The Digital Future: Is America Ready?
david
So last night I decided to do something I don’t usually have the time to do - watch television. Well I sat down and cuddled up in front of my girlfriend’s HD T.V. (yes, I live with her) and started flipping through the myriad of cable channels. Eventually the remote stopped just in time to catch the opening credits of a black & white classic known as “The Racket”, (starring Robert Ryan & Robert Mitchum) a film of which I had never seen nor knew anything about.
As the credits rolled, I hopped onto my computer and IMDB’d this film to find that it is film noir of sorts. Great! Just what the doctor ordered on a rainy night. Snuggling up once again with a little blanket we keep on the couch, I prepared for some great entertainment.
About five minutes into the film the picture is out of sync with the sound. Now, I don’t know about you but this is very annoying to me and I can’t watch something that is even 1/10th of a second out of sync. It’s the digital signal; So I change the channel to its HD equivalent, thinking that it would correct the problem - well now I’ve got black borders on either side of the picture because the film hasn’t been converted to HD yet. OK so now the audio should be fixed, right? No, still out of sync, and now the video freezes for a period of what seemed like an entire minute. Frustrated, I turned off the cable box, rebooted it, and still it’s out of sync. I don’t remember ever having these problems with an antenna, do you?
This February, the Senate is voting to postpone the digital TV transition by four months but I still don’t think that’s enough time for our digital infrastructure to catch up. In fact, there should be more spending to support our digital infrastructure.
We’re simply not ready for this digital switch - just like we weren’t ready for 64-bit Windows Vista, just like we weren’t ready for Blu-Ray, etc. When will this cycle, of selling us a future that doesn’t work, end? The digital age? I say not yet - what do you say?
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| Posted on January 28, 2009
Comments
I have mixed feelings. I don’t think our government should spend any more money on getting the word out about the digital switch. I know that if we had extended it, it would have been very costly to get the word out. However, I have had the same experience that David has and am skeptical about the digital signal working on a consistent basis.
Posted on 2009 01 28 by Angela Tucker
I disagree.
Was anyone really “ready” for the internet?
I also think we should be careful to not compare apples to oranges, as an over-the-air digital transmission does not share the same limitations as the wired feed from cable systems.
As for 64-bit Windows Vista, the market rejected it because it did not offer enough of an improvement over the current platform to justify the additional expense. The same thing with Blue-Ray.
As the old saying goes, “If you build it, they will come”.
America was the technology leader, and if we are to reclaim the crown we cannot be timid and afraid of the pain that sometimes comes with change!
Posted on 2009 02 03 by Ax Fleming