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Television Media

Satellite TV From a Moving Car 285

Posted by CmdrTaco from the focus-people dept.
An anonymous reader sent us an article about an in-car digital satellite television system. that can stay trained on the satellite even while moving. Of course, Most amusing is all the comments about how TV in cars is for passengers, because as we know, the drivers are too busy talking on their cell phones.
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Satellite TV From a Moving Car More

Satellite TV From a Moving Car

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  • Now if I could figure out..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) * on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:08PM (#7444538) Journal
    Where to mount my Tivo....wait.. will it work with my Tivo? I might miss something on tv while I am talking on my cell phone.

  • heh dvd? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rwven ( 663186 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:12PM (#7444574)
    Kinda reminds me of those DVD players that pop out of the head unit. My friend wants to get one of those so he can watch movies while driving. Kinda scares me to say the least. I think this is somewhat overdoing it. Cars are transportation, not audio/visual entertainment. As if there arent enough distractions already...

    • Re:heh dvd? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NightSpots ( 682462 )
      Cars are transportation, not audio/visual entertainment. As if there arent enough distractions already.

      There's no reason it can't be entertainment for the passengers. It just takes people being personally responsible for once in their lives.

      Anyone with kids knows that travelling is much, much easier if you give them something to do on long trips. DVDs in the headrests so the kids can watch/play from the back seat are a GOOD THING.

      Realistically, these shouldn't be much of a problem. The people who drive w

      • Re:heh dvd? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by swestcott ( 44407 ) *
        I think most kids get enough TV how about talking to your kids or better yet on long trips I get a good audio book booth kids and parents can enjoy The Harry Potter books are excellent and we have enjoyed them many times we are currently listening to the Series of Unfortunate Events very funny for kids and adults.
      • The people who drive while watching will eventually hit something, and hopefully what they hit won't be a person. After that they'll either learn very quickly not to do it again, or go broke repairing everything they keep hitting.

        Statistically speaking, it's most likely to be a car -- with at least one person inside. In the mean time, that person who may have once been a responsible driver has to suffer injury and loss of property because of the lack of responsibility of the first driver. Considering m
        • You know what my sister and I did as kids on road trips? We read BOOKS. That's right, books -- those little, fun, and informative things made out of paper that actually engage a kids mind rather than shutting it off.

          You must not have a TV set or anything on that idea in your car or home then, because that would make you hypocritical (a person of your intelligence and stature would obviously not lower him/herself to "shut off" your mind).

          Maybe if more parents were interested in raising their children in

    • Re:heh dvd? (Score:3, Informative)

      by bpowell423 ( 208542 )
      hmmm... I think that in most states, it's illegal to have a TV mounted where the driver can see it. There's a reason TVs/DVDs (and now satellite, apparently) are showing up in vehicles... kids. It's a life saver on long trips. Of course, I realize the union of the sets "/.'ers" and "have kids" is rather small...

      • Re:heh dvd? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:25PM (#7444761) Homepage Journal
        Excuse me but when I've got my kids confined in the car for long periods of time, I'd rather we discuss current events, history, science, and literature than have them zonked out in front of a passive entertainment device. Long car trips is a great time to talk to your kids - they can't get away. Try it out.
        • The endless talking dad's kids... hehe.
          More serious, there is only a short period of time I can keep the attention of my 4yo boy. Especifically, my personal record is 1h20. After that, he (a) sleeps [best case], (b) vomits, or (c) jumps up and down and makes me generally crazy.
          And I only have one kid.
          If and when I get another, they will pick each other and fight. Unless Dragonball ZYXk is on to the older and Clifford the Giant Red Dog is on to the younger.
          I am ordering one of these now, and another next yea

        • Excuse me but when I've got my kids confined in the car for long periods of time, I'd rather we discuss current events, history, science, and literature than have them zonked out in front of a passive entertainment device. Long car trips is a great time to talk to your kids - they can't get away. Try it out.

