FADE TO BLACK

Life Changing Potential

2009-04-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

The stations have begun to flash the warnings again. The June 12 deadline is looming. I am down to the ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates and a fuzzy view of a few others. Ironically, the spanish-speaking station is clearest. I also get a channel with what seems to be a non-stop infomercial for either Hip Hop Abs or for Turbo Jam and two or three evangelical channels. Maybe this is all a message to me about what I should be doing with my time. Certainly, I could use to lose some weight, pray more and actually brush up on the Spanish I studied for several years!

I May Have To Address This...

2009-03-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

As of this morning, WOSU, my local PBS station, switched to digital! Somehow, I missed those announcements. I heard about it during Fred Anderle's Open Line call-in program on WOSU radio. (Thank you for that!)
Here's a link to that program on WOSU.
Read the general manager's blog here.

So far, I have been able to survive without WTTE's (Fox) morning news simulcast of their "sister station's" news and the grainy reception I had on WWHO53 (CW). I am not a PBS junkie, but the loss of WOSU on analog airspace will leave a noticeable gap in my viewing options.

On the radio program, WOSU staff discussed why the switch was made now (versus February 17 or June 12) and that their digital signal is operating, but not yet at full capacity. They discussed antennas and converter boxes and how they differ. The picture quality actually varies depending on distance from their tower. Some callers discussed difficulty in getting signals or the interruptions caused by weather and passing airplanes.

Somehow this whole process and the inconsistent results seems to mimic the days of fiddling with antennas and aluminum foil.

Cable service is looking better and better...sigh.

Another Step

2009-03-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

The recent information has all been about antennas.
I find this confusing because I thought the days of antennas would be over with this switch. Apparently not. I wonder if my antenna will work with a converter box.

I remember when I bought this antenna. I had a new tv and a very poor picture. It was probably around 1993. I bought the antenna from Sun TV (a long gone regional appliance store chain). The salesman showed me the only model antenna available and seemed dumbfounded that I would bother with one. He suggested I "just get cable." At the time, I did not understand that cable delivers a superior picture. (The technology still confounds me.) That was the first time I felt out of the electronic loop.

Random Act

2009-03-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

The local stations are visiting viewers' homes to help hook up the converter box. Here's one from channel 6.
While I may miss some things about television, there are people out there who depend on their broadcast signals not just for news and entertainment, but also companionship.
I have asked some older folks in my area about their service. I still need to get my mom's kitchen tv wired for her cable. (She now has to go the family room to watch Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.) I'm trying to get one of the local companies to install the additional tv at no charge in return for her business. Another neighbor said he did not know anything about DTV. I explained the concept to him and told him that I'd order him a coupon, but I've since found out that our local social service agency has boxes available for him. I'll help to faciliate that (pardon the pun) connection.

Do a random act by asking a neighbor or two if you can help them out.
In case you still need to learn something, click here to become a DTV deputy!

February 17, 2009

2009-02-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say it's over, but this is just the first step.
I went to bed earlier than usual- not a bad outcome! Fox 28 and WWHO53 switched to digital already as planned. "That 70s Show," which I had only now started to watch is gone. At 12:30am, I would have watched "Frasier." Someone local recorded the final minutes of WWHO on YouTube here.

Arrested Development

2009-02-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

With less than I week until the big switch, we now have more time. Do we need it?
Feels like digital purgatory.

D(tv) Minus

2009-01-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

There was a "test" on the local stations tonight.
As expected, I failed.

The stations switched to digital temporarily.
All I saw was the warning message that my tv is not ready for the conversion.

Just because I have not hopped on the bandwagon to sign up for cable or purchase a converter box, whom have I failed? Am I less of a person? Or, merely less of a consumer? The latter certainly doesn't bother me as much. My procrastination is not to blame as much as my apathy.

Technologically out of the loop

2009-01-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

I was born in the late 60s. I own and use a cell phone, but have never had cable. Just last year, I bought a DVD player and I have never owned an ipod, blackberry or its predecessor-what was that gadget that everyone HAD to have 10 years ago? Oh yeah, the palm pilot. I send texts to a few (less than five) people and just learned what a SIM card is. I signed up for a Twitter account, but I don't think I'll use it much.

Regarding television, I am in Columbus (Ohio) and can watch broadcast tv: NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS and a handful of others depending on the weather. I watch two to four hours of tv a day- in the morning before work and just before falling asleep.
I have never seen HBO's The Sopranos or Six Feet Under. I never saw Sex in the City until it began in reruns. (I've always assumed it's an edited version, am I right?) I am interested in AMC's Madmen, but have never seen it.

I remember when cable was being tested here in the late 70s. Does anyone remember QUBE?
While at friends' houses, I mastered that system easily. But when remotes and cable became more common, I was always confused about finding the channels. I could never find the shows I wanted during babysitting gigs and usually ended up doing homework after the kids went to sleep.

Today's kids could activate the launch sequence for the space shuttle. (But just try to ask them to calculate a percentage!) Ok, I'll stay on topic...

So, there's the background on my technical apathy. But, keep in mind, I am blogging- so I'm not a lost cause. I have found as I get older that I am (I hope) more able to separate the technological wheat from the chaff.

January 1, 2009

2009-01-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

The switch is 47 days away according to the recent public service announcements. I can't imagine how much money this whole thing will cost. I suppose there can't really be a price tag for everyone's time and effort.
I still don't get it, but I don't understand how television works anyway. Remember when television was called "the tube"? I used to think there we were watching people through a tube connected to Hollywood.