Jump to content

The 'ol horse crystal ball is functioning well (FCC)


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Well, I predicted that things would slow down regarding the FCC's conversion to digital TV and the Feb 17th deadline nhas been pushed back to june 12th. I predict that the whole white sapce issue will take another 2-3 years to resolve itself and for many users the problems will not be as dire as predictions by those who stand to profit most (the wireless companies themselves) say in their thinly masked sales infomercials.

 

http://www.soundandcommunications.com/news_updates/2008_bn.htm

 

(courtesy of Testa Communications)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

So only the Senate has voted ... this has not yet come to pass. If the govt actually passes it they will be on the hook for a lot of damages to the industry. There are a lot of leases that would have been up in Feb that broadcasters will have to pay extra to keep on the air. In fact the Senate bill allows TV stations to change over at will ... so probably most of them will anyway.

 

You will probably have a bit more time if you are out in the sticks ... but for those in major metro markets they should begin to see significant changes pretty soon. There are also public safety systems and commercial systems running tests in big cities right now. There is a govt website that shows all the permits on file. It's very likely that there will be a bunch of WDSs available for next Christmas. Qualcomm is already operating "Mediaflo" on channels 55 and 56 in some markets and getting bigger all the time.

 

After whatever deadline they set (which isn't changing WSDs at all since they are not ready to go in 2 weeks anyway) ... wireless mics will be illegal from 698 to 806 mHz. Anybody running in 470 to 512mHz will have to content with public service that can come and go at any time and those left between 512 and 698 mHz will have to put up with a more congested band full of DTV and WSDs.

 

 

 

Well just have to see what happens

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Well, I predicted that things would slow down regarding the FCC's conversion to digital TV and the Feb 17th deadline nhas been pushed back to june 12th. I predict that the whole white sapce issue will take another 2-3 years to resolve itself and for many users the problems will not be as dire as predictions by those who stand to profit most (the wireless companies themselves) say in their thinly masked sales infomercials.




(courtesy of Testa Communications)

 

 

We all know you were listening in to the hearings with a wireless bug...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah, my parents, (82 and 80) were relieved to hear about the delay. They haven't picked up the converter box yet, and all those commercials they watch on their cable TV warn them about how they will lose their signal. :facepalm:

 

They have even received phone calls from "TV people" who will sell them the box for $100. I have told my father at least four times that he doesn't need to do anything, but the phone calls and commercials continue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

What would another 6 months do for the people that have already procrastinated for over 18? A year and a half is long enough to solve the problem for the people that didn't already have a digital set or box.

 

I actually want this to happen for selfish reasons.....

 

My wife always talked about how she was born the day we stepped on the moon (yep, she is much younger then me). She first saw the date in an article written in the UK when the first steps were on July 21st in the UK and July 20 in the US. She was actually born on July 21st here (the day after we walked on the moon). I will never let her forget it. Now my birthday is Feb 17 and every time the commercial comes on that counts down the days until the switch is actually counting down the days to my birthday. She is not amused.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The fat lady hasn't finished singing. Part of the reason why the delay is necessary is because government has not done a great job of managing the voucher system and there have been delays in processing the vouchers, the supply of converter boxes etc.

 

I'm surprised the house didn't pass it as a slam dunk though, but wait, there may be a re-vote.

 

The point of this thread is that just because something seems certain and the sky is going to fall doesn't mean that's what is really going to happen. There's a whole lot of wild assed guessing going on and the marketing folks of all of these products have used it to their economic advantage.

 

How can you tell a politician is not telling the truth? Their lips are moving.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

That falls in line with the three biggest lies in America: "1. I'm from the government and I'm here to help you":lol:

 

 

Unfortunately, we have a country full of people who expect to hear those words.

 

Personal responsibility is lost in this country.

 

SoundMan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

That falls in line with the three biggest lies in America: "1. I'm from the government and I'm here to help you":lol:

 

 

Well they certainly helped the digital media corporations by forcing by law everybody to switch over to digital whether they wanted to or not.

 

My analog TV works perfectly fine. I don't need to see the dark circles under TV anchors' eyes, or every individual blade of grass on a football field.

 

And frankly, the "promise" of wireless broadband seems more like a threat.

 

We don't need people watching movies on their cell phones while they drive. They're dangerous enough just texting.

 

And anything that requires broadband speeds is best viewed on a large screen where you can actually see the damn thing. Not some miniscule screen smaller than the size of a playing card.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to fork over $3.5 billion dollars of our own money to pay for the switch over (the coupons only cover about half the actual costs) so fat cats can get even fatter.

 

But Sprint, Verizon, AT & T, Cisco Systems and the rest behind the Congressional brib...I mean, lobbying efforts for the digital TV law smell big money. And Congress never holds back when it comes to wealthfare. When Big Money says "Frog", Congress says, "How high?".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

How did you feel when TV switched over to color ... wished you still had your B&W?:facepalm:

 

Sometimes to improve technologies you just have to cut off legacy units. That's all that happened here. These big corporations would simply go and make some other products ... that's what they do. If no one was willing to purchase these new technologies they wouldn't put them on the market. Something to remember should they just happen to save thousands of lives in the event of emergency.

 

As far as broadband ... I'm sure you'd think differently if you lived in some fly-over part of the country and had dialup. The list of benefits for us all goes on and on.

 

Remember that while you're listening to your 8-track;) and if you don't like the high resolution on your TV you can always smear the screen with Vaseline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

The fat lady hasn't finished singing. Part of the reason why the delay is necessary is because government has not done a great job of managing the voucher system and there have been delays in processing the vouchers, the supply of converter boxes etc.


I'm surprised the house didn't pass it as a slam dunk though, but wait, there may be a re-vote.


The point of this thread is that just because something seems certain and the sky is going to fall doesn't mean that's what is really going to happen. There's a whole lot of wild assed guessing going on and the marketing folks of all of these products have used it to their economic advantage.


How can you tell a politician is not telling the truth? Their lips are moving.

 

 

It's been interesting watching this thread... Let me chime in a bit, because this field of Content Distribution is actually where I work...

 

There's been a movement for some time in Film/TV away from hard assets i.e. DVD's, Film prints, screeners, etc et al. There are a number of reasons for this, but I would say the most prevalent are expense and piracy. an Ordinary Film print costs a staggering amount of money to manufacture - think in the thousands of dollars, then multiply that by the thousands needed to fill the market with a new release. Then there is a huge security issue that occurs. So studios have been looking for new distribution methods for a long while, and now The ability to move Data has gotten to the point where that has become viable. Why does this affect Digital vs. Analog broadcast? simple. right now, a huge amount of assets must get created in order to handle all the different broadcasts - For example, ABC must air a traditional SD broadcast, and HD broadcast, and also deal with On demand/iTunes etc et al. All that requires a huge amount or work in Mastering and content distro. The future is Digital, period. That makes analog obsolete. The idea here was to create a standard, just like NTSC TV has been a standard (this is the U.s. TV standard, we all have NTSC TV's.) Thus, why the broadcast industry went to congress - so we don't have a masssive VHS vs Beta or Blu-ray VS HDDVD type of battle, where consumers completely lose.

 

The result is what you've seen. I've actually worked on a bunch of the DTV Spots - we started working on those and airing them all the way back in Jan-Feb of last year. I really don't think the gov is responsible, I think people just waited til the last minute on this one.

 

Todd A.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...