1 / 44

The End of TV As We Know It: The Digital TV Transition

The End of TV As We Know It: The Digital TV Transition (and what to do about it) Jon Bell, Presbyterian College Faculty Forum, 21 September 2007 with some later updates How People Get TV Source: Television Bureau of Advertising, http://www.tvb.org/ The Big Switch

Sharon_Dale
Download Presentation

The End of TV As We Know It: The Digital TV Transition

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The End of TVAs We Know It:The Digital TV Transition (and what to do about it) Jon Bell, Presbyterian College Faculty Forum, 21 September 2007 with some later updates

  2. How People Get TV Source: Television Bureau of Advertising, http://www.tvb.org/

  3. The Big Switch • By the morning of February 18, 2009, all analog broadcast TV stations in the USA must shut down. • Everyone who receives over-the-air TV with an antenna must switch to digital TV stations which are mostly already in operation.

  4. Why the Switch? • Improved picture quality (HDTV) • More efficient use of bandwidth • Vacate channels 52-69 for other uses and raise money by auctioning them • More bandwidth for emergency services • Keep ahead of the Japanese

  5. Some Alphabet Soup • Analog broadcast & cable TV = NTSC • National Television Systems Committee • Or: “Never Twice the Same Color” • Digital broadcast TV = ATSC • Advanced Television Standards Committee • Also used in Canada, S. Korea, Bahamas, Honduras & Mexico • Europe uses DVB-T • Japan & Brazil use ISDB-T • Digital cable TV = QAM • Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

  6. Key Dates • 1996: Congress authorizes transition • 1997: Each station gets a second channel for digital broadcasts • 2002: Most stations have begun digital broadcasts • 2006: Most stations are at full power • 2006: Congress sets final deadline • 2008: Subsidized converter boxes

  7. ATSC Tuner Mandates

  8. Greenville Channels (1)

  9. Greenville Channels (2)

  10. Columbia Channels

  11. The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality • Analog with weaker and weaker signals • Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information • Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

  12. Not great to begin with…

  13. Getting worse…

  14. Still worse…

  15. Yuck!

  16. The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality • Analog with weaker and weaker signals • Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information • Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

  17. Picture stays like this until…

  18. it’s right on the borderline…

  19. and then it’s gone!

  20. The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality • Analog with weaker and weaker signals • Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information • Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

  21. Typical Program Guide

  22. Another Program Guide

  23. The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality • Analog with weaker and weaker signals • Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information • Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

  24. Virtual Channel Numbers • Stations will continue to “own” their old analog channel numbers, in perpetuity. • Digital TVs display them as virtual channel numbers and automatically convert them to the actual digital channels. • You must do a channel scan so your TV can find the actual digital channels and set up a conversion table. • You normally don’t need to know the actual digital channel.

  25. Typical Channel Scan Indicator

  26. The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality • Analog with weaker and weaker signals • Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information • Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

  27. Multicasting • Total data capacity (bandwidth) of a digital channel is about 19 Mbits/sec • Stations can divide it into sub- channels with different programming • SC ETV (channel 29) • WSPA (channel 7)

  28. ETV subchannel 29.1:Same as analog channel

  29. ETV subchannel 29.2:South Carolina Channel

  30. ETV subchannel 29.3:High definition PBS programs

  31. Multicasting • Total data capacity (bandwidth) of a digital channel is about 19 Mbits/sec • Stations can divide it into sub- channels with different programming • SC ETV (channel 29) • WSPA (channel 7)

  32. WSPA subchannel 7.1:Same as analog channel but in HD

  33. WSPA subchannel 7.2:24/7 weather information

  34. So Far, a Well-Kept Secret • Stations have generally not promoted their digital channels yet • Some retailers claim that you need to buy cable or satellite service in order to get HDTV (FALSE!) • Expect increased publicity from stations and government agencies during the next year

  35. If you use an antenna for analog TV: • You must either • Buy a new TV with an ATSC tuner • HDTV (widescreen plasma, LCD, DLP, etc.) • SDTV (old-style tube TV with ATSC tuner) • Buy an external ATSC tuner (“converter box”) • Federal subsidy program begins in January 2008 • Likewise for VCRs and old DVD recorders, if you use them to record directly “off the air”

  36. Subsidized Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes • Free $40 coupons • Good only for specifically designated converter boxes, purchased at retail • Round 1 – 22 million coupons, up to two per household • Apply at http://www.dtv2009.gov/ beginning 1 January 2008 • Boxes available in February or March

  37. If you use an antenna for analog TV: • You must either • Buy a new TV with an ATSC tuner • HDTV (widescreen plasma, LCD, DLP, etc.) • SDTV (old-style tube TV with ATSC tuner) • Buy an external ATSC tuner (“converter box”) • Federal subsidy program begins in January 2008 • Likewise for VCRs and old DVD recorders, if you use them to record directly “off the air”

  38. Antennas and Digital TV • Digital and analog TV use the same set of VHF and UHF channels. • An antenna cares only about the frequency of the signal (VHF or UHF). • Analog vs. digital matters only to the TV’s tuner. • An antenna that works well with analog channels will probably work well with most digital channels.

  39. Local Antenna Conditions • Greenville stations are 20-80 miles away, several in the NC mountains. • A good roof antenna is needed. • Must be able to receive both high-VHF (7-13) and UHF (14-51) channels. • A rotator and pre-amplifier are helpful. • A good setup can also receive some stations from Columbia and Charlotte.

  40. Local Antenna Conditions • Greenville stations are 20-80 miles away, several in the NC mountains. • A good roof antenna is needed. • Must be able to receive both high-VHF (7-13) and UHF (14-51) channels. • A rotator and pre-amplifier are helpful. • A good setup can also receive some stations from Columbia and Charlotte.

  41. If you use cable TV: • You are not directly affected by the analog broadcast shutdown in 2009. • Cable companies must provide local channels in analog format until 2012. • Starting in 2009 they will convert broadcast digital signals for this purpose • They will probably convert other analog channels to digital during the next few years.

  42. If you use satellite TV: • It’s already digital, so you are not affected by all this, except maybe peripherally.

  43. Resources • Federal Communications Commission • http://www.dtv.gov/ • Subsidized converter box program • http://www.dtv2009.gov/ • Info about HDTV and especially antennas • http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ • Info about TV signals by location • http://www.antennaweb.org/ • http://www.tvfool.com/ • Discussion forums • http://www.avsforum.com/ (see the HDTV Area)

More Related