Re: What they should have done with HDTV

[L Alpert]

"Steve Bryan" > wrote in message
om...
> Hermango > wrote in message
>...
> > One of the things that bugs me is the weather stuff that shows up here
> > on TV. They either cover up part of the picture with weather maps and
crawls
> > or go straight to the weather. What should have happened is to provide
embedded
> > data channels that you could switch on/off to get information. The
information
> > should come in automatically with the signal and the decoder should be
able to
> > store it and display it on demand.
>
> Not only do I completely agree with you, I had a rant about it a few
> days ago on the AVS Forum. There wasn't any discussion because frankly
> there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it despite the talk
> about voting with your wallet.
>
> It will be a real missed opportunity if DTV is just a digitized
> version of NTSC TV with better resolution. It could be argued that
> during a transition period like this it would be too expensive to try
> anything different with the digital version of the product let alone
> something innovative. Does anyone else get the feeling that the fix is
> in and there really is no chance that DTV will be an improvement over
> what we have now except for better resolution? I don't mean that I
> think there is anything sinister. It's just that the forces are such
> that we will probably be lucky to make the transition at all.

Why did you think it would be any different? After all, aren't these the
same companies that brought us The A Team and Charlie's Angles?
Same companies, similar medium, same old, same old. :-(.

[Hermango]

(Steve Bryan) wrotd:

>Hermango > wrote in message >...
>> One of the things that bugs me is the weather stuff that shows up here
>> on TV. They either cover up part of the picture with weather maps and crawls
>> or go straight to the weather. What should have happened is to provide embedded
>> data channels that you could switch on/off to get information. The information
>> should come in automatically with the signal and the decoder should be able to
>> store it and display it on demand.
>
>Not only do I completely agree with you, I had a rant about it a few
>days ago on the AVS Forum. There wasn't any discussion because frankly
>there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it despite the talk
>about voting with your wallet.
>

They keep losing viewers and wondering why. Did they ever consider that
when you're watching something it's the visual equivalent of reading a book?
What would happen if you were reading your book and at the beginning and end of
every chapter some damned advertisement for the next chapter (or the next book)
popped up? It completely kills the overall experience. And you can figure that
if they ever get ebooks up and going it will contain the same crap!


>It will be a real missed opportunity if DTV is just a digitized
>version of NTSC TV with better resolution. It could be argued that
>during a transition period like this it would be too expensive to try
>anything different with the digital version of the product let alone
>something innovative. Does anyone else get the feeling that the fix is
>in and there really is no chance that DTV will be an improvement over
>what we have now except for better resolution? I don't mean that I
>think there is anything sinister. It's just that the forces are such
>that we will probably be lucky to make the transition at all.

The problem is the fact that the stuff requires commercial sponsorship.
And nobody has figured out that the number of commercials that they stick in now
passed the law of diminishing returns a long time ago. One or two commercials
is something people will watch, but past that causes people to either make a pit
stop or start channel surfing or hit the mute button and zone out. This pop-up
stuff is just a further manifestation of this. Since they are like dope addicts
and never know when to stop, they will finally overdose on commercials and
everybody will finally stop watching.

Hermango

[satris]

Yes,but those of us with DirecTV/DVR's,TiVo's,ReplayTV units,and
Ultimate TV's can just hit the "hyperspeed" buttons and fast forward
through the ads (if recorded) because it goes 3X faster than even an
ordinary VHS recorder.Or,if you are watching LIVE TV can hit the PAUSE
button count 3 minutes and hit the ADVANCE button and you just missed
the ads completely!

[Steve Bryan]

Hermango > wrote in message >...
> The problem is the fact that the stuff requires commercial sponsorship.
> And nobody has figured out that the number of commercials that they stick in now
> passed the law of diminishing returns a long time ago.

I didn't see the Sopranos until it was released on DVD and despite any
reservations found myself devouring the episodes late into several
nights. Since then I've speculated why it was so effective and part of
the reason I'm sure is that it was not created to provide filler
between commercials. Each episode had a dramatic arc that lasted the
whole hour unlike most TV which is constrained to break its narrative
into pieces which fit between commercial breaks.

I learned in the DVD extras that being produced for HBO was almost a
last resort after being turned down by networks like ABC. I wonder if
the Sopranos would have even been successful at all if forced to shape
the show in a network framework. I suspect the continuing success of
HBO series is partially explained by this phenomenon.