digital tv

[mm]

A disability is a terrible thing.

I'm collecting money to help it learn to broadcast.

Be all you can be.

Send checks to POB 2102434, Baltimore MD 21255.

[aemeijers]

Willshak is wrong on the basic facts, as well. Lots of cable systems are still sending out the 'basic' channels as analog signals, and will work fine with 'cable ready' TVs and no converter box. This is true even if they are getting a digital stream from the local OTA stations. They are re-transmitting it as analog, so people with old TVs still see the 'DTV Ready' screen card when the tests happen.

Some cities (apparently including Chicago, judging from the traffic on here), the local cable company is trying to drop providing analog signal through the wire, and force everyone into expen$ive set-top boxes, which also give them more bandwidth to play with.

But, analog feed will eventually go away everywhere, and we will all be stuck with the damn boxes. Begs the question- why even make TVs any more? Just sell big monitors with integral sound systems, and better-quality converter/tuner boxes for OTA use. Same business model as home stereos- you can upgrade one component at a time, and only buy the pieces you want or need.

-- aem sends...

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/9/2009 3:25 PM mm spake thus:

Nah, punched paper tape, that's the way to go. Wax can melt.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/9/2009 2:33 PM Van Chocstraw spake thus:

Reminds me of what someone told me years ago about the new ISP he was forced to use: "I've been Comcasted."

[Percival P. Cassidy]

And paper tape can burn. Clay tablets are more reliable still.

Perce

[Robert Neville]

Google on the term QAM Tuner. Many modern TVs have them. QAM is the method that cable companies use to transmit digital channels. Just because a channel is digital does not mean it is encrypted.

[Robert Neville]

The problem with individual IP connections is that it doesn't scale very well.

[mm]

Yes, some places Cable uses that as a selling point, and for some people it is. Also gets people used to using cable, and some of them will upgrade later, especially if they get a job.

ONe advantage of a tv with a tuner (maybe cable boxes allow for this too, but I don't know) is that one can record one show while tuning the tv to watch a different channel. I'm going to miss that next week. I will be able to on my dvdr-harddrive watch a recorded show while recording another show, but that won't let me view two shows transmitted at the same time.

[salty]

In my area, Comcast used strong arm tactics to get people converted to all digital. They did it by taking some of the popular channels in the basic package and making them digital only. If you had the basic package, you did not get a reduction in price for fewer channels. What you got was an offer to get a converter box and a reduced price on the basic DIGITAL package for a year. About the only reason I had stayed with comcast was because I didn't want to have a set top box. Once they made a box madatory, they no longer had any advantage over satellite, which was cheaper. That's when they lost me.

Going digital is a huge cost advantage for cable providers, as it reduces infrastructure costs. They can serve more people with less wire capacity.

They have a big incentive to discontinue analog as quickly as possible even without the OTA changeover coming.

[Cheri]

Totally agree. Not only did they take away the channels, Hallmark, Oxygen, WE, and others, but they just raised the prices for basic cable...again , while not raising the prices for the other tiers. I had Direct TV years ago, but couldn't get local programming, now you can so I am thinking of going back to it. I hate Comcast.

Cheri

[trader4]

And just because someone says they are still receiving cable and it's not all digital doesn't mean QAM is being used. As others have pointed out, there are many cable systems that are still carrying some basic channels in NTSC analog. I can tune in the basic local channels here in NJ on Cablevision with an old TV with NTSC tuner.

[Robert Neville]

This is true... If a cable company does decide to go all digital though, they can broadcast locals in the clear (QAM), or they can issue converter boxes at no charge for the encrypted digital local signals. That's obviously expensive, so I suspect most will just leave locals as analog.

[George]

They did the same thing in my market. I can't believe how many satellite dishes suddenly appeared when they did that. My friend works as the administrator of a local municipality which granted the franchise to Comcast for their municipality. She said they had hundreds of calls and when they brought it up with Comcast they just shrugged it off since they are the only cable company.

[salty]

LOL!

[George]

It is an FCC mandate that they carry the locals unencrypted so that you can use the QAM tuner on your TV to receive them.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Is Comcast the only cable company in the area at all, or is Comcast the only one that has been granted a franchise by the municipality. I understand that Canton, Michigan has cable service from two different companies, so residents have a choice. I don't know which two cable companies those are or whether some other municipalities also allow competition.

Perce

[Jon Danniken]

Incorrect information. Comcast, as of this morning, has pulled analog stations between 32 and 71. They say this is due to an "upgrade", and everyone needs to get a converter now.

Mind you, there are still a few stations in that range that are coming through, b ut the majority are now replaced by a message telling you to get the convertor box.

This is different from the information Comcrap tried to feed us last year, when they told us that we wouldn't need to change anything.

The up side to this is that when I called to cancel my cable TV service, they bent over backwards to keep me. As in cutting $35.00 off of my monthly bill, each month, for a year.

So, they basically bribed me to go with a digital TV box, which they are paying for. I let them.

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

Here is the message they are putting out as of this morning (this is when watching TNT, and a number of other stations (History, AMC, et cetera):

Jon

[Ed Pawlowski]

I was under hte impression that cable companies HAD to provide the channels with no converter box. MetroCast is telling us to hook out old TV's to the cable so no box is needed. Seems like Comcast is screwing people.

[mm]

But this isn't the same digital device that I just bought, the one with the 40 dollar cooupon)??????