dagon01
join:2007-12-06 | [CATV] Will all the channels be HD come Feb. 2009?
Does anyone know? Or will Charter stay years behind with their 8 HD channels. |
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zed260
join:2007-09-30
Cleveland, TN | not all channels will be hd in 2009
here charter has 22 hd
but also depends on market when they ad more hd |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| reply to dagon01
said by dagon01  : Does anyone know? Or will Charter stay years behind with their 8 HD channels. the 2009 transition has NOTHING to do with either cable or HD. Jesus Christ people.
In Feb 2009 OTA as in Over The Air singals( ie you get TV froma rooftop or rabbit era antennas ) are going from analog to digital. They are not going to be in HD and you don't need a HDTV to view them. This transition does not have any effect on cable or satelite customers. Whether Charter goes all digital and/or adds more HD channels is decision Charter will make when it's best for them to do and has nothing to do with what's going to happen in Feb 2009. |
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useless
join:2006-07-16
| said by BF69 : Whether Charter goes all digital and/or adds more HD channels is decision Charter will make when it's best for them to do and has nothing to do with what's going to happen in Feb 2009. Correct, adding that charter (may not/does not have to) do the same thing in every market, same with other Cable operators.
Will save much bandwidth going all digital though. |
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idreaminblu
@charter.com
| reply to BF69
You got a bad attitude.
Anyway I dropped the HD channels that were costing me $8 a month and only about 4 were lost. I still have about 9 HD channels. Only thing I lost was History, A&E, Discovery Theater, Universal and some music channel. Not worth $8 in my opinion.
I mostly watch Blu rays anyway. |
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Indravar
@charter.com | reply to BF69
Except the OTA channels will be and already are in HD for the most part. |
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AFStinger
join:2005-03-12
Greenville, SC
| reply to dagon01
But does anyone know or heard if they plan on voluntarily going all digital in 09? From my understanding if they remove their analog tier I would need a box on the set I currently view analog only on.
Also I don't remember where I read the article, may have been here on dslreports; but if I got the digital box converter for over the air reception, would I be able to receive any of the current digital tiers when connected to CATV? |
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Margolis
Premium
join:2003-11-24
Saint Louis, MO
 ·Charter Pipeline
| reply to dagon01
If you go by their commercials they have on tv, they will keep the analog. They advertise that if you have any cable service with them, nothing will change.
And the digital converter box is only for over the air broadcasts. You will still need to rent charters digital box if you want digital cable. |
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Varlik
Without Honor You Will Never Be Free
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Anderson, SC
·Charter Pipeline
edit:
July 7th, @10:47AM
| reply to AFStinger
»www.charter.com/customers/suppor···eid=1986
"What Is the Digital Transition
Congress has mandated that by February 17, 2009 American TV over-the-air broadcasters (e.g. ABC, CBS, NBC, CW, Fox, Univision, PBS) must switch from analog to digital broadcasting.
How will I be affected by the Digital Transition?
As a Charter residential or business customer, we’ve got you covered. We offer you the best solution for the Digital Transition.
If your TV is connected to Charter Cable or Charter Digital Cable, you can sit back and relax, you don’t have to do anything!
Have analog TVs that aren’t connected to Charter yet? No problem. We have solutions for you. A Charter technician can get your TVs properly connected to Charter – often no receiver box is needed"
»www.dtv.gov/whatisdtv.html
Cable and Satellite TV
Cable subscribers may need new DTV equipment to view DTV programming in digital format. You should ask your cable provider what you will need and when.
Satellite subscribers may need new DTV equipment to receive and view high definition digital programming. You should ask your satellite company what you will need and when.
Digital television Quality Levels
There are many quality levels of digital television programming. The most common are:
Standard Definition TV (SDTV) - SDTV is the basic level of quality display and resolution for both analog and digital. Transmission of SDTV may be in either the traditional (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) format.
Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV) - EDTV is a step up from Analog Television. EDTV comes in 480p widescreen (16:9) or traditional (4:3) format and provides better picture quality than SDTV, but not as high as HDTV.
High Definition TV (HDTV) - HDTV in widescreen format (16:9) provides the highest resolution and picture quality of all digital broadcast formats. Combined with digitally enhanced sound technology, HDTV sets new standards for sound and picture quality in television. (Note: HDTV and digital TV are not the same thing — HDTV is one format of digital TV.) |
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budone
join:2002-09-07
Traverse City, MI
| reply to Indravar
said by Indravar :
Except the OTA channels will be and already are in HD for the most part.
This is simply not true. Many MANY shows are not broadcast in HD and they will NOT miraculously be shown in HD in February. They WILL BE broadcast digitally.
Such as syndicated shows and many local stations news broadcast. Reality shows.
HD=High Definition is an apple to orange comparison to Digital Broadcast Signal. |
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sdante
join:2008-02-14
Holland, MI
edit:
July 11th, @09:09PM
| reply to dagon01
Indravar is half-right, to be fair - most affiliates in larger markets already broadcast an HD version of their station over the air, thats why if you have a TV with a built in QAM tuner, the channels are labeled like 13-1, 13-2, 13-3 etc... I used that as an example because our local ABC affiliate broadcasts a standard digital version of its station, an HD version, and its 24-hour weather network over the air.
