• New here? Register here now for access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Plus, stay connected and follow BP on Instagram @buckeyeplanet and Facebook.

HD Countdowns 02/17/2007

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
sandgk

sandgk

Watson, Crick & A Twist
It is February 17th 2007 at the time of this writing.

That is an auspicious date.

It is 2 years to go before ALL content goes HD.

It is less than two weeks before ALL devices equipped with an NTSC digital tuners (your old fashioned TV) must come equipped with an ATSC tuner (HD capable).

It's February 17th and you know what that means -- well you should if you are a big HDTV fan. Today starts the two year countdown till the analog shutoff unless the group Public Citizen has its way. While some will have to buy a STB to continue to enjoy their free OTA TV, they will be able to reap the benefits of the digital revolution for a small fee. With any luck people will be ready and might only need to reconfigure their TV, that is of course if they already bought a TV with a digital tuner, while it still seems hard to believe anyone would buy a TV without a digital tuner. Starting March 1st they might not have any choice in the matter, since that is the date that all devices with NTSC tuners must also include ATSC tuners, yes you read that right all; portable TVs, VCRs all of them. This means no portable TVs, since ATSC is almost useless for portable TVs, until A-VSB becomes a reality. The good news for HDTV fans is that without NTSC more people will enjoy DTV and thus HDTV and with any luck no NTSC means more HDTV for all of us.
Click to expand...
 
sandgk;754498; said:
It is February 17th 2007 at the time of this writing.

That is an auspicious date.

It is 2 years to go before ALL content goes HD.

It is less than two weeks before ALL devices equipped with an NTSC digital tuners (your old fashioned TV) must come equipped with an ATSC tuner (HD capable).
Click to expand...
Just to clarify a bit, on 2/17/09 all TV stations are required to broadcast in digital, not HD. This will immediately affect anyone who watches TV through an over-the-air antenna using an analog TV tuner. They will require a digital tuner.

However, cable companies are not required to broadcast their signal in digital on that date. They have the option of down-converting a TV station's signal from digital to analog and sending that signal to their customers. It is thought that it might take 5 to 10 years for cable companies to use all digital signals since so many of their customers use cable-ready analog TV's. It would be very expensive for cable companies to send out free digital-to-analog receivers to many of their customers and many people would cancel or downgrade service if they were required to pay for the boxes.

Nevertheless this is a huge change and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top