 
Jahntassa
What, I can have feathers
Premium
join:2006-04-14
Conway, SC
| Rip off the band-aid already No amount of time will create a 'smooth' transition in this country. There will always be someone unprepared, someone uninformed.
The transition has been delayed too long already. Do the switchover. If people haven't figured out they need to do something by now, they sure will once they shut off the analog.
Maybe i'm biased since I understand technology, but really, how much more time does this need? Other than 'more time', what plan is there to make the transition more successful? | |
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 | rdmiller
join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA | Re: Rip off the band-aid already Concur. | |
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| | mlundin
join:2001-03-27
Lawrence, KS
 ·Sunflower Broadband
·Comcast
| Re: Rip off the band-aid already Agree. The people who have procrastinated, fail to comprehend the situation, or have otherwise failed to take the necessary steps at this point will be the same people who remain at the end of any additional waiting period. It is only when the change is imposed that the last people will do anything about it. Some people will always have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the future. The sooner it is done, the sooner the kicking and screaming will end. | |
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n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY
·Optimum Online
1 edit | I agree. At this point I am all for ripping off the Band-Aid in one shot and getting this transition over with. No matter how much time the extend it, all the people will never be ready. Just do it and pick up the pieces where they may fall.
Heck, if enough people get disconnected from TV, the average intelligence for the nation may actually rise.
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I support the right to keep and arm bears. | |
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| older dog
Premium
join:2005-06-09
Norwich, NY
| The help with coupons had little to nothing to do with helping someone afford TV.
It was all about preserving the over the air market, and the benefits local news brings to the economy and culture of a region.
This whole digital transition should not have taken several administrations who I would say none of them did there job protecting local news broadcasters and their investments. | |
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burgerwars
join:2004-09-11
Northridge, CA
 ·voip.ms
·RoadRunner Cable
2 edits | Just get it over with. I feel it's too late to start thinking about a delay. Just get the thing over with. The world isn't going to end on February 17th if there is no delay. There are some people who just won't do anything until their television sets don't work. On the 17th, when these slow-pokes see their televisions don't work, they'll head off to Best Buy and get their converter. It's time to move on and just enforce the current deadline. | |
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IowaStudent
Premium
join:2008-08-21
Grinnell, IA
·Mediacom
 ·Iowa Telecom
| Re: Just get it over with. Exactly, I can't tell you how sick to death I am of seeing these adds especially on the cable networks. for, which there is nothing to do anyway at least until cable companies turn off the analog but that isn't happening for another 3 years for mandated channels. | |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| ...And Since the transition will have no direct impact on their FiOS TV service, it might be beneficial to have a flood of people looking for TV service as a result. The transition might potentially create more customers for their TV service, which needs no development time before deployment, as it already exists. | |
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| socrplyr
join:2008-03-25
Canton, OH
| Re: ...And Actually on the FiOS TV side, they would probably like the delay. They are still deploying the service in many areas and they would most likely get more customers by having it deployed in more places than by any advantage they would by having it pulled tomorrow. For the most part those who are going to be prepared are and those who aren't aren't. Obviously this is just my opinion. | |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | Re: ...And said by socrplyr  :Actually on the FiOS TV side, they would probably like the delay. They are still deploying the service in many areas and they would most likely get more customers by having it deployed in more places than by any advantage they would by having it pulled tomorrow. For the most part those who are going to be prepared are and those who aren't aren't. Obviously this is just my opinion. From the information that I have read, FiOS TV is available at just over 8 millions homes, while there are less than 2 million total FiOS TV subscribers. This is a lot of potential customers that are currently using some other TV service or OTA where FiOS TV is already available. Add to the fact that Verizon plans to reach 18 million homes by the end of this year, and there are millions of potential customers.
