The end of analog tv

[eLiu]

Uhh does this mean I have to buy an HDTV set...?

Or will my "regular" cable still work fine?

 

[sharkeeper]

we know what kind of TV you've been watching...

Hehe your username reminded me of what happened to our TV the first week we were onboard.

I don't like TV's for a good reason.

An LCD is acceptable however.

 

[Colt45]

I don't see it happening. NTSC has been hung on to for 63[?] years already.. whats another 60 years..

 

[woowoo]

Originally posted by: Chadder007
AND they decide on a standard for tuning.

ATSC standards
Fourth paragraph down.

 

[MrBond]

You know, all this "OMG - I don't want to buy an HDTV" talk has got me thinking.

I'd like to think the people here at AT are slightly more intelligent then the average American (maybe not in ATOT ). If there are this many people confused as to what digital TV means here, imagine what the general public will think. There's going to need to be massive public education efforts - TV commercials, newspaper articles, etc, otherwise people will have no clue.

It'll also be a boon for Bestbuy/Circuit city. Imagine how many HDTV's they'll sell because they'll tell people they need one to continue watching television.

 

[BillyBatson]

i am excited for the change over
it will be one of those things we remember forever and we tell our grand kids about, the time the US sat in front of their tv's counting down to them all turning off...

 

[knyghtbyte]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: knyghtbyte
For standard quality broadcast, i'd prefer analog, if the signal does get a bit poor you just get ghosting or a bit of static, but you can still watch it, also the sound usually stays good although it might switch to mono.
With digital though, if the signal gets poorer, the picture breaks up into lots of squares (the blocking effect) and the sound goes all strange with lots of odd squitchy noises, unwatchable and unlistenable!

for HDTV tho you will need a solid connection i reckon like Cable, or an expensive satellite setup, unless you live in a wide open area with fair weather patterns year round. I live in London, and anything Aerial based sucks, and Satellite can still show up problems....

the HDTV, is that in Dolby Digital only, or does some stuff broadcast in DTS?

Analog becomes unwatchable LONG before a digital channel starts breaking up.

Most people in the US can get good reception with a simple antenna.

i beg to differ on the 'analog becomes unwatchable long before a digital channel starts breaking up' comment, i have both digital and analog TV coming in thru the same aerial, and they can both look a bit crappy when either the weather is bad or there is lots of building work going on nearby, the difference is that you can watch analog and listen to it if its a bit iffy, but digital is totally unwatchable the moment it gets a poorer signal. The worse side is this is from a fairly new roof aerial! One problem we have is the new arch at Wembley Stadium seems to be interfering with our signals due to it being directly on the path from the nearest transmitter. I think that in the US the TV companies probably boost their signals more from the source or have more retransmitters than here in UK, companies are notorious for providing the bare minimum to save costs, i know this is the case in most countries, but in the UK it can get really shameful. Also bear in mind London is a massively populate area thats quite small, and has a lot of metal based buildings and structures that dont exactly help allow good signals.

yet again work is boring, so do excuse my long post...lol

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: knyghtbyte

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: knyghtbyte
For standard quality broadcast, i'd prefer analog, if the signal does get a bit poor you just get ghosting or a bit of static, but you can still watch it, also the sound usually stays good although it might switch to mono.
With digital though, if the signal gets poorer, the picture breaks up into lots of squares (the blocking effect) and the sound goes all strange with lots of odd squitchy noises, unwatchable and unlistenable!

for HDTV tho you will need a solid connection i reckon like Cable, or an expensive satellite setup, unless you live in a wide open area with fair weather patterns year round. I live in London, and anything Aerial based sucks, and Satellite can still show up problems....

the HDTV, is that in Dolby Digital only, or does some stuff broadcast in DTS?

Analog becomes unwatchable LONG before a digital channel starts breaking up.

