NTSC Directives: A Geriatric Perspective
Time’s ticking, folks…in four months (minus one week), barring any last-minute delays caused by lingering naysayers, high-power analog over-the-air television transmissions will cease in the United States. Stations across the country are already beginning the phase-out process, some permanently (Wilmington, NC…depending on which interpretation you believe, the transition went pretty smooth, was a mixed bag or a near-abject failure), and some only briefly as a wake-up warning:
What’s with the warnings? Unsurprisingly, pragmatically, they’re targeted in part at procratinators who are dragging their feet obtaining the necessary $40 government-sourced vouchers and turning them in for set-top box credits (along with procrastinators who, having obtained their vouchers, aren’t using them prior to their expiration period). Some folks, however, simply remain flat-out ignorant of the looming NTSC shut-off date; understandable, given my personal experience.
Reno CBS affiliate KTVN is running public service announcements, but seemingly not during prime time. When are they running them? At 3AM, judging from my recordings of repeat episodes of Boston Legal. A lot of good that’s going to do, eh? Speaking of KTVN, it’s also begun the NSTC shut-off early, converting the Verdi-area translator from analog to digital broadcasts on Sunday, October 12. I still don’t have confirmation that ABC affiliate KOLO is going to shift its digital broadcast from channel 9 to 8 once NTSC signals cease, but I remain (eternally) hopeful that the rumors are true and that the spectral migration will overcome geographic challenges that its antenna neighbors on Slide Mountain already seem to have surmounted.
Speaking of vouchers, I’ve been delaying getting mine, even though I qualify as a non-cable or satellite subscriber, because I was waiting for prices to drop to the point where I wouldn’t end up shelling out substantial additional cash (aside from sales tax, that is). Well, it looks like that time has come; AccessHD’s 1080D boxes are 1 penny post-voucher, and I anticipate equivalent or even better deals at the upcoming recession-’enhanced’ Black Friday sales.
I won’t actually use my two boxes, at least in the long-term…recall that these entry-level units don’t offer digital video (or, for that matter, high-def analog) outputs or other features that a videophile like me insists on. Instead, I plan to dissect them for Prying Eyes analysis…and if they still work after I put them back together, I’ll pass them along to others.
I’ll close this writeup (and this week) with a cute clip that my friend Eric forwarded me three weeks back. It is, after all, a Friday Funday…
Truth hurts, huh?
Happy weekend, y’all!
Brian Dipert commented:
Larry M commented:
