Digital TV may adversely affect Seniors come 2009
 

The transition to digital television could be a difficult one for senior citizens. If you don't understand why that's a big deal, you're not thinking like a congressman. AARP board member Nelda Barnett appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee this morning to warn them about the apocalypse that might arrive on February 18, 2009. "Consumers will be confused, frustrated, and angry that this important information and entertainment source in their household is no longer operational, through no fault of their own," she said. "Thousands of telephones will ring in communities around the country as well as right here in hundreds of congressional offices. Constituents will call their elected officials to complain and ask: 'What has happened to my television set?'"

So why will the switch to digital in 2009 hit seniors so hard? For one thing, they watch an awful lot of TV. According to the AARP, Americans over 50 watch the most TV of any demographic group—an average of 5.5 hours every single day. Those same people are also most likely to own sets without a digital tuner, and they're most likely to still receive over-the-air TV signals (20 million Americans currently do so). Couple that with the "potential difficulties in attaching the [digital] converter box to the back of their set" and "confusion regarding the transition itself," and you have the conditions for a perfect storm. Disgruntled seniors are unlikely to storm Washington with torches and pitchforks, but they are a powerful voting bloc.

Daniel Inouye (D-HI), who chairs the committee, warned that the government needs to act "before the digital transition devolves into digital disaster." Representatives from the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration were on hand to update senators about the work they are doing to prepare consumers for the transition.



http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-disaster.html

The AARP is the largest PAC in the nation, IIRC, and certainly one of the most influential.

As a result, senior citizens in the United States are the most overrepresented group in the nation - it's unreal. We hear about senior issues 24/7, for little good reason - it's absurd.

Digital TV? Really? Holy Social Darwinism, Batman - now your kids (who should be footing the bill for your internment anyway) might actually have to come visit!

If there's a converter box, and this is going to be widespread, I'm guessing the cable companies and whoever else is selling them will provide assistance. Why is this an issue?

There may be a matter of folk getting the boxes, setting them up and etc....

I know in my area when comcast coverted thier boxes over earlier this year...the lines at the cable company were long and a lot of people had many boxes to swap out.

So part of this problem is not only may you have ot get a new TV but if you need a new cable box and your cable company doesn't offer an option to come to your home....what would a senior / disabled citizen have to do to get thier equipment upgraded?

If the cable companies are smart, they'll get this started well in advance of the actual changeover. Plus, I've never heard of a cable company that didn't service you at home. Even if such a thing exists...believe me, if these boxes need to be put in, someone will see the need for the service and perform it and make a profit.

well comcast here in MD has days where u just wanna strangle somebody...a few months ago, one of my boxes was on the fritz and they wanted to charge me for DRIVING to come pick the box up from them or wiat 2.5 weeks for them to send a tech out...needless to say...I picked the box up and after a few choice words to the manager about thier customer service, I didn't pay for it either...



aaaahhhhh... verizon FIOS come Friday....hehehhee

In undergrad and high school, I worked for Radioshack.. We dealt a great deal with the elderly and their technical ineptitude. For many seniors who can't figure out how to change the batteries in their TV remote, this really will be a serious deal. I figure that they'll eventually be able to figure it out themselves or ask someone to help. Every electronics store in the U.S. will be selling these converter boxes at what I'm hoping is a pretty reasonable price.

you realize that one day that WE....will be one of those techologically inept seniors...LOL

Seriously, it's an issue because the people involved are old. That's it.

It's unreal.

Isn't it true that the Cable and Sat Dishes boxes convert to digital pictures with their boxes?

But I guess that is the rub where Us Seniors cannot afford anything but rabbit ears or house directional wands.:eek:

So once again, lets screw the people that have kept this country going and growing and now want to just relax.

Why do you need a new box?

From what I know, it's over the air signals that are affected (OTA) and that's a change from NTSC to ATSC.

-Rudey

Won't you need new boxes if you don't have digital cable already? Also, the cable bill will skyrocket when you have to move to digital cable. Or, will this not matter? I keep trying to figure out how you know whether your TV is digital ready or not. <shrug>

I work in IT, but when it comes to audio/visual junk like this, I know nothing. So, I guess I better research this one, before Feb 2009

I doubt it. I think folks are different now.