Some of the owners of these millions of homes will be shopping for TV service as a result of the analog-to-digital transition. Verizon offers very competitive prices and features and could only benefit, if even just a little, from keeping the current transition date in effect. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by jmn1207 :Since the transition will have no direct impact on their FiOS TV service, it might be beneficial to have a flood of people looking for TV service as a result. The transition might potentially create more customers for their TV service, which needs no development time before deployment, as it already exists. You do relzie that the VAST majority of people that use OTA are in rural areas not service by cable and will never be service by FiOS either. Anyone that lives in an area serviced by FiOS also has cable, and satelite available to them. | |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: ...And I do realize that a greater percentage of people in rural areas most likely use OTA for their TV. But there are simply way more people living in heavily populated areas that use OTA. There are typically many more channels, and the population is obviously much greater.
Keeping the transition date help Verizon in more ways than just allowing them to go forward with their LTE testing. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: ...And said by jmn1207 :I do realize that a greater percentage of people in rural areas most likely use OTA for their TV. But there are simply way more people living in heavily populated areas that use OTA. There are typically many more channels, and the population is obviously much greater. Keeping the transition date help Verizon in more ways than just allowing them to go forward with their LTE testing. You're dreaming. Their wish for the shut off date to go on as scheduled as nothing to do with getting more FiOS custoemrs. If it is they are stupid. the amount of potential customers gained would be miniscule. Keep wearing that tin foil hat. | |
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DaSneaky1D
one wall to block them all
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou
·Charter Pipeline
| Deep financial impact if delayed What this delay doesn't seem to take into account is that HUGE amounts of money has already been spent to obtain the spectrum. Delaying the ability for Vz (or whoever else) to recoup those losses will cause further issues down the road.
This is almost like closing on a house, but the title company is holding onto the keys because the previous owners still have a few boxes left to pick up.
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:: my trivial ramblings :: | |
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DTVTransition
@rr.com
|  Deep financial impact if delayed
said by DaSneaky1D :What this delay doesn't seem to take into account is that HUGE amounts of money has already been spent to obtain the spectrum. Delaying the ability for Vz (or whoever else) to recoup those losses will cause further issues down the road. I say delay it. We have bigger problems in this country then making everything all pretty on the big screen. If companies spent billions of dollars on this TV transition before a good majority of the people are aware, it's the companies own problem. If they spent money on this transition without knowing that a good percentage actually know what's going on and they and it gets delayed, they will be screwed, stuffed, and mounted. | |
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| | beaups
join:2003-08-11
Hilliard, OH | Re: Deep financial impact if delayed "We have bigger problems in this country then making everything all pretty on the big screen"
Exactly, so why is Obama wasting his time on it? Do the transition and move on... | |
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| | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | A good majority of people are aware! This is ridiculous, only a tiny minority of TV watchers are unaware and are going to be negatively affected. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by DTVTransition :
I say delay it. We have bigger problems in this country then making everything all pretty on the big screen. If companies spent billions of dollars on this TV transition before a good majority of the people are aware, it's the companies own problem. If they spent money on this transition without knowing that a good percentage actually know what's going on and they and it gets delayed, they will be screwed, stuffed, and mounted.
The majority ARE aware and SHOULD be aware. Hell I've been aware of this transition since fucking 1995 for god's sake. anyone who is not aware is an idiot or doesn't have TV to begin with. I don't know about you but for at least the last year I've seen 20 commericals a day about this and I don't even hardly watch TV.
