one transmitter that was a bit away, so all I could get was some patchy WDR reception and a near-unwatchable Dutch channel that slinked in from beyond the border. And that just was because I couldn't be bothered to go out and buy a DVB receiver as I was living off pot noodles at the time.
The thing is in Europe you rarely have to deal with the distances we do here. The nearest transmitter tower to here is about 60 km away. On air signals are chancy.
There is no cable television except in cities and towns. It just doesn't exist.
Satellite dishes are available, but too costly for the tiny amount of television I use. Particularly since they require a two year contract and a huge installation fee due to the nature of my property and surrounding terrain.
People who just can't live without television pay the money. Those who don't much care do without.
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As in Jan and Paul Crouch TBN?
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To be honest I do not know what sort of programming they push out but I do know that Paul and Jan are often seen on there sitting on their gold chairs in their hugely overdone studio telling you how they and God need your money.
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Aye..that;s what I was getting at. What a fantastically brilliant idea. I am used to the things just being set once, screwed into place and then moving. For reasons I explained earlier. :D
Digital television is very, very picky
I've been viewing digital TV for some time now. I must admit I am not overly keen on it. While a selection of more than 5 channels has a novelty value for a bit, it soon wears off when you see the quality of output deteriorate in front of your eyes. I can almost give you an exact year when TV moved from watchable to total dross.
Then there is the quality of the picture. Widely advertised as being superior to analogue I was very disappointed by the highly visible compression artifacts on some channels (Virgin 1 is APPALLING for this.) Woe betide you if you're viewing something like "The Hunt for Red October." The shades of sea water are supposed to change gradually. Not all of a sudden!
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Then again, the only time I've been without any television reception at all was when I was living in a flat where the cable TV had been disconnected and the DVB switchover had already taken place save for one transmitter that was a bit away, so all I could get was some patchy WDR reception and a near-unwatchable Dutch channel that slinked in from beyond the border. And that just was because I couldn't be bothered to go out and buy a DVB receiver as I was living off pot noodles at the time.
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There is no cable television except in cities and towns. It just doesn't exist.
Satellite dishes are available, but too costly for the tiny amount of television I use. Particularly since they require a two year contract and a huge installation fee due to the nature of my property and surrounding terrain.
People who just can't live without television pay the money. Those who don't much care do without.
Reply
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