TV/Programming rant

Scott F

Scott F

Pug Life
A real "no duh" thread about the dumbing down of the industry/entertainment, but read on if you want.....

Earlier this summer our Vizio 42" was the victim of a lightning strike. (not sure where it hit, but we lost a canine electric fence and the cable box as well)

So yesterday I figured I'd upgrade to a 47" LED from Costco. Set it up fine, and now it was time to watch something. What I was in the mood for was one of those typical Discovery Channel-type nature programs (mountain flyovers, timelapse footage of Northern Lights, cheetahs running in slow motion) You got the gist of it, Planet Earth, Sunrise Earth something like that. Something I could watch & fine tune the colors with.

But I quickly realized in the 6 or 7 hundred channels we get, that sort of programming doesn't exist any more. All I could find were reality shows on Discovery and Nat Geo. (Amish Mafia, the Amish Mafia goes to LA, and all that)

I know this shift didn't happen overnight, but dammit I just want to see something with some artistic merit. It's a bummer that at a time where cameras and cinematography are at such a level of excellence you can't see anything that showcases......uh....those things.

do any nature channels exist anymore?
 
One of the best moves I made this year was to fire my cable company and go over-the-air (OTA) antenna which is a free signal. It took a bit of research for equipment, positioning and installation. Total cost antenna, grounding rod, cable, wire and amplifier was $100. Hardest part was pounding an 8 foot grounding rod into the ground. I receive all the local Atlanta stations and the ones that broadcast in HD produce a beautiful uncompressed image. PBS plays most of the "Nature" series. I am 25 miles from the towers and am surprised with the quality of reception because of my marginal location. Now I realize this is not for everyone but this coupled with Netflix streaming more than meets my needs.

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I haven't had cable for a lot of years now. I don't even own a TV. When I say that people think I'm missing out on media, but my wife and I watch plenty. We just only watch the things we want to watch. When we stay at motels for road trips we have access to TV, and it always goes the same way. A lot of searching, skipping past horrible reality shows and occasionally landing on an old movie that we can stand. Usually the result is turning the TV off. The content you want to see isn't there anymore, and can be found elsewhere when it does exist. Although you're right, there doesn't seem to be much of it made anymore.

I really miss being able to turn on PBS World, Discovery, History Channel and so forth to find my favorite topics being covered in interesting ways. In the town I used to live in, the guy in charge of public access cancelled the lease PBS World had on one of the stations to make it an "experimental" channel for local producers. This was a small town with very little in the way of local producers, so it went almost entirely to showing the public access logo and no content. That was around the same time the History Channel, once my favorite station, stopped showing history, and when the SciFi channel stopped showing science fiction. So while I miss programming that isn't there anymore, I don't think I'll ever be signing up for a television service again. If something is worth watching I'll watch it online.

The last time I tried to watch TV, I used the SmartRemote on my tablet. It directed me to a program under "documentary" about life in the rural areas of Alaska. It sounded interesting, and I switched over to find out that it was really a generic reality TV show, where the shots were boring, the content was more about fake drama between characters at a superficial level than anything interesting and an occasional quirky shot of the family dog. That lasted maybe two minutes. This format has, apparently, replaced documentaries as we knew them. And documentary producers have adapted, unfortunately. I don't know why, and I'm skeptical that the market actually responds to this well.

If those shows still exist I, too, would love to hear about it. Someday I'll be raising kids, and it would be nice if they could grow up watching the same type of fascinating and informative science programs I got to.
 
Cassius said:
I don't know why, and I'm skeptical that the market actually responds to this well.
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The market is actually responding very, very well which is why we've seen the proliferation of this type of content. Most of the highest rated shows ever on the Discovery Channel are reality TV shows. A 'documentary' about Mermaids was the highest rated show in the history of Animal Planet. The History channel kicked off a big growth spurt of new viewers when it shifted gears into reality TV programming. It's not the content I want to watch (nor dream about making) but continued growth of the genre shows that audiences watch it (whether they publicly admit to it or not).

All these companies are businesses and unfortunately doing reality programing is better for the bottom line than educational/informative programing.
 
I would dump cable in a heartbeat **, to be honest, it's just for the kids (nick Jr & disney) That's a war I'm not going to win with the other 3 in my house. I think my wife and I could survive just fine with Netflix or similar. I'm doing the math in my head and all I can personally come up with is Breaking Bad, Mad Men and the news.

that it was really a generic reality TV show, where the shots were boring, the content was more about fake drama between characters at a superficial level than anything interesting and an occasional quirky shot of the family dog.
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^ Yes, hahahahahahahaha this is EXACTLY the kind of crap that dominates now. I totally know where you are coming from.

