Cool News
Tonight?? Old TV Switches Off Forever!!
I am – Hercules!!
The analog TV signals Americans have been watching for more than 80 years have only hours to live!
Millions of TV sets stop working at midnight tonight.
By government mandate, vanishing for good are the VHF video signals your grandparents’ old Philcos and Trinitrons were able to get without benefit of cable or satellite dishes. The UHF signals introduced in the 1950s are gone too.
Of course, most of us have cable or satellite, and we’ll scarcely notice the change. (Are Megan Fox and the others born later than 1975 even aware TV is available without cable or satellite?)
For the few without cable or satellite? New, digital over-the-air signals at new, different frequencies are already delivering local and network programming in HD. If in the last decade you bought a digital TV and a good, well-located antenna you can probably already watch an eyeful of over-the-air channels.
If not, $40 or $50 can buy you a box that will convert your old analog TV into an old digital TV. The U.S. government will even help you pay for two such boxes if you ask for the right coupons before July 31.
The FCC, gods love it, is providing free in-home help with converter installations for those with a box and an antenna but little know-how. For more information, call 888-CALL-FCC (888-225-5322) or go to www.dtv.gov).
I’m not sure there’s anything you can do about your old Sony Watchman or shower radio if they use the old TV frequencies.
(I wonder if the crappy picture I get via cable on channels 2, 4 and 5 will finally clear up at midnight.)
And remember, if an earthquake or hurricane cuts off your cable and you never upgraded to digital, you can still get your news of fires and floods and aftershocks and escaped zoo animals with a car radio if it’s not buried under concrete. The government has not yet announced any plans to take away FM.
Follow Herc on Twitter!
Two weeks ago a season of “The Simpsons” sold for $29.99!! The first 11 seasons of “The Simpsons” have suddenly plummeted for the moment to $12.99 each!! 
Last week an extra-crammed (and I mean extra-crammed!) season of “Seinfeld” ran $32.49; this week seasons three through nine are just $13.99 each!!
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predicted that this would happen.
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that people born after 1975 know about UHF and VHF signals. I was born in 1980 and I have fond, fond memories of trying to get signals using tin foil and rabbit ears on a B&W TV in my bedroom as a kid. Too much fun. We had cable for a little bit when I was a kid, but then we moved, and couldn't get it anymore. I didn't have cable TV until college after that.Now that I have digital HD cable, two HDTVs and two DVRS... I'm never going back.
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In the UK, we're turning off analogue signals one region at a time and it will take three years to complete. Guess what? There's loads of confusion. Just turn the bugger off like the damn yanks
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...but gradually between 2008 and 2012...I think. It sounds like you Yanks are getting a lot more help than we are, I feel sorry for our OAPs. I believe we have a telephone number we can call where you can get advice, but no help with installation or money-off coupons for equipment. I think the cheapest Freeview box I have seen is around £15 though, so not really an issue unless you are really broke.Also, does anyone know why America already had free to air HDTV and we do not? There has been talks of between 2 and 4 paltry free-to-air HD channels after the digital switchover but "there is no space for them at the moment". How the fuck can the US find the space but we cannot? Where the fuck is our space, or more accurately, who the fuck have they already sold the spectrum off to? Its a joke over here. How many HD channels are available over in the US that run alongside the old analogue signal? Excluding cable and satalite, of course.
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I think you can get free-to-air HD on Freeview can't you? With ITV?
I know with Sky it's a tenner a month -
...typing that made me forget I had a bath running and I nearly flooded my house. Fuck the Government and their half hearted approach to TV, ha.
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No mate, no HDTV on Freeview. You can get Freesat which has BBC HD and possibly ITV HD but it is fairly expensive and not really worth the cost until they add more channels.
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Freesat has an astonishing one HD channel. ITV HD appears very occasionally, but there is no proper HD channel - to get it you have to press the red button for the two shows per year they show in HD (usually football). Most of the HD channels on satellite are not full HD either. I think only BBC, Nat Geo and Discovery are in 1080
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goodbye Wheel Of Fish.
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I bet they wonder why there is so much TV piracy here in the UK. If they sorted their shit out no one would have to resort to Piracy.
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... is aware of anything at all except her buttcrack. And I have serious doubts about even THAT.
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Either they're our parents or grandparents that just never wanted to switch over, someone that just doesn't want or need to pay for cable, or they just could never afford cable.
