Re: DTV antennas?

"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:31hp74l8spkasv6poo3g5eh8japf4tp48t@xxxxxxxxxx
Actually,
that does tend to be a problem as it adds yet another IR remote
control. (I have 5 on the table).

I don't have a specific model for you, but I do recall reading the manual for
at least one converter box that claimed it used "common" remote control
signals that "any universal remote" would likely already have preprogrammed.

You seem like you might be the kind of guy who'd have one of those really
fancy unviersal remotes with an LCD, USB connectivity, etc. anyway? :-)

It would have been so nice to be able to do OTA (over the air)
firmware updates, but that might have added a few pennies to the cost.

Plus a security concern that, if the private keys got out, any kid in the
neighborhood with the a laptop and a "black box" could drive around the
neighborhood and disable a bunch of the converters.

Once upon a time, I personally tested and ran QA on approximately 100
radios prior to shipping. About 5% of the radios were deemed
"defective" by the recipients.

This just reflects that fact that, on customer returns, there's usually no
differentiation given between "hard defects" (it isn't working as designed at
the factory) and "brain-dead designer defect" (it's so cumbersome/annoying to
use that it's little better than nothing at all). These days with so much
software running the show, the later show up far more often than the former...
I think I've mentioned on here before how much lobbying it took to get some
software guys to not use something like a 1/4 second "debounce" for
pushbuttons on a standard LCD/directional keypad widget, having to convince
them that "expert users" who had memorized the path to their desired function
could press buttons a lot faster than four times per second. :-(

---Joel


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