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From: Greegor on 2 Aug 2010 17:09
I griped about the new USA Television system many months ago.
The FCC has a web site where you can see all of the
"dead spots" under the new system.

The new system is apparently LINE OF SIGHT
and is bothered by trees or dips in terrain.

In Cedar Rapids where I live, (pop 100K) there is
a big dead spot smack dab in the middle of the
most densely populated area of town!

If you check other cities on the FCC site you
can see that such dead spots occur inside of
many other densely populated metro areas.

A system so vulnerable to rolling hills
or trees is downright stupid.

It is as if the CABLE or SAT DISH companies
helped design the new USA TV Broadcast standard.

I can put an antenna WAY up on a mast and
STILL have trouble because of trees, terrain
or directionality.

WHO designed this new USA TV standard
and why did the FCC not catch the considerable
problems BEFORE committing us to it?
From: Jim Thompson on 2 Aug 2010 17:17
On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 14:09:19 -0700 (PDT), Greegor <greegor47(a)gmail.com>
wrote:

>I griped about the new USA Television system many months ago.
>The FCC has a web site where you can see all of the
>"dead spots" under the new system.
>
>The new system is apparently LINE OF SIGHT
>and is bothered by trees or dips in terrain.
>
>In Cedar Rapids where I live, (pop 100K) there is
>a big dead spot smack dab in the middle of the
>most densely populated area of town!
>
>If you check other cities on the FCC site you
>can see that such dead spots occur inside of
>many other densely populated metro areas.
>
>A system so vulnerable to rolling hills
>or trees is downright stupid.
>
>It is as if the CABLE or SAT DISH companies
>helped design the new USA TV Broadcast standard.
>
>I can put an antenna WAY up on a mast and
>STILL have trouble because of trees, terrain
>or directionality.
>
>WHO designed this new USA TV standard
>and why did the FCC not catch the considerable
>problems BEFORE committing us to it?

A system designed by bureaucrats ?:-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, CTO | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

Spice is like a sports car...
Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel.
From: Jan Panteltje on 2 Aug 2010 17:45
On a sunny day (Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:36:19 -0700) it happened Joerg
<invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in <8booi7FqgtU1(a)mid.individual.net>:

>> Well, the news is usually bad, x killed, disaster here, war there,
>> heat waves, bush fires, be glad it did not work:-)
>> Play some good music instead.
>>
>
>But one needs to know the bad news as well.

I am not sure actually, this is bit philosophical,
but why should I know it?
Today I though: Perhaps because it makes you feel better as it is far away,
keeps people quiet, they think they are in an OK place.
Politically motivated bad news?
Of course a large part of the news is taken up by what politicians play.
They are media maniacs that love any problem to get themselves in front of the camera,
even if they have nothing useful to add.




>[...]
>
>>>> I have a small box for DVB-T (terrestrial), it has an USB connection.
>>>> ftp://panteltje.com/pub/haupppauge66.gif
>>>
>>> That picture is smaller than a passport photo :-)
>>>
>>> How large is that box?
>>
>> Oh, let me see, 14 x 14 x 3 cm.
>> But I was an early adaptor to DVB-T, the boxes these days are replaced by
> ^^^^^^^
>
>Hopefully not :-)

OK adopter, hehe :-)


>
>> ... USB sticks:
>> http://www.alternate.nl/html/summaryListing.html?searchCriteria=DVB-T&cat1=074&cat2=289&cat3=000
>>
>
>Out here they look the same but ATSC and less expensive :-)
>http://www.iunitek.com/iunitek/index.cfm?fuseaction=shop.dspSpecs&part=11224920

Yes, prices differ wildly, there is no way to tell, many shops in Europe
that sell stuff from the US just changes dollars to euros it seems.
OK some import duties and we have 20 % VAT on top.
I was looking for a NP60 battery for a camera today, you can buy those from 8 to 35 Euro,
with the same capacity mind you.
Whatever a fool is willing to pay I guess.

>> Right, do not pay for the advertising!
>>
>
>No, we fast forward through it. One box even has an advertising FFW
>button that hops it 30sec at a time.

Good,.
There exists soft with scene change detection too, IIRC.


>> And also the source material counts, garbage in garbage out.
>>
>
>Dancing with the Stars from BBC is super material, you really see a
>difference.

