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Should we be forced to have only digital TV?
Results so far:
| Yes | 32% | 268 votes | Total: 845 votes | |
| No | 68% | 577 votes |
Yes
by Edward Matthews
Created on: August 12, 2010 Last Updated: August 26, 2010
There is always some resistance to change, and the debate over digital television is no different. Anything that is new can also be a little scary, and the problem is that many people don’t understand what digital television is all about. After understanding this concept, it will feel a lot more like “allowed” and much less like “forced.”
What is Digital TV?
Historically television was transmitted as an analog signal. Analog signals are susceptible to interference and provide a degraded picture when there is something obstructing the transmission. When a signal is encoded digitally error correction is allowed, and this means that small problems in transmission can be fixed on the receiving end, leaving you with a pristine image on your television.
Increased Bandwidth = More Channels
Shifting to digital television has some very important practical implications. With the increased connectivity of the world there is more information to send than areas to send it through. This area for transmission is bandwidth. Analog signals take up drastically more bandwidth than digital signals because digital is just so much more efficient. For every one channel that is transmitted in analog, several can be transmitted digitally. Also, the newly opened bandwidth can be used for other beneficial purposes, such as wireless internet access. This is why the digital transition is so important.
Ease of Transition
The FCC, which is the organization that really controls all of these transmissions, is highly focused on this transition to digital and has actually been doing a stellar job of smoothing the conversion. Much work has been done to make the process easy from the perspective of the consumer, and the positive benefits far outweigh the negative consequences. More channels with better picture quality will be available, and the only cost is that of a relatively inexpensive digital tuner. Thrifty consumers had many opportunities to use government provided vouchers to offset even this minor cost, and this technology is being built-in to every new television that is being produced.
Once consumers begin to see the benefits of digital television, including more channels with better picture quality, the whole process will be seen in a different light. Switching to digital television is one of those rare situations in life where a new way of doing things truly results in benefit to all those involved.
Learn more about this author, Edward Matthews.
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No
by Samantha Pratt-Tyler
Created on: August 04, 2008 Last Updated: June 02, 2009
We are more and more becoming a society that where are choice is being taken away and being forced to digital TV is just one more thing,
True, if you are poor and do not own a digital TV you can buy a converter box, and get a coupon towards the cost of one, but that is not the point, to me anyway. The point is being told I have to change the way I view TV.
It is bad enough I do not have cable or a dish and rely on local programing that I can get in on my set, now it is digital. There are just some people who really can not afford the luxury of digital tv's, cable or satellite TV and this is just one more thing that the poor and the elderly are being forced to change to if you want to watch tv. In my opinion it is not fair. In my area, even with the converter box we are unable to get a signal, so no television, and this is totally unfair for us.
Did we, the citizens of the United States vote on whether or not we wanted digital TV only? No, our representatives voted this through for us. Just another way to appease big business and the TV business is big.
Who needs 250+ television channels any way, really, do you watch all those stations? It's bad enough there is not a lot of decent shows on TV now without adding hundreds more of the same or 10 sports stations or more. It's like do we have a life any more, or are we all just zoning out in front of the television set?
Going digital is suppose to give us better quality television and sound, but what difference does it make if you have nothing decent on TV to watch? And it is just another way to get dvd's to cost more and to get you buy high defition recorders, and TV's. To some it is a blessing but to those of us on disability, social security, laid off, jobless, etc., it is anything but. The cost of going digital is going to effect more than just television in the long run, and those who can not afford it will be without a source of entertainment, and that is unfair.
I do not feel the Government should force something unto the whole nation unless it was voted on by the people since this is not a matter of national security. I feel they are doing the poor and elderly a great disservice by this and television as it is to now is just fine.
Television was a source that only the elite could afford when it was first made, then the price came down and after World War II television became more common place. Then color TV came out and again only those with money could afford it until the price came down for the common man to be able to afford it. But we still had a choice, color or black and white. Cable and satellite came in and we still had a choice to buy it or not. But now, with digital we have no choice. It is something that the TV's may come down in price but cable and satellite will not, they will keep going up in price and that is unacceptable. So, now we are the stage where our choice is taken away, we have to get a converter box if we want to view limited television after February 9, 2009. So for the first time in history the choice is taken away, and I find that very unsettling. For everyone who has a small television to travel with, it will need a converter box, if you have a palm television you will need a converter box, so a lot of televisions will be obsolete and unusable once the digital TV takes affect. But there are still plenty of places selling these TV's and that bothers me too, since they know the changes are coming but yet they are not really telling the consumers what they need to know in regards to the fact their television will not work without a converter box. Example, I have a small black and white set that can run on batteries, good for when we have no power, but it will not work without a converter box come February 2009.
The coupon from the government is only for one converter box, so one set will not work, and when you have no power, disconnecting one to hook up to the other can be hard to do.
I am not against change, but change that is forced on me is something I do not like, and I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.
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