Is technology all its cracked up to be?

[By 'eck]

Granted HDTV is better quality than analogue BUT when the weather was bad outside analogue still worked, it didn’t freeze or come up with - NO SATELLITE SIGNAL IS BEEN DETECTED

Doing my CV with pen and paper I could disappear for 10 mins for a cup of tea and when I came back it was still there, I didn’t come back to YOUR COMPUTER HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED, after forgetting to press SAVE - oops.

I’m sure there are plenty more examples out there!

 

[Eagle]

Granted HDTV is better quality than analogue BUT when the weather was bad outside analogue still worked, it didn’t freeze or come up with - NO SATELLITE SIGNAL IS BEEN DETECTED

One of the few downsides to digital versus analogue: because it's all encoded a slight variation in the signal makes it indecipherable.

Of course the upsides outweigh it, such as the ability to carry multiple channels on a single wavelength, greater clarity, and interactive services.

 

[90019]

Doing my CV with pen and paper I could disappear for 10 mins for a cup of tea and when I came back it was still there, I didn’t come back to YOUR COMPUTER HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED, after forgetting to press SAVE - oops.

Should've pressed save.

 

[Trog]

Of course the upsides outweigh it, such as the ability to carry multiple channels on a single wavelength.

The problem with that is that the quality of service also seems to be divided between the multipule channels.

 

[SS4]

I don't mean to have a go at the OP but a lot of "technology" problems are actually PEBCAK (problem exist between chair and keyboard).
Additionally it's as though we take technology for granted (using your CV example did you consider what you'd do with your finished CV or just assume it could be emailed?)

Imagine planning a rail journey without the internet, especially when it comes to split ticketing.

Online and Offline (as in not on the computer) have their places - it's easier to flick through a catalogue if you're looking for ideas but if you know what you want it's easier to search the web. Food and clothes shopping remain popular in person to avoid delivery charges and to be able to pick what you want (assuming it's in stock of course)

It's just a shame the quality of content can't usually match the quality of the picture when it comes to most visual media (including video games!)

 

[Bungle73]

Granted HDTV is better quality than analogue BUT when the weather was bad outside analogue still worked, it didn’t freeze or come up with - NO SATELLITE SIGNAL IS BEEN DETECTED

Rain should not affect (a properly installed, baring any obstruction) satellite reception unless it is really, really heavy. And terrestrial reception is still available, which isn't affected by rain.

Doing my CV with pen and paper I could disappear for 10 mins for a cup of tea and when I came back it was still there, I didn’t come back to YOUR COMPUTER HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED, after forgetting to press SAVE - oops.

I’m sure there are plenty more examples out there!

If you go away what ever you left on your PC should still be there when you get back.

 

[WelshBluebird]

If you go away what ever you left on your PC should still be there when you get back.

What the OP is referring to is windows habit of wanting to automatically restart after automatically installing updates. So, while not often, you can get the case where you leave to make some food or something and come back to the computer having restarted. Sometimes you can get a "lost" document back (as Word sometimes will auto save stuff), but quite often you can't. Of course, this could be fixed by changing windows settings regarding automatic updates

 

[Eagle]

(as Word sometimes will auto save stuff)

Unless you've manually disabled the option, Word should always autosave.

 

[By 'eck]

Granted HDTV is better quality than analogue BUT when the weather was bad outside analogue still worked, it didn’t freeze or come up with - NO SATELLITE SIGNAL IS BEEN DETECTED

Doing my CV with pen and paper I could disappear for 10 mins for a cup of tea and when I came back it was still there, I didn’t come back to YOUR COMPUTER HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED, after forgetting to press SAVE - oops.

I’m sure there are plenty more examples out there!

MMM, Maybe I should have had the topic heading as ‘Technology Pro’s & Cons’!

Don’t get me wrong I’m all for modern technology, after all I’ve grown up with it, I was looking at the alternatives and their con’s.