Now I am confused.
If it was from BBC, then it must have been original 25 fps .
that reminds me of dropped frames and fast pulldown, big problem with motion in
a 30 fps country.
Here the movies just play 25 fps, no dropped frames, but they are slightly shorter
(original film was 24).
The pitch of the audio is higher too.
http://www.24p.com/conversion.htm

>I want the regular stuff to work right, my wife will not want a nerd box
>in the living room ;-)


Na ja, these days everybody needs to be a nerd, to use even you cellphone
or laptop, or GPS, or TV, or camera, or whatever.
Washing machine too.

Maybe one day this will go away, and a robot will do those thing,
like programming all those gadgets,
But I am sure that will create problems of its own.

From: Joerg on 2 Aug 2010 18:08
Jan Panteltje wrote:
> On a sunny day (Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:36:19 -0700) it happened Joerg
> <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in <8booi7FqgtU1(a)mid.individual.net>:
>
>>> Well, the news is usually bad, x killed, disaster here, war there,
>>> heat waves, bush fires, be glad it did not work:-)
>>> Play some good music instead.
>>>
>> But one needs to know the bad news as well.
>
> I am not sure actually, this is bit philosophical,
> but why should I know it?
> Today I though: Perhaps because it makes you feel better as it is far away,
> keeps people quiet, they think they are in an OK place.
> Politically motivated bad news?
> Of course a large part of the news is taken up by what politicians play.
> They are media maniacs that love any problem to get themselves in front of the camera,
> even if they have nothing useful to add.
>

Out here the news is actualy not all that negative. But sometimes
boring. For example, I really don't need to know where Chelsey Clinton
got married.

>
>> [...]
>>
>
>>> Right, do not pay for the advertising!
>>>
>> No, we fast forward through it. One box even has an advertising FFW
>> button that hops it 30sec at a time.
>
> Good,.
> There exists soft with scene change detection too, IIRC.
>

Yeah, but it works well enough by hand. I am also rather good in tuning
it out in my head, reading up on stuff during the news when the ads play.

>
>>> And also the source material counts, garbage in garbage out.
>>>
>> Dancing with the Stars from BBC is super material, you really see a
>> difference.
>
> Now I am confused.
> If it was from BBC, then it must have been original 25 fps .
> that reminds me of dropped frames and fast pulldown, big problem with motion in
> a 30 fps country.
> Here the movies just play 25 fps, no dropped frames, but they are slightly shorter
> (original film was 24).
> The pitch of the audio is higher too.
> http://www.24p.com/conversion.htm
>

Oh, Jan, we live in the 21st century. The times when such major events
were recorded in an analog format are long gone.


>> I want the regular stuff to work right, my wife will not want a nerd box
>> in the living room ;-)
>
>
> Na ja, these days everybody needs to be a nerd, to use even you cellphone
> or laptop, or GPS, or TV, or camera, or whatever.
> Washing machine too.
>
> Maybe one day this will go away, and a robot will do those thing,
> like programming all those gadgets,
> But I am sure that will create problems of its own.
>

It's the level of the nerd factor. A big honking PC in the living room
requires one almost not to be married. A small one is ok, but only if
freshly married or close to the 50th anniversary :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
From: Joerg on 2 Aug 2010 18:15
Joel Koltner wrote:
> "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:8boe6kFp58U1(a)mid.individual.net...
>> The other was a review comment. Someone wrote that the copying from
>> tapes to DVD play does not work, that you can't do it with this unit.
>> Now here I was very certain that the guy just hadn't figured out how to
>> do it. I need this feature to transfer the occacional noise case on VHS
>> I get from clients (med ultrasound) to DVD, and from there onto a PC for
>> diagnosis. No, not a medical diagnosis :-)
>
> They just call you, "Dr. Noise." :-)
>
> How old is the ultrasound equipment that still records to VHS? I'd
> think they'd have upgraded to DVDs in the past handful of years, and at
> least had an S-VHS option before that?
>

It's still done. Half a year into my job I got a rude awakening just how
retro the medical world can be: We had a top notch VCR on an ultrasound
machine we designed in the 80's. Also a small or optionally large format
photo printer that would deliver images within very few seconds. Boss
came in. "Joerg, marketing said the doctors want Lenzar cameras on the
machine. Please develop an interface for that and talk to the ME about
mounting the darn thing." My jaw dropped and I stood there, in total
disbelief. Then rolled up the sleeves and did as told.

These are the "cameras" where you then have to trudge off and develop
the film, wash, and hang on a light board. It was almost as if Ferdinand
Porsche came into the lab and asked the guys to make sure a steam engine
can be fitted into the 911.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.
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