> > Since this *is* a technical list, let's not get things confused. It's > not the television *receivers* that are changing to digital, it's the > *transmitters*. That's why people with cable or satellite are > unaffected by the changeover. > > Coinciding with the DTV *transmitter* changeover is a new television > broadcast standard. The one your old tv uses is NTSC which has been > around since 1940. The new standard is ATSC which will officially be > inaugurated February 17, 2009, currently the day the last of the old > analog NTSC *transmitters* is to be turned off in the US. But actually > most large market stations are already broadcasting ATSC.
The change from analog to digital definitely DOES affect those of us who have digital TVs. We have analog service on all of our televisions--two are also digital. We are about 50 mile from the closest transmitters and get fair to good analog reception with rabbit ears.
Digital TV doesn't carry as far as analog. We get ZERO channels using the digital tuners. That means we will have to pay several hundred dollars to get an antenna that might be powerful enough to pull in a digital broadcast. Otherwise we'll be forced to watch no local channels on two of our TVs or pay big bucks for cable, FIOS or satellite on those TVs that today get decent analog reception.
Will the broadcast channels boost their transmission so that we can get the same service we had with analog? I won't hold my breath waiting.
Who is supposed to benefit from this change? I doubt it's consumers. This is yet another bad idea pushed through corporate government by industry lobbyists without consideration for consumers.
Betty ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive from 1/1/2000 is on the MARC http://marc.info/?l=computerguys-l * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
