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Old 07-24-2007, 01:27 PM   #1
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While searching the net for all portable TVs and such i came across this warning on a number of brands of Portable TVs.

WARNING
This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009 to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the U.S.'s transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322), or visit the commission's digital-television Web site at: www.dtv.gov.


I guess buyers should be looking down the road before buying.
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Old 07-24-2007, 02:25 PM   #2
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In practice, any tube-type TV still for sale will almost certainly have only an analog tuner. These things are dinosaurs...

Even many LCD TVs have only an analog tuner, but in the last couple of years they have been appearing with both analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) tuners - mine at home has both, although neither tuner has ever been used. As Chester says, look down the road and consider the features which will be needed.

If the TV is just a monitor for viewing DVDs (or video tapes...), computer output, or satellite TV receiver output (like mine at home), then the "tuner" function doesn't matter. Some of this other equipment might also serve as the "converter box" (tuning in the digital broadcast and supplying the picture signal to the "TV"), depending on your other equipment, so the TV might not need a tuner even to watch broadcasts.

Anyone missing the "good" (or at least simple) old 12-channel days?
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Old 07-24-2007, 02:54 PM   #3
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....Anyone missing the "good" (or at least simple) old 12-channel days?
All Right now you've had to go and reveal how 'old' we really are! Yup, I remember those old VHF only TVs, and, at that time, one was required to get a converter to get those 'newfangled' UHF stations. Along with a new antenna and special 300 ohm UHF wire and standoffs. Then there was the antenna rotator. Remember some had 12 wires?

Yeah- the simpler days!!!!

Thanks for the memories!
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Old 07-24-2007, 04:43 PM   #4
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We (meaning my parents and us kids) had a 50-ft freestanding tower, with separate VHF and UHF antennas on top on a rotator. This allowed us to receive a channel for every spot on the VHF dial, with a couple of them actually having two competing stations (point one way for bad reception of a station, point west for bad reception of a different station on the same channel), plus a couple of the new-fangled UHF stations. Man, we were high-tech... and that term hadn't even been invented yet!
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Old 07-24-2007, 04:53 PM   #5
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Well, even I remember when changing the channels was done by walking up to the TV and turning a big plastic dial, and the way the knob felt under my thumb as it clicked into place.... ah, the nostalgia of it all. That was also when soda pop still came in glass bottles and could be bought at gas stations for 25 cents.
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Old 07-24-2007, 05:17 PM   #6
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In Canada, the schedule is later: the CRTC has announced August 31, 2011 as the date by which television licensees will only broadcast digital signals.

Also, according to the FCC as quoted in a news article...
Quote:
...every new TV set sold in the United States after February 2007 must include an over-the-air ATSC digital tuner.
... so this shouldn't be a problem for US residents buying a new TV for the trailer from normal sources. Of course, TVs sold to us in Canada, or sets made prior to then and later resold privately anywhere by unregulated sources, will escape this requirement. Buyer beware!
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Old 07-24-2007, 06:15 PM   #7
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Anyone missing the "good" (or at least simple) old 12-channel days?
12!?!?! You had 12!!!!?!

As a kid in Fairbanks, we had 2. When we moved to Seattle and we had 5, I thought I'd gone to TV heaven.
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Old 07-24-2007, 07:20 PM   #8
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Well, even I remember when changing the channels was done by walking up to the TV and turning a big plastic dial, and the way the knob felt under my thumb as it clicked into place.... ah, the nostalgia of it all. That was also when soda pop still came in glass bottles and could be bought at gas stations for 25 cents.
yeppers .. those were the good ole days!!!!
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Old 07-25-2007, 01:22 PM   #9
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12!?!?! You had 12!!!!?!

