History

[pixelthis]

That is what NTSC is as the "switch" was flipped across the country in the long transition
to HDTV.
Of course there was the usual gripeing, fourty bucks for a converter!
If you can't afford that you dont have a TV problem, you have a surrvival problem.
I wonder if smokey got his hooked up in time.
Of course a lot of this moaning was the hope that if they appeared helpless enough the govt would give them a FREE converter, which hasnt happened yet.
A 720p 32" LCD is selling for under 400 bucks, a 32" 1080p for 599,
there is really no excuse anymore to not go HD, ESPECIALLY WITH USED SELLING EVEN CHEAPER.
Anyway, looks like no more stays of execution for the old analog format that ushered
in the 1939 worlds fair.
Its a new world, of course those on this board, most of whom already have HD, will scarcely notice.

[kelsci]

Hi Pixelthis; My father paid $400 in 1950 for a 10 inch black and white RCA television set loaded with tubes to burn out. All you have to do as stated is hook up that 720p tv for $400 today's bucks to some kind of aerial and let its tuner scan and it will pick up more stations in color and high-defininition and better standard definition picture than anybody never even conceived of in 1950. And by the way, he and my mother were at that 1939 Worlds Fair too.

[atomicAdam]

you know what is awesome - some of us - who dont have a TV, and haven't for years, have hardly even noticed either....and we saved $440 bucks to boot!

[GMichael]

Things come and go all the time. Add this one to the list.

[luvtolisten]

I wonder with inflation, how much those $400 would convert to today's dollar.
There is a drawback to digital, it doesn't transmit as far. There were times I could pick up football games from near by cities, for free. They may have had a little snow, but still watchable. I wish there was a standard antenna out there. There are so many different types and styles. The cable and dish companies must loving this.

[Smokey]

I wish there was a standard antenna out there. There are so many different types and styles.

There is [best] standard antenna out there, and that would be an outdoor antenna. But since most don’t have that luxury, you have to do with inferior indoor antennas. But as rule of thumb, the best indoor antenna are un-amplify types.

[pixelthis]

you know what is awesome - some of us - who dont have a TV, and haven't for years, have hardly even noticed either....and we saved $440 bucks to boot!

GOOD FOR YOU.
Just think, no Buffy, no Moonlighting, no xena, no nightline.
I sat eating my breakfast, watching fox and friends, my morning ritual.
And watched as the towers were hit.
I watched as the Braves went from worst to first.
I watched desert storm one, countless movies, you name it.
But hey, you saved 400 bucks.

[pixelthis]

FUNNY HOW THINGS CHANGE.
I remember a company (can't remember the name), they were investing a sizable amount
in a black box that was supposed to eliminate ghosting, a serious problem.
And the first widescreen TV sets, some were 480p, and couldn't keep up converting on the fly.
And five years of 250 lines of res from a VCR before they came out with SVHS, AND
laserdisc, god, that picture impressed even the most fanatic anti-tv snob.
But the biggest memory?
My first decent audio system, a 35wpc yamaha with GENESIS speakers.
I would spend days not even watching my 19" TV(a decent size back them).
But them "V" came out, and MIAMI VICE, MOONLIGHTING, etc, and video edged even more and more into my entertainment time.
Had to buy a TRINITRON XBR, then a bigger TRINITRON, then the audio purist system went on sale and a Pioneer "HT" receiver replaced it, and a laserdisc replaced the
single disc Yamaha CD.
And now audio is something you listen to on your HT, because its one or the other,
cant afford both on my beer budget.
How did that happen?