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Best Buy is installing converter boxes for free too.
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...my abacus and gas lanterns.
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The digital conversion is an epic fail causing massive media madness. http://www.youtube.com/theconversion
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I'm probably one of the only Yanks that still has a an old tv that comes to the boards. Besides a couple of cool series never found a reason to get cable or satellite. Basic cable is mostly just 40 channels of crap. Anyway I've had my digital box for most of the year and been watching several new digital channels during that time. This morning noticed that the ABC channels weren't coming in so I did a re-scan of the channels and the box picked up about 6 new channels. Nothing mind blowing or even useful, basically other versions on PBS from farther away. I live in the middle part of Michigan and now I get some Detroit stations. I also turned the tv on without the box and found that the old stations are running snowy PSAs to tell people to convert already. Also, good point about when cable goes out during a storm or whatever, those people better get a box.
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You have Max Headroom as a spokesperson for the switchover. I'll take that over a coupon any day. How polite a term is "Yank?" Is it as rude as "Limey?"
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I doubt it. Two out of the six local channels in my area said fuck the FCC and switched over wayway in February when this was first supposed to go down, back whem B-Rock felt bad for people too simple to heed the warnings that something was coming and do something about it before it was too late (kinda sounds like another disaster that people paid no attention to and drowned in). They look absolutely no better than the basement broadcast CW and FOX stations (around here, CW is a secondary station of our CBS affiliate, and FOX is a bastard child of the ABC affiliate).
This just made me realize we can no longer go up to camp in the northern Maine woods and use our little B&W set and a jury rigged antennae to snag the CBC station coming out of New Brunswick. -
That person is my grandfather. He says there's nothing on TV worth the effort.
And everytime I surf the channels, I agree with him just a little bit more. -
Canada's digital transition isn't till... 2011 if I remember correctly. So yes, you CAN still pull in CBC over the air when camping, for now, just not a whole hell of a lot else with that set.
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i can't believe in this day and age there are people who aren't using cable. i can understand maybe a tv in someone's room or whatnot but a whole household without cable? not even basic cable? wow....i've never met anyone, i dont know anyone now who doesnt at least have basic in their living room. anyway it'll be interesting to see the "havoc" this will cause for some. lol
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They shouldn't have delayed from February. And they should start packing rabbit ears with TVs again. Fuck cable. Cable is too expensive for what you get. The handful of shows I actually watch I can get online or over the air locally. And the quality of ATSC broadcasts shits all over cable. You're looking at the signal that your cable company is then recompressing the hell out of. For the highest quality out of local stations it's worth getting an antenna. Also, ThisTV rules.
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In my area, basic cable is $65/month. The cheapest dish starts at $40/month. I have a coworker who is so burdened by other costs that she refuses to drop that money. It goes for basics.
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between the definition of "cable" between americans and canadians, or least the canadian that is me. when americans refer to cable, they usually mean things like HBO, Showtime etc... channels you have to pay extra to get. well again i dont know if its all canadians or just me but when i refer to cable, i just mean when you plug a cable into your television to get that basic channel lineup, over here its around 60 channels or so. so yeah i mentioned earlier i couldn't believe some people didnt have cable these days, thats what i'm talking about.
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- no premium channels - requires a box. There is no plugging the coax into the back of your tv. That is available in some outlying communities, but not in my city of 120,000. I tried to get it, for $20-odd dollars/month. No dice.
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you could plug the cable into the back of your TV, but you wouldn't get any signal. A second TV can have just the cable plugged in, but the channels are limited and you can't have an account without the box.
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And clearly remember having to move the antenna so I could watch TV in all its grannieness. Well, we'll miss you analog. We hardly knew thee.
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i figured some rural areas might not have that available but a 120 000 population town/city and still not? damn, i had no clue there were situations like that. the things you learn at AICN. :p
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i AM in a reasonably big city so maybe thats why i hadn't heard of this sorta this. because as i said over here you dont need the digital receiver if you only want the basic channel lineup. you can simply plug directly into the tv. the receiver just gives you those extra 600 channels or whatever and supposedly improves the picture but yeah it isnt needed. although our nationwide digital conversion hits in 2011 so i'm sure that wont work then either and everybody WILL need that receiver. its an informative day indeed.
