Can we keep track of new ATSC 3.0 stations going on the air?

[VictoriaFTA]

Some of us would gladly throw a few obstacles in their way.

In the real world, there doesn't seem to be any benefits to us as consumers.
-Few if any UHD broadcasts.
-It is really designed to extract money from us via pay TV and "services."
-It will cost us money to buy upgraded equipment, as ATSC 1 shuts down.

There are plenty of benefits for us.

-MPEG-2 is trash and will always be trash. Migrating to HEVC will yield a considerable picture quality increase irrespective of whether or not they also increase the resolution (which they should). As a C-band / Ku band FTA satellite dish owner I have no idea how the normies are still content to watch the detail-less, macroblocked MPEG-2 garbage that's broadcast by affiliates in the Year of Our Lord 2021. Thankfully, streaming services and satellite feeds have managed to save me from having to suffer through MPEG-2 awfulness for years, but I still remember that dark period before we had Amazon WEB-DLs.
-Interlacing is trash too, but then again so is 720p. It will be nice for OTA broadcasts to be able to do away with these unnecessary compromises.
-We're not all dirt poors who can't afford to drop the $50 or w/e it costs to buy ATSC 3.0 tuners.

 

[navychop]

PQ increase? Or MORE subchannels? "My Mother The Car" in 3 languages? Lot's of niche programming, especially in foreign languages? Which approach do you think is the money-maker? Sadly, PQ is valued by darned few of us. Kids watch on tablets and phones. Many young adults don't even buy TVs, much less large HTs.

Broadcasters are spending the bucks to move to ATSC 3 as it introduces new revenue streams. Not out of the goodness of their hearts.

I daresay the majority have little or no multi-path trouble.

I doubt we will ever see $50 ATSC 3 tuners. Or $100 ATSC 3 DVRs.

720p has twice the frame rate of 1080i and is in theory, better for fast action like sports. That is why some networks chose it. Other factors enter into PQ.

 

[DarkStarPDX]

You know, South Korea has been using ATSC 3.0 since 2017. I can't imagine WHY the USA can't seem to lock down a usable version for us, and GET IT DONE! They seem to be dragging their feet as much as they can. That's IMO of course, but it's just crazy as far as I can see.

I'm sure it's likely Trip will jump in here and give his opinion, perhaps he can mention what he feels is causing all the "feet dragging".

We're "getting it done" here in Portland, Oregon and look forward to even adding more features once the FCC allows us to go off of the shared lighthouse stations and broadcast independently on our own transmitter via the ATSC 3.0 standard.

 

[dweber]

We're "getting it done" here in Portland, Oregon and look forward to even adding more features once the FCC allows us to go off of the shared lighthouse stations and broadcast independently on our own transmitter via the ATSC 3.0 standard.

HOW LONG WILL THE TRANSITION FROM 1.0 TO 3.0 TAKE?

When the FCC approved the ATSC 3.0 standard in November 2017, it required broadcasters currently broadcasting in ATSC 1.0 to deliver “substantially similar” programming as the 3.0 channel for five years. However, it’s highly likely that the FCC will revisit this timeline and extend it based on broadcasters’ progress in deploying ATSC 3.0 and consumer market penetration.

That is 5 years from the start of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast. So you won’t be seeing any of the advertised features for a long time. The only positives you will have is better multipath rejection and better compression for recordings.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[navychop]

Extend? HA! That would face a court challenge. MONEY!

The big remaining decision is, I believe, deciding how much of the ATSC 3 OTA signal must be carried by cablecos and satcos. For Must Carry. The rest can be negotiated. Which may be when we see wholesale dropping of OTA from those ‘cos.

 

[Trip]

Broadcasters have promised that the 3.0 transition will be voluntary and market driven. Consider that even with a mandate, the DTV transition stretched 3.5 years longer than the 10 year transition period, and that was with separate spectrum for each station to run both analog and digital.

Barring some massive change in circumstances, I don't expect anything to happen quickly. If it remains market driven and nobody buys it, it may go nowhere at all.

- Trip

 

[navychop]

I am jaded. Too much money to be made ( they think). I’ve come around to thinking they will cram it down our throats!

Now- will it succeed? Or be the final nail in the OTA coffin?

 

[Tower Guy]

You know, South Korea has been using ATSC 3.0 since 2017. I can't imagine WHY the USA can't seem to lock down a usable version for us, and GET IT DONE!

I blame the delay on repacking. The FCC took all the resources from the manufacturers and station engineers to re-channel many facilities. Fortunately, most stations installed transmitters rated for ATSC 3.0.

 

[Justin Hill]

Some of us would gladly throw a few obstacles in their way.

In the real world, there doesn't seem to be any benefits to us as consumers.
-It is really designed to extract money from us via pay TV and "services."

Here's a FAQ from the official NextGen TV website to answer this question:
* Q: "How much does it cost to watch NextGen TV?"
* A: "Just like current TV broadcasts, NextGen TV will primarily be a free service for viewers. In the future, there may be major events that are available only on a pay-per-view basis."

 

[Justin Hill]

I am jaded. Too much money to be made ( they think). I’ve come around to thinking they will cram it down our throats!

Now- will it succeed? Or be the final nail in the OTA coffin?

I don't think it will be a nail in the OTA coffin for two reasons:

* Millions of people (cord cutters) have cut have 'cut the cord' with their cable or satellite company and have switched to free OTA broadcast TV and streaming services.
* There are also some people out there who never had cable or satellite (cord nevers), who instead have opted to watch free OTA broadcast TV and streaming services.

 

[navychop]

I’m from Washington, and I’m here to HELP you.

Would I lie to you?

I promise I won’t….

 

[c-spand]

All i know is it is on a tower that i can get out of my region and all of the networks are on it. And it is a stronger more reliable signal. "So i got that going for me which is nice."

 

[TNGuy84]

As long as the stations don't sell much of their bandwidth for datacasting or broadband to the point they have to compress the crap out of their channels, then it might not be a bad thing. That would be my concern about the new standard. In that case, even with a better codec and better quality compression, the stations could use that to their advantage and squeeze it down to the point the picture quality isn't much better than ATSC 1.

 

[navychop]

Optimist.