Experience doing DTV Research -

Author	All Replies
tschmidt Premium,MVM join:2000-11-12 Milford, NH kudos:5 Reviews: ·Fairpoint Commun.. ·Hollis Hosting 2 edits	Experience doing DTV Research I’ve been trying to stay on top of this issue as we are in a fringe region and currently use over the air (OTA) antenna. Even being rather diligent I find the task daunting. Besides the 2009 transition a lot of other stuff is changing in the TV world. I have been aware of the 2/17/2009 date for a long time but until recently (last night actually) was not aware that in addition to analog going away some DTV stations will move to different channels. This is because once simulcast analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) is no longer required the freed up analog channels become available. After transition OTA TV will use channels 2-51 (VHF/UHF). Channels 52 and above will be used for other purposes. That has profound impact on me because currently all DTV station are UHF. Living in southern NH we get reception from both MA (Boston) and local NH stations. We use a rotor to select stations. That is inconvenient with multiple TVs and with advent of DTV cannot tune to least snow, either get a picture or not. I planned on installing dual UHF antennas eliminating need for rotor. That plan is not feasible knowing I need both VHF and UHF capability. Cable and Satellite are possible options but I have not heard many positive reports about Cable’s delivery of DTV. Cablecos are bandwidth challenged and in trying to squeeze as many channels as possible overly compress video creating distracting artifacts. In addition for limited amount of TV we watch both are rather expensive. Wouldn’t mind paying monthly fee if it eliminated commercials but still have to deal with a significant portion of each show given over to commercials unless we record program. Lastly it means having a big Set-top-Box at each location. Purchased a new desktop for my daughter that includes a DTV/FM tuner. Did this specifically to experiment with DTV reception in advance of change over. At first though we were unable to receive any DTV OTA until we realized the new card was very different from old one. It has separate analog and digital tuners. Once we figured that out were surprised being able to receive some DTV OTA stations. We have old CRT based TVs so now is a good time to replace them with a flat panel TVs. That market is also in transition. Prices are falling; resolutions and refresh rates are increasing. In addition the A/V world seems to be standardizing on HDMI as preferred interconnect. This purchase is also taking a lot of time to research. The benefit of high resolution TVs cannot be fully exploited with current NTSC DVD players/recorders. Unfortunately there is a format war going on for next generation DVD between HD-DVD and BluRay. That is unfortunate. So for someone to be an educated TV customer they need to: 1)Understand impact of 2/17/2009 analog OTA go dark date. 2)Understand what if anything Cable provider will do (they too would like to get rid of analog). 3)Investigate possibility of combining OTA with Cable or Sat 4)Investigate getting converter box or new TV(s). 5)Investigate getting new DVD player to take advantage of High Defination TV. That is a lot to do. As with any conversion of this magnitude there will be lots of hiccups along the way. fixed a bunch of typos /Tom
	to forum · permalink · 2007-12-29 12:04:11 ·
major marco Res Firma Mitescere Nescit Premium join:2003-02-13 Stepford, CA	said by tschmidt: I’ve been trying to stay on top of this issue as we are in a fringe region and currently use over the air (OTA) antenna. Even being rather diligent I find the task daunting. Besides the 2009 transition a lot of other stuff is changing in the TV world. What - You mean Hillsborough County isn't the center of the known universe?? -- The Toll Let's Go Flyers!
	to forum · permalink · 2007-12-29 12:44:00 ·

tschmidt Premium,MVM join:2000-11-12 Milford, NH kudos:5 Reviews: ·Fairpoint Commun.. ·Hollis Hosting	said by major marco: You mean Hillsborough County isn't the center of the known universe?? Not unless you live here. /tom
	to forum · permalink · 2007-12-29 12:47:54 ·
jap Premium join:2003-08-10 038xx	reply to tschmidt said by tschmidt: That is a lot to do. And aged citizens and shut-ins who are arguable most dependent on TV for a 'connection' to the outside world haven't a chance of comprehending any of it. Then there's the cost of transition. I do hope some areas are able to help their older people obtain & use the newer technologies without to much delay. Though it's unlikely to go smoothly in most communities.
	to forum · permalink · 2007-12-29 14:15:39 ·

Broadband Users are Better Prepared for Digital Transition > Experience doing DTV Research

Experience doing DTV Research