> All this HD stuff has me majorly confused. But I know crunch time is
> coming in about 18 months or so regarding mandated broadcasting in HD.
> Maybe then I'll have a better understanding. Hopefully, this Tivo
> will last a bit longer before I have to replace it.
You're not alone. Many, many people are confused about the coming switchover
to digital TV and exactly how it impacts them. Let me see if I can break it
down.
First, it's important to distinguish between digital TV (DTV) and high
definition TV (HDTV). DTV simply means that the broadcast is in a digital
format, not analog. HDTV specifically means a high-resolution broadcast,
generally either 720 lines at 60 frames/sec or 1080 lines at 60 interlaced
fields/sec. Don't worry about frames/fields/etc. for now -- for the purposes
of this discussion it doesn't matter.
What does matter is that the switchover coming in 2009 mandates DTV, but NOT
HDTV.
The vast majority of us get our TV from one or more of the following sources:
* Cable
* Satellite
* Over the air (antenna of some type)
Cable: cable isn't really affected by the switchover. Even if your cable
system were to switch to a fully digital system, so long as the cable box still
has analog outputs (the RCA-type yellow/white/red plugs, or an S-Video plug,
etc.) you can continue to use your same TV.
Satellite: satellite also isn't affected by the switchover. Satellite is a
purely digital system anyway, and so long as your satellite box has analog
outputs, you're fine. I also lump things like Verizon's FIOS and AT&T's
U-Verse into this category, since they're wholly digital.
Over the air (OTA): the FCC has mandated that analog OTA broadcasts cease by
February 17, 2009. Broadcasters all have to be broadcasting in DTV by then.
Most large ones already are, although there are some small, low-power stations
that are planning to do a "hot cut" from analog to digital at some point. What
this means if you watch OTA TV is that you either (A) need to get a new TV that
can tune/receive DTV OTA broadcasts, or (B) you need to get some kind of tuner
box that can tune/receive DTV OTA broadcasts and then output an analog signal
to your existing TV.
Per FCC regs, any TV sold now that can tune/receive good, old-fashioned analog
TV can also tune/receive DTV OTA broadcasts. (If you go looking at TVs, you'll
see some referred to as "monitors" -- those cannot "tune" anything at all and
are only useful if you have a cable/satellite box or a box for tuning DTV OTA.)
Also per FCC regs, some time next year you'll see low-cost DTV OTA tuner boxes
for sale. Some kind of coupon will be available that will make the box either
free or extremely cheap, although this may only be available to those who can
demonstrate that they only get TV OTA. They're still trying to figure out
exactly how they're going to handle this, but the vendors are already lined up
to produce the boxes. Again, remember that all of this only matters for OTA,
and not cable or satellite.
That's the long and the short of the big switchover which, as you can see,
isn't a very big deal for the vast majority of folks (74% of people get their
TV programming from cable or satellite). In my next email, I'll address HDTV
specifically.
--
Christopher D. Heer -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