Oh by the way, since 85% of the people do NOT get their TV OTA they are not affected in the least bit. And I seriously doubt 100% of the 15% remaining are totally oblivious and unprepared. So you statement that it should be delayed because the "majority" are unaware is both an incorrect and ingorant statement. | |
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mod_wastrel
join:2008-03-28
·magicjack.com
| With all of the PSAs and crawls being done for months now, it's virtually impossible to watch TV and be unaware of the transition. At this point, I'd say that "unaware" translates to "don't care" ('cause the person doesn't even watch TV, especially OTA). But, sure... let's just go ahead and delay it because 3 out of every million might be inconvenienced if they ever do try tuning in with their old TV (/sarcasm). | |
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| | jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
USA | The problem is that "the good majority" are already aware. Get on with it and just make the switch! | |
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| | xirian
Premium
join:2003-01-26
Beacon, NY
| said by DTVTransition :said by DaSneaky1D :What this delay doesn't seem to take into account is that HUGE amounts of money has already been spent to obtain the spectrum. Delaying the ability for Vz (or whoever else) to recoup those losses will cause further issues down the road. I say delay it. We have bigger problems in this country then making everything all pretty on the big screen. If companies spent billions of dollars on this TV transition before a good majority of the people are aware, it's the companies own problem. If they spent money on this transition without knowing that a good percentage actually know what's going on and they and it gets delayed, they will be screwed, stuffed, and mounted. This has nothing to do with making it pretty. It isn't a switch to HD, its a switch to DIGITAL. By switching to digital, they get back tons of useful wall penetrating spectrum to use for more useful things. Read up before you spout nonsense. | |
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gopnick
join:2005-01-07
Benton, AR | Ugh You can't always hold back progress for the LCD. There will always be a segment of the population that has to trip over their own feet before they learn how to walk.
Make the darn switch, already. | |
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beaups
join:2003-08-11
Hilliard, OH
| First Time I've read through comments on a news article and agreed with all of them. Shut the signal off, there will be some initial pain, and everything will be ok shortly thereafter. A large percentage of people who are not prepared today won't be prepared in 6 months either. They'll get prepared real quick once their TV's stop working. | |
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stevek1949
We're not in Kansas anymore
join:2002-11-13
Virginia Beach, VA
·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: First Time I do not feel that this is a FIOS issue. Basically, FIOS is getting their customer base from other cable/satellite systems. Anyone with a cable/satellite connection is not going to be affected anyway.
The issue that has surfaced is that the coupon fund has run out of money. Well, I personally know 15-20 people that ordered coupons "just in case" they ever wanted to add an analog TV set in the future. That is just a waste of the coupons and just another guvmnt handout.
There are people on the fringe on analog signal reception that will land in the cliff area on digital reception. And that is a valid concern, but not insummountable.
Let's get it over with. I am tired of all of the commercials. | |
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wispalord
join:2007-09-20
House Springs, MO | GO AHEAD People have been told for years, and its been delayd enough. Sorry but im tired of living in the stone age compared to the rest of the world. | |
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stunod2002
join:2003-11-07
Carol Stream, IL
| Do it already Any delay is just going to confuse the heck out of the already confused and then some. We (as a nation) have heard nothing but "February 17" for months now. Changing that to November 12 (or some other date that suits Obama) will only cause more confusion making an already difficult transition worse. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: Do it already said by stunod2002 :Any delay is just going to confuse the heck out of the already confused and then some. We (as a nation) have heard nothing but "February 17" for months now. Changing that to November 12 (or some other date that suits Obama) will only cause more confusion making an already difficult transition worse. If you give people more time, guess what, when the new date approaches they'll still be whining "I'm not ready yet!"
You could hand out 5 coupons per hosuehold for a 100% FREE converter box tomorrow and delay the transition for a year and there will still be idiots that aren't ready. | |
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| Wait and see.. I think a wait & see approach is appropriate.. Turn analog off.. and see what happens... if there is this huge outpouring of rage about not having analog.. stations can apply for an immediate hardship extention (3mo renewable)to address coverage & access problems. Maybe the broadcast stations themselves should have lotteries & need based donations of free/subsidized converter boxes as well. We've not seen the likes of cbs, abc, fox, and upn stations filing for bankruptcy, which means they must be doing quite well with advertising dollars still rolling in on just about every single program they air.
Retailers should queeze wholesalers to bring the prices down as well. Why should it cost more than $40 for a box? DTV tuners have been available for at least 5 years, so patent royalties shouldn't be a cost factor.
