1 Year Till Analog TV Signals Are Cut

[braxus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080217/ap_on_hi_te/digital_tv_transition;_ylt=AuT4vSbZSxZKiZiUiSE2fYW s0NUE

Reading a news report on that fact that in exactly one year today all analog TV transmissions will cease and the transition to digital tv will be complete in the U.S. I live in Canada, so this will effect us up here as well. I called the local cable outfit here and they said Canada will have to follow the U.S. in timeframe since they cannot receive analog signals from U.S. stations to broadcast in Canada.

My gripe is this. I don't mind buying a new HDTV as I had plans to do this for years and was waiting for the right time. Secondly I have heard from my local cable outfit which is SHAW TV, that the digital tuners being put in t.v.s sold in North America still won't receive the signals sent by the cable company. You need to buy their cable box which is designed to receive their specific signals. Each box has a serial number and that is what is used to send the signal to your specific box. So I now have to get a cable box as well for each t.v. which isn't great. Top it off they charge $60 a month here for digital cable to 2 sets, or $57 to 1 set. Thats well over the $30+ dollars per month being paid now. Total cash cow. I don't know how seniors are going to handle the increase in pricing. And finally if you want to record an digital transmission, you use the analog outputs to a dvd recorder. You are not being allowed to record them in hi def because of copyright issues. I can live with that, but I like to record news broadcasts like stories or shuttle launches/ coverage. So I won't get the full signal for that. It will not be fun when I have to use DVD rez to record moon landings again when I'd like to watch them in HD. Why they ever allowed the vcr to come about with tuners in them I don't know, since they are obviously not allowing you to archive anything off tv anymore today. Didn't they have a thing called 'fair use' for home recording as long as its kept in the home?

[SlumpBuster]

I'm sorry that you are so upset by the change, seeing as it will not effect you. If you have cable, any cable at all, whether analog or digital, it will not effect you. The change only effects people using analog TVs with rabbit ears.

If you called your cable company to complain and they tried to sell you something, then they are trying to rip you off. They are using it as an opportunity to upsell you to digital cable.

[braxus]

If analog signals are being turned off, how then can having analog cable help me next year? Or is it they are still planning to send analog signals through cable from a digital transmission? As far as I've heard by 2011 it will be against the law to transmit any analog signals, so that tells me you will have to switch eventually anyway.

[Woochifer]

If analog signals are being turned off, how then can having analog cable help me next year? Or is it they are still planning to send analog signals through cable from a digital transmission? As far as I've heard by 2011 it will be against the law to transmit any analog signals, so that tells me you will have to switch eventually anyway.

I haven't heard anything about that. The FCC has jurisdiction over the public airwaves, and the main reason for the analog shutdown is to free up those frequencies for other uses. Cable TV systems are mostly private owned, and governed by franchise agreements that vary from community to community. Their signals are not beamed over the public airwaves, so there's no logical reason as to why any law would prohibit analog signals over a private wired network.

The only analog signals getting turned off next year are the over-the-air broadcasts. Cable companies simply retransmit those broadcast signals through their analog infrastructure. Conversion to digital won't mean much to them since basic cable channels such as CNN and ESPN are already fed over digital satellite signals that the cable companies then assign to an analog channel number. Cable companies will likely continue to maintain their analog infrastructure until the demand is no longer there. And given that the majority of TVs in use remain analog TVs, that won't happen for a while.

[pixelthis]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080217/ap_on_hi_te/digital_tv_transition;_ylt=AuT4vSbZSxZKiZiUiSE2fYW s0NUE

Reading a news report on that fact that in exactly one year today all analog TV transmissions will cease and the transition to digital tv will be complete in the U.S. I live in Canada, so this will effect us up here as well. I called the local cable outfit here and they said Canada will have to follow the U.S. in timeframe since they cannot receive analog signals from U.S. stations to broadcast in Canada.

My gripe is this. I don't mind buying a new HDTV as I had plans to do this for years and was waiting for the right time. Secondly I have heard from my local cable outfit which is SHAW TV, that the digital tuners being put in t.v.s sold in North America still won't receive the signals sent by the cable company. You need to buy their cable box which is designed to receive their specific signals. Each box has a serial number and that is what is used to send the signal to your specific box. So I now have to get a cable box as well for each t.v. which isn't great. Top it off they charge $60 a month here for digital cable to 2 sets, or $57 to 1 set. Thats well over the $30+ dollars per month being paid now. Total cash cow. I don't know how seniors are going to handle the increase in pricing. And finally if you want to record an digital transmission, you use the analog outputs to a dvd recorder. You are not being allowed to record them in hi def because of copyright issues. I can live with that, but I like to record news broadcasts like stories or shuttle launches/ coverage. So I won't get the full signal for that. It will not be fun when I have to use DVD rez to record moon landings again when I'd like to watch them in HD. Why they ever allowed the vcr to come about with tuners in them I don't know, since they are obviously not allowing you to archive anything off tv anymore today. Didn't they have a thing called 'fair use' for home recording as long as its kept in the home?

You are wrong on several points.
Local broadcasters will send stuff over the air, with a UHF antenna (I recomend shacks uhf
antenna) and a hd tuner you can receiver local broadcasts, and if they come in at all they will be clear as a bell, HD quality.
As for recording, I have a dual tuner DVR from my cable company, my dish system also had something similar.
I can record HD, and I can copy off of my dvr in SD onto a dvd recorder, which I do sometimes foir my own use. Its great, and not that expensive, compared to what you get.
Trust me you're gonna love the world of HD, go ahead and take the plunge:1: