In the USA...

[Redwolf]

Up here in the mountains it's been the case forever...if you want TV, you have to have cable. We don't get telecast or radio broadcast up here...never have.

It's all in what you're in to, I guess...if we didn't care to watch TV, we'd have been without for the past 10 years. Because we do like to watch TV, we've been ready for the digital switch for the past 10 years.

Why not hook the one in the bedroom up to a VCR or DVD player and just use it to watch pre-recorded stuff?

Redwolf

[Walden]

I rescanned the computer-TV in the morning and it got all the available channels. I turned on the regular TV in the evening and half the channels were gone. I rescanned the regular TV and still half are missing.

If all I had was the regular TV I would be upset. The regular TV's antenna is further from the window and that may explain why the reception is worse. I don't understand how I lost half the channels from yesterday to today though. I'll rescan again in the morning, when reception seems a bit better.

The computer USB device I have is WinTV from Hauppauge. My computer is a four or five year old Dell notebook. The antenna a GE Quantum amplified antenna.

It's because today's the day they outlawed conventional television broadcasting.

[Charlene]

The VCR and DVD are both hooked up to the big TV, so we can watch videos on that one. It's just that once in a while we have things to do in the evening and my husband doesn't like to miss his shows. I thought I'd really miss the Weather Channel and Mythbusters but I don't.

There is something weird on one channel tonight - a message that looks like it's intended for Dish subscribers saying you need to get a new smart card in order to see this channel. We'll rescan in the morning and see what we get then.

[BillChin]

I rescanned the computer-TV in the morning and it got all the available channels. I turned on the regular TV in the evening and half the channels were gone. I rescanned the regular TV and still half are missing.

If all I had was the regular TV I would be upset. The regular TV's antenna is further from the window and that may explain why the reception is worse. I don't understand how I lost half the channels from yesterday to today though. I'll rescan again in the morning, when reception seems a bit better.

The computer USB device I have is WinTV from Hauppauge. My computer is a four or five year old Dell notebook. The antenna a GE Quantum amplified antenna.

It's because today's the day they outlawed conventional television broadcasting.

Huh? I lost half the HD channels on my HDTV. They were there yesterday or at least partially there. Today--blue screen of death, so I thought I had nothing to lose by rescanning. It's weird because I still have those channels on my computer-TV and the two TVs use the exact same brand of antenna. Maybe I need one of those upside-down left-right mouse pads or something, or maybe they need some at the TV station.

P. S. where I live, two of the networks run their own weather channel.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Huh? I lost half the HD channels on my HDTV. They were there yesterday or at least partially there.

Yup, analog TV has gone the way of the dinosaur... this includes rabbit ears. You must either buy a digital converter box or sign up for cable or satelite service in order to continue wiping your mind clean of independant thought.

[MTGuru]

Politics and greed and technomania aside, I think the systematic, wholesale abandonment of analog technologies now underway for many years is a huge mistake. I can't say more without lapsing into raving screed mode.

[BillChin]

Well, I fixed it this morning. Rescanning the HDTV didn't help. I tried three times with the antenna in different positions. What fixed it was hooking up the HDTV to the second antenna, the one that my computer-TV uses, and all the channels came in fine. Once the channels are in the device, it takes some adjusting of the antenna, but there is usually a position where the channel will come in. If the TV doesn't get a channel on the scan, it doesn't exist as far as the TV and remote are concerned.

I'm sure millions of folks are experiencing similar troubles, or worse. It is a good thing I know how to fiddle with these devices. The average person might have given up in despair. It took me over an hour this morning plus half an hour yesterday. I have owned the TV for a year now and am used to all its quirks. A person that just bought the same TV and antenna for the changeover would never have gotten it right without major help.

[Charlene]

Rescanned, got rid of the double channels (4-1, 4-2, and 4-3 come in twice on both TVs). Still have that message that is obviously intented for DISH customers. And still have 2 channels that scanned in that are blank - had that in Feb but thought something would show up after today.

I miss the days of plugging the TV in and turning it on and just changing the channel without all this fuss.

[Doug_Tipple]

I miss the days of plugging the TV in and turning it on and just changing the channel without all this fuss.

