Cable TV question

[etype2]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I think you missed the point I was trying to make in my post when I said this:
"We all have to face it, as soon as they mandated that broadcast TV be a digital format they made it just as disposable and prone to obsolescence as every other digital device, and since they set the precedence of non-backward compatibility with the adoption of ATSC they can change the format as often as they want however they want as long as they don't piss off enough people to have a riot or a house cleaning called for higher by higher ranking politicians."

My point was that the FCC has changed it's philosophy on consumer broadcast transmissions. Prior to ATSC the FCC never forcibly made a consumer format that was in widespread use obsolete. Sure you could argue that they did make pre-war FM radios and TV's obsolete/in need of modifications to work after WWII, but at the time those formats were owned by a few hundred to a FEW thousand, not millions like NTSC at the time of it's replacement. I also was making the point that digital electronic systems have a much shorter life before becoming obsolete. And the major point was that the FCC set precedence that they can in the future kill any format they dislike EVEN if it has a huge established user base that is not exactly clamoring to have it replaced. Also since they may change broadcast standards at any time we will have to adapt, and as more changes happen it will become more challenging.

As for my problem with non-compatibility versus convertibility....I have dozens of TVs and only 5 converter boxes....I have analog cable, but a good portion of my sets are not convenient to the outlets...Sure I could buy something like 50 converter boxes or run more cable, but the logistics and cost of that are not practical to me, and many of those boxes output poor quality RF signals that cause various issues in sets that did not exist with commercial transmitters. Add to that the fact that many portable sets lack a good connector for a converter box (which you should know given the nature of your collection), and become useless for their original purpose once saddled with a box (try walking 2-5 blocks with a Sony watchman and a converter box and tell me if it is more fun now then it was with just the Sony before ATSC existed). It is even an issue with buying collectable sets....If you find one unexpectedly and there is no converter box or other signal generating device handy (a common thing) how are you going to test it to see if it works (that was rarely an issue in the NTSC era)?
The DTV changeover was and still is inconvenient for those with equipment made before it, and it caused many sets people spent good money on to become worthless, or cost people more money to continue using (at a time when many were struggling financially BTW). The FCC could have mandated a backwards compatible broadcast HDTV format and saved the vast majority of Americans millions to billions in money and hassle, but simply chose not to.

I'm all for technological progress and innovation, but not at the cost of WASTEFULL destruction to current/widespread and historic systems.....Would you tear down Independence Hall, or the statue of liberty to build a space port? Or perhaps rip up the interstate system to force people to switch to flying cars?...

The answer should be HELL NO, but that is what ATSC does IMO.

I agree with you that the fun factor of owning a Watchman type television or any micro TV was demisnished by ATSC, but not obsoleted. MOBILETV was going to solve this (one could watch a digital television signal in a high speed vehicle) but was stalled, eluding to the politics you talk about. Still, there are work arounds such as the digital converter box or building a low power home transmitter station with modulators. In your case, building such a station may be beneficial to you. Right now on VK, there is an active thread on building a station to feed multiple sets.

I have found that there is always an adaptor available or by improvising, (I have boxes full of adapters from collecting almost 60 years) that I can get virtually any television to display an ATSC signal on an old analogue set, no matter the antenna inputs. Even PAL sets can display ATSC by use of a ATSC/NTSC to PAL adaptor or vise versa.

Is it more complicated? Yes, but now we are working with the old and the new, two formats and we adapt and make it work. I welcomed the advance of HD (over the inconvenience to analogue sets) and now 4K and beyond if I'm still living :-) In my view, I don't see a problem.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by etype2

Still, there are work arounds such as the digital converter box or building a low power home transmitter station with modulators. In your case, building such a station may be beneficial to you. Right now on VK, there is an active thread on building a station to feed multiple sets.
Is it more complicated? Yes, but now we are working with the old and the new, two formats and we adapt and make it work. I welcomed the advance of HD (over the inconvenience to analogue sets) and now 4K and beyond if I'm still living :-) In my view, I don't see a problem.

From another thread, it appears that he is already pretty well set up with modulators:

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I have three modulators each with a different antenna that I made out of lamp cord cut to the frequency of the desired channel (Shango66 has a great how to video about this on youtube), each one from inside on the second floor can be received at least to the edges of the lawn, and the best one one can be received about a block in each direction.

I try and limit the range to less than that and use channels that I can't find any DTV carriers on so I don't tick anyone off.

I think that most of us in the hobby will adapt one way or another, and the general public is likely reasonably happy with modern high definition widescreen hang on the wall TV sets that have been predicted in the 50s (with development of early flat CRT prototypes) and have too long in coming. I don't see a problem either.
jr