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Until a handful of years ago, you could. But Comcast figured out that people would pay the extra $30-40 a month extra for the box, if the alternative was no cable at all. I only watch three or four channels, and I pay $60 a month, prorated with my internet and phone package.
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A reasonably priced hd set and a not too expensive powered antenna gives you a spectacular hd picture on most shows, better than digital cable. Sure it's only the major channels but really are comedy central and bbc america worth 75 bucks a month? I haven't cut cable yet but I'm thinkin' about it.
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Are Megan Fox and God. Are Megan Fox and the Universe and everything. Are Megan Fox and life as we know it.
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I remember changing the 13 channel dial on TV. Fixing the atenna. I remember the early Cable boxes that had a wire running to the cable box. I remember record albums.
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Jun 12, 2009 10:59:12 AM CDT
doesn't matter when u were born, it's how rich or poor u were
by orionsangels
I knew friends growing up all through the 80's that never had cable and had 13 channels and an antenna. There's still 3 million people who were using antenna, up until today.
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I'm going back to pornography where I belong.
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Worst part being, there's not any need for it. Increase bandwidth? Why? To allow for more channels? Heck, many specialty channels have about 30 viewers as it is. How much more fragmented do they want this to be? Or is it for High Definition? What? So we can see all that 'screen clutter' crap more clearly? "You're watching..." "Brand new episode..." and the rest of the *&#% they feel we can't live without on screen while trying to actually SEE what we're watching? I'll pass. With any luck, this lamebrain move will have millions of analog households join a couple of households I know up here in Canada. They can easily afford tv/cable, but aren't interested. They have no use for television. Don't even own one. Perhaps the soon-to-be-signal-less homes in the US will decide to just not bother converting. We can but hope.
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has this already started like today or does it only hit at a specific time this evening? its 12:32pm EST as i write.
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We grew up with cable TV and cant imagine people still using an antenna. The newborns today will grow up with IPTV on demand where you can watch what you want when you want it and will not believe there are still people watching boring cable networks.Personally, I got my cable yanked a few months back when they removed HD locals from the list of channels you can get without a converter box. I get HD from rabbit ears, and anything else I want from Hulu or itunes.
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As a Brit I don't take any offence at the word 'limey' as used to describe me (depending on context of course), and frequently use 'yank' without intending it to be offensive to Americans, since I have friends who are yanks. :)I don't even watch broadcast television any more. It all comes off the internet for me, legally or otherwise. The TV in the apartment is for watching DVDs and my flat-mate's PS3.
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When Marty's son sits in front of his large screen paper thin TV and says, channel 16, channel 54, channel 35, channel 98, channel, channel 5 and channel 10.
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This is going to be precious. Watching Middle America freak out beyond words, watching as thousands of television signals vanish and people pound on the side of their sets fruitlessly like that computer scene in ZOOLANDER. An independent poll did follow-up to government efforts to notify people about the changeover door-to-door, and found that roughly HALF the people didn't know what the pollsters were talking about - even though someone had been by their house a week before to PHYSICALLY IN-PERSON EXPLAIN IT TO THEM. THE LACK OF INTELLECT IN THE US IS SO STAGGERING, SO DEEP, SO PROFOUND it's like it's a medical condition. Sometimes I wonder if something really is wrong with the water. I mean, I honestly believe at this point you could tell a person in the US, "Remember that I'm holding a button in my left hand." and they would say "Ok." and then you'd say "What am I holding in my left hand?" and they'd say "Uh, hold on, I'm trying to think."
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That would be great if I watched broadcast TV. I don't watch much TV at all, but what I do watch is almost all cable stations. I might watch two hours a week from broadcast outlets. Good suggestion for many, though.
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"I've had a little bit too much. All of the people start to rush. Start to rush by. A dizzy twister dance! Can't find my drink or man. Where are my keys? I lost my phone. What's going on on the floor? I love this record baby, but I can't see straight anymore.
Keep it cool. What's the name of this club? I can't remember but it's all right, all right. Just dance. Gonna be okay. Da-doo-doo-doo. Just dance. Spin that record babe. Da-doo-doo-doo
Just dance. Gonna be okay. Duh-duh-duh-duh. Dance. Dance. Dance. Just dance. Wish I could shut my playboy mouth. How'd I turn my shirt inside out? Inside out - right. Control your poison, babe. Roses have thorns they say.
