dtv transition - Gizmodo

posts about #dtvtransition more →
Goodbye, Analog Static
Our DTV Transition Flowchart
Does Your TV Still Work?
Reminder: DTV Transition Is Today, June 12th
70-Year Old Man Shoots TV, Engages in Standoff With Police Over DTV Transition
Obama Officially Delays Analog Broadcast Shutdown to June 12
New DTV Transition Date May Result Converter Box Shortage
DTV Switchover Screwing Spanish-Speaking Viewers

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infmom
06/13/09

In reply to Goodbye, Analog Static
Hah. You guys are pikers. You need to be able to remember what the snow looked like on a color TV in 1959.
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daqman
06/13/09

In reply to Goodbye, Analog Static
When we watched too much tv as a kid my dad would say "you'd watch the dot in the middle of the screen". What he meant was the glowing dot you used to get in old CRT tvs that had valves etc after you turned them off. I haven't seen a dot in the middle of a screen for maybe thirty years.

In another thirty years when you talk about snow on the screen kids will give the same blank stare.
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infmom
06/13/09

@daqman: My dad told my TV-junkie brother he'd be happy watching test patterns. I wonder if anyone actually puts up a test pattern any more?
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strider_mt2k
06/13/09

In reply to Reminder: DTV Transition Is Today, June 12th
Nothing lasts forever.
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Terry
06/12/09

In reply to Goodbye, Analog Static
When I was a kid, we called the static "Ant Wars".
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GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
06/13/09

@Terry: When I was a kid, we used Army Ants:
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Kaiser-Machead
06/12/09

In reply to Goodbye, Analog Static
Oh memories we had together

You turned to shit in stormy weather

But every Sunday you just seem

To improve when we watch the A-Team

Air Wolf, Knight Rider, were there too

The Love Boat was expecting you

Disney lineups, afternoon

then Small Wonder, Silver Spoons

I miss you already! :(
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Heliophage
06/13/09

@Kaiser-Machead:

I just shed a single tear.
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GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
06/12/09

In reply to Goodbye, Analog Static
Much like children of a future generation will not know what "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" means, so to will:

They're Heeeeeeere!

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Shamoononon: I shave my legs.
06/12/09

@MakinSense...ForOnce_GitEmSteveDave: OMG, I never noticed before, but that's the same bed post that use to be on my old bed. It was creepy.
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GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee
06/12/09

@Shamoononon, Vampire Grater: And Craig T. Nelson used to be my Dad! I wonder, I mean what are the chances? Me, a single CamWhore, you a blow up doll...could we be siblings separated at birth? Shayna, is that you?
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lostarchitect
06/12/09

In reply to Our DTV Transition Flowchart
ok, has anyone else in the NYC area lost a bunch of channels? i have a digital antenna and tv with integral tuner. yesterday i was getting 7-1, 11-1, 13-1 and several other channels. today, they're gone. i am still getting a bunch of digital channels, but I am missing fucking 13! the only one i actually watch! farts!
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Purple Dave
06/13/09

@lostarchitect:
Welcome to the world of "better picture". Roughly translated that means, "if you were having trouble pulling it in before, we'll just turn it off for you right now".

On the other hand, DTV OTA signals are carrying multiple sub-channels, while cable services only provide you the main ones (no -2's, -3's, etc).
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switchblade saints
06/12/09

In reply to Our DTV Transition Flowchart
it is missing the step:

"is it plugged in"
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Homerjay is utterly alone.
06/12/09

@switchblade saints: It's also missing "Call Grandson"
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OMG! Ponies!
06/12/09

In reply to Does Your TV Still Work?
So 15 people broke their TV with their Wiimotes?
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Sihanouk-s-Poodle
06/12/09

@OMG! Ponies!: Last week my TV started turning off randomly. Perhaps it's joined a union.
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Nick
06/12/09

@Sihanouk-s-Poodle: VCRs unionized and you saw what happened to them.
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OMG! Ponies!
06/12/09

In reply to Does Your TV Still Work?
Yes. My 200 lb. HDTV still works. And if it didn't, I wouldn't care. I have enough DVDs and video games to last me until analog television becomes a niche market that caters to bespectacled bearded videophiles to bore everyone within earshot with arguments of how analog television just looks warmer.
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ethanlechcharles
06/12/09

@OMG! Ponies!:

We all know the noise adds life to the image. DTV is so flat and lifeless. You'd be better off watching nothing without a $1000+ DA converter.
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OMG! Ponies!
06/12/09

@ethanlechcharles: Analog TV is so much better. Adjusting the rabbit ears and vertical hold was part of the TV watching experience. I would rather watch "All In The Family" or "Taxi" than the made-for-the-masses TV that the big conglomerates put out nowadays.

