Digital age is rubbish?

[chriswt]

I posted this on the Audi forum but I thought I post it here as well because I wanted the opinions of some moany old middle-aged Mercedes drivers!!!! Only joking.

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that analogue is better than digital sometimes. If (because of bad weather for example) the reception is poor when watching digital TV the picture and sound stop dead and so some chunks of dialog and picture can be missed altogether.

Whereas with good old analogue even with poor reception you could still make out sound and images and thereby keep up with a film plot etc.

To me it seems like a huge flaw in the digital age

 

[grober]

Once you get your head round the driving force behind digital electronics is to sell integrated circuits to everyone in the world then it all makes perfect sense!

 

[MangoMan]

Swings & Roundabouts I reckon.

 

[dagd]

Agreed, I purchased a digital alarm clock radio thinking this would give me better quality sound etc. Only problem is, it cuts out completely (sometimes for minutes) when the wind blows the trees behind us. At first I thought it was a faulty device and changed it for another make & model. Does just the same thing! I have tried the obvious like moving the arial, but can't seem to get around the problem.

 

[miro]

I posted this on the Audi forum but I thought I post it here as well because I wanted the opinions of some moany old middle-aged Mercedes drivers!!!! Only joking.

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that analogue is better than digital sometimes. If (because of bad weather for example) the reception is poor when watching digital TV the picture and sound stop dead and so some chunks of dialog and picture can be missed altogether.

Whereas with good old analogue even with poor reception you could still make out sound and images and thereby keep up with a film plot etc.

To me it seems like a huge flaw in the digital age

The main problem with digital technology is the software. There is no reason for digital TV to break up but it is the lack of problem handling that kills the process.

The W211 UHI (MOST fibre) module developed several years ago took hundreds of hours for problem handling. Anything from Caller ID for different length stored numbers to SPF metering of desired sound level (volume matching) and matrix calculations for cars with 3, 4, 5 microphones.

Without this kind of detail the technology will still work but it will be junk. Like the D2B UHI controller (W211 is MOST) which skips entries in the phone and doesnt always give caller ID.

It is all in the detail. That is how you cut costs.

Similarly the following generations are quite amazing. Look at the first high spec Nikon camera (Kodak model) in digital format. Now look at the Canon 5D and its 4th generation technology.

The trick is to skip generations without being unhappy whilst waiting.

 

[miro]

Agreed, I purchased a digital alarm clock radio thinking this would give me better quality sound etc. Only problem is, it cuts out completely (sometimes for minutes) when the wind blows the trees behind us. At first I thought it was a faulty device and changed it for another make & model. Does just the same thing! I have tried the obvious like moving the arial, but can't seem to get around the problem.

The problem is that they sell technology with no mention of the antenna requirements. I really dont like that kind of product.

Most people dont know that there is a house mounted antenna available for boosting mobile phone calls in the house. This antenna is just like a small TV antenna and does a specific task extremely well. But when was the last time someone in a phone shop even knew about it.

 

[Rose Chap]

Not sure all digital things are rubbish. I'm not sure we'd all be able to communicate so easily on analogue computers with an analogue internet...

 

[chriswt]

Not sure all digital things are rubbish. I'm not sure we'd all be able to communicate so easily on analogue computers with an analogue internet...

and I wouldn't of been able to tell the time when I was 8 year old without my casio digital watch complete with digital calulator. Couldn't afford the name/tel no. memory bank version.

 

[Richard W]

I think the digital age is quite good actually - if you want a simple resolution when asking a woman something (sorry Pammy!) just tell her you want a binary answer......

 

[Thmsshaun]

A bt of both I think But agree where you are coming from with radio and TV reception. It does seem a bit backwards.