Of course the upsides outweigh it, such as the ability to carry multiple channels on a single wavelength, greater clarity, and interactive services.

Very true digital signals allow more channels BUT I still struggle at times to find something decent to watch, and that’s with 200+ channels!!!


Should've pressed save.

Agree, but we learn from our mistakes!

I don't mean to have a go at the OP but a lot of "technology" problems are actually PEBCAK (problem exist between chair and keyboard).

Agree totally, but I set this as light hearted topic at the alternatives to technology

Rain should not affect (a properly installed, baring any obstruction) satellite reception unless it is really, really heavy. And terrestrial reception is still available, which isn't affected by rain.

It locks/freezes in heavy rain etc, could be a location issue with dish.

If you go away what ever you left on your PC should still be there when you get back.

My PC has a habit of automatically restarting after a windows update without a prompt, if I recall properly it has a message along the lines of ‘Windows will automatically restart in ?? minutes, if you want to restart now press ok’ maybe its in the settings somewhere that I can stop it happening?

Unless you've manually disabled the option, Word should always autosave.

Didn’t know that, I will look into it thanks

AS FOR MUSIC AND DIGITAL MEDIA AT LEAST WE DON’T HAVE TO SCRAMBLE FOR THE ‘EJECT’ BUTTON ANY MORE WHEN OUR FAVOURITE CASSETTE STARTS GETTING CHEWED UP!!!

 

[WelshBluebird]

Unless you've manually disabled the option, Word should always autosave.

Should I think is the key word there. Because it certainly doesn't always do it!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

My PC has a habit of automatically restarting after a windows update without a prompt, if I recall properly it has a message along the lines of ‘Windows will automatically restart in ?? minutes, if you want to restart now press ok’ maybe its in the settings somewhere that I can stop it happening?

Is this on a networked work computer? I've never heard of a forced re-start happening on a private individual home computer, but on a works computer there is usually nothing you can do about it as IT will be the only people with control over the relevant settings.

The only way to avoid a forced re-start on a works computer is to click on the updates as soon as they are issued; the forced re-start will usually be several days into the process - it's a way of ensuring that everyone on the network has the updates. Updating early, unless it's an emergency update, will mean you'll be shutting down at the end of the day ( and therefore re-starting in the morning ) before the forced re-start comes into play after an update deadline passes.

 

[Nick W]

I wonder how many people actually remember what analogue t.v. was like - the quality of the tv varied on a day by day basis and it was never perfect!

The very fact that the signal is digital means that small changes in the signal level and interference have no effect on the signal received. In addition digital TV contains built in error correction to compensate for a few bits of data being missing. This is why, in a large range of weather scenarios, the image received by the tv is always exactly what was transmitted.

Digital tv isn't as robust as digital radio, but that's because there's a trade-off between how much data can be sent for a given frequency range and the robustness. Since digital radio is intended to be received in moving vehicles with a large level or interference due to low-down aerials, the trade-off is heavily towards the robustness end. The opposite is the case for digital TV.

Regarding a computer losing a user's unsaved changes - that sounds very much like a design flaw, and I certainly wouldn't use such a computer system!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I wonder how many people actually remember what analogue t.v. was like - the quality of the tv varied on a day by day basis and it was never perfect!

I was still on analogue until a few months ago; we deliberately waited until the very last day before switching over to the digital.

 

[Temple Meads]

We waited a while to switch to digital, but it was quite a while now (2009) down here in Devon, and the quality and choice is a hell of a lot better.

I can live with the occasional complete failure for that thanks.

 

[yorkie]

Doing my CV with pen and paper I could disappear for 10 mins for a cup of tea and when I came back it was still there, I didn’t come back to YOUR COMPUTER HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED, after forgetting to press SAVE - oops.

Sounds like you use Windows with Windows Updates set to happen automatically including re-boots without user intervention. Using Windows is bad enough )), but having that setting and not saving work regularly is just asking for trouble!