          We're talking about a 3-year old here, so discussing current events, etc isn't going to get you very far. We don't let him watch much TV anyway, so watching a little Winnie-the-Pooh on the way to gr

      • that's interesting - i wonder if such laws are restricted to television sets - how about a dash pc?
    • I have an LCD and I enjoy TV, DVD, computer, game system and rear bumper cam in my pickup. I can also playback video from my Sony DV cam. There are tons of uses for it. Try it, you'll like it.
    • I'm not going to harp on the same issue as everyone else, I'm going to pick a new one:

      This is a great solution for people that already have a DirecTV account and want digital satellite radio for their car but don't want to pay for the new service (they tend to lose money on the equipment just to make it back in spades on your monthly payment). The digital music channels from DTV are decent, although you don't have the talk-radio stations that XM and Sirrius offer.

      Speaking as a person that takes long road
    • Frankly, I would be embarassed if I my kids grow up to be cretinous offspring that cannot read a book and will destroy the vehicle if it does not get its MTV fix for 5 minutes. You should first think are you doing things right as a parent before going and buying things like this.
    • ... and it makes a huge difference to passengers during the 6+ hour trips I use the car for. It is no more a distraction to me than listening to the radio or a CD.

      It's all about self control though. I'm sure some dumbass would try to blame the system for distracting him/her, when they shouldn't have been trying to watch the damn thing in the first place..
    • "Cars are transportation, not audio/visual entertainment. "

      Let me guess....You don't have kids?
      As someone who has kids and has to do lots of driving it is much easyier on him (and me) if he can zone out with some cartoons or the discovery channel. I will aggree that anyone who watches TV and drives should loose their license. But I would apply that to computing and driving as well.
      • What about a book or music? Cheaper, and less distracting to the driver. Of course, you could always just mount the screen so it is visible only to back seat passengers.
    • I think this is somewhat overdoing it.

      Understatement . . . how about "criminal neglect"?

  • With hundreds of channels of entertainment, from the Disney Channel to HBO, to keep them occupied, they're silent. "It's like you don't even have them. You can baby-sit and drive at the same time,'' Montag said.

    This is nothing. I'm waiting for the garage-to-living-room solution, so I need never worry that my kids' eyes aren't safely glued to a screen.

    Waitaminnut, I don't have kids.

    Then again, if I did have kids, I could get this system and it'd be like I didn't even have them. Hmm.

    Please excuse me--I

  • I wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:18PM (#7444655) Homepage Journal
    ...how well do those work under viaducts, in tunnels, in cities behind big buildings, in high mountains, in forests and mostly everywhere where large part of the sky is obscured.
    • They don't work.

      My question is, now that we can have TV anywhere we want, will they actually put something on that's worth watching?
    • These are pretty common on RV's these days. I full time in a 1987 Bluebird Wanderlodge [wanderlodge.org] bus (both mobile office and home).

      We installed a Tracstar SV360 [tracstar.net] 9 months ago, one of the low-profile ones. This is supposed to be one of the better units.

      They work ok... yes, signal skips under bridges.

      I5 in southern Oregon is pretty much useless with mountain and tall trees next to the highway.

      DirecTV requires you to point "toward Texas" for the bird, so northern states are much worse. And these dishe

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:2, Informative)

      by hookedup ( 630460 )
      I was just wondering the same thing in relation to XM Radio, to which i found this [tvtower.com]:

      XM-Radio is a Satellite Based Radio Broadcast System that operates around 2.3 GHz from two 15,000 watt satellites; one named "ROCK," at 115 Degrees West, the other named "ROLL" at 85.0 Degrees West. The significance of this service and that of Sirius Radio, a similar service, is that these services need to "fill in" the shadows caused by buildings and other structures that may block the satellite signal. To accomplish this,
    • Hah! Easy problem. Easy solution. Use something like tivo and buffer tv by say, the amount of time you expect to be out of line-of-sight.

