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Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 4:49 pm
by GlytchMeister
jwhouk wrote:I've got an obvious post to make, but it'd be inviting Pablo to completely mess up a great piece of fan fiction...
Yeah, I had to remind myself that, in canon, Kath is a single mom.

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 5:04 pm
by Gyrrakavian
Dave wrote:
FreeFlier wrote:Yep . . . my sister and I did it too.

A few times anyway . . . it didn't work very well because mom was watching for it because her sister had done it too.
"Hey, kid, it's time for another fun episode of Plausible Misinterpretation!"
To avoid this, I got an old black and white tv from a garage sale with my birthday money one summer. Sure it wasn't as good as watching or playing video games on the color TV, but it helped stop a lot of arguments.

The sticking point with my parents was that I had to take my TV out to the living room before I went to bed and leave it there for the night.

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 6:22 pm
by Catawampus
Does cable or satellite charge you per television, or is it generally something where you pay for the service and then hook up as many sets as you'd like to it? Because it sounds to me as though, given how inexpensive a basic television set is these days, the thing to do might be to get one set per kid.

And how often do schools assign homework based off of a show on television? Wouldn't that be tricky for a lot of kids, having to be watching television at a specific time? How are the kids who don't have a set to watch or who have no access to one at that particular time supposed to do it?

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 6:40 pm
by Dave
Catawampus wrote:Does cable or satellite charge you per television, or is it generally something where you pay for the service and then hook up as many sets as you'd like to it? Because it sounds to me as though, given how inexpensive a basic television set is these days, the thing to do might be to get one set per kid.
It depends. I think the common situation is "both", and more. You can end up paying
  • A monthly fee for the basic hookup
  • Monthly fees for specific batches of channels
  • A monthly fee for each individual receiver/decoder
  • Extra fees for extra services/features
  • Additional "pay per view" fees for viewing specific programs (sort of like a 24- or 48-hour rental)
For DirecTV (as one example) the majority of the cost is for the "package" which includes one receiver and a specific batch of channels. You then get dinged another $10/month or so for each additional receiver (part is "receiver rental" and part is the "ability to view on a second TV").

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 6:46 pm
by FreeFlier
Catawampus wrote:Does cable or satellite charge you per television, or is it generally something where you pay for the service and then hook up as many sets as you'd like to it?
it depends on the provider, but the general rule in the US is that the service is provided to the house, and how many you hook up is your choice.
Catawampus wrote:Because it sounds to me as though, given how inexpensive a basic television set is these days, the thing to do might be to get one set per kid.
It's all digital in the US, which makes it a bit more expensive, but a small TV isn't all that much.
Catawampus wrote:And how often do schools assign homework based off of a show on television? Wouldn't that be tricky for a lot of kids, having to be watching television at a specific time? How are the kids who don't have a set to watch or who have no access to one at that particular time supposed to do it?
It was done occasionally even 30-40 years ago . . . and even then, kids not having a TV was something that never even occurred to teachers.

I got credit for a book report on Shogun when I pointed out that I couldn't watch the miniseries and write a report on that. (About 1980)

My sister and I were the only kids in the high school that needed that option. (My family got the first TV in 1994 . . .)

--FreeFlier

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:46 am
by Julie
FreeFlier wrote:
Catawampus wrote:Does cable or satellite charge you per television, or is it generally something where you pay for the service and then hook up as many sets as you'd like to it?
it depends ont eh provider, but the general rule in the US is that the service is provided to the house, and how many you hook up is your choice.
Catawampus wrote:Because it sounds to me as though, given how inexpensive a basic television set is these days, the thing to do might be to get one set per kid.
It's all digital in the US, which makes it a bit more expensive, but a small TV isn't all that much.
Catawampus wrote:And how often do schools assign homework based off of a show on television? Wouldn't that be tricky for a lot of kids, having to be watching television at a specific time? How are the kids who don't have a set to watch or who have no access to one at that particular time supposed to do it?
It was done occasionally even 30-40 years ago . . . and even then, kids not having a TV was something that never even occurred to teachers.

I got credit for a book report on Shogun when I pointed out that I couldn't watch the miniseries and write a report on that. (About 1980)

My sister and I were the only kids in the high school that needed that option. (My family got the first TV in 1994 . . .)

