hdi
@optonline.net | reply to pnh102
Re: About Damn Time
it will help if they release a whole house digital to analog converter for the first 70 channels.
but then they loose $$ of there cable box fees.
they could all have gone digital by now there own fault. |
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russotto
join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA | A 70 channel QAM to analog converter would cost a fortune. That's 8-10 tuner/demodulators and multi-stream MPEG decoders, plus 70 frame buffers and RF modulators. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to hdi
A cable box costs about $709 to $250 for a standard digital box. A whole house box, as you speak of, would cost several hundred and it would have to be installed on EVERY HOME, as well as removed from every home when they disconnect. (Two truck trips) not to mention the service calls to take care of those things when trouble hits. They'd not be able to recoup any of that money in rental fees. Now multiply to that every home you serve in America.
Play as if you were running the company. Would you make that choice? (Which, in a way, is pretty much a new system design) It's easy to arm chair these things.
Televisions or devices with downloadable security is the way to go. Whole house boxes are a modern step backwards.
--
"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy ... those who also never take the time to point out a good fortune when the opportunity presents itself. It says a lot about one's moral character." - Unknown |
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dmeyer
join:2002-08-14
Austin, TX
| On the upside, no longer would the cable companies have to disconnect a home from the tap when a user cancels their service. All they do is return the box, format it, and reissue the box to the next new customer. Theft of cable also becomes a lot harder with all-digital/secure cable. |
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cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:
1 edit | reply to fiberguy
Cable companies are testing a device called the Broadlogic TeraPIX.
»www.engadget.com/2006/11/06/broa···-weapon/
»www.tmcnet.com/news/2006/11/06/2050849.htm
»www.broadlogic.com/tpix.htm
This allows the operator to run all digital, and ONLY digital. The terapix sits at the side of the homes which wish to have a few analog TV's. It will convert a select number (up to 80) of digital channels into analog and broadcast it out a specific port (hooked up to a splitter that goes to all of your analog sets). The all digital line would go to your regular digital cable box/modem/voice gateway. Disconnects and Reconnects do not involve a truck roll because the device can be deauthorized remotely, like a cable box. (Very Secure) It's only in testing, so we'll see if it becomes a reality.
It doesn't necessarily have to be removed from a home. Does Verizon remove their ONT's off of homes for people that disconnect their service? Although all systems can come up with whatever policy works best for them.
Good Luck broadlogic, great concept, let's see if it becomes a feasible solution and if operators want to pull it off. |
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Brazbit
Randomness Personified
Premium
join:2003-10-22
Port Orchard, WA
 ·wavebroadband
| reply to hdi
said by hdi :
it will help if they release a whole house digital to analog converter for the first 70 channels.
but then they loose $$ of there cable box fees.
they could all have gone digital by now there own fault.
The cable companies just need to rent the converters. Cable is a luxury and analog is not a right.
--
My train of thought wasn't so much derailed as it was a simple case of the track not being fully laid out when the train arrived. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
 ·AT&T Midwest
| said by Brazbit  :Cable is a luxury and analog is not a right. Where can I get that talking points paper?
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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PaulHikeS2
join:2003-03-06
Merrimack, NH
·Comcast
| said by RadioDoc :said by Brazbit :Cable is a luxury and analog is not a right. Where can I get that talking points paper? Of whose talking points do you speak? Certainly not the cable industry, whom I would figure would argue that cable is a necessity, not a luxury.
--
Jay: What the @#$% is the internet??? |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | It's the usual parroted response when someone criticizes cable pricing. You hear it here every time.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Winter Park, FL
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
1 edit | reply to hdi
said by hdi :
it will help if they release a whole house digital to analog converter for the first 70 channels.
but then they loose $$ of there cable box fees.
they could all have gone digital by now there own fault.
Why would they want to support analog if the FCC is no longer going to support it to begin with??? It would be real stupid to install QAM to analog converters if we're moving to 15 Mhz channels instead of 6 Mhz. Especially considering the cost of the unit that makes this possible is several hundred dollars per house. But more importantly, WHY??
And indeed, they could have all gone digital, but the whining customer has held that up for years because they "don't want the cable box" and the electronic industry hasn't helped any either, because it took us this long to get the FCC to force a switchover date for HD, which has been postponed numerous times. Cable would be saving SO MUCH money if they did NOT have to deliver the first 70 channels in analog, so why do you think they kept them?
--
SIPPhone/Gizmo # 17476200648 / PIMPNET Chatline / Ran by Asterisk & Slackware 10.1. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| said by phattieg :Cable would be saving SO MUCH money if they did NOT have to deliver the first 70 channels in analog, so why do you think they kept them? It's called the 1992 Cable Act.
Here's a little light reading for you on the subject:
»hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···54A1.pdf
»hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···54A2.pdf
The point is to provide the services people subscribe to, for the rates advertised, without hidden back-door rate increases for converters, etc. Not to save the cable company SO MUCH money.
Send the digital basic stuff in the clear and my TV will pick it up just fine without any additional equipment. If you won't do that, include a basic converter in the cost of the service (no 'box rental' add-on). If you won't do that, then you're stuck with those pesky analog channels on your system until you comply with one of the first two.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
·Comcast
| reply to fiberguy
My idea of a "whole house box" would be something similar to what DISH has in their dual tuner boxes. One box runs two TVs via a UHF remote.
Why not a quad/six/eight tuner box in the utility closet with a house cable for each set connected to the back of it? Each set would get its own UHF remote, operating at different freqs similar to what a cordless phone does currently.
Make that box a DVR and you have the ability to watch your recordings in any room in the house.
"I have a dream." -MLK  |
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cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs: | That would be great as long as they can figure out how to finally modulate stereo sound over coax! That seems to be really difficult for them, but yet we put a man on the moon? Who'd a thunk it? |
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russotto
join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA
| Stereo over coax? Not even difficult, either analog or digital. Digital would be S/PDIF or the professional equivalent, or QAM-256 with MPEG if you're wanting video also. Analog would be some subcarrier technique like FM uses (you can send FM radio over coax).
Here's an analog product:
»www.smarthome.com/7702st1.html |
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cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:
| True not difficult. Our analog boxes used to do this all the time. But NONE of the digital boxes by Motorola or Scientific Atlanta modulate a stereo signal over channel 3 or 4. So many cable installers just bring coax and hook the box up via the Ch 3/4 input. Many customers don't even realize they are not getting the full sound output.
I've used both boxes Motorola and SA, and the only way I could get stereo sound is to use RCA cables. |
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