Gaming Everything's turning digital! Why?

[Lunar]

[COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]I would've put this in the lounge, but.........forget it. Surely everyone knows about all tv stations turning digital in february of 2009, right? My question is why are they forcing everyone to have digital television? now it's either get digital or become bored. I think they're going to put something on there that's going to change the way Americans think and therefore change something in the U.S. that's just a theory, though. What do you think?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Methinks that you have not researched the problem enough. No one is "forcing" anyone to have anything. I know people who don't have the telly period. To be honest, I don't watch much TV to begin with. However, the reason why all stations will be broadcast in digital is twofold.

1) It's cheaper to produce now than Analog signals. Almost every new TV that is made has Digital capabilities. With the advent of cable television, getting more TV stations is simple and relatively cheap now-a-days. Broadcasting in both formats is a waste of resources that could be spent elsewhere, such as making existing television better.

2) It's actually better than Analog signals. Why someone still uses analog is beyond me, but digital is cleaner, easier to broadcast and more can be done with it. It's just overall better in everyway.

Hope that clears it up for you.[/FONT]

[Lunar]

[COLOR="Indigo"]Your probably right about the "forcing" thing........but some defects with digital is that is breaks up sometimes and you miss the whole show.....[/COLOR]

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Lunar'][COLOR="Indigo"]but some defects with digital is that is breaks up sometimes and you miss the whole show.....[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Nothing is perfect. ESPECIALLY not technology.

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Korey pretty much all of what I was going to say in his original post, as a medium of transmission digital is far better than analogue, although doubtless there will be problems from time to time as with any system as chibi pointed out. That said, I've never lost a whole show after a break in the signal, usually only a few seconds to a few minutes.[/SIZE]

[Ellerby]

[FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"]The question is why would you not want digital? The truth is any fan of TV that spends 10 minutes with Digital Cable will never go back. I don't how I lived without Animal Planet or live playback.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Lunar]

[COLOR="Indigo"]i'm all for cable, i couldn't enjoy life without spongebob.......but, too much tv isn't good for you. if you got cable, you have to be [I]really[/I] disciplined.[/COLOR]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

[quote name='Lunar;821361][COLOR="Indigo"][FONT="Book Antiqua"] I think they're going to put something on there that's going to change the way Americans think and therefore change something in the U.S. that's just a theory, though. What do you think?[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]No more than how they changed how Americans listen to and store music by dropping 8-track in favor of cassette tapes and then dropping that in favor of CD's. No more than dropping black and white in favor of color television and computers. Switching from analog to digital is only going to open things up for more options and that's a good thing.[quote name='Lunar'][COLOR="Indigo"']Your probably right about the "forcing" thing........but some defects with digital is that is breaks up sometimes and you miss the whole show.....[/COLOR][/quote]Analog, especially if you don't have cable or are in a poor reception area, is absolutely terrible in quality. Digital, if I understand it correctly, doesn't have anywhere near as much issues with break ups if you're using an antenna instead of something like cable.

In short, life moves on and technology changes, leaving the old behind. If we followed the mentality of not forcing that change. The world as I knew it at your age would still exist. And I'm positive that not one of you would like having no computers, video games or color TV. ;)

[Raiha]

[quote name='Aaryanna_Mom']No more than how they changed how Americans listen to and store music by dropping 8-track in favor of cassette tapes and then dropping that in favor of CD's. [/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I thought it was A track. .....or maybe my dad was lying to me this whole time.

I remember vinyl records too, although those are popular again with DJs and other music enthusiasts. It's just like tight pants suddenly becoming cool again after the 70s.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

[quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I thought it was A track. .....or maybe my dad was lying to me this whole time.

I remember vinyl records too, although those are popular again with DJs and other music enthusiasts. It's just like tight pants suddenly becoming cool again after the 70s.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]He might have called them that, but this is what they are: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_8"][U]8 track[/U][/URL] Since it's what we had when I was a little girl, I remember them clearly.