I really miss being able to turn on PBS World, Discovery, History Channel and so forth
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You might be in for a bit of culture shock.

And thanks for the other suggestions!

** EDIT: that's not true.....I forgot about NHL hockey, what with it being off-season. Ahhhhhh....they got me! $$
 
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Reality TV dominates because it's cheap to make and the formula draws people in. People may grow tired of it like they did with five nights a week of the contest shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire which was also cheap to make and drew in the audience (for a while). But then what's next? There's too many channels fighting for shrinking viewership with smaller ad budgets, so what can they make that's cheap and will get viewers?
There is some good content out there, and the quality of it is better than almost anything we've had before, but unfortunately there's not a whole lot of it. HBO series come to mind as do the ones on AMC like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, but I can't recall anything on network that I've actually looked forward to watching since the first couple seasons of Lost.
 
I completely agree.

I grew up watching Animal Planet but its such garbage anymore besides River Monsters which I really enjoy. The only time Animal Planet seems to air anything that is actually educational is at 5am but its re-runs of past shows that have been converted to HD so doesn't really showcase the beauty of nature.
 
NeoSlashX said:
I completely agree.

I grew up watching Animal Planet but its such garbage anymore besides River Monsters which I really enjoy. The only time Animal Planet seems to air anything that is actually educational is at 5am but its re-runs of past shows that have been converted to HD so doesn't really showcase the beauty of nature.
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I got rid of my cable as well. The programming was very disappointing. Everything's ghost hunting. There's even an Animal Planet show about ghosts that I flipped through. I guess it's about spooking animals? I don't even know anymore.
 
Mark Williams said:
One of the best moves I made this year was to fire my cable company and go over-the-air (OTA) antenna which is a free signal. It took a bit of research for equipment, positioning and installation. Total cost antenna, grounding rod, cable, wire and amplifier was $100. Hardest part was pounding an 8 foot grounding rod into the ground. I receive all the local Atlanta stations and the ones that broadcast in HD produce a beautiful uncompressed image. PBS plays most of the "Nature" series. I am 25 miles from the towers and am surprised with the quality of reception because of my marginal location. Now I realize this is not for everyone but this coupled with Netflix streaming more than meets my needs.

View attachment 75462
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This is exactly where I'm at (and I would love to know what gear you ended up with)...it all started for me with "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet, it just makes my blood boil when, in the intro they say, "...these animals do, in fact, exist.". I'm calling BS!!

I have to keep internet service, but cable is going and so is the phone. A cell phone is all you need these days anyway. I don't even want to think about how much money I've given Time Warner Cable over the past 15-20 years...excuse me while I puke.
:furious3:
 
Haven't had a TV for 10 years now. Doesn't mean I don't watch TV - because if there is some great series or show, you can get the DVDs or Netflix or the generally the net. But this way, I get to skip all the dross and just go for higher quality stuff - or stuff I simply enjoy, including, yes o horror, reality shows such as Project Runway (at least the earlier seasons before it went totally to hell). So, Breaking Bad, or Wired or The Killing or Mad Men or whatever - hey, I got it. Why do I need cable again? Old movies... nope, I get that from - netflix and DVDs. I happen not to enjoy sports, so I guess I'm lucky that way otherwise that would be a 'must have cable' thing. News I get exclusively from the internet, including newspapers online editions.

I tell you what though. I have to say - and I know everyone will disagree - but there is a downside to not putting in your time with a TV... you don't quite have your hand on the pulse of popular culture without access to a TV on a daily basis. Shout and scream, fine, but no you don't. That's just how it is. And for anyone who hopes to be addressing themselves to popular entertainment, which f.ex. film is, it is kinda important to be plugged in culturally. In the end, it's a price I'm paying, obviously, since I don't want a TV, but I'm aware of the fact that it's a price... someone starts jabbering at me about Duck Dynasty and I have no idea what they're talking about... ouch! Not good.
 
The Science Channel is still pretty good, at least it was not too long ago. I haven't had as much time to watch TV in the past year so I haven't tuned into that channel as much as I used to. Besides getting an HBO and Showtime package mainly for Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, all I've really been keeping up with this past year are several of my other recent favorite shows (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, The Killing, and some Netflix stuff like House of Cards). Oh, and my summer guilty pleasure, the kind of silly Under The Dome. I am also really digging Showtime's new series Ray Donovan (which is where I got my current avatar).

