But (most) movies will be watched from a DVD and DVD is not high-def (right?).
Which brings up some related questions.
When a network broadcasts a movie I assume the network distributes that to the affiliates via a satellite feed. But what medium is being used at the source? Are they simply playing a DVD and uploading that? If so does that mean it won't be HD? Or are they using some sort of tape media that is capable of storing in HD? What media are actually capable of recording and playing back true HD?
"FIVE converters, New antenna, etc.... More like $500 in the end, just to be able to use the sets I now have. I can not fanthom spending $1000 or more for a lousy tv set. "
Let's not make this worse than it is. You say you have 3 TV's and 2 VCR's. As was pointed out previously, typically you would need only 3 digital tuners. The tuners output an NTSC signal to the TV/VCR. $1000 for a lousy TV set is way off the mark. The end of NTSC broadcast is set for 3 years from now. Yet, right now, I'm looking at an ad in today's paper where for $1000 you can buy a 51" Hitachi Projection HDTV. Online you can find a 27" CRT HDTV for as little as $300. By March, all TV's 27" and up must have a digital tuner built in. And by
2009 you will of course get a lot more for a lot less.
Of course the idea was that it would save lives and money and we would all save more than the original cost by lower insurance rates. Of course it did not turn out that way, now we more people surviving, but with long term injuries and the cost of air bag replacement and maintenance ... well I suspect the cost is actually higher. Of course I would rather live than die.
Most, if not all of the primary sourcing is done by server technology (RAID arrays, hard disks, etc.). Video tape still exists, but mostly because there are years (and years) of archived shows on video tape. HDTV video tape recorder/players also exist.
A DVD is a consumer product, the content being compressed and optimized to fit on that one 4.7 Gbit (or double-size) DVD disk. The quality is certainly good enough for analog broadcast, but it is not necessarily HDTV. Many people set their DVD players to the letterbox format and think that they are watching true HDTV on their old tv set, but this is not so.
A true HDTV signal must be seen and heard to be appreciated. A special monitor is required. There are 1125 total scan lines vs. just 525 for NTSC. There are 1080 active lines (visible on the screen) vs. about 480 for NTSC. HDTV includes 5.1 audio or 5 channels of audio with surround vs. two channels for NTSC (stereo). The aspect ratio for HDTV is 16:9 vs. 4:3 for NTSC. HDTV is not interlaced.
Very few sets offer the ability to scan in 720p (progressive), and much of today's high-definition programs are transmitted in the 1080i (interlaced) format. As digital engine based sets such as the DLP and LCD TV's become more common, it is expected to adopt and convert incoming signals to the 720p format. It is inherently simple to do so when using a display technology based on computing monitors, which are natively progressive. Many consumer electronics manufacturers have decided to forego the more expensive circuitry required to scan in 720p. There has been much debate as to if this standard should be adopted in our television sets, and it is indeed the preference of many videophiles in viewing film based pictures in the progressive mode, where the movement flows smoother with the full frame based image.
snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
Yeah.At what PRICES?? Ya think I'm rich? I'm not. Then there's the marginal reception areas where digital TV does not work. So,I need to buy an expensive TV only to find that the digital signal is not strong enough in my locale,so it's a DEAD BOX,just like my NTSC TV.
Made by my WALLET.
It's unreasonable that I am FORCED to change by government fiat,instead of allowing market forces to work.
snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
I've gone over this;MARKET forces decided those issues,not government.
You keep forgetting that the BROADCASTERS would decide depending on their MARKET.It would not be -mandated- that analog TV continue until the last one gives up.
Oh,so then government should decide to eliminate over-the-air completely,force EVERYBODY to buy cable or satellite receivers,by your standards.Then they would have ALL of that TV bandwidth to auction off.
not snipped-for-privacy@xxx.yyy (Beachcomber) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@newsgroups.comcast.net:
I worked for TEKTRONIX for 21.5 years,repairing and calibrating TEK broadcast video test equipment.I also live in an apartment,where external antennas are prohibited,except for the 18" sat dishes.I live well within 30 miles of all the local stations antenna sites,yet have marginal TV reception. I definitely will not receive digital TV. So,I guess next you are going to tell me to move,or pay for cable or sat- TV.
If you have such fundamental disagreements with your government, why don't you just use your consumer power, and move to another country? That way, you get to select the government that is most fitting to your beliefs.
"As with cable boxes,they only output ONE channel,so you cannot record one channel and watch a second at the same time."
Yes that's true. But the poster was claiming that with 3 TV's and 2 VCR's he would need 5 digital tuners. At the very least, with one tuner for each TV, he could watch any program on one and record any other one on the other TV/VCR. Folks like me with cable have managed to work with this restriction for years, it's nothing new.
Plus, I'm having a hard time buying the story that someone with 3 TV's and 2 VCR's is so economically disadvantaged that paying $80-150 for two digital tuners come 2009 is such a big deal.
You might be surprised. My buddy works for one of the local TV stations and they were quite surprised when they lit up their digital transmitter. It is lower power than the analog transmitter and they started getting numerous calls from people in former poor/fringe areas that they were getting a good picture. Part of this is because the DTV can deal with multipath and other issues that plague analog.
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