And we're all gettin' hosed tonight. What's going on on the floor? I love this record baby, but I can't see straight anymore.
Keep it cool. What's the name of this club? I can't remember but it's all right, all right."
"When I come through on the dance floor, checking out that catalogue, can't believe my eyes! So many women without a flaw. And I ain't gonna' give it up, steady tryn'a pick it up like a call. I'm gonna hit it! I'm gonna hit it and flex and do it until tomorrow, yeah! Shorty, I can see that you got so much energy the way you twirling up them hips round and round. There's no reason at all why you can't leave here with me. In the meantime, stay! Let me watch you break it down.""Half Psychotic, Sick hypnotic got my blueprint its symphonic. Half Psychotic, sick hypnotic got my blueprint electronic. Half Psychotic, Sick hypnotic got my blueprint its symphonic. Half Psychotic, sick hypnotic got my blueprint electronic."
"Go! Use your muscle! Carve it out! Work it! Hustle! I got it! Just stay close enough to get it!
Don't slow! Drive it! Clean it, Lysol! Bleed it! Spend the last dough - I got it - in your 'pocko!' I got it!"The Unitefd States, ladies and gentlemen! -
i've got rapidshare and torrents for my tv shows.
they only wanna make tv and radio digital to make it easier for them to take over in 2012... expect the microchips and barcodes next... although i reckon i already got a chip put in me when i (and millions of other british kids) got the BCG jab at school. what do you guys think? -
was always nice to have the possible chance to get a signal at your cottage in the woods.
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From a young person's perspective who's into their tiny gadgets internet world. It would seem everyone is on board the digital highway. I barely watch it, but some people just aren't into these modern digital times.
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So why does the government think they need to be a part of this. Why do we have the mentality that if the government isn't holding our hands and paying for our food, clothing & shelter that everything is wrong in the world? Its kind of silly that the government has to waste tax money on making sure that everyone can watch TV when the ecconomy is screwed up like it is and only getting worse since the year started. We have to much hand holding by the government.
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Dialing for dollars, QVC, Dr. Gene Scott 24/7, F-troop reruns...Ahh, you will be missed.
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I dunno about where you live, but where I live, those cheapo little stations made the transition. I've got a couple shopping channels, a Spanish Soap Opera channel, some religious channels and more, all fully digital...
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You must not be watching the digital channels then. Digital channels have absolutely no snow ever, no ghosts ever, nothing. The only way it could look the same as analogue TV would be if you were already getting a perfect picture from your antenna on that, and that's rare. Even when watching on a normal, non-HDTV, it should look better than cable. With digital you either get a perfect picture...or nothing. Or if you are just barely on the verge of getting a usable signal, you get a bunch of macro blocking (a perfect picture broken up into a bunch of little squares).
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If the endless promos are to be believed.
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Analog conversion of the Internet.
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Money thing (not having enough, or being smart enough to realize how big a rip both cable and dish are), an age thing (too old to care), or a snob thing (Oh I just watch Masterpiece theatre, Frontline, and Charlie Rose so good heavens, I won't buy that cable rubbish). I'm guessing most people here who were kids in the 80's know what over the air tv is because they probably had their own tv in their room that had bunny ears. I didn't know any kid who's parents hooked up cable in their room. I remeber having a little black and white set that I watched cartoons on.
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Of Course she wouldn't know. She wasn't built in the replicant factory until this decade.
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Not all of them, but some of them. And, it just doesn't seem like UHF without the snow and the crappy signal. I even miss the vertical hold. Well, until I start watching sports on my 1080P.
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You could somewhat watch it. You can't watch a bad digital signal.
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Terrestrial radio blows. And people not watching TV = A GOOD THING. Its a proven fact - Teluhvizun makes you dum. But you sure know a hell of a lot about the flaky goodness of Pillsbury Dough Crisps. Buy some today!
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Jun 12, 2009 1:33:03 PM CDT
I have a HD ANtenna and update my Digital air tuner regularly...
by hb_dad
But I still have Directv. I wish USA was broadcasting over the air in my area because I love their summer shows. Since they and many other "cable" networks don't, I must pay for services to get such channels. What's funny is that my local broacasts come in clearer over the air than I had with Time Warner, Verizon Fios, and Directv. If only there was an HD DVR that recorded HD over the air broadcasts...