--FreeFlier
I remember being assigned to write up reports on movies that weren't airing on TV...we were expected to get access to the movies on our own somehow (either renting from the library or Blockbuster, or buying them). I always thought it was a bit ridiculous to expect us to watch movies and then produce work for a grade when we weren't being provided access to the movies, but I suppose it was decent mental prep for the expenses of college textbooks. :P

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 9:32 am
by DinkyInky
Catawampus wrote:Does cable or satellite charge you per television, or is it generally something where you pay for the service and then hook up as many sets as you'd like to it? Because it sounds to me as though, given how inexpensive a basic television set is these days, the thing to do might be to get one set per kid.

And how often do schools assign homework based off of a show on television? Wouldn't that be tricky for a lot of kids, having to be watching television at a specific time? How are the kids who don't have a set to watch or who have no access to one at that particular time supposed to do it?
Says you. From hoofing it the single mom way got so long, I still have a CRT console and CAD monitors for my art monster that's ancient, and a converter for the few basic channels we care to watch.

The Kindle was a gift, so I broke down and bought a Netflix subscription. My son gets his edutainment from there. Laptops are mostly old.

I just cannot justify spending that much on a full digital tv. I'd rather spend it buying my son books he likes.

They tried once to sell me on a cable net/phone/educational package at $10/mth which would have been ideal...until I read the contracted fine print that turned $10 into $99 after three months, and that you were obligated to keep the service for two years or pay a $450 early disconnect fee before they would shut off your service. If I can't pay $99, what makes you think I can pay $450?

I told the school, and brought the paperwork I nearly signed into them, and they freaked out. They were given educational discounts to advertise and use the digital lesson plans in class. They dropped it the next year because of the blatant bait and switch tactics the cable company pulled on the parents.

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:17 am
by FreeFlier
Should have dropped it immediately because of the deception.

I hope you complained to the state about deceptive practices.

The one that always got me was the unquestioning assumption that everybody has TV . . .

The DirectTV salesfolks at the local Costco recognize me . . . they say "good evening" and don't bother with the sales pitch when I go in, because I don't' have a TV . . .

--FreeFlier

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 7:19 pm
by TazManiac
Back in the (either) late Sixties (or) early Seventies we kids spent time between two households.
It was very civil and 'normal' to us but there was a certain sense of 'Living both in Spain and France' about it all; I suppose that makes me an ersatz-Basque.

One household had banned Television, even PBS (horrors!), but (perhaps sympathetically or even subversively) my maternal grandfather gave me an old black and white TV.

Showing up at Pop's with the evil idiot box didn't get it banned but I got some squirrely looks and it got locked down immediately. The one thing I recall being able to get us kids a chance at seeing was a (presumably rerun/ran) episode of 'Dark Shadows'.

We all clustered together, nobody having any thoughts of in-fighting over a different program at this point, and screamed at all the scary parts- until one scream too many got it unplugged and removed from our existence.

The Tyranny of Adult/Parenthood can be a drag sometimes. ;)

On another subject;
DirecTV and others will likely package you a certain minimal number of set top boxes to de-scramble the (now almost all) Digital Signal being broadcast by them. It means, unless your (new-ish) TV has provisions to support something like a Subscriber's Card to enable an account with a content provider (Netflix, Comcast, etc, etc) then you may not even be able to view the 'plain' digital signal coming into the house from off of the pole.

(In the Analog Days you could expect to just pay your basic monthly fee and if you had a TV that didn't need HBO or some other premium offering on it, it could still get all the 'Free' TV there was to get, without the need for a Cable Box.)

These days, Expect to get one Basic box and an additional Box w/ DVR built in, for a total of two TVs hooked up at a time. Some packages have three units at the basic/entry level.

Each additional box will likely cost something like $5 each, or more, per month.

btw- (OtA Over the Air) Public Airwaves TV has mostly converted over to different frequency ranges and a Digital Signal as well. There are still some older Analog TV signals being broadcast these days, but they continue to fade away... But thats a discussion for another time.

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 9:01 pm
by FreeFlier
I think all analog TV broadcasts in the US ceased a few years ago. The FCC wanted to auction off the airwaves to other users.

--FreeFlier

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:00 pm
by AmriloJim
VHF (channels 2-13) and UHF full-powers were supposed to go digital in Feb '09. The DTV Delay Act changed the mandatory analog cutoff date to June 12, 2009. Low-power UHFs were to switch on a different timetable.
FCC.gov wrote:The FCC established September 1, 2015 as the date for the termination of all analog low-power television service. Since that date, analog television should no longer exist in the United States. Until that time, LPTV stations were allowed to continue to operate their analog facilities.

Re: She Said She Said 2016-01-13

Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 12:33 am
by FreeFlier
I was remembering the VHF/highpower UHF cutoff, then.

--FreeFlier