The Dutch Kill Analog TV Nationwide

Willem de Koning writes Yesterday the Netherlands completely ended transmission of analog television signals, becoming the first country in the world to do so. So what about cars and portable TVs? I'm guessing a market will emerge for portable set top boxes / converters." The article mentions the timetable for other countries to go all-digital; by 2011 most or all of the developed world will have made the switch.

For Oldies

[Anne Thwacks]

Analogue is only used by oldies anyway. Everyone under the age of 70 uses Youtube instead - partly because their attention span is less than that of a goldfish - a side effect of "easy to use" Apple UIs.

Re:Cars and Portable TVs . . .

[Ossifer]

... will continue to be broadcast by the Dutch, as usual. No need for alarm.

Better watch out when you are in the Netherlands--a car or a portable TV may be broadcast at you at any moment!

Re:Uh, huh...

[hotdiggitydawg]

Where did this whole oh-noes-I-need-a-new-TV thing come from, anyway?

Not 100% sure, but I'd bet Sony had a hand in it somewhere...

Re:Back in the old days

[PerlDudeXL]

Never The Same Color? ;)

They the Analog TV

[pete.com]

.... You BASTARDS!

Re:It's HOLLAND

[Qzukk]

But I don't see what Dutch investment in the US has to do with anything in this article.

It doesn't, he's just bragging that he personally owns the entire state you live in.

Re:It's HOLLAND

[rve]

my real point is- radio waves do not respect borders....

So what?

Ending analogue transmissions isn't intended as a punitive or repressive measure, it's meant to save a laughably small amount of money by ending a service that wasn't really used much anymore.

All these foreign channels are available on their laughably small (analogue) cable networks, free for them to watch on their teeny tiny little TV sets in their silly little houses.

Re:Back in the old days

[kfg]

I live just a few blocks from where the first commercial color broadcast was made. Came in on my B&W set just fine thank you. Which is a good thing because they didn't "switch" to color, they added color a show at a time:

"The wonderful woooooooooorld ooooooooooof color!"

It's not at all like back in the day when my neighbor brought home a car and my horse stopped working.

KFG

Re:It's HOLLAND

['nother poster]

But... But..... But, what will I do to keep my children sedated for the hour long drive to grandmas house for the holidays with out Barney or Bob the Builder to keep them mezmerized?!?!?! Damn it, you can't expect me to actually TALK to the little monsters, can you?

Re:What country?

[soft_guy]

In the US the color broadcasts were (still are, for analog) backwards compatible with b&w TVs. You could watch the color broadcasts, in b&w, on a b&w TV.

They should do the same thing and make digital backwards compatible with the current NTSC standard.

Re:Uh, huh...

[d2ksla]

Entropy always wins.

Chuck Norris always wins over entropy.