Re: AKICF: CEEB choices (Was Re: IMDB.com "Studio Briefing" - Few over-the-air
- From: Ben Yalow <ybmcu@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 22:41:55 +0000 (UTC)
In <gjepk8$1i3$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Ben Yalow <ybmcu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The feeling that TV had to maintain compatibility is responsible for
the fact that for *decades*, the US got a noticeably worse picture
than places that had sense enough to force a conversion. We ended
up with NTSC, and the rest of the world got PAL. And they got a
better picture than we did.
Slightly better under ideal conditions, in return for more expensive
TV sets. NTSC was, of course, a tradeoff.
Actually, noticeably better under almost all conditions. Until HDTV was
avilable, people who had only NTSC sets had noticably worse pictures than
the people who watched the same thing on PAL.
The tradeoff was to figure that people wouldn't want a better picture if
it meant junking old sets, since, in those days, converter boxes would
have been expensive. Now, of course, they're cheap -- as are TVs, of
course.
Backwards compatibility is useful in maintaining the value of existing
hardware, software, storage media, knowledge, skills, habits, and
training. Do you think we should also suddenly replace all our
keyboards with Dvorak keyboards? And then, a year or two later, with
something even "better"? Should we also reform English spelling?
How about the calendar, which is unchanged since the 16th century,
and only slightly changed since Julius Cæsar's day? (<-- See, there's
a non-ASCII character!) If studies show that new drivers can learn
green for stop and red for go slightly faster than the current system,
should we reverse all the traffic lights next Tuesday after lunch?
People stop worrying about backwards compatibility when the new version is
noticeably better. When was the last time you saw sound being stored on a
wire recorder? Or seen anybody produce a dual VHS/Beta VCR?
For that matter, they've pretty much stopped making VCRs at this point,
and new movies aren't being released on videotape. About the only way to
get a new VCR is as part of a unit with a DVD, and the old VCRs are
increasingly unrepairable. And, given the complexity of the head assembly
in a VHS unit, the old ones will all be gone in the not-distant future.
So here, when the opportunity came up to produce an outcome that
works out better for almost everybody who sees a change ...
For values of "almost everybody" that equals those who have a clear
line of sight to a nearby broadcast tower. The rest of us can "enjoy"
watching long commercial-free documentaries about the color of the sky
in a Gibson novel.
In practice, that just doesn't seem to be true. As I said before, rather
than stating wild predictions, it would be better to name actual people
who get that sort of effect, as opposed to the other people who get more
channels, and clearer -- including at least one person who you claim
shouldn't be able to get Baltimore channels from a DC suburb, and who gets
them crystal clear with converter boxes.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
Ben
--
Ben Yalow ybmcu@xxxxxxxxx
Not speaking for anybody
.
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