23 Sep
2011
23 Sep
'11
4:40 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: Repair Culture
On 23 Sep 2011 at 18:32, TeoZ wrote:
Well I get more channels now using the same rooftop antenna then I did
before the switch to digital (and they are all crystal clear). Must be
because there are no mountains here and my house is on a small hill and is
tall enough that nothing obstructs the signal.
Still I rarely watch free broadcast shows, just a couple non reality shows
when I am bored. Most of my TV watching is a weekly DVD (netflix) and
streaming video before I go to sleep. Currently watching season 7 of
Stargate SG1 in broadcast order on NETFLIX commercial free, 44mins for an
hour show. Funny thing is my "newest" machine (Athlon 64 x 2 4600+) is the
one I use for NETFLIX streaming since it has HDMI and a video chip for HD
output. The unit was free because the last owner could not get it working,
it used to run video advertising at a truck stop judging by the content of
the 4GB flash drive.
The cool thing about people dumping instead of fixing is that I get all
kinds of working gear for nothing if I look around, and most is better then
what I currently have. Beats all the cash I blew in the 90's being a
bleeding edge gamer I guess.
Sure you can buy a converter box (I have a couple
collecting dust) but
you don't get HDTV with those so you can either lose much of the
broadcast or get stuck with a bunch of black on the screen.
Sigh, I still use an OTA converter box. No cable; I'd have to go
dish--and there are enough obstructions around that viewing would get
"interesting" once the wind came up.
There's just something that irks me to pay to watch advertisements
with some (really awful) program content mixed in.
In spite of upgrading my antenna and having most of the transmitters
within 10 miles, I find OTA DTV reception to be remarkably sensitive
to rain and wind effects and find the problems that stations have
with the transmission equipment to be much more numerous (i.e. flat-
out outages).
I watch a lot less TV now than I did before the switchover. Mostly
due to greatly inferior content.
--Chuck