2009 Digital TV switchover question

[KML0224]

Dumb question for DTV/HDTV: My 26" Sanyo LCD HDTV has a QAM tuner included in it. Come February 2009, is it still going to work without the need of a new type of converter? While I do have an antenna as a backup, I'd like to know that I'll still be able to receive stations with the cable directly hooked to the TV. Right now, I get the following in New Britain, CT on Comcast:

WFSB-DT Hartford 3-1 [as 89-1] CBS
WTNH-DT New Haven 8-1 [as 88-3] ABC
WTXX-DT Waterbury 20-1 [as 82-1] CW
WTXX-DT Waterbury 20-2 [as 82-2] The Tube
WEDH-DT Hartford 24-1 [as 82-3] PBS (CABLE ONLY)
WVIT-DT New Britain 30-1 [as 88-1] NBC
WVIT-DT New Britain 30-2 [as 88-2] NBC Weather Plus
WTIC-DT Hartford 61-1 [as 89-2] FOX

 

[Markxxx]

The cable company will convert the digital signal to QAM, as they now conver the NTSC signal (if they get the TV station from an OTA feed) so you're covered. This is why the government will only have to give coupons to for converter boxes to those who get TV over the air.

 

[RadioFanBoy]

It's going to be interesting to see if the cable companies EVER carry all of the second and third OTA digital channels. (I don't know any cable operator caring QUBO 24/7 for example). I know much kicking and screaming was done by Charter in Riverside, CA before they relented to carry three sub-channels; The Tube and two from the local ABC station. As of now they refuse to give equal space to NBC's Weather Plus.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Interesting how Canada is two years behind, as the decision was made by the CRTC not to make the switch until 2011.

I wonder...What makes Canada so special?
Why is it that an extra two years needed?
Why can't Canada just do this at the same time as the States?

Source: http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISarticle.asp?id=69122&story_id=&issue=05172007&PC=

 

[BRNout]

Interesting how Canada is two years behind, as the decision was made by the CRTC not to make the switch until 2011.

I wonder...What makes Canada so special?
Why is it that an extra two years needed?
Why can't Canada just do this at the same time as the States?

Source: http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/ISarticle.asp?id=69122&story_id=&issue=05172007&PC=

Well, as you know, Canada has fewer broadcasters - each of which have many small transmitter sites (hundreds?) scattered across the country. Most of which serve small populations and all of which would need to be converted to digital. The economics of that would be tough, I'd imagine.

And, many rural areas contain high percentages of the population who get TV via satellite or OTA. Not to mention that the switch will be a more expensive burden (in relative terms) for Canadians than for Americans - as the per capita income is generally a bit lower. And, a higher percentage of the OTA viewers in Canada reside in fairly isolated (and low income) places. Which makes the switch even more difficult - economically (and politically). If all of Canada was like Toronto or Calgary or Vancouver - it would be easy....but that's not the case.

I would imagine that those logistical issues, plus the different type of bureaucracy that exists in Canada with the CRTC (clearly less business friendly than the FCC), have combined to cause the delay.

 

[ShawnHill1]

I brought a new digital TV for my birthday this past March, and I have digital cable as well. Anywho, as sort of a experiment, I put in a cable splitter, with one wire going directly to the cable box (while I have A/V cables going from the TV to the box), the another going to the TV. I usually do it in the case of the cable box going out. Then, I went through the auto-memory channel programming, which it being a cable-ready digital television took more than 20 minutes to complete. I don't know the acutal total amount of channels, but it had to be at least 100 or so.

Those include:

*all of the local channels (in their digital form and the HD feeds of KCBS, KNBC, KTLA/CW, KABC, KCAL, KTTV/Fox, and KCET/PBS).

*the public access channels (both from Inglewood and South Los Angeles [Time Warner has the same head-end for both cities], L.A.'s city government channel, and another community access channel).

*the digital subchannels of KTLA (The Tube), KABC (ABC7 Plus and ABC7 Weather Now), and KNBC (NBC Weather Plus).

*two TV Guide Channels (one with the Inglewood listings, the other with the L.A. listings).

*The Weather Channel

*all 46 Music Choice channels

*two unscrambled/encrypted Pay-Per-View sports channels (currently carrying MLB Extra Innings)

*HBO Zone (during the recent HBO-Cinemax free preview weekend, we got all the HBO/Max that TWC currently carries, in the clear)

*Superstation WGN

*All three C-SPANs

*The Pay-Per-View and Video on Demand barker channels

*"wild-feeds" of Video on Demand content...meaning whenever I tune to dedicated "On-Demand" channel, sometimes a movie from HBO would show, or a show from Nickelodeon, or something else from A&E, just as an example.

I did pose a question to the cable company, and asked them that since I have a digital TV (with the built-in QAM tuner), and wanted to get digital basic cable, would I still need a converter, and they said you still do.

 

[KML0224]

That's quite a bit of QAM! Beats what I'm getting here in central Connecticut!

 

[ansky212]

I
I did pose a question to the cable company, and asked them that since I have a digital TV (with the built-in QAM tuner), and wanted to get digital basic cable, would I still need a converter, and they said you still do.

