On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 10:09 PM, Matthew Copple mcopple@kcopensource.org wrote:
On 7/5/08 4:08 PM, "Jonathan Hutchins" hutchins@tarcanfel.org wrote:
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.
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
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.