Just to clarify for everyone who doesn't already know:
High Definition reffers to the RESOLUTION of the picture that you see on your screen. It has more pixels (colored squares) per square inch, therefor the detail is much higher. However most TVs can only display so many pixels at once, hence the need for a special, HD-capable TV to view HD programming.
DIGITAL is merely a way to transport a signal, It uses up less bandwidth on the RF spectrum, which frees up space for other uses (that's the primary motivation for the digital transition). It uses data bits (like binary code) to carry information instead of an analog wave, and therefor is much less prone to distortion. Given the generally poor quality of analog on an antenna, it often looks a lot better in comparison. |
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markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to dagon01
Correct me if im wrong, but there is also the issue of some SHOWS won't be in HD. Even if they say NBC, it does not always mean every show on NBC is HD. I forget really, have not followed it much since I just download everything and use blu-ray player on PC. :P |
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defiant
the fly on the wall
MVM
join:2000-09-04
Whitmore Lake, MI | You are correct. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
edit:
July 12th, @10:24AM
| reply to idreaminblu
said by idreaminblu :
You got a bad attitude. No I don't I get tired of reading the same stupid questions. How fricken complicated to know that the 2009 digital transition
A) does NOT have a thing to do with cable
B) does NOT have a thing to do with HD.
Ok I give a pass to the 99.999% did not know about this transition as far back as when I did, BUT at this late stage of the game with just 7 months to go. Come on now. If people don't know what's going on by now, perhaps watching TV is to complicated for them anyways. |
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Margolis
Premium
join:2003-11-24
Saint Louis, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| said by BF69 :said by idreaminblu :
You got a bad attitude. No I don't I get tired of reading the same stupid questions. How fricken complicated to know that the 2009 digital transition A) does NOT have a thing to do with cable B) does NOT have a thing to do with HD. Ok I give a pass to the 99.999% did not know about this transition as far back as when I did, BUT at this late stage of the game with just 7 months to go. Come on now. If people don't know what's going on by now, perhaps watching TV is to complicated for them anyways. actually you do have a bad attitude. That is why the forum is here, for people to ask questions and get answers if they do not know. Not so they can chewed out by someone who thinks that they are smarter than everyone else.
Wondering if the cable stations are going to convert the signal back to analog is a valid question. Some of us know the answers, but I don't expect every last soul to know.
How hard is it to just answer the question without being a smartass? I've only seen the charter commercial a couple of times in the last year that said cable customers need not worry, I could very easily believe that a lot of people have never seen it and would wonder. |
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sdante
join:2008-02-14
Holland, MI
| reply to dagon01
Wondering if the cable stations are going to convert the signal back to analog is a valid question. Some of us know the answers, but I don't expect every last soul to know.
Just to clarify before anyone asks, the answer is yes  |
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pbarrow
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Montgomery, AL
edit:
July 12th, @05:39PM
| I have another related post - yes Charter still and will have analog - but it WILL and IS changing.
As I said in the other post - I just got a brochure the other day from Charter "more channels", "we're making changes to enhance your Charter esperience" on 8/5/2008.
Not for me - they are moving a couple of the channels I watch most - one being TCM to the Digital Expanded tier.
So now I'm going to have to go get a digtal cable box - don't know if I will have to pay more for Digital Basic/Expanded than I am for Analog Basic/Expanded or not (besides the cable box (which should not cost extra in my opinion)).
They are converting (some)digital channels to analog to send out analog so Basic/Expanded whould be the same price for Analog or Digital and both should offer the same channels - in my opinion. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| I still really believe that they will dump analog completely as quick as they can. It may be cheaper for them to provide digital cable boxes with analog outputs than to live without the bandwidth that analog uses. Add to that the cost of converting the stations digital signal back to analog add it makes even more sense. |
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LAdude
@mpionbroadband.com
| reply to dagon01
Charter as well as Time Warner and others have already started moving certain channels from analog to their digital lineup. Time Warner in Southern California now simultaneously provides the majority of its cable networks in analog and digital form.
My guess is that they will continue to phase analog channels out in favor of digital so they have more room for HD channels and more interactive content.
A good question that it brings up though, can "digital" channels be carried on channels 2-99? I've never seen a cable company that has any digital channels below 100, but I assume that will change after the switch. It's a little annoying when a person wants to watch say CBS channel 2, and because it's digital, it's now on channel 782 or some other random 3 digit channel. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| reply to Margolis
said by Margolis :actually you do have a bad attitude. That is why the forum is here, for people to ask questions and get answers if they do not know. No I don't have a bad attitude. This is NOT the first time someone has brought this up. There a little feature this site has called SEARCH. You may not care that this forum might have 10 threads of this everyday as the deadline gets closer. Some of us might.
Not so they can chewed out by someone who thinks that they are smarter than everyone else. »www.dtv2009.gov/
would answer ALL questions. Everyone should known this url by now. ZERO excuses.
Wondering if the cable stations are going to convert the signal back to analog is a valid question. Some of us know the answers, but I don't expect every last soul to know. That's not what was asked. He asked if Charter was switching to all HD in Feb 2009 because of the digital transition. Which I am sorry, is in fact a stupid question for the reasons I stated.
How hard is it to just answer the question without being a smartass? I've only seen the charter commercial a couple of times in the last year that said cable customers need not worry, I could very easily believe that a lot of people have never seen it and would wonder. There are all sorts of commericals out there and you don't need to see a Charter one. I see about 10 commericals a day on this topic and I don't even watch TV hardly. |
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