There's some question what the various cable TV carriers and satellite companies are going to do when analog broadcasting shuts down. Since anybody watching satellite already has a digital receiver, with analog output if they have an analog TV, not much is likely to change for DishNet or DirecTV.
I would imagine that Time Warner won't change - that would mean spending money on new equipment, which they don't like to do. Ditto Comcast.
Everest, on the other hand, is making a big, mysterious fuss about "next year", when they're going to "overhaul the system" or "change everything". I think they'd be pretty dumb to ditch every customer who doesn't need to replace their analog TV yet, but they don't always do what I consider smart.
Of course, getting a straight answer out of any of these companies about their technology strategy over the next ten years wouldn't even be likely for a Congressional Commission, let alone local staff. Us customers are just going to take what they give us.
They may be talking about switching over to IPTV or similar transmission system
On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Jonathan Hutchins hutchins@tarcanfel.org wrote:
On 7/5/08 4:08 PM, "Jonathan Hutchins" hutchins@tarcanfel.org wrote:
There was a recent article in "Red Tape Chronicles" on MSNBC.com about precisely this. Right now, most cable companies offer the "Basic" cable tier on an analog signal, including TWC and Comcast here in town. Older TVs with the BNC connector on the back accept the analog signal.
Comcast has announced that it is converting to all-digital in several markets, which will ostensibly allow for more channels and services in the bandwidth previously taken by the analog signal. If/when this occurs, folks with basic cable may have to upgrade to set-top boxes or newer TVs which accept a digital signal.
Matt Copple mcopple@kcopensource.org
On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 10:09 PM, Matthew Copple mcopple@kcopensource.org wrote:
Above NOT trimmed for making scroll up re-reads easier.
Nitpick or question is an open case till you reply Matt-
BNC or F59? Yeah, technically the cable now is RG6 etc but F59 is accepted to identify. PAL sets often had either a true BNC or an Euroclone notquite morphed version. Do confirm if I am understanding....
Then I am curious about the set top box/es mentioned.
That "already has a digital..." is not as it first seems. VERY few Pay-TV Sat boxes have an RF input for other than the Sat's LNB band and perhaps a Ch3/4 NTSC Pass-Thru. There's a Smaller % of boxes that DID offer conversion of that Ch3/4 NTSC to either HDTVsimulated or NTSC RF/NTSC A/V for Security Lobby cams etc. I have only seen a handful of them my self and heard of maybe 10 total actually so used. The reality check here is that other than the purpose built ATSC OTA boxes damned few external devices will translate ATSC to NTSC analog with an exception of Linux based gear that can have it's settings altered. Sad but over all true. With respect for the part about Dish/Direct subscribers not needing to do anything -that holds true for the SAT channels only. There's NOT a box from any provider I have even heard of that integrates the ATSC conversion from OTA antenna jacks with Sat.
One legendarily EVIL headache for analog NTSC cabled systems is Bleed in and out. Signals from OTA leak IN and raise one form of havoc. Signals leaking OUT raise others. Intermodulations between the realms has driven many techs to babbling substance abusing burnout... I have worked for and with such victims and have-let's say experiences of empathy. Which leads to as part of REUSING the vacated spectrum OTA we have to vacate it not only OTA but wherever it could LEAK from a poorly handled cable. EX: Little kid digs out mommy's Atari oldskool boxen. It's got a lovely F59 to twinlead to push on F59 balun lashup last used in 1986.Kid masters the pluging inof all the cruft and blissfully ignorant of what's about to befall some unlucky soul as a public radio service frequency gets clobbered from signal egress. Yeah you may now either chuckle in consignment to crackpot status or begin the cold sweat of reality being not an if but WHEN a similar story literally kills.
THAT is why the nitpicking over life safety affecting systems is so elaborate.
See THIS:
http://radiosilencefdny.com/tellus.php
And get more afraid when you begin grasping how many homes are using VoIP or Cell and whole contigious areas might be totally screwed for Emergency Comms of any sort. I live approx 8 miles from the nearest EMS contact point by road. Call that close to 20 minutes REAL response time if a fire run needed to be communicated by car! I suspect there's a lot of worse cases. The inversion of this could be if we had mesh backboned spectrum with battery backup in each node a message for help would become MORE certain to be heard. Here's my pitch for a REALLY new tech idea.
Mandate the assignment of some "Cloud-to Ground" bandspread so meshed clouds can link to the larger net. THEN any VoIP device which can reach the nearest "Cloud" also could reach the web and therefore help. And Linux of course is the logical toolset for this.
IF you have constructive comments please post here. Flames etc either send to me
OFF LIST or better yet sleep on them before sharing them . Let's just leave it as an exercise in civil discourse how you handle this if you disagree with me.
On 7/6/08 12:03 AM, "Oren Beck" orenbeck@gmail.com wrote:
(Other stuff snipped, since I have no idea how to reply)
My reply is:
Nitpick or question is still an open case. My knowledge of electronics is extremely limited, so any round connector with a wire coming through it looks like BNC to me. I used to have a TV with a direct connector for basic cable, and my mother just threw out two of hers when she upgraded to HD. I assumed they were BNC.
I try to avoid any situation where I am forced to make judgments on the suitability of a particular cable for a particular connector. I'm actually a history major who thinks computers are pretty cool, and who accidentally got into the software business (where, thankfully, I've never had to consider such deep philosophical questions as whether something is BNC or F59). I am much more comfortable discussing the effect of the 30 Years War on Enlightenment Radicalism than I am on the potential evils of OTA leaks. My philosophy of electronics is pretty simple -- when I connect power cord to power source, I prefer that nothing "GO BOOM" and that the house remain standing once the transaction is completed. If there is no smoke and the TV works, then I count myself satisfied. If the TV does not work, but the house remains standing, then I wait until my wife comes home, and she patiently explains how the whole thing works, all the while wondering how I managed to make a career in software without ever being able to make a VCR work. If the TV does not work, and the house is gone, then I call the fire department and try to migrate to another country before my wife comes home and discovers that I tried to make something electronic work when she was not present.
That, my friend, is the extent of my knowledge of consumer electronics.
Matthew Copple mcopple@kcfreemason.org
On Saturday 05 July 2008 10:09:39 pm Matthew Copple wrote:
We are confusing the distribution method with the delivery method.
The connection between the "cable box" and the TV can be RF (BNC connector), Composite (usually a yellow RCA connector), or digital for digital TV's (there are a number of other options on newer TV's, but this covers most).
TW's "Analog Tier" is sent over their distribution system as analog RF television. The only real advantage of this is that a "Cable Ready" TV can be used to tune it without an external box.
Cable Ready TV's were a great idea, but cable companies were afraid that people would "steal cable", so they developed incompatible technologies that required a cable box. (This was _before_ digital cable.)
I've always felt like it was a reasonable thing to go back to the concept of component entertainment centers, with (possibly multiple) separate receivers and a monitor that was nothing more than a display, with no transient tuning capability built into it. Why make a big fuss about legislating a digital tuner in new TV's when an external tuner made more sense?
Anyway, whether the signal on the wires is digital or analog makes no practical difference if you have an external receiver.
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Jonathan Hutchins -
Matthew Copple -
Oren Beck -
Philip Dorr