7 ms·

It's obvious that TV makers have decided that seeing artifacts is not preferable. I wish that was toggleable.

ipnon 6y ago
Implicitly TV users are also prohibited from making their own technical decisions. I claim this is because the TV predates the era of open computing platforms like Unix.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > I claim this is because the TV predates the era of open computing platforms like Unix. I claim it's because DRM, since if it wasn't for DRM wanting control of the whole reception to display path to be protected, you could just stick an open computing device in between the streaming signal and the display device, and make your own technical choices. You still can, AFAIK, for content that doesn't require HDCP.
  - grawprog 6y ago
    I remember having a TV tuner card back in the day on my old desktop and this is exactly what I did. I don't watch much TV or anything so.I haven't really checked, but are such cards available today with the encrypted digital cable that's ubiquitous everywhere? Even most broadcast is digital now and requires a decoder box between.
    - jfrunyon 6y ago
      OTA: Yes. Cable: no, you'd need a CableCard, and approved device (i.e. DVR), etc.
  - majormajor 6y ago
    I don't think it has anything to do with Unix or DRM or any of that. It's because we have a trendy now-decades-long wave of product managers and designers who assume their job is to know better than the user. Open source software is not immune.
    - jfrunyon 6y ago
      cough Ubuntu cough cough systemd cough
    - formerly_proven 6y ago
      TV and broadcasting in general has always been mostly controlled in a top-down manner by companies and governments, since before computers existed.
- anw 6y ago
  > the TV predates the era of open computing platforms like Unix. Do you mean Unix-like? I'm not sure what you mean by "open" in this instance, but Unix definitely was not very open, leading to nascent platforms and movements such as GNU and Free/Libre software.
johnwalkr 6y ago
It's easy to say this but flipping through channels could be 30s straight of garbled images, followed by learned behavior to flip channels slowly. I recall reading about TVs with multiple tuners to resolve adjacent channels when flipping, but I don't remember if they actually made it to market.

Implicitly TV users are also prohibited from making their own technical decisions. I claim this is because the TV predates the era of open computing platforms like Unix.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> I claim this is because the TV predates the era of open computing platforms like Unix. I claim it's because DRM, since if it wasn't for DRM wanting control of the whole reception to display path to be protected, you could just stick an open computing device in between the streaming signal and the display device, and make your own technical choices. You still can, AFAIK, for content that doesn't require HDCP.
- grawprog 6y ago
  I remember having a TV tuner card back in the day on my old desktop and this is exactly what I did. I don't watch much TV or anything so.I haven't really checked, but are such cards available today with the encrypted digital cable that's ubiquitous everywhere? Even most broadcast is digital now and requires a decoder box between.
  - jfrunyon 6y ago
    OTA: Yes. Cable: no, you'd need a CableCard, and approved device (i.e. DVR), etc.
- majormajor 6y ago
  I don't think it has anything to do with Unix or DRM or any of that. It's because we have a trendy now-decades-long wave of product managers and designers who assume their job is to know better than the user. Open source software is not immune.
  - jfrunyon 6y ago
    cough Ubuntu cough cough systemd cough
  - formerly_proven 6y ago
    TV and broadcasting in general has always been mostly controlled in a top-down manner by companies and governments, since before computers existed.
anw 6y ago
> the TV predates the era of open computing platforms like Unix. Do you mean Unix-like? I'm not sure what you mean by "open" in this instance, but Unix definitely was not very open, leading to nascent platforms and movements such as GNU and Free/Libre software.

johnwalkr 6y ago

It's easy to say this but flipping through channels could be 30s straight of garbled images, followed by learned behavior to flip channels slowly. I recall reading about TVs with multiple tuners to resolve adjacent channels when flipping, but I don't remember if they actually made it to market.