      And most everywhere isn't obscured... just those who live in cities. On the open road, you mostly have clear skies.
    • They work under viaducts, in tunnels, and behind large buildings about as often as slashdot readers _READ_ the article.

      The satellite signal remains strong as long as the antenna is within the line of sight of the orbiting satellites, which are in the southern part of the sky. As with any satellite signal, tall buildings, mountains, trees or even luggage on the roof rack can block that signal and disrupt the video.
  • One of the company's most high-profile customers is one of Montag's clients, John Madden, the famed former Oakland Raiders coach and TV football analyst who travels to assignments on a private bus dubbed the Madden Cruiser.

    I can just see John driving to the next Monday Night Football (Somebody's gotta feel this!) spot in his Madden Cruiser, loading up Madden 2004 on his PS2 and the three plasma's he's got in there. He loads up the two teams, has his lackey's play a simulation game, while he works on reme

  • ...then I guess you can do it in an SUV. I'm always amazed by the system that JetBlue uses, which must be similar to this one - JetBlue has DirecTV onboard, and their antenna system tracks the satellite during most manoeuvers. Only when the plane goes into a really steep bank during final approach will the sat go out for a few seconds.
  • from the beloved T.V.. No more depriving my children of the advertising messages and targetted programming. No more time away from that soothing glow. As we're driven through this great country of ours, we don't EVER have to look at anything but the beautiful, wonderful T.V.. Look, I'm drooling. I'm going to sell a kidney to ensure having enough money for this.
  • so the big deal of this is the fact that the satellite can maintain a signal while the car is moving? isn't this exactly what my Sirius satellite radio has been doing for a while now? or any of the bojillions of XM radios that come in Chevys now?
  • Haven't limo's had satellite tv for a long time? isn't that what those boomerang shaped things on the back are?
  • ... subject says it all, really :-)

    Simon

  • How about some conversation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jwjcmw ( 552089 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:23PM (#7444738)

    "It's like you don't even have them. You can baby-sit and drive at the same time"

    Isn't it great that we don't have to pay attention to our children anymore in the car just like we don't pay attention to them at home. Why would we need to when the TV/computer/video game is there to "baby-sit" them? We can plug them in at any time...they don't talk to us about any of their inane, childish ideas. We can blissfully act like we are still freewheeling non-parents going off on some big adventure than like the haggard parents we really are who have been forced to "care" for these inferior beings.

    I have three of those annoying little brats, ages 3,5, and 7. I know how blissful a moment to yourself is, and how seductive it is to plug them in and tune them out.

    But you really need to remember that they will be getting their values/ambitions from whatever is raising them. I think most people would not want to think that they are basically raising their children to be ignorant, negative consumers, but they need to watch the shows their children watch, and pay close attention to the advertising that comes along with those "children's" shows.

    As fast as the world goes today, being in the car for a while might be one of the few times that a family can actually talk to each other for an extended period of time. Listen to those children, don't tune them out.

    </rant>

    • thanks for typing what I was thinking when I read that.

      That wasnt even implying that the TV is a babysitter, it flat out said it.

      No wonder kids today are going to be more fucked up then we are! Well maybe not THAT bad...
    • I agree with the general sentiment in your post, but I think long car trips are something of a special case. Kids can get extremely antsy, and car trips longer than about 2 hours can start really start taking a toll. It's just not reasonable to expect people to carry on a 3 hour conversation with their 4 year old. Hell, I don't think there are many adults I'd want to talk to for 3 hours at a stretch, which is why my car has a CD player.

      I suppose the better alternative is to avoid long trips where possib

    • I agree to some extent, but... have you tried really long trips? My 4yo gets very, very uncomfortable after some time. I really, really think that some cartoon AFTER the conversation would be really good.

    • The modern family (Score:3, Insightful)

      by swb ( 14022 )
      Is an invention of the 18th century. Until that time the rich simply forked their children over to governnesses, teachers, etc and forgot about them until their kids challenged them for their holdings.