This issue is not a general "technology" issue - it is an issue with a particular setting on a particular operating system combined with not following best practice.

 

[SS4]

Shame there are only four HD channels on freeview HD and only BBC HD has all it's programming in HD

 

[Crossover]

Windows 7 will certainly install updates and reboot if away from your PC. On work domains, it depends on your admins. As I am an IT admin, I know ours will prompt a reboot at 5pm, as most people are going then anyway. Some machines are set for manual reboots where the need is.

I'll comment more later when I'm not on mobile

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Is technology all its cracked up to be?

. . . .

Doing my CV with pen and paper I could disappear for 10 mins for a cup of tea and when I came back it was still there, . . . .

But if you were writing a CV by pen and paper, the CV probably wouldn't arrive at the recipient's letter box until sometime on Tuesday morning.
And without the internet, it would take you a lot longer, and a lot more in cost, to get your opinion on this subject in front of as many of us as you have done on here; perhaps by a leaflet enclosed in a publication, or in the 'Letters page' of a specialist magazine.

But then, if you had such an opinion in pre-internet days, then you would, perhaps, have been contrasting the benefits of oral communication with the 'technology' of mass publication by print publishers and broadcast producers!

 

[sprinterguy]

I wonder how many people actually remember what analogue t.v. was like - the quality of the tv varied on a day by day basis and it was never perfect!

We only ever had problems with our (excellent) analogue television signal when a seagull sat on the aerial.

 

[Eagle]

I wonder how many people actually remember what analogue t.v. was like

I would imagine people in Northern Ireland do, as they haven't switched yet!

At our house in Blandford, we actually couldn't receive Freeview until the analogue had been switched off (March of this year) and Freeview replaced it on the same frequencies. Frequencies are a bit sparse in our area, because there seems to be a lot of interference betweeen us and French transmitters.

 

[GB]

Windows 7 will certainly install updates and reboot if away from your PC. On work domains, it depends on your admins. As I am an IT admin, I know ours will prompt a reboot at 5pm, as most people are going then anyway. Some machines are set for manual reboots where the need is.

I'll comment more later when I'm not on mobile

Really? On my windows 7 machine after updates it asks if you want it shutdown. If you have unsaved word docs then you will need a force restart.

My pc has never restarted by itself after updating with docs open and to be honest, with important documents likea cv or letter you should save at least every 10 minutes anyway as you never know when you might have a power cut or BSOD.

 

[DiscoStu]

Granted HDTV is better quality than analogue BUT when the weather was bad outside analogue still worked, it didn’t freeze or come up with - NO SATELLITE SIGNAL IS BEEN DETECTED

But how often does that happen? I can only think of a couple of times in the last year or so that it's happened to me. Hardly end of the world stuff is it. The benefits of digital by FAR outweigh those of analogue.

How many channels did you used to received before satellite became available? Five or six, tops. Now there are hundreds!

So to answer your question, yes, technology is all it's cracked up to be (imo).

 

[DaveNewcastle]

How many channels did you used to received before satellite became available? Five or six, tops. Now there are hundreds!

And how many of those are worth watching?

Could the answer be "Five or six, tops." by any chance?


[I struggle to find one worth watching most of the time, a struggle which hasn't changed between analogue days and current digital distribution].

 

[DiscoStu]

And how many of those are worth watching?

Could the answer be "Five or six, tops." by any chance?


[I struggle to find one worth watching most of the time, a struggle which hasn't changed between analogue days and current digital distribution].

Depends how open minded you are with TV - I watch all sorts on the Discovery and science channels, plus Sports, News and the entertainment stuff on BBC/ITV's channels.

I never have nothing to watch, especially since Sky+ allows me to record the stuff I can't see when it's aired (another brilliant digital TV invention that was never possible with analogue)

 

[starrymarkb]

We only ever had problems with our (excellent) analogue television signal when a seagull sat on the aerial.

