Home Theaters

While it would be a cruel, but true, joke that this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, it is sad that millions of our tax dollars are being spent to finance the report of the changeover that we funded, by the government that used false pretenses to get the change to take place - all to an audience that is ignorant or indifferent.

The upcoming changeover on February 17, 2009 is apparently unstoppable at this time, and will force the usage of a new digital television, using an ATSC tuner, or a converter box using the same type of tuner and an RF modulator (ask your children, if you don’t know - they’ve been using one to hook up their game consoles to your television for decades) to allow ‘older, inferior technology’, to be able to receive the drivel that is broadcast television. (all home theater buffs already have one of these, right?)

This may be why the young are so clueless - they are quick to spot drivel, and avoid it like the plague - they have lives to live.

from Ars Technica

As the Federal Communications Commission revs up efforts to promote the impending digital TV transition, a new report suggests that the overwhelming majority of Americans will sail smoothly through the switch. On the other hand, a big chunk of TV watchers will not. The Nielsen Company’s new Overview of Digital Readiness classifies 9.4 percent of US households as “Completely Unready” for February 17, 2009—the last day of analog broadcasting for full power TV. Some may be surprised to learn that young adults make up a big portion of that percentage.

The TV ratings company defines the rather clunky phrase “Completely Unready” as follows: “a household that has all Unready Sets,” meaning televisions not connected to a cable or satellite service, and that have no digital converter box or internal digital tuner.

Another 12.6 percent of U.S. households are “Partially Unready,” Nielsen says. They’re residences which have at least one Ready Set, but also one Unready Set. These homes usually have three boob tubes sitting around somewhere, and about one of these is unready. All told: “16.5 percent of all television sets in the U.S. are Unready Sets,” Nielsen concludes.

Nielsen cautions that this data, based on 56 local markets sampled as of April 30, doesn’t project what the situation will look like in February 2009. “It is imperative to note that as we get closer to the DTV Transition date, households will upgrade their television equipment at an accelerated rate,” the report notes. “Therefore, this analysis does not suggest that viewing in February 2009 will be impacted to the same degree as it would be if the transition occurred today.”

But the report does tell us what kind of DTV preparedness work needs to be done now, and where.

(who knew Nielsen was good for anything? I always thought that Nielsen was there to support the shows on television with the highest amount of drivel, and eliminate anything new or different - a stifling force, if you will.)

The report continues on telling how many cities are almost fully prepared, as if it would get them a gold star on a list somewhere.  What is not spoken about here is the decreasing relevance of broadcast television, of any form. All that is new, good, and ‘cool’ is happening on cable or ‘premium’ television, with the exception of PBS - and those stations have been getting the word out to their faithful for quite some time now.

just tell the young that if they don’t get an ATSC tuner soon, no more Simpsons episodes, dude!

Again, the needlessness of this report, or the waste of money to fund it, blazes through like the sun after a rainstorm.

While many in the home theater crowd would eschew the watching of television from broadcast channels, there is much available (as above) on PBS stations of very high quality, in both content and picture. Now and then the big 3, or 4, depending on your point of view, will put on something spectacular, and for that reason the ATSC tuner will be necessary.

these are what you need for that HTPC you’ve been wanting to build.

Teach your children well…

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Technorati Tags: DTV transition - digital television - February 2009 - Nielsen ratings