Posted on 12/22/2008 7:14:09 AM PST by re_tail20
The Federal Communications Commission sponsored a Nascar race car as part of its effort to inform Americans that on Feb. 18, television signals transmitted over the air will be transmitted solely in digital format. Old TV sets will no longer work.
It paid $350,000 to emblazon “The Digital TV Transition” and other phrases on a Ford driven by David Gilliland.
So how’s that going? In November, the car crashed during a Nascar race in Phoenix. It was the second crash in as many months.
And how is the digital TV transition going? According to critics, about as well, despite a major marketing campaign that includes nightly ads on TV.
According to surveys conducted by the Consumers Union, a consumer advocacy group that also publishes Consumer Reports magazine, while 90 percent of the nation is aware of the transition, 25 percent mistakenly believe that one must subscribe to cable or satellite after February, and 41 percent think that every TV in a house must have a new converter box, even those that are already connected to cable or satellite.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Scary.
I think that rumor is coming from the cable companies who want to get subscribers who may be suffering from cable company confusion. I talked to several of the local station engineers, they all said they will be allowed to increase power after the cutover, because of the all or nothing characteristic of digital -- Your mileage may vary, call the station and ask, they are very keen on competing with cable for their own ads get to run on broadcast.
Something to keep in mind. most cable signals are compressed 720p. Most broadcasters are 1080i and often have alternate programming on their sub channels. If you are a football fan, it pays to have the 1080i signal, it is fantastic when watching the games -- for instance, yesterdays game, you could see every snowflake and laugh. It also makes American Idol watchable, since I can sit and marvel at the picture quality while the wifey actually watches the thing.
It is ridiculous that these commercials run over and over again on CABLE channels.
I am trying to figure what to do about my “emergency” TV’s.
They are D-cell battery/car-adaptor powered units.
I guess the ones I have now will be worthless artifacts.
I guess I need to find someone who makes a digital version?
If you have cable or satellite you need not do anything.
Happy TV watching.
I prolly misunderstood the thing about xmit power being reduced.
My first thought was “what are they trying to do? force me to watch cable? Or move to the city?” L0L
YES, YES, YES!!
We bought a HDTV a few years ago and use a UHF antenna. Works great as long as it is pointed in the correct direction.
Even running the HD signal into a converter box and displaying in on an old NON-HDTV compliant TV will give you a decidedly clearer/sharper image.
Regards,
TL
Except for the fact there is no American electronics industry excepting military and industrial control.The Chinese simply get to sell us a hundred million new TVs they wouldn't have otherwise.
People are being told the switch will make available radio channels for police,fire,EMTs,etc.All those services already have many channels and as they go digital also the scanner hobbyists and news people are finding it much more difficult to keep an ear on what the government is doing.
Digital also makes it easier for TV and any other user to switch to scrambling so you can expect at some time ther will be no free programming,and the system will know who is watching or listening to every program.The most benign use will be targeted advertising the data could also be used to keep lists of those whose tastes indicate political unreliability!
"1984" could still come true.
could be worth getting a converter and an antenna just for football! Its a pay once proposition and I already have the mast.
There are also some unscrupulous appliance companies in my market running ads telling people that they need to buy HDTV LCD bigscreen TVs to be ready for the change.
course then I need a 1080i TV
I never cease to be amazed at the funky looking HD or Digital antennas that are sold to unsuspecting consumers.
Frequency and modulation didn’t change. Just the means of transmitting and decoding the signal.
Of course these are the same people that get suckered into buying $100.00 Gold Plated HDMI cables. It’s digital, the 1’s and 0’ are either there or they ain’t! And with built in error correction you’ll never notice a few lost 1’s or 0’s with that $10.00 HDMI cable!
I am all for this conversion and the advancement of technology, but bottom line is if you live in the boonies, under trees, or can’t or won’t put a super powerful antenna on your roof, you are screwed. I have tried like 3 or 4 “power” antennas in my house and cannot pick up squat, I bought a new digital TV and the digital station will not even stay on the channel long enough to move the antenna in position. It just defaults back to the analog channel.
The biggest scam and misconception is not the fact that you need the converter box, but that if you don’t live w/ in 10-15 miles of a metro area, you’re screwed w/o cable or satellite. I have seen a few web sites that show you how to make home built antenna that they claim to work, but I have not tried that yet. I’m just thinking about punting and running another satellite line to my new TV. I’m sure the satellite and cable companies are going to love this, it will force people to buy their service, kind of weird, the govt forcing the free market to make more $$. :)
It will all work out on 2-19-09.
We’ll all be amazed at how fast the crisis solves itself.
I am waiting on my $2000.00 cash rebate that Obama is sure to give us for this reason. Maybe it will happen after he pays my mortgage and gasoline.
/s
Combine that with the fact that it already takes a higher SNR to receive HDTV signals and I figure I wont be able to receive squat for free via the airwaves.
Yes, "transmit power" as measured by NTSC peak power vs. ATSC average power, will decrease, but the ATSC power is allocated to replicate the grade B contour of the NTSC station. NTSC video had a very high peak value at sync tip, but a much lower average power. However, everything including the transmitter, antenna, and feed line, had to be spec'd to handle the sync tip peak power.
And no, the power won't be cut after the transition. Most stations are already at their maximum allocated power, and will stay that way after the analog cutoff. Some stations will have to move to a different channel on February 17th, so you will have to re-scan your receiver to get the new frequencies. But with NTSC out of the way, you may find better reception post-cutoff than you have today.
ATSC power is much more even across the entire 6 MHz bandwidth, so the peak power is lower, but the average power is roughly the same. However, again everything has to be spec'd to handle the peak power, so the numbers are lower.
ATSC requires roughly a 12 dB S/N ratio to receive. NTSC? Well, the S/N depends on what you consider to be a 'viewable' picture. If you can stand watching very snowy, ghosty, rolling pictures, then yes, ATSC requires a higher S/N ratio to receive.
However, if you insist on being able to make out faces, etc, ATSC actually requires a lower S/N ratio than NTSC.
ATSC's biggest problem is multipath. Often a directional antenna is required for ATSC not to maximize the signal level, but to minimize the amount of multipath. Even today's 5th generation ATSC chips can have their equalizers overwhelmed by too much multipath.
Many have found, however, that if they had very good reception with NTSC, switching to ATSC is painless, and will increase the number of programs available.
If you're within the city grade of your local broadcasters, try a good indoor antenna. If you can get some or most of the local channels, then you will know if it is worth the investment (or even necessary) to purchase an outdoor antenna.
www.antennaweb.org is a great starting point to determine what sort of antenna you will need at your location. (You can use that site without entering in your street or email address. Just put in your zip code.)
Well. I am 50 mi out of the metro area.
We will see if the xmit power is increased after the switch over.
When you say “power” antenna do you mean amplified? Because they amplify noise as well. You need a good UHF VHF log periodic on a mast
I dont watch that much TV and rarely watch local stations but admit that Cowboys football in 1080i would be neat for free
So if I have satellite I don’t need these boxes???
Please explain.
Have you ever been able to decode DRM out of Sacksville Canada?
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