"This is a Test of the Emergency Broadcast System..."

[BTR1701]

So the government here is doing one of those monthly tests of the
Emergency Broadcast System, except I was watching something on the TiVo
and still got interrupted. Apparently the system hijacks your entire TV
system, even when you're watching something recorded, not just the
'live' cable stream. I can't even turn the machine off while the test is
running. I'm afraid to pull the plug from the wall in case I meet the
same fate as that red shirt on that TREK episode when the M-5 computer
took over the Enterprise.

I guess in the case of an actual emergency, I won't have access to
anything other than what the government wants me watching. If I get
bored with CNN's non-stop coverage of Godzilla's rampage and want to
watch a recorded episode of SHOOTER instead, I'm apparently shit out of
luck. I wonder if I could watch a Blu Ray disc or a movie on my iPad, or
if the government has some strategy for forbidding me from doing that,
too?

[Ubiquitous]

Huh. I had something similar happen but I don't think it for was anything
as important, like maybe a notice for a missing child or a tornado warning
in the next state.

=========================================================================
"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.
Had this been an actual emergency, you'd be writhing on the ground in
unspeakable agony, bleeding from every orifice, with your blackened skin
falling away in ragged strips."
=========================================================================

[trotsky]

On 7/31/18 1:11 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
> So the government here is doing one of those monthly tests of the
> Emergency Broadcast System, except I was watching something on the TiVo
> and still got interrupted. Apparently the system hijacks your entire TV
> system, even when you're watching something recorded, not just the
> 'live' cable stream.

Sounds like a good idea in potential life threatening situations. Are
Libertarians really too stupid to get this?

[moviePig]

Are you running an actual TiVo, or a DVR leased from your cable co.?

--

- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com

[anim8rfsk]

In article <atropos-0C963A...@news.giganews.com>,

COX does the monthly test a couple times a week. They do it two ways:
A) Live, over anything you're watching. The workaround here is just to
pause the show and mute while it runs. When it's done, you can just
resume the show where you were.
2) Burned into the program. Then you're just screwed.

--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/

[anim8rfsk]

In article <pjqb2c$v8t$1...@dont-email.me>,

Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

> atr...@mac.com wrote:
>
> >So the government here is doing one of those monthly tests of the
> >Emergency Broadcast System, except I was watching something on the TiVo
> >and still got interrupted. Apparently the system hijacks your entire TV
> >system, even when you're watching something recorded, not just the
> >'live' cable stream. I can't even turn the machine off while the test is
> >running. I'm afraid to pull the plug from the wall in case I meet the
> >same fate as that red shirt on that TREK episode when the M-5 computer
> >took over the Enterprise.
> >
> >I guess in the case of an actual emergency, I won't have access to
> >anything other than what the government wants me watching. If I get
> >bored with CNN's non-stop coverage of Godzilla's rampage and want to
> >watch a recorded episode of SHOOTER instead, I'm apparently shit out of
> >luck. I wonder if I could watch a Blu Ray disc or a movie on my iPad, or
> >if the government has some strategy for forbidding me from doing that,
> >too?
>
> Huh. I had something similar happen but I don't think it for was anything
> as important, like maybe a notice for a missing child or a tornado warning
> in the next state.

We used to get those Amber Alerts *constantly* both on cable and via
recorded message on your phone. Now they don't do it at all.

[BTR1701]

In article <_J28D.455115$LR2.3...@fx41.iad>,

TiVo

[moviePig]

Then I wonder what the (enforced?) protocol is that lets broadcasters
reach into your private recording device.

[Adam H. Kerman]

BTR1701 <atr...@mac.com> wrote:

>So the government here is doing one of those monthly tests of the
>Emergency Broadcast System, except I was watching something on the TiVo
>and still got interrupted. Apparently the system hijacks your entire TV
>system, even when you're watching something recorded, not just the
>'live' cable stream.

The explanation is that the Emergency Broadcast System pre-empts the
receiver. You've told us in the past that you use TiVo as a CableCARD
host, so the TiVo is the receiver. If you used the TiVo as DVR only in
front of a separate cable box, it wouldn't have pre-empted playback.

>I can't even turn the machine off while the test is
>running. I'm afraid to pull the plug from the wall in case I meet the
>same fate as that red shirt on that TREK episode when the M-5 computer
>took over the Enterprise.

I don't think that's what will trigger nuclear holocaust.

>I guess in the case of an actual emergency, I won't have access to
>anything other than what the government wants me watching.

