Forums | MacLife

Jasoco · 2009-02-01 10:24 pm

Comcast is still advertising for the switch this month so I hope so too. NO MORE DELAYS!

Bat · 2009-02-02 12:01 am

Keep shouting and I might shout back. Meanwhile here's your news.

..The Nielsen Company reported that over 6.5 million households in the U.S. were not ready for the digital transition.

New numbers from the company now show that Hispanic and African-American homes are the least likely to be prepared for the transition. Nielsen shows that 9.7% of Hispanic homes aren’t ready for the transition and 9.9% of African-American homes are unprepared.

The percentage of white homes not prepared for the transition is about half the number of minority homes at 4.6%. The least prepared local metered market in America is in New Mexico, specifically the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area.

The Albuquerque-Santa Fe has only 12.4% of homes that are ready for the digital transition among the 56 local markets that Nielsen measures with electronic meters. The most prepared market is Hartford & New Haven with a mere 1.8% of unprepared homes.

The Senate unanimously approved a bill that would postpone the transition until June last week and sent the bill to the House for a vote. The House voted against the bill, kicking it back to the Senate. Reuters reports that the Senate has made minor changes to the bill and has again voted unanimously to approve the delay in the digital transition and sent the bill to the House for a vote again.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller said, "The House will have a second chance next week to implement this delay. I am hopeful they will pass this bill so we can send it to President Obama."

Report: Minority Homes Most Likely to be Unprepared for DTV Transition

Senate Massages Bill to Postpone DTV Transition and Sends to House, Again

mo' ron · 2009-02-04 5:22 pm

nayrk wrote:
I realize I am late to the party, but I hope they just let it all go digital on the 17th.

I don't care how many more coupons you dish out, I've seen so many people wait until the last minute to buy their boxes that the card expires or expires right before they checkout. Seriously no joke.

People will be unprepared no matter the situation. Best bet i say would be to have it as a tax deduction. You buy X converters (reciept has code for tax time) you'll get X off your taxes.

People will be unprepared, but that's not what the issue is. There are hundreds of thousands of people who tried to prepare, but were screwed over by government incompetence. They shouldn't suffer due to the government. Funding the coupon program and cleaning out the long waiting lists just makes sense. A short 4 month delay to allow for this is reasonable.

Heres a count of households on WAITING LISTS for coupons:
http://static.arstechnica.com/districtdtvchart.pdf

These people did nothing wrong, and tried to prepare.

http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/200 … 64-158.ars

Bat · 2009-02-04 6:47 pm

You can shout now. I'm content. ::dances happy dance::

The House voted today 264-158 to delay the analog TV shutdown until June 12.

The nation was two weeks away from the original date of Feb. 17 for the digital transition, allowing broadcasters to replace analog TV signals with digital ones.

But the Obama administration and many Democrats asked for the delay, saying millions of people are not ready for the switch. The bill, already approved by the Senate, now goes to the president for his approval, considered a given. Still be resolved is the funding needed for more coupons to help consumers offset the cost of converter boxes. That issue will likely be considered as part of the economic stimulus legislation.

House votes to delay digital TV transition

jkahless · 2009-02-04 8:11 pm

zeitgeist wrote:
jkahless wrote:
Why in the hell should the government pay for people's upgrades? You don't need a bleeding tv, or are they going to start buying people boob tubes too?
If they're passing legislation that's going to force the obsolescence of millions of people's TVs, TVs that would work just fine for years to come without their meddling, they should bleeding well pay for the consequences. Not everyone can afford to buy new TVs.

Are TVs a requiement? No. Why the heck is the government meddling in the standards then? They should have left well enough alone.

Recently the monitoring of 121.5 Mhtz EPIRBS (emergency position indicating radio beacons) was discontinued. They're expensive bits of hardware and a damn sight more important than tv. They're designed to save bleeding lives, a wee bit more crucial than grandma getting her jeopardy jollies off every night at 6. Shall the government send round a bunch of coupons to let the owners of them get a free new one eh? I don't think it shall, no one gives a damn about things that are important, so long as the government jerks them off a bit now and then.

mackerm · 2009-02-04 10:11 pm

Bat wrote:
You can shout now. I'm content. ::dances happy dance::

I'm firmly in the "meh" camp.

But on the plus side, my VCR's tuner will be useful for a few more months. It's onna be cumbersome after that, having to set the VCR timer and the converter's channel, and making sure nobody fiddles with it. 'Cause I wouldn't want to risk missing an important episode of American Idol or Ellen.

shudder.

But seriously, my local Target was still selling analog-only TVs well into 2008. Old stock, but that's no excuse. They should have stopped selling these dinosaurs by the end of 2005.

mrreet2001 · 2009-02-05 8:50 am

I am hoping that over the air DVRs become a common place. But then again I have hated vhs since ... well forever. (I grew up with beta max and I only used vhs for around 6-8 years. )

Aldarion · 2009-02-06 12:25 am

The local stations in San Diego are ignoring the new bill and will go HD on feb 17 anyways. What are other city stations saying?

nayrk · 2009-02-06 9:09 am

mo' ron wrote:
nayrk wrote:
I realize I am late to the party, but I hope they just let it all go digital on the 17th.

I don't care how many more coupons you dish out, I've seen so many people wait until the last minute to buy their boxes that the card expires or expires right before they checkout. Seriously no joke.

People will be unprepared no matter the situation. Best bet i say would be to have it as a tax deduction. You buy X converters (reciept has code for tax time) you'll get X off your taxes.
People will be unprepared, but that's not what the issue is. There are hundreds of thousands of people who tried to prepare, but were screwed over by government incompetence. They shouldn't suffer due to the government. Funding the coupon program and cleaning out the long waiting lists just makes sense. A short 4 month delay to allow for this is reasonable.

Heres a count of households on WAITING LISTS for coupons:
http://static.arstechnica.com/districtdtvchart.pdf

These people did nothing wrong, and tried to prepare.

http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/200 … 64-158.ars

Props for the research, especially on the first link. So for their sake yes, a delay or additional funding should be applied.

I suppose in the long term a few more months to get them set isn't a huge deal.

Forums | MacLife

#26 2009-02-01 10:24 pm

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

#27 2009-02-02 12:01 am

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

#28 2009-02-04 5:22 pm

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

nayrk wrote:

#29 2009-02-04 6:47 pm

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

#30 2009-02-04 8:11 pm

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

zeitgeist wrote:

jkahless wrote:

#31 2009-02-04 10:11 pm

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

Bat wrote:

#32 2009-02-05 8:50 am

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

#33 2009-02-06 12:25 am

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

#34 2009-02-06 9:09 am

Re: 'Senate Expected to Pass Bill to Delay Digital Transition'

mo' ron wrote:

nayrk wrote:

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