Question about digital television

Post by **Dale** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:41 am

I understand that US broadcasters are required to broadcast in digital at some deadline in the next few years. At some point, are existing analog television sets going to be largely unusable? In other words, will everyone HAVE to be digital set at some point/

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:53 am

What I've heard is that the FCC has stated the total switchover to HD digital broadcast must be made by sometime in 2008. Regular analog TV will be phased out that year, however owners of analog TVs wont be left in the dark; they can receive the HD digital via an adapter receiver (usually in the range of $300

, at least for now).

EDIT::

one thing I think I'm grateful for in this whole situation is that, if the FCC wasn't mandating it be done and soon, it might never get done at all.

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:54 am

I suppose someone could get a digital receiver with a digital to analog converter and pump it into an old box.

Have you heard how many hours we will be required to view a week after we are required to get one?

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:02 am

Denny wrote:I suppose someone could get a digital receiver with a digital to analog converter and pump it into an old box.

Have you heard how many hours we will be required to view a week after we are required to get one?

I think one will be required to view at least 137 hours of weekly television...

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 10:52 am

Official info on HDTV here: http://www.dtv.gov/

I haven't been particulary blown away by the HDTVs in the stores or on display at the fair or home shows.

And just how wonderful of a picture of the shopping networks and informercials do we really need anyway??

I'll wait until we can't get anything on the regular TV before buying a new one, if I can and unless my husband decides that we need one right now. He tends to buy impulsively and I try to hold him back.

C age ing · Post by **C age ing** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:18 am

This side of the Pond, most are into digital, either through cable, satellite or converter boxes.
Really good point, no ghosting, and it either works or doesn't. Multiple free channels and also digital only radio channels. The digital to analogue boxes are cheap and so are radio frequency amplifiers. I'm a fan.

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:39 am

If you have satelite tv then you are already 100% digital. It has nothing to do with your tv set and everything to do with the box that receives the signal. If you are on cable you may already have a digital receiver (currently optional here at a price). However, if you are still using the old rabbit ears on the back of the tv set then, yes, you are indeed going to be $ht out of luck within the next few years.

djm

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:58 am

Some of on the Yurpine side haven't gone digital yet. But our (Main) TV died on Christmas eve, so the Financial Adviser has deemed that the Cairns family will be going digital before the New Year.

We have a decreed Changeover in the UK too - no more analogue after, gee, I don't know, sometime in the next two or three years. We don't actually watch a lot of TV. But we do play (a large amount of) computer games and DVDs. Friends and relatives have gone cable. We haven't seen anything that inspires us to follow suit.

Our local analogue transmitter is due to shut down in November 2009.
Some of them aren't due to close until 2012.
http://www.ukfree.tv/closedown.php

Post by **Nanohedron** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:48 pm

djm wrote:If you have satelite tv then you are already 100% digital. It has nothing to do with your tv set and everything to do with the box that receives the signal. If you are on cable you may already have a digital receiver (currently optional here at a price). However, if you are still using the old rabbit ears on the back of the tv set then, yes, you are indeed going to be $ht out of luck within the next few years.

djm

How about cable-ready TVs?

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:43 pm

Nano wrote:How about cable-ready TVs?

Haven't been looking so I couldn't tell you (I'm currently a satellite user). Next year we will be able to get tv over basic twisted-wire telephone lines (the phone companies and cable companies are at each others' throats here) so I may look into that if it is comparable.

djm

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 7:27 pm

Tyler Morris wrote:
one thing I think I'm grateful for in this whole situation is that, if the FCC wasn't mandating it be done and soon, it might never get done at all.

I wish it wasn't getting done at all. Nobody's ever satisfied with what they got. Always fidgeting. Always making newfangled contraptions. Always pushing consumerism. Making folks buy more and more and more and more.

BigDavy · Post by **BigDavy** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 7:59 pm

Tyler Morris wrote:What I've heard is that the FCC has stated the total switchover to HD digital broadcast must be made by sometime in 2008. Regular analog TV will be phased out that year, however owners of analog TVs wont be left in the dark; they can receive the HD digital via an adapter receiver (usually in the range of $300 , at least for now).

EDIT::

one thing I think I'm grateful for in this whole situation is that, if the FCC wasn't mandating it be done and soon, it might never get done at all.

Hi Tyler

Geez you are being ripped off, (makes a change from rip off Britain). For the equivelant of $300 here you get a Freeview dual tuner system with hard disk recording.

I use this one.
http://www.humaxdigital.com/global/prod ... -9200t.asp

David

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:03 pm

I bought a WinTV device. It lets me watch HDTV on my computer. Works well, cheap, good the environment (old computers, monitors and TVs are a trash plague). It is a win-win-win for those willing to watch TV on their computers.

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 10:07 pm

Folks, I've been working in digital TV for the last decade, HD digital TV for the last 3 1/2 years. I'd like to think I have a good overview and a fair amount of in-depth knowledge.

A few points:

1) Yes, broadcasting is supposed to go totally digital in 2008 (just after the Super Bowl - no one wanted to interfere with that!). Analog TV needs a LOT more spectrum than digital TV - you can fit 6-8 digital video channels in the same range of frequencies needed for a single analog channel, with no loss in quality. And the government *really* wants to take advantage of that.

2) Adapters will be available, and the current plan is to give a government subsidy. But the cost for basic functionality will be somewhere in the ~$50 range, not ~$300 - the higher figure was the one put out by the folks who wanted to slow the rollout. For ~$300, you're looking at a lot of extra features like picture-in-picture, premium channel access, and digital video recording. I should know - my company is one of the major vendors of chips and drivers used for the digital receivers, and we expect to do very well from this - at the $50 consumer price. And the government subsidy should cover most, perhaps all, of that.

3) Analog video may remain available for some time to come on cable systems - they aren't covered by the government mandate, so it'll be up to them when they think it's worthwhile to switch over. My gut feeling is that most will be fully digital by 2010 or so, but they'll likely switch over gradually.

4) The basic receivers will be capable of receiving HD signals, but current TVs are mostly not HD capable. Although you'll be able to watch HD programs they'll be downconverted to standard resolutions. You'll still need to buy a HD-capable set if you want to watch HD programs in HD.

Expect to be hearing more about this over the coming year. Unless you're living in a cave, there should be plenty of time to get a digital converter before the switchover. Although I'm planning on buying a HD set sometime this year, we have a couple of perfectly satisfactory analog sets that we've no intention of retiring anytime soon.

Charlene · Post by **Charlene** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:31 am

$50 is a lot better than $300. I still can't think of any shows that I really NEED to see in high definition. I'd rather hold out until I absolutely have to get the converter in order to watch anything at all, or until this TV that we have now dies.