Switch to all HD broadcasts in the US in Feb 09

[Animeniax]

I was just reminded that the US will be switching all broadcast TV formats to digital starting on Feb 17, 2009. I imagine that means everyone will have to switch to an HDTV before then if they plan to watch anything, including local news and TV.

I wonder how that will pan out with the economy as shaky as it is. Will everyone be able to afford new TVs in time for this change? It makes a new TV a great Christmas gift idea, but in my family that's 4 TVs that we'll have to replace. Also since it is Christmas gift buying season, I wonder at how limited the selection will be with everything selling out.

[Buffalobiian]

Is that HD or digital?

[Animeniax]

Actually it's digital, which isn't as big a problem as I thought. It won't affect anyone with a set-top cable or satellite decoder box, which is a decent amount of the viewing public.

[Kraco]

Over here both terrestial and cable have been digital for a while now, but not HD exclusively. In fact most channels are SD. And a new TV was no obligatory thing, because the default thing was a digital receiver that converts the transmission to analog for any (old) TV. Of course new TVs oft come with a digital receiver of their own so no external box is necessarily needed, but many would have them anyway for recording stuff.

[Sapphire]

http://www.hulu.com/watch/36608/talkshow-with-spike-feresten-cable-psa#s-p1-st-i1 <-- So this clip was real? Hahahah!

[Abdula]

Over here both terrestial and cable have been digital for a while now, but not HD exclusively. In fact most channels are SD. And a new TV was no obligatory thing, because the default thing was a digital receiver that converts the transmission to analog for any (old) TV. Of course new TVs oft come with a digital receiver of their own so no external box is necessarily needed, but many would have them anyway for recording stuff.
We're just switching to digital not to HD, the majority of channels still broadcast in SD. Ani was just misinformed.

[Animeniax]

We're just switching to digital not to HD, the majority of channels still broadcast in SD. Ani was just misinformed.
Not misinformed, just overzealous. When I saw the announcement scroll across the screen, I got too excited because it legitimized my idea of getting HDTVs for Christmas presents for both my parents, both of whom usually require a lot of thought and struggle when it comes to deciding on gifts for. Researching further, I realized my error and edited my original post, but the thread title can't be changed.

[Abdula]

but the thread title can't be changed.
You're like the fourth person thats said that. The thread title can be changed. Just edit your original post, go advanced and wah-lah.

[Animeniax]

You're like the fourth person thats said that. The thread title can be changed. Just edit your original post, go advanced and wah-lah.
Should you knowledge of forum options impress me or make me sad for you?

[Buffalobiian]

You can change the title like that, but it still shows up as the original one in the General Support section.

[RyougaZell]

Only mods have the power to change the thread title that shows for the 'mortals'

What you change is the 'subtitle' at the top of your post. Check Ani's first post.

[Ryllharu]

One of the advantages of switching to all-digital however is a massive reduction of bandwidth for the cable providers. The analog signal sent over the cable (as opposed to broadcast over the airwaves) takes up an enormous amount of bandwidth in the signal sent through the Cable infrastructure.

The majority of cable channels had to be sent over analog because a lot of people still jacked the co-ax line right into the back of their television sets, many of which are not capable of handling the digital signal. So the cable providers are forced to send out an analog signal. Now that digital will be the only option, they can force all users to go up to a digital cable box.

What does that all mean? Instead of compressing some channels as they do today to save bandwidth, they can push them all back up to high-quality digital SD, and still have plenty of room left over.

Which means more room for more HD versions of channels.

[Animeniax]

Yes that's what I'm reading too, the switch to digital will free up a lot of bandwidth and make available freq ranges that the government can rent out for commercial use to make billions in revenue.

It seems they're going to make analog to digital converter boxes available for all the people who can't afford new TVs or don't have cable or satellite decoders.

Still, a good excuse to buy HDTVs for Christmas presents.