Keep in mind, the issue may not only be about access to the tuners.. in some cases you need a good or better antenna than what you have to receive what you were getting previously with analog. Some may need their current rooftop antennas repositioned for digital, while others need a completely new antenna installed. So, to say it's a matter of a $40-90 box is only part of the picture about the DTV transition. Where a string wire once would do, now you may get a few seconds of digital tv, followed by drop outs while the signal rebuffers & clears again--where as before you go from a clear to snowy picture, but rare was there a complete dropout. Get used to it, that's our digital future. | |
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digiblur
Got Sipura?
Premium
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana
| Re: Wait and see.. There are several stations that have already made the digital transition early. One of the engineers that I talked to of the Fox station said they only had a few calls about it. Far fewer than they expected. And that was from an early transition in December!
Get it over with... I'm ready to DVR my two other stations in my area. Digital OTA is a beautiful thing!
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Make your Sipura/PAP2 speak. »www.voipurize.com
SouthWest Louisiana PC Users Group »www.swlapcug.com | |
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| afiggatt
join:2007-07-12
Sterling, VA
| said by tmc8080 :I think a wait & see approach is appropriate.. Turn analog off.. and see what happens... if there is this huge outpouring of rage about not having analog.. stations can apply for an immediate hardship extention (3mo renewable)to address coverage & access problems. For many stations, once they turn off the analog, that is it. There are over 500 stations doing a digital flash cut where they move their digital broadcast to their analog channel. Can't go back without starting up their old digital channel - if they had one - which in turn might interfere with another station. A number of stations will be doing a complicated shutdown and channel move dance in coordination with other stations.
What is being overlooked in most of the press coverage on the digital "transition" is that as of the end of 2007, 134 stations have already shut down their analog broadcast. Before February 17, at least 258 stations in total, are planning to shut down their analog broadcast so they can have their digital signal at full power on or before February 18. The reality is that the "transition" is well underway. I put the "transition" in quotes because stations started broadcasting a digital signal 10 years ago, so the process is more of a analog shutoff and digital channel move & start-up for some stations than a "transition" takes place at midnight, February 17.
I agree that for some, they will need to get a better antenna for digital reception. While there will be around 490 digital stations on VHF (physical RF channel, not the virtual) & 1333 on physical UHF, many low VHF analog big four network stations will stay on UHF. The key for many to get good digital reception will be to upgrade the antenna for better UHF reception - Silver Sensor for indoor; 2, 4 or 8 bay UHF bowties for attic & outdoor in combination with a upper VHF antenna or rabbit ears.
A last minute delay in the Feb. 17 analog shutdown will only result in a even bigger mess. Get it done and over with. | |
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dcurrey
Premium
join:2004-06-29
·ViaTalk
| Auction Didn't the Government get a lot more than the expected from the auction. Where did that money go? Can't they just use some of the funds so the lazy people can get coupons that they should have gotten a long long time ago.
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Any unauthorized use of your own judgment is strictly prohibited. | |
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RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY
| Re: Auction said by dcurrey :Didn't the Government get a lot more than the expected from the auction. Where did that money go? Can't they just use some of the funds so the lazy people can get coupons that they should have gotten a long long time ago. The problem is NOT that they ran out of their allocated money for the coupons but that they are not issuing extra coupons to replace the ones that were issued but not redeemed before their expiration date. IOW: There is lots a money left but it is being "held" to pay off coupons that can no longer be redeemed instead of new coupons being issued. | |
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sharksfan3
Premium
join:2004-02-16
Poughkeepsie, NY | Potential Lawsuit If VZ, AT&T, etc don't get access to the spectrum that they have spent billions of dollars for by 2/18/09 you can bet your ass that lawsuits will follow. | |
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| beaups
join:2003-08-11
Hilliard, OH | Re: Potential Lawsuit Exactly...and who do you think is going to pay for that lawsuit? Pull the plug...Obama, you have bigger fish to fry, and plenty of them. | |
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| hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH | They won't sue. They'll whine and cry over it.
They just that so they can claim they're testing and will only be in one city. Most likely one of the top 50 Metro areas.
