WaitWhat
| Wait, what?
I thought service providers delivering television directly to the end-users were still going to be transmitting in analog and digital? I thought this entire transition only affected over-the-air broadcasters? |
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Lee GWB
Yaco
Premium
join:2001-10-13
Allendale, NJ
 ·Verizon Online DSL
1 edit |  Yes and no. If you are in TW, Comcast, OOL etc etc country you do not need to change a thing BUT use the Companies Digital boxes. If you had "Rabbit ears" you need a digital box........for your OLDER TV. I think 
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"I Don't feel Tardy"
EDIT : they are ALL doing it for bandwidth reasons |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| said by Lee GWB  :Yes and no. If you are in TW, Comcast, OOL etc etc country you do not need to change a thing BUT use the Companies Digital boxes. If you had "Rabbit ears" you need a digital box........for your OLDER TV. I think If they force the customer to use a digital box, why the heck wouldn't they completely scrap the analog channels to recover the much needed bandwidth? |
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mleland
Premium
join:2002-12-17
Westwood, CA
| nice to know that Verizon's PR dept. is clueless too....
The digital transition in Feb(or sooner in some markets) is only for OTA broadcasts. There is no requirement for Cable to switch off all analog TV by Feb 09. This does mean that cable will have to receive the digital broadcasts and convert them to analog in order to continue to serve locals in analog. However I bet at least some Cable Operators will take this opportunity to drop all analog TV and force everyone to rent a cable box from them for every TV. It will free up bandwidth and cause them to collect more $$ on accounts with TV that don't have a cable box today. |
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Mr Anon
@il.us
| reply to Lee GWB
Re: Wait, what?
Yaco that's the same wording that gets me confused just like the original poster. You don't use rabbit ears to receive cable. I too was under the impression that the digital transition only affected broadcast as in over the air, not broadcast standards regardless of service.
Perhaps my confusion is between delivery of service and type of service and that there is digital service and that there is a digital type of service, something I never really though out till right now.
So for deliver of service digital would be 200, 300 type channels and on demand requiring you to have a digital converter box from the company.
For type of service it would be cable trans mission of th Digital channels like say ch2.1 and ch2.2 meaning that its still the equivalent of the Analog service and you don't need a cable box if you have a QAM Turner. |
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Rattler
join:2001-04-13
Havertown, PA
·Verizon Online DSL
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to WaitWhat
said by WaitWhat :
I thought service providers delivering television directly to the end-users were still going to be transmitting in analog and digital? I thought this entire transition only affected over-the-air broadcasters?
I believe that cable companies are not required to make the switch from the hybrid analog/digital environment by Feb of next year. I am not sure if they are required to do it at all since they are not using the airwaves.
However, as mentioned previously, I believe they will all, eventually, make the switch to full digital to gain space for additional QAM channels which use bandwidth much more efficiently. So, eventually, analog over cable will be in museums only.
I thought that I read the Comcrap would be going all digital by the end of 2009, or thereabouts.
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Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected. -- Red Buttons |
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JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to mleland
Re: nice to know that Verizon's PR dept. is clueless too....
said by mleland :There is no requirement for Cable to switch off all analog TV by Feb 09. That's not quite correct. The FCC has done a horrible job of advertizing what the heck this is all about. It is distinct from the OTA analog shut-off, even though it has the same deadline. Here's the deal - on 7/1/07 a new FCC requirement went into effect governing cable boxes. The FCC required that all such cable boxes employ seperable security - meaning that they had to accept cable cards. Smaller cable outfits that requested it were given a temporary waiver - 1 year for advanced boxes (e.g. HD DVRs), and 2 years for basic boxes (e.g. SD STBs).
This waiver was granted with some strings. One of which, which I still don't understand, is that the cable company had to agree to eliminate all analogs by Feb. 17, 2009. THAT'S what this is about. Verizon put in for, and was granted, that waiver, and as a result had to get rid of all their analogs. Again, this is totally distinct from the OTA shut-off, but has the same deadline. |
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swhitney2003
I can't drive 55.
Premium
join:2003-06-13
NH
clubs:  | When we are finally all digital
So when everything and everyone has gone completely digital, will we still have to type in 2.1 or 31.4 to select channels? Or will it return to the natural numbers of 1,2,3...? |
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
 ·Hollis Hosting
·Verizon Online DSL
·Fairpoint Communic..
| reply to WaitWhat
Re: Wait, what?
The Feb 17, 2009 FCC mandate applies solely to full power over the air TV stations (OTA). Has nothing to do directly with Cable.
That being said MSO's are working transition to full digital, or at least expand digital offering for the same reason it makes sense to do Digital OTA - it frees up spectrum.