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yeah
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HD Tivo does that. And if you get an HDTV card for your computer, Windows Media Center does a great job (I used that the last two years, all I watched was OTA digital).
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The Tivo one requires paid service granted its only $12.95. I was looking for a service free one that uses the TV Guide signal. I have an old Analog (I believe Panasonic) one and its only real drawback was that it was Analog. I need the same type of thing for HD.
As for the HDTV card, I would need the Mac version. However, I want to watch TV in my living room on my 47 inch Westinghouse, not on a computer screen.
Thanks for the info though... -
the picture is better than DirecTv.
Now if PBS would boost their signal. -
She'll be sitting in front of a tv that just finishes up the latest TV Prevue Guide, and then the little macro squares come up. Scary.
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"they're heeere....sorta....no they aren't... wait....yes they are...umm, maybe not....i dont know anymore i'm going to bed mommy"
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Hundreds of channels and NO COMMERCIALS. Yeah, that was the only way anbody back then would even consider paying for something which was already free--over the air television programs. Think of the bills your parents never had--cell phone, internet, cable. Now even radio is requiring a subscription. Sure, there was less electronic media, but then kids actually went outside then.
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Calling someone a 'Yank' who lives in the Southern United States is fightin' words lol.
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It's all Who Wants to Date My Celebrity Challenge?
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Oh wait...No we don't. Fuck, I can't drink from the fire hose anymore.
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But I got a couple of old like small portable TV. Now they will never work.
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It's not at midnight. It's at 1PM EST Friday. It's already done.
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miss out. hulu is trash because its not live and its not forever. shows only stay up for X amount of days, so good luck watching the whole season of a show you love. in low Def. Torrents are great, but again, the soonest you'll get them is the day after it actually airs. and quality can sometimes be awful if its not a super popular show. HD over-the-air is the highest quality signal you have access to. congrats that its free. if you are so out-of-touch with society and culture to not understand what happens tonight, you deserve to have static.
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Jesus!!!! Could have given a bit of warning!
Thanks alot for pulling the rug out from under me, government!! -
What you pay for on cable is garbage. One or two quality programs is not worth the rates they charge. Further more, cable and satellite deprive you of your local broadcasting, like Comcast did with WBGN here in the 'Burgh. BGN was the non-affiliated, low rent operation that ran old prints of Hawaii Five-O and Godzilla vs. Megalon, not to mention the excellent "The It's Alive Show." It was the last one, excluding religious and shopping channels. Comcast pulled the struggling local broadcaster and replaced it with dead air. Fuck cable. A crisp new signal to better enable free self-hypnosis is a great thing, for sure, but there is definitely something to be lost for it. So many low stakes players have to get out of the game because of this decision, and that means less variety and local insight. If you live in a major city, you owe it to yourself to view as much of your local independent broadcast stations as time allows, because that is the real question you need to ask Megan Fox, "Do you remember local, independent broadcasting?"
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I've never really seen the appeal of cable. At one point my roommate and I had free cable and I still didn't watch any of the cable channels. Most of the shows I watch are on the basic networks like NBC, FOX, ABC, and CBS. Of course I also don't really watch that much TV anyway. I'm either watching a movie or playing videogames.
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Some of us just don't believe in illegal downloads, even if we do engage in the practice on rare occasions.
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asshole. i will miss the novelty of hooking up any old tv and knowing i could watch the grainy goodness like people of past decades.
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Comcast the late night shows were all hicks selling overpriced baseball cards
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Remember those? You pull the knob out to turn it on, rotate it like a dial to adjust the volume, and push it in to turn it off. That's multi-functional!I subscribe to cable. Up until now, I've had the cable itself going into a splitter. One branch goes directly into my cable-ready VCR. (Yes, that's right, VCR, you young whippersnappers!) Comcast hates it when people do that, because it means you don't need to rent a converter box. But dammit, that's what all the VCR's channels are for! It says so in the instruction manual!The other branch goes into the converter box, to keep the clock and the on-screen program listings up to date. Plus, the converter gets a few of the higher-numbered channels the VCR can't, plus the On-Demand programming. Plus, I can watch one show and tape another.Anyway, it's been working just fine for years, until about 2 weeks ago, when the converter box wasn't getting any channels anymore. The VCR was fine, though. The cable guy came over to fix it, and sure enough, he took the splitter out of the loop. Presto, all the channels were back. He said, "it's because of the splitter. Don't use the splitter." Yeah, right, old man. Cable-ready VCR! Instruction manual! Hello?So I hooked it back up the way I like it, and all the channels went away again! I tried using different coaxial cables, different connectors, and everything works fine until I use the splitter. I even bought a new splitter, and it didn't work either! Dammit, I've been doing it the same way for 10 years, why is it not working anymore? Does it have something to do with the conversion to digital? Get off my lawn, you stupid kids!Whew. I guess I just needed to get that off my chest.