VZ needs to grow up. | |
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biggbrother
Premium
join:2001-11-07
Providence, RI | What is LTE? I know this is an industry website... but at least the definition of an acronym should be included with the fist reference to it. | |
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| travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Santa Fe, NM | Re: What is LTE? Google is your friend:
3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the name given to a project within the Third Generation Partnership Project to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard... | |
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Matt
Gone playing Dragon Age Origins
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Hint at Rural Broadband? said by Verizon :
LTE will facilitate the provision of mobile broadband services nationwide, including areas of the country that have few, if any, broadband services available today.
Sorry, I call BS on this one. | |
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| iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
·Comcast
·Qwest.net
·magicjack.com
 ·BeeCreek Communica..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Re: Hint at Rural Broadband? Well...
Verizon could roll out LTE onto all of their EvDO towers (most likely), and since we're talking about 700 MHz the signal would go significantly farther than PCS, somewhat farther than cellular. I'll defer to someone who knows something on this, but I'd say 30% farther would be a good estimate.
Also, LTE (WiFiOS?) could be comparable to DOCSIS 3 in speed, according to the specs, assuming a good signal. So in reality, provided Verizon has the backhaul for it, you could actually get a "third pipe", a la Clear/Xohm, but faster and with better coverage.
Actually, got a question: what's the spectral efficiency of LTE and how much spectrum does Verizon have? Because that may be a problem...compared with Clear, which has 4.5 bps spectral efficiency in good signal and 100 MHz of spectrum up for grabs.
So basically you'll end up with something akin to the transition from 1x (unsuitable for broadband but better than dialup) to EvDO (unsuitable for HD streaming but breoadband). Rollout will be slow, and in metro areas only, however eventually it'll make it out beyond where cable and DSL can reach, and speeds will be decent enough, provided the service isn't handiCAPPED, for people to consider it as a true third pipe. The transition to LTE is a bit similar; we're going from a DSL-speed network to something more akin to DOCSIS 2-3 cable. ROllout will be excruciatingly slow, but eventually people will have a better third pipe. | |
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kballs
@comcast.net
|  procrastinators
My parents have a rural cabin that they've been using OTA analog TV for years and I told them they don't have to wait for Feb 17 to setup DTV... "We don't? I thought DTV won't work until then? I was just going to buy a new HDTV next summer when DTV starts working." So I bought them a good DTV antenna and converter box and set it up for them (using the tools from tvfool.com). | |
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apollo80
join:2002-01-31
Richmond, VA
1 edit | From a TV station employee One problem that will happen if the delay is granted is TV stations will be screaming about their budgets.
Right now, most television stations are broadcasting in both analog and digital.
Two transmitters.
Two ELECTRIC BILL sources.
The average station spends approximately $25,000 or more, monthly, on electricity to power their analog transmitters.
After February, the 'current' government mandated shutoff time for analog, no station has that extra money allocated in their budget.
They were told to shut down the transmitters.
Now if they have to broadcast in analog longer than dictated, get ready for layoffs and other cutbacks. | |
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| Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA
| Re: From a TV station employee said by apollo80 :The average station spends approximately $25,000 or more, monthly, on electricity to power their analog transmitters. After February, the 'current' government mandated shutoff time for analog, no station has that extra money allocated in their budget. They were told to shut down the transmitters. Now if they have to broadcast in analog longer than dictated, get ready for layoffs and other cutbacks. Not to mention many of those analog transmitters are old and the stations didn't budget for ever increasing maintenance if they don't shut them down or at least reduce analog power. | |
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timewasted
@ameritech.net | its been too long its been two years!! how could you not find out, they put it on tv shows and everything, i say switch,if you have not got one too bad, two years is enough to gather 50 bucks for a box, or get digital cable for goodness sake | |
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| Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA | Re: DTV Conflict of interest Yes and some those who would benefit from the delay made large contributions to the Obama campaign! | |
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Verizon Fights DTV Transition Delay
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Verizon Fights.