/tom |
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
| reply to swhitney2003
Re: When we are finally all digital
said by swhitney2003 :So when everything and everyone has gone completely digital, will we still have to type in 2.1 or 31.4 to select channels? Yep. In this market, you have to do it for sure since the OTA stations have multiple broadcasts. One channel, just as an example, has the normal national broadcasts, but also broadcasts a 24/7 weather program that gives you forecasts and all the other jazz like the current local radar. One of the local PBS stations is also doing two broadcasts at the same time as well.
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Drilling for more oil is akin to giving a methhead the keys to the meth lab. |
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Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
 ·Comcast
| reply to WaitWhat
Re: Wait, what?
I thought cable companies were required to keep sending analog signals for another 3 years after the OTA conversion to digital.
If I'm understanding this correctly after Feb 2009 all televisions without a digital tuner will require a STB in order to get cable service. No more plugging the cable directly into the coax jack on the TV.
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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented worker is like calling a crack dealer an unlicensed pharmacist. |
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slash
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-01
Boston
clubs: | reply to WaitWhat
Correct. The title here is misleading. This is not mandated by the FCC |
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Hollis Hosting
·Verizon Online DSL
·Fairpoint Communic..
| reply to Jim Gurd
said by Jim Gurd :I thought cable companies were required to keep sending analog signals for another 3 years after the OTA conversion to digital. after Feb 2009 all televisions without a digital tuner will require a STB in order to get cable service. I'm confused. If MSO's have to include Analog in their lineup why would customer need a TV with digital tuner?
/tom |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to WaitWhat
They don't have to change--- They're not broadcasting.
However, many are changing over voluntarily for several reasons.
1) They can dump older equipment, no need to support/maintain
2) All digital, they can compress it and increase bandwidth;
3) Makes it harder to "steal" service
4) Extra revenue from STB, Cablecard fees etc
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| reply to tschmidt
said by tschmidt :I'm confused. If MSO's have to include Analog in their lineup why would customer need a TV with digital tuner? You wouldn't... yet... but there is a sunset. The Analog will stop within a few years--- so eventually you will need it. If you get a Digital tuner TV now, you can receive OTA broadcasts immediately, no STB needed.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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AVonGauss
Premium,MVM
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL
| Sorry...
Sorry, but the article and press release are misleading. Verizon wanted to go all digital, the FCC said okay, but you have to bring along the analog users - hence the free converters. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the broadcast digital transition in 2009.
Now, to those confused that the cable operators must provide analog signals to 2012. In some cases, that is true, but I believe that is ONLY for the local broadcast stations. They could migrate all of the other analog stations (i.e. Discovery, Disney) to digital and require a box if they so wish. Now, if they want to go all digital including the local broadcast stations, they probably can get the same deal as Verizon did but it would be much more expensive for them as they generally have a bigger subscriber base and giving away converter boxes is not entirely cheap. |
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AVonGauss
Premium,MVM
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL
| reply to JPL
Re: nice to know that Verizon's PR dept. is clueless too....
Sorry, but this has absolutely nothing to do with the separable security device requirement. And as far as I know, there is absolutely no push to get cable companies to stop broadcast analog channels - the cable companies want to do this for their own reasons. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | reply to tschmidt
Re: Wait, what?
That is correct; it only applies to OTA TV. The people writing these stories (and evidently Verizon's PR department) repeatedly get it wrong and I suspect that is on purpose. Verizon transitioning to digital only has nothing to with the OTA deadline.
Of course, someone could email Eric Rabe and set him straight... |
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JPL
Premium
join:2007-04-04
West Chester, PA
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to AVonGauss
Re: Sorry...
said by AVonGauss :Sorry, but the article and press release are misleading. Verizon wanted to go all digital, the FCC said okay, but you have to bring along the analog users - hence the free converters. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the broadcast digital transition in 2009. Now, to those confused that the cable operators must provide analog signals to 2012. In some cases, that is true, but I believe that is ONLY for the local broadcast stations. They could migrate all of the other analog stations (i.e. Discovery, Disney) to digital and require a box if they so wish. Now, if they want to go all digital including the local broadcast stations, they probably can get the same deal as Verizon did but it would be much more expensive for them as they generally have a bigger subscriber base and giving away converter boxes is not entirely cheap. No - that's not right at all. Read my post above - the FCC required analog shut-off for all small cable companies if they wanted a waiver for the cable box seperable security requirement. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to tschmidt
Re: Wait, what?
They have to have an analog tier, or provide one digital STB without additional cost if there is no analog on the system. Of course, you'll get the high-pressure sales pitch to 'upgrade' to a higher tier if you attempt to claim your one no-fee box...and that's the source of the Consumers Union complaint. |
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