Maybe The DTV Transition Delay Wasn't Such A Bad Idea

from the kill-your-television dept

Fri, Feb 20th 2009 6:47pm — Carlo Longino

While most reports say that those TV stations switching their broadcasts to digital aren't seeing many problems, there are some significant exceptions. Like, for instance, a 70-year-old guy in Missouri who shot up his TV (via Engadget) after he couldn't get his converter box to work. Apparently, he'd been drinking, too. Perhaps we need to revisit the transition delay legislation, and ban booze until June 12, too?

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Filed Under: confusion, digital tv

27 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2009 @ 7:08pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ... please ... let me keep my booze
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2009 @ 7:38pm

I wonder what tv show he was missing.
NASCAR ? or maybe it was Hee Haw.
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Simon, 20 Feb 2009 @ 8:07pm

Copywrite ???!!
(Copywrite 2009 NBC. All rights reserved.)
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bob, 20 Feb 2009 @ 8:11pm

LOL
LOL
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Michael, 20 Feb 2009 @ 10:37pm

Drugs or Weapons, pick one.
Clearly he should not have weapons and drugs at the same time. He should pick one, and lock the other away. Behind a puzzle lock for the guns, and the drugs behind a lock that requires some key component of the guns.
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jeff, 21 Feb 2009 @ 4:39am

ass
what an asshole. he should have shot himself. I hate people that get technology.
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Azrael, 21 Feb 2009 @ 5:51am

I think it would be better to outlaw the rednecks. Unfortunately it will never happen, you can't outlaw 90% of the population of a country.
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Gen. Lee, 21 Feb 2009 @ 6:21am

Re:
Gawd what a snot you are. When you're effin' hybrid-green-no-polluting-piece-of-sh*t-Jap-made car breaks down, who the f*ck do you think will fix your POS? Ward Churchill? Paul Krugman? Barack Obama?

Long live rednecks!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2009 @ 7:18am

90% ?
I doubt it.
It may seem that way, because they tend to be loud and obnoxious.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2009 @ 9:08am

"Gawd what a snot you are. When you're effin' hybrid-green-no-polluting-piece-of-sh*t-Jap-made car breaks down"

Obviously a redneck statement. When was the last time a jap car broke down?

Ohh, you must be referring to the jap cars the build right here in the South.

I gotcha now. Sorry
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2009 @ 9:51am

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this was probably not the first time the cops were out to this guys house. So if it wasn't the DTV switch, it would have been something else. The thing is he had a converter box, he was either too drunk or retarded to figure it out....snd its not rocket science.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2009 @ 11:24am

Re:
Nope... it was Sopranos.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 21 Feb 2009 @ 1:05pm

Wrong Victim
Why didn't he shoot the converter box? The real cause of his problems. Oh yeah, drunk.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2009 @ 3:19pm

Should have smoked ganja instead, don't need a converter box - just get high and watch the static. I like to estimate whether the black or white dots are winning
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Frogpond, 21 Feb 2009 @ 4:44pm

DTV Better Pic-same old s**t
We are lucky that he did not get it to work. If he had, he might have been so disappointed he would have shot up the whole town.
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Joe K (profile), 21 Feb 2009 @ 4:57pm

Why is the transition to DTV planned all at once???
It would a lot more sense to turn off analog transmission in steps in stead of all at once. Some people in the country can get a fuzzy but usable signal, but will not be able to tune in digital.

They should at least leave one analog channel running for a while for emergency/weather broadcasts for all of those portable emergency TV+radios. My guess is that they are in a hurry to make money from selling all of the new bandwidth.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2009 @ 7:49pm

Re: Why is the transition to DTV planned all at once???
The bandwidth was already sold; companies who bought/invested in it are the losers here because services are not being rolled out which they intend to recover spectrum costs with.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2009 @ 12:51pm

Re:
so who fuck died and made you queen ?
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2009 @ 5:43pm

TV IS NOT A F***ING RIGHT!
I'm tired of reading these articles about people that aren't ready for the digital switch ... Who gives a flying f***!? if they aren't ready, they lose out! Since when is TV a right in this country!? Get off your asses and get an effing box or pay for cable! douchebags!
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Imee, 23 Feb 2009 @ 3:07am

I heard of that guy who shot his TV. Perhaps he was trying to imitate Elvis? Then again, the man was drunk. Haha.
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DS, 23 Feb 2009 @ 5:30am

The problem was is that the guy ended up buying a Sony Stupid Piece of Shit Box.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Feb 2009 @ 7:42am

Re: TV IS NOT A F***ING RIGHT!
Good call. Quit moaning America.

In the UK, we have to pay a license fee to have a TV as it is supposedly a public service. How much of that is being given back to folks to buy digital equipment? Yup, none.
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kirillian (profile), 23 Feb 2009 @ 8:40am

Tech Support
I'm just seeing the tech support call right now.

Tech Support: "Hello, how can I help you today?"
Guy: "What the F*** @#!$!@#$%%^$%^ is up with my @#$@#!$ tv?!?!?"
Tech Support: "What seems to be the trouble..."
Guy: "It doesn't work."
...
Tech Support: "You shot a HOLE in your TV?!?!? I'm sorry sir, but we can't support damaged equipment. You're gonna need to buy a new one."
- 'Click'
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CW, 23 Feb 2009 @ 10:39am

Better reporting, please.
You would think a tech website would put forth at least a smidgen of effort to figure out what's wrong with this statement in the linked article:

"The 70 year old homeowner was angry that he had lost his cable, and was unable to get his new DTV converter to work properly."

As it turns out, the dude's cable just got shut off.

Original story: http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_049234843.html
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Another AC, 23 Feb 2009 @ 12:18pm

Re: Better reporting, please.
Umm yeah, maybe you should read a little closer? His cable got shut off so he had a DTV coverter which wouldn't work. This was reported just fine.
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anita tyndall, 23 Feb 2009 @ 2:13pm

dtv conversion
I hate it. My favorie thing to watch on digital TV seems to be SCAN. I get some channels at night, lose them during the day; and have to rescan at night.

Also, have to constantly play with the antenna. It's in a good spot then 30-hr later, I lose the signal. When I check signal strength it is between 78-85%, but the channels are constantly going in and out...sounds like I'm watching a DJ making a record skip.

If I knew all this, I would have saved the money I spent on convertor boxes and antennas and bought a digital ready TV.
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I hate it..., 23 Feb 2009 @ 2:15pm

dtv conversion
I hate it. My favorie thing to watch on digital TV seems to be SCAN. I get some channels at night, lose them during the day; and have to rescan at night.

Also, have to constantly play with the antenna. It's in a good spot then 30-hr later, I lose the signal. When I check signal strength it is between 78-85%, but the channels are constantly going in and out...sounds like I'm watching a DJ making a record skip.

If I knew all this, I would have saved the money I spent on convertor boxes and antennas and bought a digital ready TV.
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