Digital TV transition delay bill fails to pass in House!
 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/28/d...pass-in-house/

This will be remembered at one of the most unexpected votes in history. It was expected the pubs would support it to set Obama up for the upcoming stimulus bill.


However, In a shocking move they shut this madness down. My guess is they knew the stimulus was going to pass and wanted to use this to hand Obama his first setback.

I think Obama was stupid to support such a delay. Those who have not converted by now are better off listening to radio. The excuse of them not receiving emergency news is bull because the airwaves cant be touched for 30 days afterwards to allow for an instant turn back on if needed in case of disaster. Also even FM radio has more range because of where it is on the spectrum and the antennas are built for that exact area.

There is a slight chance there will be another bill. However, Both parties are already preparing the PR blitz to blame the other for the madness. Some things never change.

Exactly. People have only been warned for what; two years now. If they haven't prepared by now then it is their own fault.

I have this feeling that the cable companies are all going to start jacking their rates up and charging everyone their current expensive digital premium package prices. I'm not looking forward to this transition and I have a feeling that the companies are going to use it to sqeeze more cash out of the consumers.

You want to tell that to her?

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget....commercial.jpg

I'm sure their competitors, the Satellite TV companies, would just love for them to do that so they can take more of the market share...

August I believe that was a SNL skit or somthing or another.

You ought to see the whole thing. It is funny as hell. She even tries to install a C-band dish!

The crazy thing is this is EXACTLY what is happening!

Cable companies are in a plethora of lawsuits over them not replacing the old set top boxes with digital cable boxes when they dropped channels. (Each analog chan they drop means another 2 HD chans they can fit on the cable)

Sat is reeping the benefits with higher quality HD signals. To the point where it is now cheaper to go with one of them and use the cable company for internet.

My guess is this will only get worse for Cable companies. They are seeing subscriptions drop like crazy and tons of complaints about lackluster Mpeg-2 HD signals. Eventually I predict they will just go back to basic analog cable and devote the rest of the line to internet.

Thanks for the heads up Zach. That pic was off your link so I'm wondering if they even know where it comes from.

Seriously, I just installed a couple of those converters at an elderly couples house last month and I was not impressed by the picture quality of broadcast digital at all.

Unless you live right next to the broadcast tower it's going to be too frustrating to watch. A little snow on the picture, typical for broadcast reception, is one thing but freezes and loss of sound will get irritating real quick.

Many stations have already changed over leaving perhaps one or two transponders for rural local stations.

I have Direct tv and I even have a HD video card /HD TV receiver card for satellite radio using Vista Media Center. Still need a roof top HD antenna, but I'm ready.

The republicans alone could not defeat this reuest from the white house they had to have some help. :yep:

August you are aware that most DTV stations use UHF for higher range?

That is something that I think has not been talked about enough. Only in seriously congested signal regions that you will see VHF DTV signals.

Ask them if you can order this for them. This is the #1 Antenna for DTV UHF reception and I have seen it pull GREAT signal quality.

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-PHDTV1...dp/B0007XDI54/

Be careful with the video. HD recordings can EASILY fill just about any hard drive under 1 TB.

Tell me about it :p

*peeks at bandwidth meter*

Strewth!

As far as I knew the regular VHF stations weren't going to be changing their operating frequencies but I suppose anything is possible.

Thanks for the antenna tip. I happen to have 4 of them sitting in my storage room atm. I was planning to climb up on their roof and install one come springtime. Another reason I'm happy for the delay seeing as they live in upstate Maine.

Direct tv has somekind of blocker that not only stops the recording of what I see, but blocking what I see if it is a movie channel, even AMC or TCM.

A little message pops up blanking the screen saying I am not authorized to record this channel.

Try a good UHF antenna first. Just set it up and point it at the nearest group of antennas you ought to get a bunch of channels.

In Soviet Russia you do not delay DTV... DTV delays YOU!