Recycle Your T.V.
Posted at 5:20 AM on June 12, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(24 Comments)
Digital conversion happens at midnight tonight.
Sounds like a religious experience, doesn't it?
Listening to John Prine's song "Blow Up Your T.V." reminded me of Monday's conversation. I recall That Guy In The Hat's lament that his old black & white set might make a good paperweight and Anna's comment - "I bet you could turn your old black and white TV into a cool looking aquarium without too much trouble."
Can one really do that?
Yes one can, but be careful handling the toxic old tube. Make sure you dispose of it properly.
And know what you're doing with regard to electrical discharge of components inside the set. You can get a nasty shock even if they're not plugged in.
Last but not least, think carefully about the awesome responsibility of keeping fish alive.
As technology constantly changes, we're faced with mountains of gadgets and gizmos whose currency has expired. I'll play an ancient Lou & Peter Berryman song today about re-purposing vinyl lp's (Spray Them Gold). But of course, you have to consider that just because a format isn't the "latest thing" or some appliance is hopelessly out of date, that doesn't make it useless.
I suspect some parents will now embrace the old analog tv sets as simple video playback devices for mom-and-dad approved movies, relieved to be able to place kids in front of the set with the sure knowledge that they can't wander off into broadcast tv channels to take in whatever nonsense happens to be rolling down the pipeline.
Any other ideas for recyling and/or re-using old analog TV sets?
Tips for the care of fish?
Child appropriate movies?
Comments (24)
oh man, TGITH and Anna - have you had fish before? Dale is right - keeping them alive is the main thing - way more difficult than other livestock.
i vote for putting a Winky Dink screen on the old TV and just drawing something interesting every day - whatever hits your fancy - its useful purpose will be your art display tool.
beautiful morning here - 40 degrees, sunny and no wind. as Cynthia in Mahtowa says "Ha det!" (short for Ha det bra or have a good one pa Norsk)
I'm seconding Barb's comment on keeping fish alive. Dogs and cat are WAY easier. Barb, how is Brother #2 today?
You can use the old analog TV with a converter and then you will be watching a digital boardcast in analog.
I wonder what happens when digital is converted analog. It probably isn't exactly the same as it would be if the boardcast was done in analog and shown on an analog TV. What were we getting when the analog boardcasts were shown on digital TVs?
Is there some consiracy involved in this change over to digital? Maybe the conspiracy was to get some people to either buy a new TV or a convertor box.
Or is some kind of secret mind control experiment going on here with secret messages sent when digital is converted to analog?
I have had an old tv I mistakenly adopted years ago that has served as a combination plant stand and picture easel...it lives near my big southern windows where the view is ever so much better than tv. Hummingbird in the Caragana (sp?) flowers this morning...Ha det bra! indeed.
Hi Heartlanders. Down here by the coast, we only get about three stations so losing T.V. is no big deal. If you have cable, your old T.V. will still work. If the old T.V. is still decent, I would keep it for playback of movies. Fish take too much to take care of. Besides, there is a transformer that holds a large charge that I would not want to mess with. I have been told that it can knock you across the room.
Hope the kids are doing good. It must be interesting raising goats. They are so cute.
I was thinking the same as Jim, government conspiracy? Mind control? Way to push new T.Vs? With the new technology these days it makes you wonder when something new comes out and the government gets involved.
Good Morning!
Since we almost never turn on the TV, the change is pretty much a non event for us. I think we last turned it on for the presidential debates. Turns out one of the cats is the heaviest user since the TV is by a window.
Happy Friday! I got it right this time Barb, so while I'm still a dollar short, I'm not a day late...
I wasn't thiking of a goverment conspiracy related conversion from analog to digital, but I guess we never know what the CIA or FBI might do.
Jim, you've probably seen for yourself what happens when digital signals are converted back to analog ones, since we have been using that technology for a long time to accommodate the analog CRT monitors we once used at our computer workstations! :-)
If I had a really old and cool looking television, I'd keep it as a design object, but since I really only need the VCR to play the analog media I have, recycling the obsolete devices is what I'll do.
There seems to be a real space saving advantage associated with digital televisions and computer displays, so I've already embraced digital technology in this case, but I won't be giving up my vinyl records or photographic film!
We only have one set, and as long as it continues to get PBS Kids shows for Daughter, we're good. We will not turn ours into a fishbowl (hadn't thought about all the extra "stuff" inside when I made the suggestion).
My husband once gathered up three old PC towers and a huge piece of table-top glass to put on top of them in the hopes I'd let him turn it into a coffee table for us. (Um, no Honey.) If you have more than one analog set, you could do something similar (if you need a coffee table, that is).
We managed a pretty good buy on a digital tv and I must say digital looks pretty good - can see blades of grass on the football field, but most of the time we use it for PBS, dvds... Put the old tv upstairs where it's never on, just gathering dust.
I'm pretty interested to see the falling prices on LED tv, looking foward to one day rolling a tv up like a blueprint, tie a decorative ribbon around it to hold it and putting it in the corner when it's not in use!
I guess your right, Elinor. I did have an analog TV monitor that was used with my computer which, of course, was digital.
Greetings Conspiracy Theorists!
Here's the official FCC explanation of the reasons for digital conversion of TV and radio signals:
All-digital broadcasting will free up frequencies for public safety communications (such as police, fire, and emergency rescue). Also, digital is a more efficient transmission technology that allows broadcast stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, as well as offer more programming options for consumers through multiple broadcast streams (multicasting). In addition, some of the freed up frequencies will be used for advanced commercial wireless services for consumers.