      Everyone else either worked as many offspring as they could sire in the fields, sold them off as indentured servants, or, if they didn't need or want more, comitted post-natal abortion.

      The idea that one actually had some involvement with their kids is historically kind of new. The idea of "childhood" itsel
      • The idea that one actually had some involvement with their kids is historically kind of new.

        Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't until the last century or two that humankind finally figured out that children who spend time with their mothers actually take longer to starve.

        Incidentally, you forgot to argue that your "historical" approach to parenting was somehow better than loving and teaching them on an ongoing basis. Simply saying it's "unhealthy" don't make it so.

      • Re:The modern family (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Jahf ( 21968 )
        Amazing how you can aspire to take one culture's historically bad sense of family and assume that it applied to everyone from that time. And even then your examples are acutely pessimistic. Are you trying to tell me that before 1701 there wasn't a single father or mother in western society who paid attention to their children and loved them for their own sake instead of for some ascribed selfish desire?

        Revisionist at best. And all of the things you mention as having existing before the 18th century still e
        • Are you trying to tell me that before 1701 there wasn't a single father or mother in western society who paid attention to their children and loved them for their own sake instead of for some ascribed selfish desire?

          That's just pedantic. I don't doubt that parents felt some kind of emotional tie to their children; it's biologically driven, up to a point. After that it's a culturally driven emotional facade.

          Up until fairly recently in western cultures, more kids meant more mouths to feed, and the pressu
    • I think that it is a matter of how you raise your kids. If a parent raises them with cable tv, video games, fast food, and mega churches that resemble broadway productions more than contemplative sacred spaces, then forcing them to sit for even an hour in car without full sensory immersion is abuse. The child has never been given the tools, has never learned self control, has never had to entertain themselves.

      When I was kid I spent hours in the car, on a plane, or just waiting for something to happen.

  • I could swear that Busta Rhymes had that in the headrests of his Lamborghini (a 2-seater). Still, why not just duct tape the kid's mouths shut? If you want them to stop fighting or whining in the car, maybe having one parent TALK to them would be a cheaper solution than a satellite TV system for the back seat.

  • Bad idea because I was (Score:5, Funny)

    by www.sorehands.com ( 142825 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:27PM (#7444785) Homepage
    It is a bad idea. I was rear-ended by this woman on a cell phone who was too busy talking. It nocked my laptop off the front seat, interrupted my IRC chat and incomming fax and landed on the dinner I was cooking on the floor of the front seat.


    Can't these people pay attention and not do anything else while driving. I now have to get a new laptop for the car. Jeeeezzz.

  • Old news (Score:3, Funny)

    by djupedal ( 584558 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:29PM (#7444808)
    We've had this in South Korea (SkyLife [skylife-tv.co.kr]) for over a year....yawn. Once again, you guys assume it doesn't count if it's not in your backyard.

    Gives you something to watch while sitting in the routine 10 kilometer jam.
    • Once again, you guys assume it doesn't count if it's not in your backyard.

      Well, thanks for the information. The next time this American wants to watch South Korean programming in his car, he'll know just where to import the tech and be the "first on the block".
      • Again, a narrow western perception. Programming in Korea isn't strictly Korean.

        BBC, TF1, CNN, HBO, ESPN, Star. Languages from French to Farsee....English to Japanese....Chinese to Croate. Signed and subtitled, the effort is made for a larger community.
        • Signed and subtitled, the effort is made for a larger community.

          I hate subtitles. They get in the way. I even delete Spanish-language programming from my TV remote when I find it.
    • Oh, we are so sorry to have offended you. How foolish of us to not know of a Korean service from a Korean only webpage.
  • My understanding is that the "260 antenna elements that help draw in the signal" is basically a small fairly cheap phased array antenna system. You know, like on an Aegis cruiser. So with the proper emitter and a Beowulf like cluster of TracVisions ........