I actually still have all of my records and a player for them. Though I prefer cd's.

[Raiha]

[quote name='Aaryanna_Mom']He might have called them that, but this is what they are: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_8"][U]8 track[/U][/URL] Since it's what we had when I was a little girl, I remember them clearly.

I actually still have all of my records and a player for them. Though I prefer cd's.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Weird. He explained it as 'there's an A side and a B' side so it's called A- nevermind.

Anyway I have a record player but I think it's on its last legs because the timing is off. "The Sound of Music" theme sounds like it's being sung by methanphetamine fueled mice.

Although I love HD now. I'm tired of things being so blurry when they get big. Is that wrong of me? I mean who wants to see fuzzy when they can see sharp![/FONT][/COLOR]

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Well as someone who works in the telecommunications field I can tell you digital is not all it's cracked up to be (not as much as the wavelength transmission, more so the cableing system.)

Digital cable is ran primarily through coaxial cables (the little cables that come out of your walls and go to your TV.) Cable companies are using miles and miles of the stuff "temporarily". Meaning they're going to use it until it's "all used up". What happens is coaxil cable gets a crack in it and gets wet EASILY, when this happens whose regions will lose cable. This will happen at least once to everyone in the next 5 years for a duration of probably....2 weeks or so. During that time they will switch everything to Fiber Optics, then it'll be better than analog.

As far as the "forcing" thing goes, really it's like a REAL shotgun wedding.

Farmer: No you don't have to marry my daughter, but it's either my daughter or the alternative. (He says as he loads up his shotgun)

[Allamorph]

[QUOTE=Drizzt Do'urden]As far as the "forcing" thing goes, really it's like a REAL shotgun wedding.

Farmer: No you don't have to marry my daughter, but it's either my daughter or the alternative. (He says as he loads up his shotgun)[/QUOTE]
[FONT=Arial]I'm curious at that analogy, considering I only use the television when I am extremely bored, and at present don't even have one. Seems like most of that buckshot will miss me by miles.

I'd liken the shift more to the outmoding of the horse-drawn carriage. Sure, you can still use it. But why?[/FONT]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR="Indigo"]I find the comparison to switching from other technology flawed, just as I find the comparison of a shotgun wedding flawed as well. This is a government mandate on communications. Something that I would normally be annoyed over except for one important detail. It doesn't affect the actual content of what's being sent.

You can argue that they are forcing you to have to purchase new TV's or equipment and though it's true since to continue watching TV on an analog set would require a digital-to-analog converter if your TV is older. (new ones being made are required to have one already) The cost of these converters that are estimated to cost between $40 - 70 can be offset by making use of this:

[U]Government Coupon Program[/U]
[LIST][*] To help offset the cost of these converters, the government created the TV Converter Box Coupon Program.
[*] This Program provides up to two coupons per household while supplies last.
[*] The coupons are each worth $40 and can be applied to the cost of eligible converter boxes.
[*] To apply for government coupons visit [url]www.dtv2009.com[/url] or call 1-888-DTV-2009.[/LIST]
If you decide to get a new TV, it needs to have a digital tuner, but it does not have to be HDTV capable. So you're not looking at forking out a lot of money on a more expensive TV just to be able to watch broadcasts.

If you're like me and you get cable, you already get digital transmissions and your cable box solves that issue. So when the change comes around, it won't make any difference to me at all.

So overall, I really have no issue with this whatsoever. In the past switching over to something new was a long and tedious process. Company's had to spend a lot of time pestering someone like the FCC to get their equipment listed as being standard. Like color TV's. So I think it will be interesting to see it done differently this time.

I see this as giving the inevitable switch to digital a swift kick in the rear instead of letting consumers and companies alike resist the change. I'm curious to see how it goes actually.[/COLOR]

[Sabrina]

[FONT="Tahoma"]Well digital is better and since this doesn't affect the actual content of what's being sent. I don't see a problem. I already get cable and my TV isn't that old. So I figure that by the time I need a new one... it will have one of those tuners in it so I'll be set.

