Analogue TV switched Off

Just slightly off the intended use for this section but analogue television were switched off forever here in Western Australia at 9.00 am on 16 Apr and now digital signals are all we can get.

No more slightly snowy pics (with which you can still actually see the pic)......now a total loss of signal when it dissolves into pixellation and then goes into bluescreen when heavy cloud or rain is in the area.

It's only the 18th here and already I am seeing some really nice (and expensive) analogue TV's being dumped for pickup on the roadside.

Ron.

We had been dealing with this for a few years now. I hate the digital signal, when it's working it's great but for no reason at all it will get too weak and the picture will either freeze or pixelate. Many nice TV's are now sitting in Goodwill stores.

I think you can still buy a converter to use the older analogy TV's.

And, remember, you can use your analog tv's on dvd's, and, tapes.
See if your country offers for sale a box to receive digital on anolog tv's. If not, expect trouble there. We had major trouble here.
They sell them here.
Bill Cahill

And, yes, I HATE digital!
Bill Cahill

I don't remember anybody having a say in this, either. Another thing to "blame" on the cell phone industry. They needed the bandwidth, and they had the pull. You can still use analog tv's on satellite and cable systems. I use analog tv's and prefer them. The only thing that is advantageous with a flat panel tv is the the screen is larger. But, like you guys have said, not better.
Junking perfectly good equipment like a tv set, especially an expensive one, just because it is not the "latest and greatest" is a horrible waste, IMHO. I will use my analog RCA's until they bury me or them. I paid $1200 for an RCA in 1992. We still use it every day.

We bought a 50" RCA for our place in AZ. It sure is lots bigger, but the picture is no better than our CRT RCA. The sound on flat panel tv's is poor due to the small speakers. We have a sound bar and surround system on it so that the sound quality is acceptable. Lots of button pushing and programming necessary to make it work as a tv. Way too much drama for my taste.

Regards

Actually, we got burned. I didn't say this, guys. This isn't political, but, two countries offered us the system. Most people didn't notice. China, and, Japan. The Japanese system would have worked with analog tv's. The industry got upset, and, complained that it would cut into sales. Guess which system was choden..............
Bill Cahill

Many people living around me had tried off the air dtv reception and have said that they couldn't get anything. I had set aside my converter unit until last weekend. I got my amplified set top antenna that I use with my 8R71 radio and tried it with the converter box. I got 16 channels! I wish there were a way to get TCM without cable, I'd have the cable dis co nec ted asap!!

Ron Pond wrote:Just slightly off the intended use for this section but analogue television were switched off forever here in Western Australia at 9.00 am on 16 Apr and now digital signals are all we can get.

No more slightly snowy pics (with which you can still actually see the pic)......now a total loss of signal when it dissolves into pixellation and then goes into bluescreen when heavy cloud or rain is in the area.

It's only the 18th here and already I am seeing some really nice (and expensive) analogue TV's being dumped for pickup on the roadside.

Ron.

I can't think of a better nor more fitting topic for this forum! All of your analogue TV's just became antiques!

Out here in Bugtussle, out in the boonies, digital reception is very poor. Amplified or otherwise. We can get only a couple FM stations and AM is really noisy, thanks to the dozen or so cell towers.

As far as analog tv's becoming antiques, the real shame is that nearly 100 percent of the analog tv's being tossed still work fine. The reliability of tv's reached a high point in the 1990's, just in time to become obsolete, nearly overnight with the introduction of digital flatpanel tv's. Time will tell if flat panel sets will run 25 years like the old CRT sets commonly did. I still have an RCA XL-100 console from 1973 that is still going strong. I remember in 1995 when R-12 refrigerant was phased out. How many people traded in perfectly good cars just because the "Freon" was going to be obsolete. Had they waited a year, until the dust settled, they would have found just how easy retrofit for older systems actually was. Some people will forgo paying their mortgage or getting needed medical care just to have the latest stuff. They have no knowledge, or don't care, just how much that really costs them in the long run.

Regards

WC

My department at work buys the monitor flatpanels for the CCTV system. They don't seem to last very well at all. I don't think we have gotten more than5 years' service out of any of them. Most have been LG and Samsung And they are now trying the RCA branded units, whoever that happens to be these days. There are 5 42" units ready to be shoveled in in place of the spent units. No, I would be immediately terminated if i disposed of them at home for them.

Well, I was initally a nay-sayer, but the DTV conversion is one of the best things that has happened to my house. Before I had grainy analog reception, but with the free OTA (over the air) transmissions, I get cable quality picture and quite a selection of channels I could never get with analog. I don't want and can't afford cable tv.

I will agree though, digital, like any other technology has it's shortcomings. It's all or nothing with digital. "NO SIGNAL" or pixelation or "artifacts" when the screen freezes.

I did a lot of research before I used my government coupons for the converter boxes. I bought the Zenith brand and Insignia (made by Zenith). The decoder chips inside are superior to other brands. I also had good luck with the Radio Shack brand.

The key is good components; convertor box and GOOD antenna. I didn't spend $$ on some gimmick antenna. I built one of these and built one for a friend. I swear by them. For what they are, they don't work good, they work GREAT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

Oh, and in response to the "modern flat screen tvs". They are already failing in droves thanks to the electrolytic capacitors on the boards. They are cheap and grouped too close so the heat kills them. Samsung has already been involved in a lawsuit, and pretty much the other "big names" have all seen some sort of failure due to high ESR in the capacitors.

Samsung is having electrolytic capacitor problems in their phone systems too. I've had a high rate of service calls on many Samsung systems.

They'd better get the caps together, one maker will start using good stuff and step over the high fail types. This is ridiculous.

Dr. Radio wrote:The key is good components; convertor box and GOOD antenna. I didn't spend $$ on some gimmick antenna. I built one of these and built one for a friend. I swear by them. For what they are, they don't work good, they work GREAT.

One tree between the antenna and the digital signal source can attenuate the signal to the point where it will randomly drop out.

We've had converter boxes here for years during the transition period between analogue and digital systems and government supplied converters for the needy.