  • Spoiler warning? (Score:3, Funny)

    by eMartin ( 210973 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:29PM (#7444818)
    Of course, Most amusing is all the comments about how TV in cars is for passengers, because as we know, the drivers are too busy talking on their cell phones.

    Seriously, what's the deal with giving away the best part of the article without a spoiler warning?

  • Considering that we managed to get digital satelllite radio in the car, it shoudln't be surprising that this wasn't very far behind. But what's nice about satellite radio is how it cuts out when you drive by some trees, or under a bridge. It's great.
  • I seem to remember in the original Wayne's World movie, that the big wig record exec had sattelite in his limo...that how Garth, the closet hacker, beamed in the video of Wayne's GF (tia carrera) in so he could see it....

    Mega Happy Ending!

  • TV in a car? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mullen ( 14656 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:31PM (#7444837)
    With hundreds of channels of entertainment, from the Disney Channel to HBO, to keep them occupied, they're silent. "It's like you don't even have them. You can baby-sit and drive at the same time,'' Montag said.

    Am I the only America left that thinks this is gross? I pulled up next to a Lincoln Navigator, the other day, that had TWO flat panel screens in it and they were both on watching TV. Now, this seems like a great idea to keep the kids nice and quite, but how does a kid see the world while on a road trip? If I am going to haul the kids and wife off to a National or State Park, they are to be looking out the windows and not watching DVD movie or some Cartoon. I can't imagine how this is good for America's kids. Should we just surrender to the terrorists now since the future generations will have a attention span to short to track Al-Qaeda down?
    • Now, this seems like a great idea to keep the kids nice and quite, but how does a kid see the world while on a road trip?

      Since today's family vehicles are so grossly oversized, most kids aren't tall enough to see anything but sky, anyways.

      Thus, you need at least one TV and a closed-circuit camera if you want them to see anything. Why not add a satellite dish to the mix?

    • Were all spent with my nose in a book. Several books, usually. And I turned out fine.

      Oh, wait-- I'm a HUGE FREAKING DORK.

    • Geez, I am glad I am not your kid. Most of the trip is incredibly boring, reading books, listening to CDs or playing gameboy is about all I ever did in the car until we got to the destination.
    • No, you're not the only only thoroughly revolted by this, but you're in the definite minority. Ever since the TV came into people's lives in the 50s, American parents have been looking for more and more ways to get their kids to tune out so that they'll shut up. It isn't good for America's kids, and it's the growing root of America's dysfunctional attitude and miniscule attention span. If I ever have kids, I'm making damn sure that we don't have TV in my car nor cable TV in my house.

      As for the last comm
    • With this kind of logic, I assume you have no TVs (in car or at home), much less video game systems, right?

      I fail to see what the huge difference is that makes it OK to watch TV at home but not in a car.

      Really, this is a knee-jerk reaction.
  • I am hard pressed to see the difference between talking on a cell phone and talking with passengers in the vehicle. Watching how people tend to interact, I'm imagining someone swiveling all over the seat while talking to several people in the car. I am also hard pressed to see the differecnce in someone dialing a number and changing the radio station, or searching for a CD.

    Yes, cell phones can be a distraction, but are they any more of a distraction than the many, many things people do in their cars? I wa

    • I am hard pressed to see the difference between talking on a cell phone

      The main difference is that talking to passengers, or twiddling the radio doesn't tie up one of your free hands for many minutes at a time. You are *technically* s'posed tohave both hands on the wheel. Talking on a hand-held phone will ensure this doesn't happen. Also, the radio is placed such that you don't have to move your eyes too far to see it, and intereact with it, it also has large buttons that are easy to see/find/push.
    • There are a number of factors. When talking to passengers in the car, you will not:

      - take your hands off the wheel to use the phone
      - take your eyes off the road to answer the phone
      - take your eyes off the road to dial an outgoing call
      - use BOTH your eyes and hands to write down a phone number someone is telling you

      And not only that, but the people in the car have the ability to know when to shut up and just let you drive, since they're seeing exactly what you are. People on the phone have no idea and th
    • Your cell phone won't say Oh Shit! When you are about to hit someone. A passenger will.
    • I think it shifts your mental focus away from your physical reality to the artificial reality where the conversation takes place.