The story here is about seniors, but reality is that a whole lot more people are going to have problems. A whole lot of people simply aren't technically adept. It will also be a burden to the poor.

But beside that...

My feeling is, and has been for years, that this transition to digital broadcasting was, a) totally unnecessary and b) handled terribly from top to bottom. It would take way too much time, space and bandwidth to explain it all.

There are two entities that are going to make out on this. The first is the government as they auction off use of the present NTSC spectrum, and the second is the TV set manufacturers.

I think that most broadcasters would agree with me, but at this point there's nothing we can do but comply with turning off the old transmitters at the mandated time.

ETA:

"Why do you need a new box?

From what I know, it's over the air signals that are affected (OTA) and that's a change from NTSC to ATSC."

I believe that if you have a digital cable box, you probably will not need new equipment. If you aren't on cable or DBS though, a standard analog television set (which MANY sets still are) will not be able to translate and show the new digital signal without some kind of additional equipment. Also, the aspect ratio (shape of picture) will change from 4x3 to 16x9 (first number is width of the picture and second is height). That means that older sets will make everything look tall and skinny because the new, wider picture will be "squashed." Newer sets may show the new programs in "letter box" with thick black lines at the top and bottom of the screen. You can already see that happening on some series if you're watching on an old 4x3 set.

I'm sorry, when did television become essential to one's life? No one is going to die or get sick because they don't have television.

Tell that to my senior mother when a Chicago Cubs game is on....

Sounds like my grandmother and her Cleveland Indians. She goes nowhere while the games are on. No.where.

I don't remember anybody saying TV is essential.

However some people (including perhaps a higher proportion of elderly) are dependent on TV to help pass the time in their lives. It almost becomes a friend to those who may be alone.

That's certainly the case with my dad who is not particularly ambulatory any more.

Without TV, his life wouldn't end, but he would have a lot less to do and look forward to.

That's sad. But it's true.

Ditto for my mom, who is only able to leave her home to go to the doctor. She has TV, books and Sudoku. It's sad, but true. Perhaps this is why the focus is on seniors?

Most cable runs on QAM so that's why I thought it wouldn't be affected by the digital/analog spectrum. Those signals are pumped through a cable into someone's house and the QAM tuner interprets them. With NTSC and ATSC, the signal is broadcast over the air. Cable customers don't need ATSC tuners on their television or even QAM tuners in the tv set, and can actually link a monitor to any cable box because the cable operates independent of that.

How do those entitites make anything off this? Actually the government is the people. So if the government sells that spectrum, basically you and I as citizens get the added benefit of what the government makes from that as well as the use of the spectrum for something more useful - like wifi. Also a TV manufacturer isn't making more profits by including an ATSC tuner instead of an NTSC tuner - that's why so many manufacturers and broadcasters have been against ATSC. Broadcasters that are moving towards digital are doing so because they don't want people breaking into their systems anymore.

-Rudey

So, from what I was reading, the bottom line is that you either have to have cable with a converter box or your TV has to be digital ready. I'm still unsure how one knows if their TV will work or not though.

If you have cable, you should be fine. If you have no cable or satellite and you're receiving your signal "over the air" with an antenna, you'll need a converter which will be pretty cheap and the government will even probably give you a subsidy. You will be fine.

Here: http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html

-Rudey

Well I guess when it stops working and you sit there blithering with nothing to do except if you can work, have a computor and be able to work it!:D

Yep my Father had to have his TV as about all he could do! Loved Foot Ball Season!

Now every fall, I think of him and watching the game!

Most of what you say is correct and we're pretty much saying the same thing. However "cheap" is a relative term for those on fixed incomes.

The TV set manufacturers have salivated over this change for years because of the change in aspect ratio (explained above). They believe, probably correctly, that most everyone is going to buy a 16x9 set. That's a lot of sets.

As for the government auctioning off spectrum space for "my/our" benefit, you have more faith in Washington than I do.

I have 0 faith in Washington so let's get that out of the way.

But aside from that, the spectrum is to be used for emergency services and also Google is trying to create a large wifi network that can be used for everything from internet service to making voice calls. Wherever the money goes...well I'm sure when they provide anti-terrorism funding to some tiny town in the middle of nowhere, those guys can be happy about that.

-Rudey