As a kid in Fairbanks, we had 2. When we moved to Seattle and we had 5, I thought I'd gone to TV heaven.
I am currently in the Edmonton area. Before satellite TV, there were four or five channels... and it's the same today unless you have cable (that's most people) or satellite (that's almost everyone else). The UHF channels were always wasted here (although there is a local channel 51 station), since even the first 12 VHF channels were not all used.
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Old 07-27-2007, 11:51 PM   #10
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I have a simple solution to this problem !
Get rid of it from the trailer for good .Instead a TV packs some books, board games etc .
When we are going camping, our kids are not allowed to take any electronics with, including ipods . Before we go on the trip, wife goes to the library and gets audio books . Us we are driving we all enjoy listening to it .
I just can't imagine going camping and seating in front of TV , kids log on with their lap tops and wife happily talking on her cell phone , and in the evening we'll go for supper to the local fast food restaurant . We had been doing this for twelve years now, and nobody ever complained about shortages of electronics when camping
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Old 07-28-2007, 10:05 AM   #11
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I have a simple solution to this problem !
Get rid of it from the trailer for good .Instead a TV packs some books, board games etc .
When we are going camping, our kids are not allowed to take any electronics with, including ipods . Before we go on the trip, wife goes to the library and gets audio books . Us we are driving we all enjoy listening to it .
I just can't imagine going camping and seating in front of TV , kids log on with their lap tops and wife happily talking on her cell phone , and in the evening we'll go for supper to the local fast food restaurant . We had been doing this for twelve years now, and nobody ever complained about shortages of electronics when camping
Amen
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Old 07-28-2007, 11:00 AM   #12
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In practice, any tube-type TV still for sale will almost certainly have only an analog tuner. [b]These things are dinosaurs...
Well, I am no spring chicken, either.
Here in California, there is a disposal fee for old electronics. As long as my old (1999) cathode-ray tube based TV functions at all, I will continue to use it, with an exterior digital tuner if necessary.

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Old 07-28-2007, 11:13 AM   #13
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I believe the Feds in their infinite wisdom will be giving subsidies for the purchase of digital converters, making them free or low cost. This is to keep millions of TVs from instantly becoming obsolete.

Will probably be a tax credit. Since I will be paying for the credit through my taxes anyway, I will probably buy a few converters, get the credits, and sell them on eBay! (Actually, I'm too lazy to do that, but it will happen!)
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Old 07-28-2007, 01:31 PM   #14
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Anyone missing the "good" (or at least simple) old 12-channel days?
The ones with the GOOD programs!

Vivian, who is older than TV!
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Old 07-28-2007, 06:08 PM   #15
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You guys who preach no electronics when camping might bear in mind that some fortunate folks are out there living in the campgrounds, not just getting away from it all for the weekends. They are at home, albeit in pleasant surroundings, and like to have the some of the same entertainment amenities as those who are stuck in anchored homes that they feel the need to escape from...
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Old 07-28-2007, 06:23 PM   #16
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You guys who preach no electronics when camping might bear in mind that some fortunate folks are out there living in the campgrounds, not just getting away from it all for the weekends. They are at home, albeit in pleasant surroundings, and like to have the some of the same entertainment amenities as those who are stuck in anchored homes that they feel the need to escape from...
then there are those of us who have no tv at home either . . . .
cheers
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Old 07-28-2007, 07:03 PM   #17
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The gov keeps pushing the deadline back so I don't think U should hold your breath So go ahead and purchase what you like and enjoy it while U can and if U need a converter in the future just get one. It beats not having a TV to enjoy while waiting around watching the grass grow because you're afraid you will have to spend a little cash in a couple of years.

I think that the best TV for an egg is one of the very thin ones (LCD) and most are at least Enhanced TV if not HDTV ready or compatible.
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Old 07-28-2007, 10:03 PM   #18
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I remember in the "good ol' days" when I was a kid in northwest Iowa, we got three TV stations, two of them with decent reception. There was seldom anything on worth watching. Now we get Dish Network Satellite TV with over 200 stations, and a bazillion movie channels. With all those to choose from, there is STILL seldom anything on worth watching.

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Old 07-29-2007, 08:33 AM   #19
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Well, now, I guess I just gotta put in my two bits here---what with you kids reminiscing and all.

As a kid growing up in central Louisiana in the fifties, we finally got a tv when I was around 14 or so. Before that, it was the Lone Ranger and Tonto on the radio. Then, ATV (after TV), we could only get one station well with the forty foot outdoor antenna. One or two others would come in once in a while with poor reception. I did watch Marshal Dillon and Miss Kitty on occasion, but they were doing their thing in a snow storm.

I recall that another kid invited me over to his house one time to watch their new color tv. It turned out to be a black and white unit with a tri-colored plexiglass pane covering the crt!

For years after my wife and I were married with a teenaged daughter, we didn't have a tv in the house because we felt there was just too much negative on the air. Now we have tv (s) again, but the crud that is available seems to make our earlier decision the better one---.

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Old 07-29-2007, 08:45 AM   #20
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Back in Fort Madison, Iowa In the 50s, Dutchie and I would go behind the grocery store and get an orange crate and take it to the Crossly store next door that would leave a TV on in the front window and we would watch the honeymooners and freeze our butts off.

Color TV: I had a friend that painted the case of his black and white TV orange so he would have a color TV and yes, I remember the 3 color plastic over the screen with the blue on top and green on the bottom.
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