Most people in the US can get good reception with a simple antenna.

i beg to differ on the 'analog becomes unwatchable long before a digital channel starts breaking up' comment, i have both digital and analog TV coming in thru the same aerial, and they can both look a bit crappy when either the weather is bad or there is lots of building work going on nearby, the difference is that you can watch analog and listen to it if its a bit iffy, but digital is totally unwatchable the moment it gets a poorer signal. The worse side is this is from a fairly new roof aerial! One problem we have is the new arch at Wembley Stadium seems to be interfering with our signals due to it being directly on the path from the nearest transmitter. I think that in the US the TV companies probably boost their signals more from the source or have more retransmitters than here in UK, companies are notorious for providing the bare minimum to save costs, i know this is the case in most countries, but in the UK it can get really shameful. Also bear in mind London is a massively populate area thats quite small, and has a lot of metal based buildings and structures that dont exactly help allow good signals.

yet again work is boring, so do excuse my long post...lol

My experiences are exactly the opposite.

Maybe your local stations are not transmitting the digital channels at the same strength they are the analog?

I know that was the case for most US stations when they fist turned on their digital channels.

 

[knyghtbyte]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: knyghtbyte

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: knyghtbyte
For standard quality broadcast, i'd prefer analog, if the signal does get a bit poor you just get ghosting or a bit of static, but you can still watch it, also the sound usually stays good although it might switch to mono.
With digital though, if the signal gets poorer, the picture breaks up into lots of squares (the blocking effect) and the sound goes all strange with lots of odd squitchy noises, unwatchable and unlistenable!

for HDTV tho you will need a solid connection i reckon like Cable, or an expensive satellite setup, unless you live in a wide open area with fair weather patterns year round. I live in London, and anything Aerial based sucks, and Satellite can still show up problems....

the HDTV, is that in Dolby Digital only, or does some stuff broadcast in DTS?

Analog becomes unwatchable LONG before a digital channel starts breaking up.

Most people in the US can get good reception with a simple antenna.

i beg to differ on the 'analog becomes unwatchable long before a digital channel starts breaking up' comment, i have both digital and analog TV coming in thru the same aerial, and they can both look a bit crappy when either the weather is bad or there is lots of building work going on nearby, the difference is that you can watch analog and listen to it if its a bit iffy, but digital is totally unwatchable the moment it gets a poorer signal. The worse side is this is from a fairly new roof aerial! One problem we have is the new arch at Wembley Stadium seems to be interfering with our signals due to it being directly on the path from the nearest transmitter. I think that in the US the TV companies probably boost their signals more from the source or have more retransmitters than here in UK, companies are notorious for providing the bare minimum to save costs, i know this is the case in most countries, but in the UK it can get really shameful. Also bear in mind London is a massively populate area thats quite small, and has a lot of metal based buildings and structures that dont exactly help allow good signals.

yet again work is boring, so do excuse my long post...lol

My experiences are exactly the opposite.

Maybe your local stations are not transmitting the digital channels at the same strength they are the analog?

I know that was the case for most US stations when they fist turned on their digital channels.

Well, given they get advertising revenue from them i would assume they are broadcasting at the strongest they can without it costing them too much money, same as they do analog.......then again maybe not..lol

the thing is, if a digital signal DOES weaken, its unwatchable and unlistenable due to the picture going blocky and colours going all strange, and the sound just becomes a dodgy squeeky noise with clicks and stuff. At least with analog if the signal is poorer you can still usually watch and listen, the picture quality is simply slightly ghosted or grainy...

 

[marvdmartian]

I for one, absolutely refuse to buy any converter boxes, or such. If the tv's I have won't pull it in, I'll just break out the dvd collection!

This was BS 10+ years ago when they first announced it, and the smell hasn't gone away in the meantime. If the FCC gazillion dollar a year salary weenies want digital tv, let them buy everyone a converter box!!

Okay, now I feel better.....had to get rid of that rant!!

 

[Digobick]

Originally posted by: mrweirdo
digital also makes it harder to copy content because they can use copywrite protection schemes...gee I bet mpaa etc would love that

Not likely now: Court yanks down FCC's broadcast flag

TVs like this will certainly help the transition: 27" Digital TV for $299

And to all you other people bitching about switching over...how many of you actually get your television stations through an over-air antenna? Anyone with cable or satellite will not notice a difference.