I remember test patterns for hours a day. Then the show you were waiting for would come on in a fuzzy black and white. My dad was always fussing with the video controls, trying to get a better picture. At least the old sets were better for the waistline. If you wanted to change channels (the rotary dial went from 2 to 13), you had to get up from the couch and walk across the room. You would never be able to sell that idea today.

I find modern TV pretty hard to watch. The large screen sizes and bright pictures that are often quickly flashing from light to dark make me want to close my eyes and dream of quieter times, as I find this a visual and auditory assult.

[dubhlinn]

Politics and greed and technomania aside, I think the systematic, wholesale abandonment of analog technologies now underway for many years is a huge mistake. I can't say more without lapsing into raving screed mode.

With ye there Bro...

Slan,
D.

[Redwolf]

I miss the days of plugging the TV in and turning it on and just changing the channel without all this fuss.

I remember test patterns for hours a day. Then the show you were waiting for would come on in a fuzzy black and white. My dad was always fussing with the video controls, trying to get a better picture. At least the old sets were better for the waistline. If you wanted to change channels (the rotary dial went from 2 to 13), you had to get up from the couch and walk across the room. You would never be able to sell that idea today.

I find modern TV pretty hard to watch. The large screen sizes and bright pictures that are often quickly flashing from light to dark make me want to close my eyes and dream of quieter times, as I find this a visual and auditory assult.

Not to mention constantly having to adjust the horizontal and verticle "holds" to keep the picture from flipping. And the fact that the picture would turn to static whever someone turned on a vacuum cleaner or microwave, or when the ham radio operator down the block powered up his equipment. And having to put tin foil on the rabbit ears, and to constantly adjust them to get a signal.

When I was a kid, we only had three channels, and we had to buy TV Guide if we wanted to see what was on any of them. The fare was very much regulated by time of day: Morning was news, then kids' shows until after 8:00, at which point it was game shows until noon. At noon we had news again, then soap operas until 3:00, after which it was kids' shows again until the news at 5:00. 7-9 was "prime time," when there would be family shows (unless they were preempted by a sporting event or a special family movie). At 9:00 we had news again, then movies. More news at ll:00, then old, B-rated movies or re-runs of shows like "The Love Boat" until sign-off at 2:00 a.m. Saturdays were cartoons until noon, then sports or old movies. Sundays were religious programming until noon, then sports or old movies. Boring! Sunday nights were marginally better, as we had Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom," followed by "The Wonderful World of Disney" (usually watched while eating Campbell's soup on a TV tray!)

I still remember what a big deal it was when they added a fourth channel (PBS). Then we'd visit cousins in the mountains or on a farm and find out that they couldn't get TV at all (I remember how excited my cousins in rural California were when they got cable, and could finally actually see what was on TV!). And when we finally got cable...wow! We discovered there was an entire world of TV fare out there other than the same old stuff we'd been fed since I was old enough to crawl.

I can't lie...I enjoy TV. I don't live in front of it, by any means, but I love curling up in front of it in the evening after dinner and watching our favorite shows. I enjoy variety, and would never want to go back to the old days.

Redwolf

[izzarina]

I thought this all happened in February? I apparently missed something

[The Weekenders]

My tv didn't explode last night at the midnight changeover so that's good. But seriously, it's summer doldrums. My only spike is Operacion Repo and Burn Notice. Oh yeah, and Rescue Me, though it gets so filthy that I feel like I need a shower after watching it sometimes.

You gotta watch Operacion Repo. You can see some scenes at Hulu or TruTv. Stranger than fiction. new episodes Monday night at 10. but they run up with two hours of episodes before...

[cowtime]

Doug, Charlene and Redwolf, those were great posts of the "good old days" of TV

We didn't have the channel changing exercises though- we only got one channel.

It wasn't until the late 60s that Dad devised an antenna, hooked to a motor, on a tower on top of the mountain that could be rotated from down at the house with some kinda little box thing. He and I strung the tv antenna wire and electrical wire way up to the top. Then he also rigged up telephone line and two phones so I could be at the house and tell him, up on the tower on the mountain, when he had the antenna in a position that would pick up another channel. Somehow he'd fix the settings and the whole thing worked. We then could get three channels good enough to stand to watch.

[Walden]

Politics and greed and technomania aside, I think the systematic, wholesale abandonment of analog technologies now underway for many years is a huge mistake. I can't say more without lapsing into raving screed mode.

With ye there Bro...

Slan,
D.

Amen. Me too.