WHATS THE REAL REASON FOR ..

[ds549]

DIGITAL TV SIGNALS??

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[LouB]

Better picture quality using less bamdwidth.

Lou

[TD]

It's a secret way for "them" to spy on "us".

[RLM]

(Sarcasm) To think, I never gave it any thought that little red headed Ronnie Howard on the Andy Griffith show had freckles. In the future I'll have to see them too. Imagine the pimples I've missed.

Technology's wonderful!

[tnom]

Ultimately it is money. Digital broadcasters will now have the capability to become a pay per view or copy protected signal. Of course this isn't the stated reason for digital. The stated reason is higher quality.

Similarly Blue Ray disc technology is loved by the entertainment industry because it can include very difficult to defeat copy protection. The stated reason for Blue Ray is of course quality. In actuality it is the money that can be made by outdating a perfectly good technology with newer more controllable technology.

Both technologies should be termed: Trojan Technology

[Steve Barker DLT]

To free up bandwidth. (note proper spelling)

It's my understanding they want to use the existing frequencies for other things.

s

[Ulysses]

Um, I always thought it was just a way for the government to make more money by auctioning off the radio spectrum that belongs to us.

I also agree with the comment about control technology,

[Mark Lloyd]

That would be SOME of the existing frequencies. Existing TV broadcast channels 2-50 will be unaffected. For that reason your existing TV antenna will probably be OK for digital.

[Ed Pawlowski]

For one thing, many of us want it. Clearer picture, high definition, better sound. I'm still getting both on some stations on my HD TV and it is a definite improvement on the digital channels.

At some point when technology advances, you just have to make the leap and some people will be left behind.

[LouB]

Nipples too!!!

[hallerb]

most VHF channels will be no longer used.

broadcasters could get together and create a basic package of cable like channels using the new digital channels with MPEG 4 compression.

The local channels plus 6 cable like pay channels

if thereb are 8 local channels and each thats near 50 channels.that be a pretty good revenue stream for locals

dont forget digital does not mean high def

[J. Clarke]

There are only 12 of them, so there isn't much "most" there. In any case channels 2-13 remain reserved for broadcast television. The channels that have been diverted to other use are VHF 52-69.

And the FCC will promptly pull the plug on them for unauthorized transmissions. MPEG-4 was added to ATSC in version 2.0 which was only released a couple of months ago and is not part of the US broadcast standard unless the FCC decides to add it.

And by what mechanism will broadcasters collect the pay? Will they require their own set top boxes?

If anybody will obtain yet another set top box beyond the one required for receiving OTA ATSC transmissions just to have the privilege of paying for OTA transmissions.

However the networks are going to get shirty if their affiliates are not transmitting the HD stream that the network has so expensively put together.