Why Digital TV?

No Need to panic over High Definition (digital) TV                   by Ed Primeau 

So this February 2009, the television industry and FCC (Federal Communications Commission) have decided to change the way we view television. According to their decision, all video broadcasts will become high definition or Digital TV as some are calling it.  So, in the meantime, consumers are confused and uncertain of what to do.  Equipment manufacturers have taken advantage of our confusion and have created products like analog to digital converters (Radio Shack) to sell to us so we can continue our viewing pleasure. 

Horse-pucky!  In this author’s opinion, high definition is not quite ready for panic mode.   

There are currently 2 television and video formats or aspect ratios; 4 X 3 which is our previous standard square TV image and 16 X 9 which is the newer rectangular wide screen format.  Movies have been both standard and widescreen for awhile now.  Which ever format or aspect ratio you choose to view boils down to personal preference.  The basic difference is widescreen versions of movies emulate the theater widescreen which is rectangular and 4 x 3 represents standard definition TV that has been around since the 1950’s.  No need to panic, who watches broadcast TV anyway?  Most of us reading this article have cable television to service our viewing pleasure.   

Analogue cable boxes and direct cable ready TV’s will need a new digital box from your cable company or a converter from radio shack.  Digital cable is the way to go because they will handle all transitions especially with 500 plus channels bundled (cool marketing term) together with high speed internet access and telephone service.  Watch out Ma Bell, competition has arrived to the party! 

If you have digital cable TV, don’t worry about a thing.  The digital cable boxes will handle the high definition transition just fine. 

Here’s the scoop, after February 17, 2009, all broadcast stations must deliver their signals in a digital format. These are your local television stations that your cable company has been carrying for free with their bundle for years.  I realize this can be confusing, so let me clarify.  
 
Televisions connected to a Cable TV service will not lose any channels as a result of this Digital TV / High Definition transition. However, as broadcasters in your area begin making the transition from analog to digital during the upcoming months, you may experience temporary impacts such as disruption of signals or on-screen messages related to the transition. If you still have rabbit ear antennas you may want to make a trip to Radio Shack soon as supplies will probably run out.  Here are some products worth considering if you do not want to pay additional monthly cable fees and do NOT currently have digital TV. 

You can watch television right on your computer with Radio Shacks

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR850 USB TV tuner catalog # 25-489. 

Digital Stream Digital-to-Analog converter DTX9950 catalog # 15-150 converts “over the air” analog signals so you can see them on your TV after February 17^th 2009.  This product is for the rabbit ear viewing television public.    

The Lasonic ATSC converter box LTA 260 catalog # 25-489 is a good converter box if you don’t want to upgrade to digital cable TV and save some monthly costs because digital cable TV providers do charge more for their digital boxes than the analogue ones. 

Dish Network (which I have no experience with) make digital satellite systems for a one time purchase price and minimum monthly access fee that will also handle the transition. 

To complicate this issue further, we can already view video programming from our computers.  If you have not tried this yet, hook your computer to your television using an S video cable or flat screen owners can use a VGA cable.  You probably have to hit function F5, F7 or F8 (depending on your computer) to output the screen to your TV.  Click the function F whatever once to output, twice to see on both screens and three times to see on the TV only.  Click a fourth time to return back to computer screen only. 

   
To learn more about the channels in your area that are involved in 2009 DTV Transition, as well as any channel specific service impacts, please contact your cable TV provider.  Most of the transition will be invisible to you!  

Ed Primeau is President and owner of Primeau Productions Inc of Troy Michigan.  Contact Ed Ed@PrimeauProductions.com

248-853-4091

800-647-4291