[mythtv-users] Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch
Jeff Walther
trag at io.com
Mon Jan 12 17:14:37 UTC 2009
> Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:12:15 -0800
> From: David Brodbeck <gull at gull.us>
> Allen Edwards wrote:
>> The entire DTV transition overall should save consumers money as many
> I'm not sure how this will save people money. Either they have to spend
> $50 for a converter box, or they have to get a new TV at three times the
> price of what analog TVs used to sell for.
>
> It seems to me that most of the benefits of this transition are not
> going to consumers, but rather to electronics manufacturers (who get to
> replace equipment that otherwise would have stayed in use), the
> government (which gets to sell the extra spectrum), and content
> providers (who now have their foot in the door when it comes to using
> DRM to block broadcast recording.)
In addition to the extra costs just to tune the new stations, there is
also the extra cost or added inconvenience to time shift.
For folks like me, who time shifted with an old VCR, the change is a pain
in the anatomy. The converter boxes have no timer function built in. So
while you can program your VCR to record a certain time period, one must
set the converter box to the proper channel manually beforehand.
Additionally, if you want to record two different channels back to back,
one must now be present to change the converter box channel rather than
letting the VCR handle it automatically.
This whole mess is actually what drove me to MythTV. :-)
Okay, there were cheaper solutions than MythTV, but none so elegant, IMO.
:-)
Now if I could just make time to install it. Sigh. I had a window of
time last summer but didn't make it past researching, purchasing and
assembling the hardware. (Oh, and installing the attic antenna and adding
a couple of cable runs.) However, by the time I have time to install the
software (probably this next summer) I'll have been scanning the email
list for a year, so I should have at least a passing familiarity with all
the things that can go wrong...
Anyway, I too think this conversion is great for electronics manufacturers
and the government and somewhere between a ripoff and a disaster for the
consumer. Was the bandwidth that was sold, sold permanently? Because
that seems awfully short sighted. The government gets a small windfall in
one budget year and nothing else. Sounds to me like the citizenry were
ripped off coming and going.
On the other hand, broadcast comes to me free. I can always live without
it, so I should not complain too vehemently.
Jeff Walther
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