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Introduction

 

What exactly is HDTV all about?  Americans do not have a very good understanding of it yet. For instance:

This article answers these questions and more, Read on.

 

The Basics - Q&A

 

Q.  I heard that TV's won't work after 2009 (formerly 2006), and that I will have to buy a new one. Is this true?

A.  Sort of, but not really. It is true that all TV’s that are hooked up to antennas will no longer work, but that absolutely does not mean that you will have to buy a brand new TV right away. At the very least, you can buy a new digital tuner and hook it up between your existing antenna and your existing TV. If you had good reception before, you will probably still have good reception. But this probably won't matter to you, because you don't use an antenna, you have cable or satellite, so you're not affected.

 

Q.  You're right, my TV doesn’t use an antenna, it uses cable (or satellite), so what do I do?

A.  You'll continue to get TV reception. Your TV will continue to work normally for years to come. The big changes that are underway affect Over-The-Air (OTA) broadcasting that antennas use, but the cable-TV and satellite-TV market is not affected. At least not for now. Now, if you want high-def, that's another story, read on.

 

Q.  Does anyone still use antennas?

A.  Oh Goodness Yes!  While the vast majority of TV's in the US (over 4-out-of-5) are on cable or satellite, there are about 60 or 70 million TV's in the US that are on antennas, such as roof-mounted antennas or ”rabbit-ears" antennas.  They will see nothing but static when analog broadcasting is shut down. There are lots of people in remote and Midwestern states  facing this reality, and their Congressmen are starting to talk about the consequences - an instant demand for up to 70 million digital tuners!

 

Q.  Why won’t antennas work anymore?

A.  Actually the antenna still works, it's the analog tuner inside the TV that's the problem.  There are two kinds of signals, analog and digital. Analog signals are continuous waves like you see on the surface of the ocean. Digital signals are ones and zeros like your computer processes. Both types can be transmitted OTA and can be picked up by an antenna over a Radio-Frequency (RF) carrier wave. Conventional TV’s have analog tuners because the broadcaster’s RF transmissions have contained analog signals for the past 50 years. The new standard announced by the FCC is for digital broadcasting instead of analog. The reason for the change is the resulting improvement in picture quality is profound.

 

Q.   How can the FCC make such a dramatic change?

A.   It’s not the first time. When the FCC announced the change from black-and-white to color 50 years ago, the change was backwards-compatible, meaning that anyone with a black-and-white TV would still get a picture, it just wouldn't be in color. This time, however, the change in the TV broadcasting format is not backwards-compatible. Every analog TV tuner in America will become obsolete.  As you might expect, there is big difference between 1950’s-era technology and 2000 technology. The most astounding aspect of this is that it took so long to change the format. Honestly, think about, you've got a computer with a 3.2 GHz CPU, an tiny IPOD storing 10,000 MP3's, and a TV that uses a 50 year old signal format! Sheesh!     The Government will auction off the old analog spectrum after the switch is complete, which will provide billions in revenue, so it's possible the FCC is doing this for reasons other than improving things for consumers.

 

Q.  What exactly do you mean by "TV broadcasting format"?

A.  TV broadcasting is a radio-frequency (RF) signal transmitted over the airwaves, just like AM and FM radio. The FCC is the authority over how the RF spectrum is used. The US has been using the same analog-over-RF TV broadcasting format for over 50 years, which is a testimony to how rock-solid and popular the original format was, not to mention how stubborn and resistant-to-change Americans can be. The purpose of an antenna is to pickup RF signals, regardless of whether they are analog or digital. Do not throw away your UHF antenna! It will do a great job picking up the new digital signal, which is on a UHF frequency.

 

Q.  Is the digital signal available now? Can I make my antenna pickup the new digital signal?

A.  Yes and hopefully-yes. Virtually every TV sold in the US for the last 50 years contained a cathode ray tube (CRT), speakers, and an analog RF tuner.  The CRT and the speakers are still fine, but the analog RF tuner is not going to be able to receive the digital RF signals. If you want to continue to watch TV on your antenna-connected TV after 2006, you will have to go out and buy a digital tuner, and hook it up between your antenna and your TV. The digital tuner will tune in your station from the antenna, then it will rebroadcast it to your TV as an analog-RF signal. Of course, if you have the money, you can just buy a new digital TV instead. Digital TV signals are available "over the air" almost everywhere in the US now. The digital tuners cost about $400 (I wrote this in 2004), but by 2006/2007 they will probably drop down to less than $100. They will sell very well, after all, there are about 60 million TV sets that will need them right away. Most people say that they can only get 2 or 3 of the 8 or 10 HDTV channels OTA, so geography has a lot to do with it. The more you get, the closer you can come to fantasizing about canceling your expensive cable TV service (gasp!).

 

Q. Is HDTV the same thing as digital TV?

A. Yes, at least it is in the US. HDTV means High Definition TV, and it represents one of three main resolution formats that the FCC has standardized on for digital TV.  The three are Standard Definition (SD), Enhanced Definition (ED), and High Definition (HD). They are all digital, so they all look much better than traditional TV. Traditional TV has 480 lines of resolution and has an interlaced refresh, meaning that one screen-refresh consists of two passes, one for the even--numbered lines, and one for the odd-numbered lines. Digital SDTV is the same as traditional TV, except it is digital instead of analog. Digital EDTV is the same 480 lines of resolution as traditional TV, except it has a progressive refresh, meaning that one screen-refresh consists of one only pass instead of two. Digital HDTV is a minimum of 720 lines of resolution with a progressive-scan refresh, making it the best-looking of them all.

 

Q. Can I buy an HDTV now?

A. Yes, but if you wait another year or two, you will see lower prices and a much broader selection. You can go out and buy a $700 HDTV 32" CRT, but it will weigh over 200 pounds. You can buy a 36" LCD HDTV that weighs less than 40 pounds, but it will cost over $5000.  In the long run, the industry predicts that LCD and Plasma TV's will dominate the market, and that CRT (tube-tv's) will disappear. In the very long run, LCD will probably continue to dominate over Plasma, or an even better technology will come along and blow everything else away.

 

Connections

The video and audio connection commonly found on the consumer market.

 

Final Thoughts

 

It's important to learn about the new digital TV format, it's exciting to see the fancy, beautiful new flat-panel TV's, and in the years to come we'll all have easy access to an HDTV.

But personally, the thing I want to know is when the entertainment industry expects all (or most) TV programming to be in native high-def. When will every sitcom, prime-time-drama, news program, made-for-TV-movie, sports show, soap opera, fishing show, cooking show, and commercial be recorded on a new high-def digital camera, and appear on my HDTV as such?

Essentially the only native high-def programming anyone can get right now is prime-time network-broadcast shows (ABS/CBS/NBC//PBS etc) and a tiny handful of others. I get the impression that it will start to happen in 2006 and will quickly spread in the years to follow.

And when will every movie on VHS and on DVD be remastered from the original film negative onto high-def-DVD? Actually I'm dubious about that will happen, we'll see. I think it depends on the resolution of the original master film.

Lastly, it is worth pointing out that people in the industry have said that the real scoop behind the digital TV is that it allows the government to take back the VHF spectrum, which is where most of the analog NTSC channels reside.  DTV lives in the UHF spectrum. The UHF spectrum never caught on big with broadcasters, so there is lots of room in it for DTV. This "frequency grab" will allow the government to profit from selling the VHF spectrum for the first time.

 

http://www.hdtv.net/faq.htm