Disconnect the coax and you'll be able to watch your recordings.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
>atr...@mac.com wrote:

>>So the government here is doing one of those monthly tests of the
>>Emergency Broadcast System, except I was watching something on the TiVo
>>and still got interrupted. Apparently the system hijacks your entire TV
>>system, even when you're watching something recorded, not just the
>>'live' cable stream. I can't even turn the machine off while the test is
>>running. I'm afraid to pull the plug from the wall in case I meet the
>>same fate as that red shirt on that TREK episode when the M-5 computer
>>took over the Enterprise.

>>I guess in the case of an actual emergency, I won't have access to
>>anything other than what the government wants me watching. If I get
>>bored with CNN's non-stop coverage of Godzilla's rampage and want to
>>watch a recorded episode of SHOOTER instead, I'm apparently shit out of
>>luck. I wonder if I could watch a Blu Ray disc or a movie on my iPad, or
>>if the government has some strategy for forbidding me from doing that,
>>too?

>Huh. I had something similar happen but I don't think it for was anything
>as important, like maybe a notice for a missing child or a tornado warning
>in the next state.

Gah. I get these idiotic flood warnings on my cell phone. They're region
wide! Flooding is highly localized. Sending emergency broadcasts to
unaffected people is a great way to convince everyone that they're
worthless.

Why do I get amber alerts when I'm not outdoors?

[Adam H. Kerman]

So, when you said TiVo, you actually meant TiVo and not something else?
You'll never get moviePig to grasp the concept of using words intending
to convey meaning.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Isn't the latter done by the local broadcast station?

I've never noticed a satellite channel doing an emergency broadcast.

[shawn]

That's how I've started to feel about Amber alerts. Telling me
(sitting NE of Atlanta) that a kid has been kidnapped in SE Atlanta
and the driver was seen heading South towards Macon is fairly useless
as unless the driver is some sort of miracle worker he's not going to
magically appear NE of Atlanta. Those alerts should be much more
localized or else everyone will learn to ignore them even when they
might be in a position to help.

[suzeeq]

He might be trying to fake out the cops by going the opposite direction
first. You never now.

[Adam H. Kerman]

. . . and into my living room?

[suzeeq]

You never know. (which is what I meant to type above.)

[Dimensional Traveler]

Amber Alerts are not just for the immediate period after the child is
reported missing. The idea is to raise awareness among the population
for some days.

--
Inquiring minds want to know while minds with a self-preservation
instinct are running screaming.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <pjqohb$e3r$5...@dont-email.me>,

"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

That's a fair question.

COX definitely does them, because it has their name right in the crawl.

ME-TV does them more than once a week, but I assume they originate
either with COX and/or the broadcast station that carries the ME.

[anim8rfsk]

In article <pjqo0u$e3r$3...@dont-email.me>,

"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote:

Oh, yeah, we get the flood warnings, and they're for areas hundreds of
miles away. You'd think they'd be able to localize better than that.

> Why do I get amber alerts when I'm not outdoors?

You might be hiding the children inside?

[suzeeq]

Dimensional Traveler wrote:
> On 7/31/2018 6:50 PM, suzeeq wrote:
>> Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Yes, we were visiting my son in Seattle several years ago when there was
an Amber alert originating in S Idaho. It was still on tv when we got
home to MT a few days later, or they finally caught up to him then. But
yeah, he could have been heading anywhere.

[RichA]

The FCC: "Your TVs, networks, channels and recording devices; four toys to be CRUSHED-!"

[Nyssa]

I don't know about satellite TV, but satellite radio
certainly does.

Makes no sense either, both because those alerts occur
even on Canadian-based satellite channels as well as
US ones.

Plus one must wonder what kind of monster apocalypse is
envisioned by the mandate to have these alerts on a
satellite system that is not regional and broadcasts
across North America. It would have to be one humdinger
of an emergency to affect all of the US and Canada at
the exact same time. So what's the purpose besides
interrupting my regularly scheduled programming?

Nyssa, who wonders what the listeners to the French
language satellite channels think of getting those
emergency test warnings in English

[A Friend]

In article <pjsreq$bak$1...@dont-email.me>, Nyssa

My cable company routinely interrupted the endings of movies and other
programs with practice alerts. I called once, and I was told that
doing the tests offline (which is the way they were supposed to do it)
"would cost the company money." That's when I got DirecTV. I've seen
one alert test on there in almost twenty years, and it wasn't right at
the end of an effing movie I'd been watching for two hours.