Computer Help and Support

When the new digital TV standard was adopted I made an antenna that worked very well. I also got the $40 converter box, the one you could get with a voucher. PBS still had some value to me, I was a subscriber for years, especially for the kids shows when our kids were kids, but now it seems too beholden to its corporate sponsors.

We eventually bought a 1080p television that doesn't connect to the internet or have "smart" anything. It's total overkill because we only use it as a DVD player, a "standard 0.7GB per hour" resolution Netflix player (over a medium speed DSL connection) and rarely, as a video cassette player. (This television does some digital magic to video cassettes, since they look better than they ever did on old CRT televisions. Not as good as 480p DVDs, but whatever... it's just TV.)

I don't miss commercial television at all. I don't see any television commercials except for a few of the clever commercials people post here on DU from YouTube. And most thankfully, no television processed cheese food "news." I'm a much happier person reading all my news. And I don't have to hear Trump's voice. He's creepy.

I'm certain down-converters from ATSC 3 to vanilla 720p and even (horrors!) NTSC composite will be inexpensive, maybe even given away for free, otherwise many viewers who still care to participate in the traditional television business models will be lost, the ones who all that pharmaceutical advertising is directed at. If I was a doctor and a patient asked me about some medicine they saw on TV I'd tell them to quit watching TV.

If the traditional broadcast and cable television industry makes itself irrelevant I won't cry. They are partly responsible for the election of Trump.