You'll probably still need a converter box to access any premium services like HBO or PPV.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Also with Canada, I think some broadcasters were hoping that they wouldn't have to convert over to digital OTA and could just shut off their OTA signals completely in the future, particularly CTV and Global. CBC has digital OTA in Montreal and Ottawa, but neither Global or CTV do. In the end the CRTC decided to force everyone to convert to prevent the same thing that happened in the early 1950s, and that was people near the border watching all American stations.

Also it is my understanding that some of the highly remote northern transmitters are going to remain analog because converting to digital would be just too costly. I wouldn't be surprised to see much of the CBC North network remaining on analog, and some transmitters in far northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador.

 

[jal41]

I did pose a question to the cable company, and asked them that since I have a digital TV (with the built-in QAM tuner), and wanted to get digital basic cable, would I still need a converter, and they said you still do.

Does the TV support the new CableCard standard? If so, then all you need is to get one from your cable company, and put it in the CableCard slot on the TV. You should be able to get all of the digital cable channels then.

The FCC requires cable companies to support CableCard, with a few exceptions. I believe the FCC is also going to require all TV's and accessory devices (Tivo, DVD Recorders, etc.) to support CableCard.

I am suprised you plugged in your TV and were able to get all of those channels without anything. I would assume the reason you are not getting any other channels is that their signals are located in the frequencies above Channel 125.

BTW. Comcast in Atlanta is currently moving channels over to digital exclusively (including a local cable only religious channel, which will be available on cable channel 5 with digital boxes, but not on analog TV's), as well as digital simulcasting. I wouldn't be surprised if several cable companies go all-digital in the next couple of years.

 

[ShawnHill1]

I did pose a question to the cable company, and asked them that since I have a digital TV (with the built-in QAM tuner), and wanted to get digital basic cable, would I still need a converter, and they said you still do.

Does the TV support the new CableCard standard? If so, then all you need is to get one from your cable company, and put it in the CableCard slot on the TV. You should be able to get all of the digital cable channels then.

The FCC requires cable companies to support CableCard, with a few exceptions. I believe the FCC is also going to require all TV's and accessory devices (Tivo, DVD Recorders, etc.) to support CableCard.

I am suprised you plugged in your TV and were able to get all of those channels without anything. I would assume the reason you are not getting any other channels is that their signals are located in the frequencies above Channel 125.

BTW. Comcast in Atlanta is currently moving channels over to digital exclusively (including a local cable only religious channel, which will be available on cable channel 5 with digital boxes, but not on analog TV's), as well as digital simulcasting. I wouldn't be surprised if several cable companies go all-digital in the next couple of years.

Unfortunately, mine's doesn't even a slot where I could put in the CableCard. However, I would be nice to have one that does. The TVs I saw that are CableCard-ready are a bit of my price range right now, and I got a good deal on the one I did purchased (27-inch for $210). My cable company doesn't charge for the CableCard, but its drawbacks are no on-screen program guide (and I don't care much for the TV Guide Channel), and no access to either Video on Demand nor Pay-Per-View. However, I read that the next version of the CableCard is suppose correct all of that.

On the other subjects, most cable companies (at least ones in my area) have already moved the premium channels exclusively to digital. You right though, jal41, it will be a matter of time that every channel will be exclusively on digital cable. Besides, the picture quality is so much better.

 

[byron]

Music Choice? Premiums? PPV? Wait... you can tune digital cable programming in on a digital/HDTV with just a built-in QAM tuner? How's that now possible? It's IP-based.


Byron

 

[ShawnHill1]

Music Choice? Premiums? PPV? Wait... you can tune digital cable programming in on a digital/HDTV with just a built-in QAM tuner? How's that now possible? It's IP-based.


Byron

I can't explain all of the technical parameters, or give a long-winded response, but I will say that at first I was bit surprised that I received what I did. Some of those channels I mentioned in my eariler post are already part of the limited basic package from my cable company. Often times, however a few of the regular basic channels (Nick, Spike, TLC, and TV Land--in their analog form) would sneak through, while everything else is scrambled. Also, I live in an area that was formerly a Comcast-serviced territory, and is now part of Time Warner, and everything (since the conversion last summer) is a work in progress.

 

[Markxxx]

I'm not sure if this is the correct explination but where I live Comcast put WWME-CA on channel 223, which is a digital channel. Comcast says it's free, but the catch is you have to rent a "DIGITAL" converter. If you have an analog converter you only get up to Channel 99.

I found that my old WebTV which has it's own tuner tunes up to channel 999. I could get anything above channel 99 directly including WWME Channel 223, simply by using the WebTV tuner. Comcast didn't scramble it. I could also tune the music channels too. Almost everything else was scrambled though.

Of course that was in 2004, so it may have changed.

 

[jegrant]

That's really interesting! I never heard of a WebTV box that could tune digital cable in that fashion. Do you know what model WebTV it was? It might be a cheap way to get some digital channels on old TVs - people could just buy old WebTV boxes.