By the way Eclipsed Dreamer, what in the world do you mean by this? [quote]I think they're going to put something on there that's going to change the way Americans think and therefore change something in the U.S.[/quote]Are you thinking of conspiracy theories here? I've heard quite a few, but I certainly don't believe them. I'm kind of curious what got you to think that there would be something put in there, well besides the usual commercialism.[/FONT]

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Government conspiracy theories? First I've heard of them. I don't think that the government is trying to mandate thought by telling us to use digital instead of analog transmission. Someone's been watching too many "robots take over because of the vast quantity of technology being developed" sort of movies/ shows. There are far worse cases of the media itself trying to program thought, which is why I no longer watch the National News Stations such as CNN, Headline News, or Fox News. When media decides to throw in politics instead of just reporting the news, that's far worse than big brother trying to get everyone on the technological ball.

It's kind of silly when you think about it.

Personally I have Digital Cable and mine works flawlessly. I've had only one minor issue and that was when our entire cable network went down in our house. One quick call to the Cable company and it was fixed. That'd be the only problem, I guess...would be the tech crashing on us. Digital media forms tend to do that some times.[/FONT]

[Rachmaninoff]

I can take a guess at what Sabrina was referring to. We've got some group running around campus handing out flyer's on how Digital broadcasts apparently will have subliminal messages in them.

I think most people just laugh at it since other than to say it would tell you what to buy and who to vote for, they didn't have any real reasoning behind why they think that will actually be the case.

Anyway, others have already mentioned how digital is better and how it doesn't affect actual content and so forth. I get cable myself so I won't need a new TV and the switch over won't affect me at all. I already get digital and have for quite a while. I just don't have a HDTV and my older analog TV works just fine with the cable box.

[Drizzt Do'urden]

You know, this could be nothing but I just thought of something. The super colider is supposed to reach full power sometime in early 2009. I for one don't believe in coincidences. Maybe America's being tricked by European scientists who have ops in the government.

Maybe the subliminal messiging will say things like "do not attempt to run if the giant bugs from another dimension try and eat you. Your purpose is to be food for them, stay and be eaten"

I for one won't be tricked. TO THE UNDERGROUND!!!!!

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]Don't forget your aluminum hat.

Or your digital converter box. 'Cause you'll need to watch [I]something[/I] while you're down there.[/FONT]

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]Don't forget your aluminum hat.[/FONT][/QUOTE]Or one of these, can't let those transmissions get to you after all. =P

[CENTER][IMG]http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9632/protectdigitalzn4.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]
All joking aside, I really don't see a problem with it.

[Lunar]

[COLOR="Indigo"]yeah,yeah. go on without me. i don't care...............but i still believe that the governments trying [I]something[/I]. besides, i'm not against it. along as it spongebob, foster's home for imaginary friends, movies, more spongebob, and Shinzo! [/COLOR]

[Morpheus]

Digital only has one disadvantage:the signal either makes it to your tv or it doesn't. No more fuzzy screens. It's either a color in the pixel or it's dead black.

If anyone has any questions about the swap or how digital or analog work or how this affects tv stations, ask away. I'm a broadcasting major so I can answer pretty much any question you might have about the subject.

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Eclipsed Dreamer, we are having a discussion here and I would appreciate it if we kept it that way. We're not personally attacking your theory, we're just finding it silly. Little difference in opinion never hurt anyone. You're certainly entitled to thing that the government is trying something, as we are entitled to thinking it's silly. For discussion's sake, let's keep it civil. ;)

Sure I'm a little curious as to the different media forms, but I'm more concerned about how the government is going to keep people from exploiting this coupon system. I hope it doesn't fare the same way our American welfare is faring at the moment....
[/FONT]

[Lunar]

[COLOR="Indigo"]yeah, korey. by now, i've concluded that this is a little silly, i was just wondering why...........anyway, continue your disscussion as i have nothing to say anymore.:animedepr[/COLOR]