Not trying to answer for vurbano, but I would guess that the shut off date will be put off for many years to come.
Too many voters watching analog TVs.
Too many voters watching analog TVs.
CES-2005: Upcoming (smaller) STBs
- Thread starter Ilya
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 60
- Views 9K
And thats ONLY for Off Air Broadcast, Cable Channels such as USA, Fox News, CNN etc will still be broadcast in Analog format just as they are now.
This is correct. Nothing on Dish Network, DirecTV or VOOM are being transmitted in ANALOG format.hbk409 said:
That also means that if you're using component interface between your STB and TV, the signal will be converted back to analog by the STB and your TV will have to convert it again from analog-to-digital for rendering. So you have a total of 3 conversions between analog & digital. No wonder why it looks like crap in your screen.Scott Greczkowski said:
I think that it depends on what display. I have a Panny plasma and after trying both, I found that for me DVI is by far superior.madpoet said:
Scott Greczkowski said:
Why would Voom need to produce SD only boxes since the current box works fine with SD sets as all the outputs are active at once. This is something I poseted about before that Voom should be pushing this right now, not wait. The only reason I could see to make SD only is if it had enhanced options for making the HD picture fit on an SD screen and removing black bars from digital broadcasts. Also this may be an indication that not all outputs will be active at once..
OH and on another note the FCC is simply mandating the halt of ANALOG modulation of broadcast television. This simply means that you need a TV with a digital tuner or some sort of external box which can reformat the picture to fit your screen. SO it would be very stupid on the part of VOOM to produce a STB with an analog tuner instead of an digital tuner with the proper ability to fit the pic to the screen.
cmslick3 said:
Possible reasons I can think of:
1) Lower cost. Since people typically have 1 HD set and multiple SD sets, such box will save money to VOOM when leasing.
2) VOOM planning SD-only package?
Scott Greczkowski said:
I would be really surprised if, come Dec 31 2006, cable channels like USA, Fox News, CNN, etc are still broadcasting in analog format "just as they are now". There is talk of the freakin Weather channel going HD very soon. My prediction is, by Dec 31 2006, all of the mentioned channels will be in HD.
Things are moving pretty fast.
--Dan
When 85% are capable of recieving a digital signal. It will NOT be next year. That old 2006 deadline was always 2006 if 85%. No way will we have achieved that yet. In any case I think its been pushed back even further.Id have to research it at AVS. I also believe that the "give back" is only for a certain range of frequencies at first. Something makes me want to say that its been pushed to 2008 or even 2009. Sorry but my memory isnt what it used to be. LOLDan Berndt said:
"FCC’s Powell to delay digital TV vote - Dec 13, 2004 11:00 AM
FCC Chairman Michael Powell expects to postpone until early next year a vote on his plan to convert the U.S. television system to digital technology by January 2009, Bloomberg News reported.
Local television stations and broadcasters such as Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network have lobbied against the plan, the report said, stating that consumers aren’t prepared to switch to digital TV sets. Police and fire-safety groups have pushed the transition because it would free current airwaves for emergency services.
A delay by Powell may lead Congress to pre-empt the FCC on the issue, increasing the likelihood that the transition to digital TV will be pushed back even further, Precursor Group analyst Rudy Baca told Bloomberg News.
Baca, a former senior aide to then-FCC Chairman James Quello, said the Powell plan was an interesting intellectual exercise that won’t be voted on anytime soon. Powell had planned to hold a vote on the issue this week, but now expects to submit it to an agency vote by March, Jonathan Cody, a top Powell aide, told Bloomberg.
Current law calls for broadcasters to return the spectrum once 85 percent of U.S. households receive digital signals, or the year 2006, whichever comes later. Only about 2 percent of U.S. households have digital equipment to receive the signals, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
Local TV stations represented by the NAB and networks such as ABC and General Electric Co.’s NBC have lobbied against Powell’s plan.
Preston Padden, Disney’s executive vice president, told Bloomberg that the company fears that the nation’s consumers have not been prepared to have the analog TV transmitters shut off. He said too many analog-only TVs, including tens of millions purchased by consumers this year alone, would be rendered useless.
About 15 percent of U.S. households don’t pay for cable or satellite TV and receive only broadcast channels over the air. Their TV sets would become obsolete under Powell’s plan.
Powell would let networks require cable and satellite TV services to convert digital signals into analog. With this conversion, subscribers who want to keep using their current analog TV sets would be able to see analog-quality pictures."
I'd like to know how that will be determined. Right now, 85% of the population is covered by at least one digital signal and to help receive the OTA signals, a few new SD TV's in the 25" or so range were introduced at CES for about $300, that should help spur the digital revolution.
I hate to say it, but I will miss analog. When the Portland JailBlazers play and it's shown on our local digital, I can't watch it, I have to turn to the analog channel to get a decent image.
And our wonderful government vetoed the idea of supplying an stb to the poorest folks to help it along, what a bunch of idiots! They don't want to spend a few million $ to gain $Billions in spectrum. With the above mentioned sets able to pick up OTA signals but only display them SD, the chipsets are very inexpensive so the stb probably wouldn't cost more than a cheap VCR.
Thanks for the info, vurbano! Only problem is we can't go on with the rumor mill. Oh well.
Still watching HDTV under snowless Seattle skies, Gill
Still watching HDTV under snowless Seattle skies, Gill
hbk409 said:
With satellite tv the signals received are digital at the receiver but being converted back over to analog for the analog televisions so thats an additional conversion. That would make it analog to Dish in which they convert to digital in which is brought down to the receiver where it is converted back to analog again.