TV back then was about making a statement; now it's just about making money. You haven't lived until you've watched the Immaculate Reception on a 19" Zenith in an original wood cabinet. With the color skewed a little towards cyan, you can practically taste the Schlitz. All it needs is a gas crisis. Football on a 60" plasma just doesn't compare.
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Kaiser-Machead
06/12/09

@OMG! Ponies!: If it's so much warmer, how come they call it "snow", huh smart guy?
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OMG! Ponies!
06/12/09

@Kaiser-Machead: It's a technical term. That white noise added vibrancy to the broadcast. Plus, the color bleed added something that just can't be quantified.

There's a part of it that most people nowadays can't appreciate. Sure, digital TV gives you a "sharper" picture and you get stuff like 5.1 surround but you're missing out on so much more. Like adjusting the fine-tune dial to really tune in a station. Or, having to switch the top knob to "U" to get the UHF stations. There are people who don't even know what UHF is. And you don't even get knobs on TVs now.

You show someone still in high school an analog TV and I'll bet you they wouldn't even know how to turn it on, more or less how to get the news from Walter Cronkite.
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Nick
06/12/09

@OMG! Ponies!: i have to admit you are right on this one Ponies!. there are certain qualities in an old set that you can't find with HD these days. i, for one, would only hook my atari up to an old bunny eared, dual knobbed, UHF lovin' TV saved from some old motel somwhere to achieve the full effect the designers intended. any other TV would be like puttin leaded gas in a new prius.
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Cordfucious of Tech Clan
06/12/09

@OMG! Ponies!: But you fail to mention the joy in placing foil tips on the antenae to maximize your viewing experience. And when the "clicker" actually clicked!
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Cordfucious of Tech Clan
06/12/09

@Cordfucious of Tech Clan: and not to mention following the screen till it was the size of pencil lead when you cut off the set.

Ohh nostalgia why are you such a heartless shrew?
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Kaiser-Machead
06/12/09

In reply to Does Your TV Still Work?
It has yet to bring home a paycheck, so my answer, is no.
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nutbastard
06/12/09

@Kaiser-Machead:

yeah my TV, as far as i know, has been sitting on its lazy ass 24/7 since it was born. it spent some time laying down getting plugged the other day - again, lazy lazy lazy. didn't even push back when i was plugging it.
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OMG! Ponies!
06/12/09

@nutbastard: I can top that.

I got a Wii and Wii Fit. My 200 lb. television had the audacity to call me overweight. Like that Wide Load was one to talk.

And yes, HDTV, you are fat. You're not widescreen; you're not 16:9; you're not a WEGA. YOU ARE FAT, YOU LOUSY CRT BEHEMOTH!
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nutbastard
06/12/09

@OMG! Ponies!:

the problem is that the skinny ones are always high maintenance. that's why i always go for TV's that are in good shape, but maybe have a little chub on em. there's less competition, and they dont make the rest of my appliances look ugly by comparison.

oh but they DO have to be black, and willing to accept multiple inputs simultaneously, and must be cool enough to let my friends watch, too. that's just how i roll.
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Nick
06/12/09

@Kaiser-Machead: you have to send in the UPC from the box and your original receipt. pay check will come in about 6 - 8 weeks.
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Jim-Bob
06/12/09

In reply to Does Your TV Still Work?
Well, I am too poor to afford cable, but I have a DTV converter box and rabbit ears. I was only able to get 1 channel before the transition, but now I get...NONE! So, yeah, my TV is now just a useless waste of space that does nothing, as compared to the useless waste of space that was occasionally entertaining before...
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ripfire
06/12/09

@Jim-Bob: You're not getting anything even with a DTV converter box? Where do you live?
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Pew Pew BOOM
06/12/09

In reply to Does Your TV Still Work?
Yes, I was just playing Red Faction: Guerrilla, seemed fine.
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nutbastard
06/12/09

@I have a cat that can beat me up:

word to the red faction action!
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infmom
06/12/09

In reply to Reminder: DTV Transition Is Today, June 12th
I'm an old person and I'm not giving up the rabbit ears. They provide the reception to our converter box, at least till my old husband puts up the outside antenna he's been talking about for 15 years.

Yeah, we also have cable.
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travisvannimwegen
06/12/09

In reply to Reminder: DTV Transition Is Today, June 12th
I agree completely with theeraserhead.
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infmom
06/12/09

@Travis VanNimwegen: Is that a big ditto from you?
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