Does ANY cable services have 100% digital?
- Thread starter costanza
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I'll make a very educated guess in saying ALL cable companies broadcast the first 99 channels in analog. Too many homes will not/aren't able to afford the cost of renting a digital converter. Not to mention I'm stil installing in some homes where the main television is the old, rotary-style channel changing. Ugh!!
i know most cable companies want to go 100 % digital, but it will take some time. alot of time due to alot of people not wanting to add set top boxes. the tv service from verizon coming in a few months should be 100 % digital. i am going to love trying this out.
I'd guess that, right now, there exists at least one cable system that's 100% digital. It would probably be a small one, or maybe municipally owned. Depending on how you define "cable company" (should campus-wide systems count?), I could be even more confident about that guess.
I believe I have read on another site that Comcast had plans to mirror all of the analog channels with digital versions, so if you had a digital cable box all the channels would be digital, but they would still have the analog versions so boxes wouldn't be required for every TV.
Time warner in Cincy is going to mirror the analog with digitals for a while starting sometime this year... I think I heard after 3 to 5 years they will do away with analog from what I hear.
bleodler said:
Yes Comcast is doing a Digital Simulcast currently of all the analog channels and the plan is to have all the analog channels simulcasted in digital for those with a digital cable box by the end of 2005. The picture quality is a great improvement over the analog picture and the only obstacle that Comcast is currently facing is the Ad Insertion equipment which they will have to get running before networks like GSN,ESPN, CNN etc. go digital.
I thought I'd read that there are more than a few cable companies that are all-digital (finally). If you look at Time Warner's New York City website, they don't list an analog service but do have a very low-cost "digital" plan for around $20/month and it requires a converter box.
I thought Rogers in Canada was all-digital too.
Cincyguy: Where'd you get your information from ?? As you may know, Cincy TW and WOH TW are merging so maybe what you say will apply to us soon too.
I thought Rogers in Canada was all-digital too.
Cincyguy: Where'd you get your information from ?? As you may know, Cincy TW and WOH TW are merging so maybe what you say will apply to us soon too.
larrystotler said:
I asked the question HERE because we are often reading posts where people switch back and forth between satellite and cable. Things at Dish would have to get REALLY bad before I switched back to watching channels 3-99 in noisy analog again!!!!!!
Charter's Long Beach, CA has been doing a analog/digital simulcast for about 9 months now. The reports say that the analog channels that are in digital look better than any of the DBS carriers & since all of the existing analog channels are still analog, this still satisfies people that DON'T want a box on EVERY TV in their house - best of both worlds.
costanza said:
This info is more than likely available on a cable forum. While I have no problem with anyone wanting to switch to cable, I have seen way tooo many threads lately bragging about how much better cable is. And in my area, these "great deals and great services" are not available at all since I have Adelphia.........Cable is a regional outfit, where you can find huge differences in different areas of the same company. At least with DBS, we know it's pretty much the same no matter where you go so long as you have a LOS.
Just so everyone understands that cable is obligated to have at least the lifeline channels available in NTSC format for the time being. All locan channels have to be available on a standard NTSC cable ready TV. There may also franchise contracts with the local communities that obligate cable cos to carry certain channels on the basic/lifeline tier.
See ya
Tony
See ya
Tony
Aren't these "lifeline" channels or packages dictated by the local franchise authority ?? If the cable company can convince them to drop that requirement...
The local channels in NTSC, available on the lowest teir and on a standard cable ready TV is mandated by the FCC. On TOP of that, there may by ADDITIONAL requirements for lifeline service and additional NTSC channels by the local franchise authority. The good thing about the local franchise authority is that they are VERY local. For my area we are talking about 3 communities that banded together. This means that the decisions are made by very approchable trustees or council members that are very approachable and could be your neighbors.
See ya
Tony
See ya
Tony
