the high definition really brings out the texture in homer's face..

As much of a nerd as I am for things like HDTV and what not I often ask myself wtf our country is doing spending money on something like "the digital switch" when we still have so many other problems.

If they wanted to drop big big cash on something tech they should invest in bringing broadband internet to rural/small urban parts of America.

>> ^JiggaJonson:
As much of a nerd as I am for things like HDTV and what not I often ask myself wtf our country is doing spending money on something like "the digital switch" when we still have so many other problems.


To free up more air space for more channels, and/or new technologies like for example long range wireless internet for rural areas.
Yet somehow I doubt that the freed bands will be used for anything other than more channels for the big companies, they are after all the ones with the money.
And if your digital systems are anything like ours, it will allow for encrypted channels trough your antenna. Pay TV without cable or satellite.

Why are you forced to switch? Because there is money to be made.

Wow, I hope we don't have to see that long couch scene again. Can't wait! Does that mean the new episodes will be in HD? I saw the movie in DLP. It was nice!

They auctioned off the airwaves and made a nice chunk of change, too (billions, I believe). Though nothing compared to what is needed to revive the economy.

Also, the whole digital thing is overrated. All it amounts to is interactive menus. The picture quality is the same.

Watching standard def on an HDTV though definitely improves the image quality. Simply using an LCD screen does something right there.

As far as broadband deployment, I think that's great. However, Internet connection speeds need to be improved. There should be a forced switch to a minimum 5 megabit connection.

Supposedly the national average is 2 megabits, but that is a lie. The average HARDCORE GAMER on Steam has a .766 megabit DSL line, according to Steam surveys.

We invented the Internet. We should be in the top 5 countries in the world for connection speeds.

Japan's national average is supposed to be 50 megabits. Ours isn't even actually 2.

There's a problem.

>> ^Entropy997:
Also, the whole digital thing is overrated. All it amounts to is interactive menus. The picture quality is the same.

I'm fairly certain this comment is misinformed as to the nature of the analog-digital switch.

It sounds more like a comparison of cable company digital/analog offerings.

While it's true that DTV allows for interactive menus, it also allows multicasting (eg: simultaneous SD and HD versions of the same program on the same "channel"), and potentially increased picture quality, though this is ultimately up to the broadcaster. It's also my understanding that digital uses the transmission bandwidth more efficiently.

Good example of perceived obsolescent trying to get people to throw out their old TV's for new models that attempt to compete with the internet. There are other things I can spend thousands of dollars on.

Makes me think of The Story of Stuff.

yeah but all those new channels are going to be important when everyone loses their job and needs something to fill the day with.

Ah the Simpsons. I can't recall the last time I watched an episode. It's star faded a long time ago. I'm not that big a fan of cartoons but I'm always impressed by Family Guy - it actually gets a few laughs out of me.

Shameless.

I love the Simpsons. But...seasone eleven really sucked.

They have so much talent there, so many characters, but they keep going for the cheap stupid joke.

Harvard guys, the writers.

They're just not trying any more.

Yeah, I'm glad we're way past season 11

I Love how visible the whole 486.52 now is in higher rez. This is great.

Ant, it's clearly a "we'll only run this on super short episodes" type of thing - and I doubt few will run 2 minutes. There'll no doubt be an abbreviated TV>

Wonder if they'll keep the LCD in the "short" version?

i own season 1-10 on DVD and i go out of my way to avoid watching anything newer than that.

some of the additions in this new intro are good, though jimbo and kearney sawing off Jebidiah's head insults the history of the show.

and the couch gag sucked.

>> ^wieckipedia:
i own season 1-10 on DVD and i go out of my way to avoid watching anything newer than that.

Honestly the whole thing started going downhill after Who Shot Mr. Burns.

They were some fun episodes after that but it really was the beginning of the end.

Why the heck do cell-shaded drawings need to be in HD?

if the pop culture cared for itself it should have boycotted the simpsons. what a sad affair.

As far as digital goes, seeing as so many of you in the States use cable, then I would imagine the switch wouldn't mean as much.

Here in Australia, we still aren't up to the full switch over date, but I've been using digital set top boxes/pvrs for the past few years and am UTTERLY sold on digital transmission vs Analogue. Why?

Upsides
* Reception: Much better reception. With the same signal strength that would provide fuzzy, ghosting images in analogue, the digital signal is crystal clear. A friend's moved into a house and was getting only a couple of channels, and those poorly. When I went over I discovered that there was no aerial cable, just the cord going into the wall which would end in an open termination. I gave her an old set top box... voila, all stations in great quality... using NO AERIAL, just the aerial cable connected to nothing!

