by: Max Stein
The United States government is requiring TV stations to cease broadcasting analog channels.
April 7th, 2009 is the current date the FCC is requiring U.S. stations to broadcast using digital signals instead of existing analog signals.
With a conversion date slightly over three years from now and little publicity on the topic, what is an American consumer to do?
First, let?s take a look at what is driving these changes and then we?ll look at what options American consumers have regarding their home television sets.
Why convert to digital TV?
There are three main factors driving the industry change from analog signals to digital.
Standardized digital conversion will create a common and effective way for TV broadcasters to encrypt their content and protect against piracy.
Digital content not only provides better content for viewers, but perfect reproduction for content piracy.
No longer is there a ?copy of a copy? effect.
Every reproduction of digital content is as clear as the original.
Existing laws and standards don?t allow broadcasters to protect their content because they have to provide analog versions.
The conversion to digital broadcast will allow encryption to be employed.
The second reason for digital TV conversion is to raise money through the sale of frequency spectrums.
VHF (Very high frequency) channels are currently used for TV stations 2-13, but that frequency range is also used for FM radio, navigation systems, aircraft communications and two-way radios for police, taxis and marine communications.
UHF (Ultra high frequency) channels are used for all other TV stations that are not digital.
This frequency range is also used currently for cell phones, cordless phones, wireless networking, ham radio and other licensed two-way communications (GMRS, FRS) and microwave ovens.
During the mid 90?s the FCC auctioned PCS spectrum frequencies, which current digital cellular phones operate on and generated over $7.7 billion in revenue for the A and B blocks alone.
When TV stations convert to digital frequencies, the FCC plans to auction the newly available spectrum to the highest bidder.
Revenues from this auction are expected to exceed $10 billion with $5 billion legislated to pay down the federal deficit.
The final reason driving the conversion to digital broadcast comes from providers themselves.
In addition to being able to protect their content, TV stations will be able to provide better content.
Digital TV will be broadcast in higher resolution, meaning your picture will be clearer and sharper.
The aspect ratio, the way the picture is displayed, will be different?more like the way movies in theaters are displayed.
Think rectangle instead of square.
Digital TV will also supply Dolby digital surround sound.
Most importantly though is the ability to broadcast more than one channel at a time.
For instance, HBO currently broadcasts eight channels on digital cable and digital satellite.
Subscribers who have analog cable only receive one HBO channel.
Is a new TV required?
So what does all this information mean to American TV watchers?
First of all, you won?t necessarily have to buy a new TV.
If you?re one of the less than 30% who still watches TV using only an antenna, your TV will go blank on April 7th, 2009, but you?ll be able to fix that situation using a digital converter box instead of buying a new TV.
The consumer electronics industry is hoping the price point of that device will be less than $70.
For the remaining 70% of American TV watchers who subscribe to cable or digital satellite services, your current set top box will act as the converter for your TV.
However, some features that only a new digital TV will have is the ability to display the full digital resolution and the wide screen aspect ratio.
Another benefit to a digital TV is you won?t need a separate cable or satellite receiver.
Digital TVs have those tuners built in, but you may need a decoder card to receive subscription based programming.
Cable and digital satellite providers plan on providing video on demand using these cards instead of a set top box.
Digital TVs are already on the market and you may have one without even knowing it!
All large screen TVs, 36? and above, were required to be digital ready July 1, 2005.
Intermediate sized TVs, 25? to 36? are scheduled to be digital ready by July 1, 2006 and all TVs above 13? should be digital ready by March 1, 2007.
This should be in plenty of time to meet the 2009 legislation.
Manufacturers are hoping the deadline will be moved up as are certain members of Congress like Senator John McCain of Arizona.
Will consumers know the difference?
The adoption of HDTV is a good measure of how consumers will respond to digital TV.
Purchases of HDTVs have been strong, especially with prices dropping, but there is still a lot of confusion between the different types of TVs available and the required HDTV services.
A December survey by Forrester Research showed that while 16 million Americans have purchased HDTV sets, less than half of them have registered for services that will allow them to view it.
Some HDTV programming is provided ?in the clear,? but cable or satellite customers need to have a special set top box or decoder (CableCard) to view programming in HD.
The biggest reason consumers gave for not obtaining the proper programming options to receive HDTV was they felt the picture quality was already improved just by the purchase of the HDTV set.
Cable and satellite providers will be providing consumer education over the coming year to educate them about the additional requirements for viewing HDTV.
Hopefully, this education programming will help raise awareness for the Digital TV conversion of 2009 as well.
Digital television ? the bottom line.
The 2009 digital TV conversion should benefit consumers in ways they can?t even imagine.
It won?t require everybody to purchase a new television set.
Manufacturers and retailers will continue to provide analog TVs as the law allows over the next 24 months and new VCRs and DVD players will be made with both analog and digital tuners.
TV content providers will be able to provide better and more interactive content for viewers because of a defined digital TV standard.
And other consumer electronic communication devices will be made better because of expanded frequency availability for things like cordless phones, cell phones and walkie-talkies of all varieties.
Digital TV should be a very good thing indeed.
References:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/hollings.cbdtpa.release.032102.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_high_frequency
http://www.senate.gov/~budget/republican/about/hearing2000/donahue.htm
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123440,00.asp
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html
http://www.idishnetwork.com/?id=sync
http://www.radioshackcorporation.com/media/LHR_Testimony_3-10-05.html
http://webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?SESSIONID=&aId=6521
About The Author
Max Stein, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Max Stein is a freelance writer who writes about a variety of contemporary topics.
|
Visualizing Your Home Theater
Visualizing Your Home Theater
by: Parvati Markus
What do the words home theater mean to you? A big screen TV in your living room with surround sound speakers hidden behind the couch, or a custom designed room with every possible high-end audio/video equipment and dedicated theater seating? The choice comes down to your level of use . . . and your pocketbook.
Start with the room you plan to use as your home theater. If it?s your multi-purpose living room, think about mounting a flat-panel LCD HDTV on the wall and finding one of the many artistic solutions for hiding the screen when it?s not in use. Make sure the furniture that houses your audio/video components has a cable management system to hide power cords and sufficient ventilation. Rear wheels on the cabinet make accessing your connections much easier!
There is a large range of possible entertainment centers: a plasma console or wall system, an entertainment center with bookcase or...
Visualizing Your Home Theater
Hdtv > Visualizing Your Home Theater
Should You Upgrade to an XBox 360
Should You Upgrade to an XBox 360
by: Colette Ianieri
The XBox 360 is going to be one of the most sought after gifts of this upcoming holiday season. However many people want to know is it worth upgrading now, or should you wait, here are some factors you may want to consider.
The base price for and XBox 360 is $300, the most common accessories are the 20GB hard drive ($100), wireless controllers ($50) and headsets ($20). Many vendors are offering packages with a variety of options with prices of $500 or more. While some of these options depend on your gaming style and preferences the hard drive is the one option we recommend you get right away. The hard drive allows you to save games to play back later and install updates that make many older games compatible on the new platform.
One of the advantages the XBox 360 will have over other game systems is graphics. The graphics of other gaming systems are top notch but on newer games like...
Should You Upgrade to an XBox 360
Hdtv > Should You Upgrade to an XBox 360
What Is HDTV?
What Is HDTV?
by: Frank Johnson
Some satellite TV providers, such as Dish Network, offer HDTV receivers with their packages. But many people don?t know what it means to have HDTV. Here is some insight.
High Definition TeleVision is what HDTV literally means. But high definition compared to what? In order to answer this question, we need to know a bit about the original analog TV system.
Analog TV
30 images per second (in Europe 25) are shown by normal analog TV sets. It does this by writing image lines horizontally, 525 lines in one image (In Europe 625) on the screen. The number of pixels on one line is about 500. This would be a definition of 500 pixels per line by 525 (or 625) lines. Compared to modern computer monitors this is really bad. Even the lowest resolutions monitors have higher resolutions (640 x 480) than an analog TV.
HDTV - High Definition TeleVision
HDTV is high resolution Digital TeleVision (DTV) combined...
What Is HDTV?
Hdtv > What Is HDTV?
How to Put Colors in Your Photograph
How to Put Colors in Your Photograph
by: Paul Hood
Wouldn?t it be nice to see your black and white photos in full color? Learning to create and edit old photos is fairly easy and very worthwhile. Digitally restored photos can be used to make digital scrapbooks, posted to Web sites, shared through email, and printed for gift-giving or display.
To achieve this effect, we will need to colorize using Paint Shop Pro. According to Bill Brewer, ?colorizing is...
How to Put Colors in Your Photograph photo printer Hdtv Will A New Law Make Your TV Obsolete?
Hdtv > How to Put Colors in Your Photograph
Hdtv student loans Will A New Law Make Your TV Obsolete?
Anyone Can Clean Their Car, But What About Those Cloudy, Yellow Headlights?
Anyone Can Clean Their Car, But What About Those Cloudy, Yellow Headlights?
by: David Maillie
It is a very common occurence. We see then every day. Its like a disease - yellow, cloudy headlight lenses. I even saw them on cars at the local carwash. It befuddled me that these people would take such great care - washing, vacuuming the interior, removing the floor mats and even hand drying their cars, but they still had those yellowed, cloudy headlights. Its not...
Anyone Can Clean Their Car, But What About Those Cloudy, Yellow Headlights?
Hdtv > Anyone Can Clean Their Car, But What About Those Cloudy, Yellow Headlights?
Is Your Car Tires Safe?
Is Your Car Tires Safe?
by: Joseph Kenny
Do you know most of the car accidents are caused because of one or the other fault in the car tires? Most of the car accident reimbursement that the car owners have to pay to the accident victims or the loss they have to incur in terms of insurance money they get is all due to fault in car tires. So, when you go out to buy a car then with all the factors like performance, brand, price, appearance, comfort, and maybe even...
tires Hdtv Will A New Law Make Your TV Obsolete? Is Your Car Tires Safe?
Hdtv > Is Your Car Tires Safe?
Who Is More Likely To Be Happy?
Who Is More Likely To Be Happy?
by: Lance Beggs
Here?s a multiple choice question for you. Who is more likely to be happy?
(a) Someone who lays awake for an hour or so at night, replaying the day in their mind and agonising over what could have been, and what should have been.
?If only I?d said this...?
?How dare they do that...?
?Next time...?
?If only...?
or
(b) The person who spends five minutes before bed feeling...
Who Is More Likely To Be Happy? Hdtv Will A New Law Make Your TV Obsolete? watches
Hdtv > Who Is More Likely To Be Happy?