As a person who can be fined by the FCC for my mistakes at work, I find this explanation thoroughly plausible. Laudable, even.
I feel sure the conspiracy is to make people sign up for paid cable or satellite service when they become sufficiently annoyed with the digital signal dropping out. Better to track the audience's viewing habits and to potentially tack on extra charges for programs that are especially popular. I visualize the whole process as corporate media surreptitiously placing an automatic debit tap into the nation's checking accounts.
As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
This is off the TV topic. It's a suggestion for the "Summertime" marathon. It would be fun to hear the brief WDGY jingle, "Summertime, and the listening is Weegee . . ."
That was cool hearing Iris Dement with Steve Earl et al. I'm looking forward to the concert tonight, exp. since we don't get out that often -- anyone else going?
Mike - well, you got Friday right anyway - that's what counts! never a "friday" because there's never a weekend on a dairy farm (not complaining)
re the kiddos: all three up and seeking food from Dream this morning - and looking quite good. Desi is the strongest, and so peppy already - but i think the boys have improved markedly. (not to jinx them!). mentors are the greatest - they tolerate my constant questions and give me such good and helpful advice (that includes you, Cynthia, who i wouldn't know except for RH and TB)! "RH and TB - connecting goat milkers everywhere" might be your new slogan, Dale.
yeah, you're right Mike from Mississippi - they are cute and i think that these three, from Dream and Majority, are mighty cute indeed. but then i may be a bit biased =:-) blah, blah, blah - i'll try to keep quiet now!
First of all, Dale is absolutely correct. There are pounds of lead in old picture tubes and capacitors in electronics will hold electrical charges for quite a long time even after you unplug the TV.
I've seen old TV's converted into aquariums and, again, I appreciate Anna's offer. I mentioned to her later that day that I just don't know where the heck we'd put it. We lately took on a consignment of very nice furniture when my mother-in-law redid her living room so space is at a premium.
We had an aquarium when I was a kid and, with my Dad being as fastidiously neat and clean as he is, he was frequently chasing fish with a net and scrubbing the tank walls. Cleaning the tank was not a perpetual process but there did appear to be quite a bit of down time for 'maintenance.' Again, my Dad once vacuumed dirt because it was too dirty.
I'll be keeping my old black/white not only for nostalgia purposes but also to have something to hook up my old Atari 2600 to. It's the only video game system that I can beat my nephew at and that makes it worth keeping right there. Anytime he gets a little too full of himself for defeating me soundly on his fancy-schmancy Wii, I just ask him over and set up the Atari. A score in Atari football of 204-0 seems to quiet him right down.
Don't even get me started on conspiracy talk. I love playing 'connect the dots.' I have some fictional characters that I'm doing a series of books with. The stories tend to mix historical fact with my own 'behind the scenes' background stories. Interestingly, as I do research, a lot of 'coincidences' appear to support my little pet conspiracy ideas.
Does anyone else remember a little rectangular light set on top of the TV, holding a light bulb under a glass block in which you could put.... flowers, a goldfish, a shell collection...? This when the tube was in an actual cabinet with a FLAT top.
Good Morning! Regarding the change from analog to digital - it is happening in many areas of our lives, just a few examples are photography production, music production, communication and medicine. I work in a radiology dept, and the switch from analog to digital imaging has been happening over the course of many years. Some in the medical industry saw the trend to computer/digital imaging coming and went with the expense and change early on. Others are going slowly, kicking and screaming all the way. Eventually, every radiology dept will be digital in all its modalities because there will be no way for images (xray, ultrasound, MRI, etc) to be produced for any one to see if they are not digital.
There are many advantages to digital imaging in radiology, and I am glad for the improvement in our field due to the switch. Maybe, a few years down the road, we will say we are glad for the change from analog to digital TV.
TGITH -- your dad and my mom must be cut from the same cloth. When my folks sold their last house, the buyers said right up front that they were buying it for the land and were going to knock down the house and build fresh. But after the closing, my mom went back to the old house and cleaned .. even though the wreckers were coming the next morning!
Telling these stories really reveals alot about how we all got the way we are, doesn't it?
Barb -- so glad to hear the boys are doing better today. Getting born is rough!
Loving the chatter today. Will probably take time Saturday morning to let my digital TV do a full channel search again to see what channels my cable provider has added, dropped or moved. During the ramp up to tonight's conversion, cable providers posted HD channels all over the dial in preparation for moving them to their permanent location tonight.
I still have what had been a console TV from the early days of television. My late father, evermore a tinkerer, converted the console san TV into a liquor cabinet and into a very fine piece of furniture. Open the doors and there, in lieu of TV screen, are the makings of another form of entertainment center.
Happy weekend RHers.
Hello. This is off any topics being discussed, but I just wanted to say...last night I had the most vivid dream about Radio Heartland. Maybe it was because I was listening to RH on my high-def radio as I tended to my gardens all evening.
My dream was that Dale was on vacation, and Jim Ed was the substitue announcer. There was an actual broadcast in the dream, and Jim Ed said how much fun it was to sit in.
Is this a prophetic dream? Time will tell.
The baby goats are so sweet, Barb. Thanks.
a mid-day howdy to everyone---i've been swamped with work and so forth lately, so mornings have been very busy---i miss you guys!!!
Barb, love seeing the kids!!!! they are darling.....NOW, what about that field trip to the goat barn?!?!?!?!??!
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