* Clarity: Over and above the better reception, the image, whether SD or HD, is just clearer and more vibrant... very nice to watch.

* EPG: The channels transmit up to a week's worth of program information, so you can bring that up, find the shows you want and set them to tape automatically on your....

* PVR: Having a digital signal means it's far easier to record to a digital media... hence PVRs, hence no more tapes, hence having a nicely catalogued set of recordings... hence, we pretty much never watch anything 'live' on TV anymore... record everything and watch it when we have free time.

* More channels: Sort of... here in Australia we only have 5 main stations (ABC (government run), SBS (multicultural etc.), 7,9,10 (commercial stations)). Now, the ABC has ABC2 with extra shows, many great, and the other stations sometimes actually show different things on their HD channels vs their SD channels (although things are about to change). The much heralded ability to have multiple views of sports etc. has never eventuated... could have been used to GREAT effect during the Beijing Olympics, but noooo, one channel, forced to watch what they want you to... so this plus point is only minor. (Although ABC2 is great)

Downsides?
* Rather than having a slow degradation of image quality if you don't have signal strength, you instead get digital breakup, which is far worse.

I love digital tv, and only wish the stations would use it better than they do.

I, too, stopped watching The Simpsons long ago... but I was carefully watching to see what the cash register panel said like the rest of ya.

>> ^Entropy997:
As far as broadband deployment, I think that's great. However, Internet connection speeds need to be improved. There should be a forced switch to a minimum 5 megabit connection.
Supposedly the national average is 2 megabits, but that is a lie. The average HARDCORE GAMER on Steam has a .766 megabit DSL line, according to Steam surveys.
We invented the Internet. We should be in the top 5 countries in the world for connection speeds.
Japan's national average is supposed to be 50 megabits. Ours isn't even actually 2.

Japan is smaller than California with more than triple the population density. If you live in a major US city, you can get a 50Mb pipe. They can't roll that kind of infrastructure into fucking Liberty, NY and expect to even approach breaking even, let alone profit. There just aren't enough customers.

On the other hand, cable here is 7Mb. I imagine most US broadband is well over 2Mb and the average is just being dragged down by people who don't see any reason to upgrade from dialup.

The thing is, to get 50 megabits in Japan costs the equivalent of only $30 a month.

$30 a month in DSL from my provider (a middleman provider between Verizon and I that charges maybe $5 a month extra for unlimited bandwidth + more) gives you a 1 megabit connection!

$25 a month for a 1 megabit connection is bullshit. It's utter garbage.

I live in a city in California between Santa Barbara and LA where Verizon and Time Warner Cable have both rolled out fiber. But the cost for FIOS is ridiculous, and gets you only 5 megabits to start.

TWC offers a 10 megabit line for $40-some a month, but is interested in metered bandwidth. That's unacceptable, and I refuse to support it.

The low end broadband speeds haven't changed in 10 years or so. There shouldn't even be a .766 megabit option available at all.

I understand that there's an infrastructure problem with doing this, and that these companies need to recover their losses. Thus, they want to keep shitty DSL and whatever speed $30 solutions available.

But someday the low end options need to be upgraded. 5 megabits should cost $20 a month.

I pay 105.798 USD for a 2MB connection in Kuwait. That's actually cheap compared to the 250 USD I used to pay.

Right now it's all fucked up because they did a huge promotional event and signed on a billion more users without expanding their available bandwidth, so I can't play MMOs and I can't download my filthy Cambodian por... artsy foreign films ignored by the Oscars.

That sucks!

>> ^JiggaJonson:
If they wanted to drop big big cash on something tech they should invest in bringing broadband internet to rural/small urban parts of America.

Rural America is happy with their dialup America Online, thank you very much.

You missed out on some great fun if you didn't watch this episode.

a Half-decent intro but I watched this episode last night and it just wasn't funny. The only reason I kept myself on the same channel was because family guy, American Dad and King o the Hill were up next.

blasphemy.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Saturday, February 14th, 2009 6:15am PST - promote requested by MycroftHomlz.

I know it's quite fashionable to hate the later seasons at the moment, but lemme tell you, I still fucking LOVE the Simpsons. Season 11 and everything. It beats the shit out of Family Guy - at least the gags come from the story and characters in The Simpsons. FG is all about the non-sequitur flashbacks/cutaways, which is fine for a giggle (all right, frequent guffaws, I do like it too!), but the Simpsons is always ahead in terms of storytelling and character comedy.

*dead

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Awarding rasch187 with one Power Point for fixing this video's dead embed code.

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