But then Breaking Bad is done after this season, and I believe Mad Men is over after the next season. The Walking Dead and The Killing are both good shows, but I think I could wait for Blu-ray or Netflix for those. I wonder if I'll be as excited to pay for cable and premium channels and all that in another year? I'm thinking I might just stick with Netflix, maybe Hulu+ and just watch more movies on Blu-ray/DVD as well as catch up on some reading. To be honest, TV is pretty darn good these days, but I'm finding even with my current limited viewing menu I am missing out on watching feature films these days. I kind of want to go back to watching more straight up movies and not being tied up with five or six TV shows at a time.

Anyways, there was a series on The Science Channel in recent years called Wonders of the Solar System. It was hosted by Brian Cox. No, not Brian Cox the actor... Brian Cox the physicist. Wonders of the Solar System was not only quality science programming, but it was shot with a nice cinematic/doc style. Obviously it was shot in HD and not film or a Red One or anything as fancy as that, but it looked good nonetheless.


If what Scott is saying is true, I also mourn the loss of smart science and historical programming such as Wonders of the Solar System.

I do admit to sort of enjoying History Channel's UFO Hunters and Ancient Aliens from time to time. Although I've been interested in all that UFO and alien abduction/conspiracy stuff ever since I was young. I don't really buy that it is real, but it is fun to speculate about. Amish Mafia though? I would have never thought the Amish would have their own underground crime syndicate. Do they smuggle drugs inside of their handcrafted furniture?
 
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Terry, here is what I sent ZaZA,

First step is to go to http://www.tvfool.com/ and read everything on the site. Next plug in you address on tvfool and get the reception report which includes the compass bearings for your antenna to aim. If you have a clear line of sight from where you want to mount the antenna to the horizon then you are in good shape. If not then you may have to move the antenna location but try to minimize the length of the cable run.

I wanted to stay cheap so that ruled out a large antenna and pole mount system. The most recommended antenna for my distance from the towers was too large so I came down in size to the RCA ANT751 which includes a small mast http://www.voxxintlcorp.com/docs/common/ANT751/ANT751_OM.pdf. I got mine for $34 but the price has now gone up to around $50 due to popularity.

Once I got the antenna I temporarily clamped it to a photo tripod placed on the roof and ran a direct coax line to my HDTV. The idea being if nothing came in then I would return the antenna. But low and behold after running digital tuner scan for antenna on the tv, I got channels. After adjusting the direction I then saw what limbs I had to trim up which improved reception further. I didn't have a wide view of the horizon, just a few good sized holes thru the tree line.

Next I have several TVs in the house going thru an existing 2 way splitter I located in the attic. This was where the cable company line fed in. I disconnect the cable company line and attached the coax coming from my temporary antenna. The TV with the shortest line to the splitter came in fine but the other TVs much further away did not. So more research. It seems a splitter and coax line length can severely degrade the signal strength. So after more research the consensus was an antenna pre-amp might help. So again wanting to stay cheap I got one from RCA http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-Antenna-Pre-Amplifier/14554631#Product+Reviews. The most important thing with an antenna preamp is getting it as close to the antenna as possible to maximize effectiveness. It is recommended to be within 3 feet. When I hooked it up everything worked like a charm and all tvs in the house have a good signal. I got my power supply for the preamp line going in the attic where I came off a garage ceiling light and place a new outlet for it to plug into.

So at this point everything worked well and it was time to make the installation permanent. If you are going to put an antenna on a roof you must have lightning protection so I got my 8 foot grounding rod, grounding block, grounding wire and wire wall clips from Lowes. I alreay had my coax cables.

I hope this helps. It is a great feeling not having to pay a cable bill. My total cost was about $100. Below are some additional resources.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1150551/help-me-decide-on-an-antenna

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT751R-O...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0024R4B5C

http://www.voxxintlcorp.com/docs/common/TVPRAMP1R/TVPRAMP1R_OM.pdf

http://www.solidsignal.com/p/?p=3535&d=How-to-properly-install-a-pre-amplifier

http://www.avsforum.com/t/861539/how-close-can-i-place-the-preamp-to-the-antenna

http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/WC-1051_FreeVision_Wiring_Diagrams.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-TVPRAMP1R-Outdoor-Antenna-Preamplifier/dp/B003P92D9Y/ref=pd_sim_e_1

Here is my tvfool report. I get the stations in green and yellow where the towers are in the same general direction.
Radar-Digital.jpg
 
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Postmaster said:
Here is Kevin Spacey talking about the future of TV - well worth watching, he has some excellent points there.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oheDqofa5NM#t=931
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At around 21:00 he mentioned that he sold subscriptions to ON T.V. I remember my buddy's parents had this. It was one channel, a little box sat on top of the tv with a knob… on or off. I must have been about 12 or 13 when this was around. We lived in Orange County. I wonder if Kevin Spacey sold them that subscription….

 
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