Here Analogue came from a relay and buy the time it had been through the communal distributors (I live in a block of flats) it was like watching through a Blizzard. Ended up with freesat then bought a Freeview PVR when switchover meant we finally got Freeview. (and with higher power we could get the main transmitter instead of the relay station)

And I remember Analogue sky at the parents used to break up in moderate to heavy rain. Digital needed torrential to break up!

 

[jon0844]

I never have nothing to watch, especially since Sky+ allows me to record the stuff I can't see when it's aired (another brilliant digital TV invention that was never possible with analogue)

Actually, TiVo did work with analogue TV over ten years ago.

But, you're absolutely right about PVRs meaning you should never have nothing to watch. And in the future, it will be a lot more video-on-demand stuff (and catch-up TV for when you forgot to set your Sky+ box) to the point where I think eventually most traditional channels will disappear.

Clearly news is one exception, and maybe some channels for other material designed to be watched live, but for everything else - why not just select your desired programme from a list/search box and stream it on demand?

Roll on the equivalent of Spotify that charges a fixed fee to access virtually everything. I know you've got Now TV, Netflix and so on - but none give you access to everything. I'm talking about paying £20, 30, 50, 100 or whatever it might be and never having to pay to watch anything. The subscription money divided up and paid to the right people automatically.

Goodbye piracy!

 

[SS4]

Clearly news is one exception, and maybe some channels for other material designed to be watched live, but for everything else - why not just select your desired programme from a list/search box and stream it on demand?

I don't know, it's often only with the use of a clock that I can tell the difference between the news at 10 from the news at 6.

Roll on the equivalent of Spotify that charges a fixed fee to access virtually everything. I know you've got Now TV, Netflix and so on - but none give you access to everything. I'm talking about paying £20, 30, 50, 100 or whatever it might be and never having to pay to watch anything. The subscription money divided up and paid to the right people automatically.

Goodbye piracy!

Except as xkcd put it if you pirate something it's yours for life.
All it takes is one bust up for your content to be pulled and your subscription to become worthless. See below for when Amazon.com pulled copies of Orwell's books from US devices without user permission:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle-1984
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3201428...d_gadgets/t/amazon-redacts-orwell-kindle-its/

Whilst catch-up and internet based services like spotify et al have their uses for them to generally replace TV a decent internet connection is vital. As someone living in a non-cable area it feels like we are being treated as second class and generally ignored for fibre areas so ISPs can boast about their speeds like schoolboys comparing penis sizes and in both cases the truth is not so grand as the boasting.
Sure it may reduce piracy but it won't eliminate it, that horse has long bolted.

 

[Holly]

Granted HDTV is better quality than analogue BUT when the weather was bad outside analogue still worked, it didn’t freeze or come up with - NO SATELLITE SIGNAL IS BEEN DETECTED

It is with good reason that civil aircraft still use AM (Amplitude Modulation). Single Sideband on transoceanic HF, otherwise double sideband on VHF or UHF.

It is a matter of what do you want - near perfect performance on a good day or the best presently obtainable performance (in the prevailing circumstances) on a bad day. For aircraft it is the latter. For a TV broadcaster whose only objective is to make money it is the former.

Politics is analogous. Is the question "how well does society treat typical people?" or is it "how well does society treat the greatly disadvantaged people?" Opinions and philosophies vary.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Was the reason for the change from Analogue to Digital something that was an idea of the Treasury at the time, in order that the existing Analogue could then be offered to other users with the monies from the sale going into the coffers of the Government. If monies were involved, how much are we talking about ?

 

[jon0844]

I am not sure they planned that far ahead, but there were/are too many benefits for digital to have kept a analogue no matter what.

A year or two ago I'd have said we should use all the former analogue channels for more digital channels but now I can say it's better for people to have more capacity for mobile phones (given we don't need to use up limited frequency for +1 channels if people who missed something will get it over the net, or recorded it)