guess what came in the mail today (set top box coupons)

[parnelli]

Cable IS going to digital, and still plans on keeping the HD as a seperate charge from the meeting they were having (place withheld). I didn't hear a timetable (these things take quite a while, national role out), but they are going to be issuing set top boxes to ALL their customers (and I think I heard 1 free one, like the cable of old).

Actually that's not entirely true. If you have analog cable (aka old fashioned standard cable) the FCC is requiring the cable company to continue to provide local stations even after the Feb 09 cutoff of analog television. This provision lasts until 2012.

Now, whether or not your cable company decides to still sell analog cable or not is an entirely different thing. Comcast has been pushing customers over to digital for years now by dropping a channel here and there off of the analog lineup. I don't think you can even start Comcast analog service in my neighborhood anymore though I could be wrong.

My cable provider has specifically said they have no plans to stop/discontinue/change their current analog lineup.

As far as HD being a separate charge- again depends on your company. My company currently sends all the local HD stations without charge. No digital cable, cable box, cable card, etc needed. Just standard analog cable and a digital tv with a QAM tuner in it.

Could they provide things like Discovery HD for free too? Sure- but it's an opportunity to make more money.

[JR]

ps...why does the govt of a "free" country think they need to get involved with regulating that aspect of an entertainment media like TV? Why not require everyone to have better sounding stereo systems! I'd guess some public servants are using the "self service" pumps.

We, the people, own the RF spectrum in the USA. This is an extremely important principle, from which derives the requirement for commercial broadcast media to transmit a minimum amount of public-service programming and child-appropriate programming, among other obligations. The government, on our behalf, defines the ways in which the spectrum may be used and issues licenses to broadcasters, ham operators, CB operaters (actually, no license required here), etc., as appropriate.

By and large these rules are beneficial to consumers. We have government-mandated modulation schemes for the AM and FM radio bands, VHF and UHF TV bands, as well as the other frequency bands mentioned. By agreeing on the way that these frequencies will be used, manufacturers can make products that receive the programming appropriately, and can make them cheaply.

The challenge was to find a way that new technology could be introduced (more-effiicient digital tv transmission and new higher-quality HDTV format) as being demanded by consumers and promoted by mfrs and broadcasters. We couldn't just use the old VHF spectrum, because it was already being used for the analog TV signals we know and love. New spectrum, and new digital modulation techniques are being applied. A phase-in, phase-out scheme was devised.

As has been mentioned, the VHF spectrum is largely being "re-purposed" into cell phone usage. This process has been in the works for several years, and appears to be a fairly-well-planned event. Time will tell where the devil's details lie.

It should not go without saying that the government has discovered that the sale of RF spectrum can generate cash for the coffers. Throughout most of the 20th century the government saw its role solely as coordinator and watchdog of airwaves usage. Starting in the 1990's, with the rapid advancement of wireless technologies, they discovered that they had a rare commodity on their hands, for which broadcast and telcom corporations would pay dearly. IINM, the auctions have each generated $10-20B to the treasury.

JR

[MilDoc]

Time-Warner has told me they will continue to transmit analog signals until at least 2012. After that ...? And who knows, they might change their mind.

I have one TV on TW's digital box and one on an analog signal. I do not yet subscribe to HD (Hi-Def) since the TV models are changing.

Let's get one other thing straight. If you now use an antenna for over-the-air TV, your set will go blank next year unless it has a digital tuner or a converter box. It makes no difference how close you are to the transmitter! If your set has a digital tuner (some recently have both), then any antenna should work well if you are close to the transmitter. I am far away. I would need a rooftop antenna, and even then it might not receive the new digital signal well according to antennaweb.org

[Stytooner]

This is particularly what I was getting at. You would still need an antenna and probably a better one. Where I live, I cannot receive local stations through Dish Network. My inlaws can 3 hour drive north. Many of the local transmittiting towers are within sight of my house. Within about a 5 to 20 mile area. Right between Mobile Alabama and Pcola Florida. I have never heard any real reason why I cannot order local TV over Dish. I suspect it may be my close proximity to Pensacola NAS.
At any rate, the radio is sufficient without having to add another black box just to get signals from towers I could shoot at with a good long range weapon. I consider that pretty close to home myself.

[RAV2]

Last time I asked my cable co. what the plan was (for going away from Analog), they had no idea. Of course they sold out (Time warner) to Comcast so I have no idea what Comcast is thinking.

Becasue their signal is over a cable, they don't have to share the spectrum on the cable with anybody except themselves (for more TV channels or internet), they don't really have any bandwidth worries that would make them shift away from analog all that urgently. I'm sure eventually they will want to go all digital but as long as they have a sizeable base of analog users...

Unfortunately - this is incorrect information.

Cable companies, as opposed to fiber optic providers, have bandwidth constraints that are preventing them from providing full HD signals now. If you compare an Over The Air HD signal to a cable provided one, you may see that the cable provided signal is degraded to "maximize the use of available bandwidth". Not sure what will happen when people are looking for 200 HD channels in the future???

[MilDoc]

Have to agree with RAV2. Cable companies compress their HD signals. I have a friend in Dallas who is hooked up to Time-Warner HD and has a separate HD set with an over-the-air antenna. The difference is easy to see. OTA is best if you can get it.

My friend has TWC only for the extra cable channels and will soon be using an antenna on that set, too. I guess it will be that way until cable country-wide is wired for fiber optic (I won't hold my breath).