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Hey, Hikaru! Another Pittsburgher here! Looking forward to new "It's Alive" episodes on the new channel this weekend.
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The ghostly images, your "crappy picture" on 2, 4 & 5 should go away after the signal has stopped broadcasting.
I also gotta say I love the Weird AL UHF references, gonna miss the old UHF :( -
... forgot this woukd go away too! Dang, used to listen to Seinfeld reruns on my little radio sometimes while on walks.
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guys nobody watches TV anymore..it's all about downloads...soon you will realize that hard copy/formats are also consigned to history!!
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You're describing the exact setup I had in my room from the early 90s up until early 2002 when I got a new TV, fake panelling, knob and all. I played all my video games via RF adapter until then. When I plugged my GameCube in through S-Video on a 27 inch I did in fact shit myself.
My only regret is that I -
Ireland is a joke with regard to all this. We're completely reliant on British broadcasters for decent programming and HD. I'm not complaining about the dominance of British broadcasters, in fact, if it weren't for them I'd have lost my mind years ago, but for fuck sake, whenever I think about how backward this place is, my soul pukes. And that's just TV, I haven't even mentioned Broadband rollout. I'm moving.
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I have cox cable and had the same problem. I had just switched to a new cable box and was getting the signal. I called about it and they asked me if I was using a splitter. I told them I was and they said to come in to the office and they would get me a splitter that allowed two communication through the splitter. Apparently when the box sent signals back to the office it the splitter was blocking the response. Anyway, I changed the splitter and now it works.
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I mean what if they start doing bad stuff and people can't get the message out because there are no normal airwaves? I mean if normal people can't broadcast then they've got us right where they want us.
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My mom still has one of those that she'd leave on overnight. It was still working until the switch earlier when most of our local channels changed. It doesn't even have the plugs for the converter boxes.
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to work for radioshack... god i hate my job
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Don't you get punched daily harassing customers for their addresses and phone numbers when they just want to buy some batteries?
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If only there was a vast network of computers that could communicate with one another to spread any message all over the world
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radioshacks not usually that bad, its easy to make good money, we only *have* to ask for addresses when you buy a phone or a service plan or something, and not all the service plans completely suck. and hell, its one of the last electronics retail stores that works on commission
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If you don't believe in the practice, you wouldn't do it. Simple. Doing it even once means you believe in it. **** you.
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From his top ten tonight. Classic.
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It's 8:50pm PT and I just unplugged my cable so I could see the last few analog signals disappear.
KTLA (CW), KCOP (MyNet) and KTTV (Fox) are all running their usual stuff, but KCBS and KNBC aren't broadcasting the Ghost Whisperer and Access Hollywood signals the cable is feeding. Instead both the CBS and NBC affilaates are running informercials on the digital switch.
KABC and KCAL already look like pure static. Creepy!
KWHY, which is supposed to be channel 22, is somehow coming through bright and clear on channel 73. Weird.
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!. I am was born in 1977 have have far too memories to list involving using "rabbit ears" and all sorts of tin foil to get my favorite UHF station in.
2. I'm in shoch that Radio Shack outlived Circuit City
3. Does anybody think that pirate UHF stations could spring up with the airwaves clear? I for one hope so :) -
Jun 12, 2009 11:42:53 PM CDT
Is this when the Aliens finally take over our world?
by lockesbrokenleg
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Jun 13, 2009 1:06:43 AM CDT
Somewhere out there Weird Al is planning his UHF takeover.
by dailysportspages
Somewhere out there Weird Al is planning his UHF takeover.
It was only a matter of time.
