That a good article Bill. I have to agree with the article that HDTV is a mess. I'm currently running the old standard TVs, which is working just fine, and I'm a little confused about exactly what is going to happen on February 17, 2009.
One of the folks that commented in a link I provided indicated that all broadcasters will be required to start providing a digital signal by February 17, 2009, but the standard signal will continue to be delivered for another 10 or 15 years, so all standard TVs may not go dead on that date. Does anyone know if this is correct? Still, that has been the fear pitch to market the new HDTV. I'm probably going to make the switch to HDTV before February 17, 2009, anyway. I'm currently using antennas as an input source for the TVs here at the house, and using suddenLink cable for my home network, which cost me $85.00 per month. I got a call from AT&T a few week ago, and DSL is now available in my area, so I'm thinking I will drop cable and switch the home network to DSL, which could save on the monthly bills. I hate the though of losing suddenLink cable though, because it has the very fast fiber optic technology. Anyway, then I'm probably going to invest any savings in a satellite dish mounted on the roof of my house. The satellite dish will deliver the new digital signal. If not too expensive, I would like connection the satellite disk to my bedroom, office, and living room. I'm also thinking about upgrading my computer, so I can play HDTV movies. I will need a new HDTV monitor and a new HD/Blue-RAy DVD/CD player for my Linux desktop computer. I think my current video card is good to go for HDTV. My video card is a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS with a TV out port, but I'm not sure whether my video card has the special copyright protection chip to unlock high definition DVDs. Although my video card has a DVI port as well as a TV out port, the DVI port is not a problem, since cables are available with a DVI connection at one end and a HDMI connection at the other end (eg http://www.amazon.com/Dvi-HDmi-Cable-6FT-M-m/dp/B0002CZHN6). DVI not carrying sound is not a problem, since the sound on the movie HD/Blue-Ray DVD, which will be installed in my Linux desktop workstation, will play sound via an audio chip in my motherboard with connection ports on the back of the computer to hook up my speaker system. My Linux desktop system right now works fine with standard DVD movies for both audio and video. With a simple HDMI switch box I should be able to switch the HDTV monitor between TV via satellite, and standard Linux OS output/HD/Blue-Ray DVD/CD movies via my desktop computer. Also, I should be able to use the HD/Blue-Ray DVD in my Linux desktop computer to play movies to the HDTVs in the living room or my bedroom, if carrying sound to those HDTV is not a problem. This could all get very expensive in a hurry. I'm a little peeved that Uncle Sam sold out the standard TV bandwidth to commercial businesses. It just doesn't seem right. The next thing you know they will be selling out Americas national parks and other treasures to fight the war on terror. <g> I'm also a little worried about John McCain as the front running to winning the Republican nomination for president, because he has been such a hawk on the Iraq war/surge, as well as the war on terror in general. I wounder if he has any neocon connections or any material support from the Israel lobby. As Leonardo DaVinci said, it easier to stop something at the beginning that at the end, so I'm hoping the presidential election will result in the country having a new direction/change, rather than the current stay the course that could lead to WW III. Regards, LelandJ Bill Arnold wrote: > A related article in today's NY Times > > "A New Cable for Your Maze" > > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/technology/personaltech/07basics.html? > _r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin > > > Bill > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
