Tonight my television will go fuzzy as analog signals are switched off across the country. My wife Kitty and I don’t necessarily have anything against TV, but for some reason we just didn’t scurry to get our converter box when the coupon arrived in the mail. Eventually it expired and we made no move to order another one.
From a report about the switch in today’s New York Times:
According to Nielsen, about 2.8 million homes are completely unready for the transition, despite an onslaught of TV ads about the impending change. Another 9.5 million homes are partially unready, meaning that they may have upgraded some of their TV sets, but not all of them.
So as of tonight, I will rely solely on internet and DVD for my media consumption. It’s not that big of a shift. I’ve been watching on-line for awhile now (I’m a big fan of the Spelling action classics on Hulu) and most of the programs that I care about can be streamed on demand into my living room. So it’s not as if the networks will be losing my attention, but the advertisers will be losing some eyes.
I’m curious how many people in the country have a similar apathy towards the switch. In many respects, I see allowing my television to go dark as a good thing. I suspect more books will be read, and less post work calories consumed while under the soothing mental anesthetic of the Simpsons-Family Guy-Live @ 7-Simpsons wave. Also, maybe I’ll exercise more instead of sitting my fat ass on the couch and stuffing truffle salted popcorn into my maw while watching the latest Frontline depression fest on OPB.
It’s incredibly easy to turn television into the villain, but I’m also aware that I’m the one making the choice to vegetate in front of the tube. It might turn out that the only difference between my media consumption habits tomorrow as compared to today, is that I’ll be watching a smaller screen and using the buffer time to prep another batch of nachos.
Let’s hope that’s not the case.
How are you dealing with the switch? Are you switching?
I switched months ago. I pretty much hate it. Now I have to use 2 remotes, the volume on commercials is really loud, much louder than the show and the remote has no mute button. When your signal doesn’t come in well, you may completely miss something because the digital will lose it completely. Sometimes the box will freeze up completely and I have to unplug it, then plug it back in to get it to work.
There are a few more channels which I guess is good but most are completely useless religious garbage and there doesn’t seem to be a way to block them.
haven’t had a tv for two years and it doesn’t matter. just watch hulu, netflix, itunes, and I still catch everything I would want from regular tv.
I switched months ago and here’s what I’ve experienced: Really loud commercials, no mute button on the converter remote (I have to use 2 different remotes now), when reception is not so good the picture gets all blocky and you usually lose sound completely. There are a few more channels but most are useless religious garbage and there doesn’t seem to be a way to block them. A better antenna will help with some of those problems I suppose but really, I don’t even care much anymore.
Needless to say, I’m not a fan.
Awesome Patrick!
I haven’t switched either. Not on cable, either–can’t afford. Gonna see how long I can go as well. Just to try not having it, like you. Have WiFi as well. Didn’t Rachel Maddow claim she had no TV as well? Wonder how long we can all go…
I got rid of my TV for the same reasons you didn’t switch over. I seem to get so much more done, and none of the zoning out in front of the tube, unless I choose to put a program on. (via internet / netflix). I think my favorite thing is not being exposed to the commercials, I don’t have their useless information clogging up my brain. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
The tv in my studio lab needed a converter box which didn’t cost extra and I LOVE IT. Extended my channels and gave me a clearer picture. I use a program on my computer for most of my tv viewing, but I like to be able to turn on the news now and then or watch late night talks shows.
My experience with HD has been a bit different. KGW and KATU locally seem to have it down, but KOIN’s HD switcher is delayed and they switch from STRECTHED OUT WIDE SCREEN to HD in and out of commercials with a painful popping sound. Plus the automation program they use seems to do a horrible job of inserting local commercials.
As this stuff is still relativity new I’m sure with time they will work out the kinks.
Installed the converter box months ago, loved the additional channels (OPB as some good secondary channels), but started watching more netflix. Almost exclusively watch NF now, and don’t really miss the warm glow of the TV.
My friend bought me a converter box, but my decision to use it relies on the answer to these questions: on a scale of 1 to 10 (one being crappiest, 10 being awesomest), how good are the 4 OPB channels? Do they play the normal OPB programming during pledge drive or is it those goddamn do-wap bands, celtic babes, and lecturing idiots?
Perhaps I should pose this question in Questionland…
Seems to me anybody who loves TV enough to be truly affected by the switch is unlikely to be affected by the switch (because they have cable or a new-enough TV)/
and yet somehow, life continues to go on…