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I know I am. Time Warner dropped the HDnet and it was one of the few things I actually watched. Besides that, there was a whole fiasco where they basically said one thing to shareholders (the cost per household is WAY down, tons of profits, yay!) and customers another (it's costing us more to get the cable to you, please pay more...). They're full of fucking shit and should rot in hell. As far as I can tell, cable television isn't water or gas for my oven. It's 500 channels of mostly shit which I pay close to $100 for every month. And it keeps going up!!! My parents have a summer home at which Cablevision said they couldn't have cable without internet (what?! obviously a douche CSR). So they said called their bluff and said, ok, get rid of both then. The house is near the beach, and if you're sitting inside watching $150 cable, what the hell are you doing there in the first place? GO OUTSIDE, right?I don't know, I think these scumbag service providers don't realize just how fed up everyone is with the cost of cell phones, internet, house phones, cable television, etc., and are dangerously close to being like, ya know what, fuck it, I don't even have a job, time to cut all this b.s. out, because life was actually easier without it.
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We have like 10 HD channels. Sure, the movie channels are in HD, but with Blue Ray, who cares. The main HD channel reruns the same shit over and over, and it's always about fucking cars. Half the cable stations rerun the day shit over and over again, too. Fuck Cable.
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Cant believe it. You maniacs!!!!
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did anything actually change, and did you actually keep all the same channels on the TVs connected to the wall?
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there is a helpscheme in the uk, that provides digital equipment and installation for free to the elderly and disabled
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its my job, i book installs all day long, 5 days a week, 90 percent for free and a small amount with a contribution
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...between the static and squiggles in the hope that I may catch a fleeting glimpse of boob, then I'm good.
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The idiots at Microsoft decided a scan for channels was not a necessary function of Windows Media Center since the relevant frequencies can be download online. Except that the frequencies all changed yesterday! Windows Media Center fails to show 4 major networks here, because it keeps trying to lock into the wrong frequencies. My TV and third party tuner card utilities pick up all the channels just fine. Time to dump this Microsoft turkey and find the GNU equivalent.
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If your TV is new enough, or one of the HD sets, that may be an HD signal you're getting.
They started putting tuners in new Analog sets pretty close to the transition the last couple of years. -
i know everybody rememebers the Janet Jackson/Super Bowl BS. the FCC was all offended that such a thing happened over the "public airwaves". and yet the government just decided to take them away. our government is so full of shit. at least i still get ABC so i can watch Lost come next January, lol. other than that, and my DVD collection, my tv is now a paperweight. i'm in a downstairs apartment, no other signal, and no chance for an outdoor antenna. the above poster was right when he said you could at least watch a snowy analog signal, but not so with digital.
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I'm 20 and never had cable until I left for college. I have plenty of memories watching Fox Kids (Batman, Spider-Man, Bobby's World) when all my other friends were watching Nickelodeon. I still contend I'm smarter for it, never having been subjected to the inane shit that is Sponge Bob Square Pants.
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That's due to having your TV still set to cable channels. VHFs will be the same, but UHFs show up as a different channel number.
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I was told it was almost but not quite as bad as being called a jerk.
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Why? Anything I REALLY wanna see on cable or satellite I can just watch on hulu.com, download the torrent, or wait for the dvd box set. no commercials for erectile dysfunction, tampons, etc.
I haven't had satellite in 4 years and I honestly don't need it. The only channel I really watched was cartoon network with my kids, but now, that is the 24hr Spongebob-clone network. for-pay TV is nothing but pornography and infomercials today. -
I still use an antenna. I got that dtv box months ago, and you know what? Fuck cable. This works fine just for me. I live alone and i cant afford paying for cable. Its not important enough. The recession has kicked my ass and i have to leave my apt soon too. Life isnt great right now but having no cable is just fine by me.
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I'm fine with what I got. Too many useless channels with cable.
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I can really understand people canceling cable & satellite and just watching the new free HD over-the-air channels. Most of my favorite shows are downloaded now, anyways. Pay TV is gonna get their asses kicked when people realize that you can now get HDTV for free.
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Agreed. If it wasn't for the fact that we lived near the border and got the british channels for free, TV just wouldn't have been worth it. I recently went through a phase of only having RTE 1 while waiting to be able to afford cable, and it drove home what an utter waste of the airwaves it is. All those ads about how you need a tv licence, which entitles you to watch more ads about how you need a TV licence. Fuckwits.
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Here in the UK the reception is poor, i called the digital people today about the fact that every 60 seconds or so the sound drops out from the signal, they said they had never heard this complaint before, are they kidding?
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