      For brief conversations which don't demand a lot of mental acuity, it's not that much more distraction than music or passengers or whatever. For complex conversations, it's deeply distracting -- you drive on autopilot.

      And the same can happen in reverse. I refuse to engage most people calling from cell phones because you can end up with "autopilot" conversations, where they don
  • I want to know if Im cruizing along at 80mph will it still work. I saw this in popsci I think a long time ago and it had a top speed of 45mph. I didnt see them even address this at all. Im not going to slow down so I can watch tv.

  • laws and such (Score:2, Insightful)

    by EvilOpie ( 534946 ) *
    I don't know where the submitter of the article lives, but in New York it's illegal for a TV to be placed in a vechile within view of the driver. Then again it's also illegal for a driver here to use a cell phone that's not hands free, and we know how well people obey that law.

    Ah well, this is kinda a neat idea regardless. I mean, satellite TV for vechiles is not exactly a new idea, though before now they've been traditionally reserved for RV's and such, but this may be the first practical application

  • Ah, the new generation of parenting (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Tuesday November 11, 2003 @12:36PM (#7444887)
    With hundreds of channels of entertainment, from the Disney Channel to HBO, to keep them occupied, they're silent. "It's like you don't even have them. You can baby-sit and drive at the same time,'' Montag said.

    I have my own kids -- four of them now. I grew up in a family of five kids, two parents. So I know full well what it's like to have them arguing, complaining, fighting, and griping all through a long car trip.

    But I still maintain that drugging them into submission with non-stop video signals is not the best solution. It's easy enough to get into that habit at home -- sit the kids in front of the TV after school until dinner, then after dinner until bedtime. They're entertained, you have peace and quiet. Then when they get older, you wonder why they're thirty pounds overweight before they've hit puberty and never do their homework at night.

    TV, either in the car or at home, should be a privilege. Give it to them when they've earned it, and turn it off when it's done. I prefer a DVD player to satellite TV, because (1) there's no commercials, (2) I can control what they do and don't watch, and (3) when the show's over, it's over--there's nothing "coming up next" unless I say there is.

    Our kids would be overjoyed to have satellite TV in the car for our periodic 3-hour drives to my in-laws. Instead we give them toys, books, children's music, and Magna-Doodle drawing boards. Works just as well, the noise is minimal, and their brains actually continue to develop instead of just rotting away inside their skulls.
    • What I really wanted to do was place one or two of those panels (I have *alot* of kids) in with a couple gamecubes - in my life, it seems to be the only thing (besides movies) that they don't fight over much.
  • There are a few airline companies that offer live tv for people to watch while on the plane. This probably works the same way -- they have a dish in the cargo compartment somewhere that rotates to compensate for the plane's tilting and whatnot. It goes offline whenever there's too much turbulence or something like that, but most of the time it works fine.

    Naturally the car-based service won't work in the lincoln tunnel, or probably even anywhere with a lot of buildings, but it would probably work fine for w
  • 1. Does it get local channels?
    2. Dos it work with Starband?
    • >>1. Does it get local channels?
      2. Does it work with Starband?

      1. Yes. Assuming you are legal qualified, and are driving within your local spot beam, assuming that your particular locals are from a spot beam.

      2. No. Starband is a bidirectional feed. However, it may be able to get DirectPC, which uses a phone line for the upbound side. You'd have to use a cell phone for upbound.
  • To deliver DirecTV to all the seats on their aircraft...
  • Funny, the same thing has been up on /. before...
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/09/004625 7&mode=thread&tid=129

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