[Amps] OTA TV

[donroden at hiwaay.net]

Quoting Jim Thomson <jim.thom at telus.net>:

> I for one will miss the OTA broadcasts once they are gone. They
> had much better picture quality than this compressed "stuff" we
> get via cable or satellite.



The FCC sold the public a bill of goods when they were promoting digital TV.
They told TV stations that their coverage area would double in area.
Over the air real world results were just the opposite... We lost all  
of our fringe viewers and half of our grade B viewers. People who were  
watching our analog signal with indoor rabbit ears lost coverage when  
we turned the analog transmitters off.

Elderly fixed income viewers couldn't afford the expense of getting an  
outside antenna or the monthly costs of cable or sat.

Other than a few digital geeks , no one wanted HDTV. It cost millions  
for TV stations to convert , and we lost half the audience. Some Deal  
!!!

Many could watch an analog signal with some fade or snow.... with  
digital, its all or nothing..... usually nothing.

The digital signals pixelate and the faces look like
8 shade cartoon "paint-by-number" animation when blown up to large screen.

Background scenes like a person walking along side a brick building  
especially with the "progressive" scan format blur in and out of focus  
as the computer trys to make decisions about bandwidth allocated to  
stationary vs moving objects.

Watch a NASCAR event over 720P ?? Forget it.

Follow the money...........free OTA is doomed ( purposefully ) for the  
higher government revenues generated by cellular plans that start at  
$50 per month.


Don W4DNR