It’s been a long wait. We (us folks in America) are finally switching to an all digital TV broadcast, today! The antiquated analog broadcast is finally starting its slow decent to oblivion.
I’ve been anticipating this day for a long time. It was suppose to happen back in February 2009. However, a senator decided we were not ready to do this, and delayed it for another 4 months to help the “preparation”. That was a load of crap, and a waste of tax payer’s money. That’s the government: inefficient, too much politics, and all about squeezing more money from special interest groups.
Now it’s D-Day, and some say we’re still not ready. An article in LA Times claimed Southern California residents, mostly the poor and senior citizens, are still not ready. According to the official site of The Digital TV Transition, California is only 26% converted! So far, the entire US is only 43% converted to digital. The politicians rely on these numbers, even though the site does note it’s only an estimate. No one can really be sure of the actual numbers of how many TV sets are still getting analog TV.
I’m hoping this transition will be the big push that will ultimately force the broadcasters to start improving their HD service. I do think they need to upgrade the broadcast towers. The Over-The-Air (OTA) digital signals are poor in most places, including mine. The only way to get a reliable signal is via Cable or Satellite Dish. However, signals from cable or satellite are highly compressed, so the quality is not as good as OTA.
I can already see PBS starting to show Sesame Street in 16:9 aspect ratio, and putting horizontal black bars for old re-runs. News footages are still shot using 4:3 cameras, but I noticed some are already broadcasting in widescreen, such as during sporting events/interviews.
Personally, I want to upgrade to a video camera that records in HD and 16:9 widescreen.
I want to see cheaper HDTVs such as this 55″ LCD LED-backlit Vizio VF551XVT.
It’s time for everyone to go digital!
Tags: hdtv, television
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I’m relieved to see this has finally happened, they’ve been putting it off for some time now. I read an article the other day which projected that some 1M people would be without television as a result of the switch. How inattentive can you be? They’ve been showing commercials regarding the switch for several months now and stores have been advertising the converter boxes like crazy. Some things we may never understand.
I think this is good news and glad that its finally happening.
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Hey Rudy,
I couldn’t agree more with you (about when the politicians decided to delay the conversion – it’s all about money and influence). Anyway, it’s finally done, and I have no sympathy for people that haven’t gotten converted yet. Well, enough ranting.
Maybe now I should help the economy and go buy a new bigger TV. 🙂
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Well, it’s in the broadcasters’ interest to have everyone convert to Digital because they want EVERYONE to see the ads. It was probably one of the reasons for the delay.
Steve, like you said, time to help the economy and buy bigger/better 1080p TVs!
Well I suppose 43% is better than nothing. Its still an improvement, albeit a slow one. I would love to upgrade to a HD video camera as well! HD is just amazing, flipping through the channels you see pure quality videos!
Till then,
Jean
This was a really awesome move. I love digital television, however I hate the fact people have to put out more money to make this work. Everybody just aren’t fortunate enough to cover this.
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More money is what it takes to move people to the next century, ya know what I mean? 😉
The campaign was pretty huge but there are still people who were left without a tv-access thanks to the new standards. Though I think it’s their own fault at that point.
I have had cable for a number of years and decided to cut back some of my spending and the cable was the first to go! I purchased a converter and could not be more happy with my decision! I get the basics (ABC, NBC, CBS, ect.) and am able to still watch my favorite programs. If you are looking to save some money and get rid of your current cable service go for it is worth it.