Goodbye to Analog TV
Many television stations currently broadcast both analog and digital signals. However, the days are numbered for analog signals, picture and sound carried on electromagnetic waves. Digital signals are the way of the future, and if you have a trusty television with an antenna, you'll need to make some changes soon or the screen will go dark...
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The End Of Analog
It seems incredible, but some 19 million television viewing households still exist outside of the digital cable and satellite universe, where there are 500 channels and still nothing on TV. Plenty of older televisions with numbered channel knobs, UHF dials, and rabbit ears are still going strong. But changes, they are a comin'...
On February 17th 2009, the analog TV signal system will be turned off, and stations will transmit digital signals only. Televisions that receive only analog signals via the traditional rabbit ears or rooftop antenna and will no longer work. Households without digital cable or satellite will either have to go digital, buy a converter box or start enjoying radio.
It's a serious matter because most of the analog-only households are among America's poorest. They either don't want cable or satellite TV or they can't afford new televisions, satellite hardware, new antennas or significant monthly fees. If you are already receiving satellite or cable television, the switch will probably be purely academic. But in addition to the 19 million who still receive exclusively over-the-air analog signals, there are millions more who have digital cable but also own at least one analog television.
Digital to Analog Converters to the Rescue
To help ease the transition, each affected household will be offered up to $80 worth of free government vouchers to buy converter boxes which will convert the digital signal to analog, enabling those older televisions to continue to bring you endless hours of courtroom drama and riveting talk shows. It is expected that the vouchers will cover about half the cost of the converters.
Anyone who needs one will be able to apply starting in 2008, and there will be a limit of two $40 vouchers per household. Eventually, those old televisions will cease to function and everyone will have to buy TV sets with digital tuning capability. It will still be possible to buy analog TVs for a while - and they'll probably be cheap - but they won't be called televisions. Legally, they'll be called monitors.
Why the Switch to Digital TV?
Why are they doing this? Digital signals allow for much more information, lots of metadata, such as programming info, language dubs, closed captioning and subtitles. The switch will also assist the other changeover - to high definition. Oh, and it'll also bring us in line with the rest of humanity, which has already begun to dump analog.
Proponents of digital say the picture and audio quality of the signal is significantly clearer and sharper than analog and that is most people's experience. There's no video noise on digital as there is on analog and no signal degeneration from dubbing to affect the production process.
However, there are those who prefer analog, especially for audio, and say analog gets a bum rap mostly because most stations don't service their analog equipment, so it's old, dirty and inefficient and puts out a lower grade signal than its capable of. The reality is that, ever since Congress passed the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, analog was as doomed as the 8-track, Betamax and Laserdisc. The switch from analog television will free up much needed radio frequency spectrum for emergency services.
There's a lot that can go wrong with the switch, which will cost the US taxpayers at least $1.5 billion. The most likely snafus are that there won't be enough vouchers to go around and that $80 per household won't be enough to buy that nice old lady with the corner doublewide the new converter. Another strong possibility is that a tidal wave of publicity set to begin in 2008 still won't be enough and millions will learn of the change for the first time on February 17th when they tune into the Today Show and see just static. The timing of the switch isn't a coincidence, though. The government hopes a final publicity drive during the Super Bowl will reach most affected households - and they'll make the necessary changes before March Madness.
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Most recent comments on "Goodbye to Analog TV"
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Okay, right now we watch very little TV. The news, stuff like 60 Minutes, and sometimes PBS offerings. I don't mind paying whatever I need to pay for a more powerful outdoor antenna and I wouldn't mind paying for a converter of some kind. But I absolutely refuse to subscribe to either cable or satellite. I think a lot of the confusion is that most of us have been told, (or have read), that there will be no more "free" TV. It will all be by subscription to cable or satellite. Can you absolutely confirm that that won't be a necessity? EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes. Free over-the-air broadcasting will continue. The only change is that the signal will be digital, and some older TVs will need a converter box. |
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Since there are 13" digital TV sets at Wal-Mart now for $95 (Not HDTV but with the same tuner as the boxes probably will have) I see no reason for the converter boxes to cost more than $40 in December of 2008 if the manufacturer has an almost certain market of $1.5 billion. |
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Question by "RWRABINOWITZ 10 May 2007": where does one apply for the two $40.00 vouchers per household. Answer: |
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I have a digi box to view digital TV on my analogue TV, here in the UK, via a freeview VCR with Video Plus.However except for the five terrestial analogue channels for which Video Plus works OK, the digital channels having Video Plus numbers indicate 'Invalid Channel' when setting up although the date,time and length of programme are all correct. So it is still useful but why does this anomaly occur - any ideas? |
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How do I know what type of tv I have as one is 13yrs. old and the other 5, plus my mothers is less than a year. How do I know which ones will work and what type of tv should I go buy,are all tv's on sale now able to handle the switch in 2/09> EDITOR'S NOTE: You only need to be concerned if you are currently getting your signal via antenna. As mentioned above, NOBODY NEEDS TO GET A NEW TV. If you have an older TV with an analog tuner, and you get your signal from the antenna, you will simply need to add the A/D converter box. Older TV's with cable or satellite service will NOT need to change anything. It's safe to say that any TV set purchased in the last couple years has a digital tuner. |
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I have six older(non-digital) TV sets connected to an outside antenna which receives analog broadcasts from stations no closer than 80 miles away. I find it down right communistic that the U.S. government will reqire that I subsidize makers of converter boxes in order to continue using these sets! NO THANKS! |
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I also mentioned this in your HDTV via PC article you also need a GOOD antenna. Most of my local VHF's are actually transmitting on UHF. My channel 6 is broadcasting it's "Chanel 6" programming on Channel 25. Those old rabbit ears may not cut the muster. visit www.antennaweb.org to see what antenna that you may need. Also, supposedly the FCC is getting manufactures on board to offer cheap ATSC converter boxes, where you may only have to put $20 with your converter "coupon." |
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Since they will be changing transmission frequencies, my antennas for the present frequencies of transmission will not be suitable for the new frequencies. The stations I receive are over 50 miles and 110 miles away and my antennas are on a 70 ft. tower. So I will require more than just a analog to digital converter, I presume.Won't I need new antennas as well? EDITOR'S NOTE: The FCC says "A special antenna generally is not needed to receive digital signals. You may have antenna issues, however, if your current antenna does not receive UHF signals (channels 14 and above) well, because most DTV stations are on UHF channels." See http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html |
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There is a major flaw to this new system, right now. For people that live in states that always lose power, sometimes for weeks at a time, having a converter box that runs on electricity, is rather stupid! Our "BIG BROTHER" govt. missed the mark on this one big time. They didn't plan ahead for the necessary implementation of battery powered converter boxes, to go along with the analog battery powered TVs EDITOR'S NOTE: Are you sure there will be no battery powered converter boxes? |
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This is the answer FROM: http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html#faq18 What about my portable, battery-powered analog TV? Will I be able to use it to watch broadcast TV after February 17, 2009? Portable, battery-powered analog TVs may be able to receive over-the-air programming after February 17, 2009 if they have the necessary plugs to allow them to be connected to a digital-to-analog converter box. Because it is not anticipated that battery powered digital-to-analog converter boxes will be produced, an external power source would also be required. EDITOR'S NOTE: Then it seems your best bet is a portable battery powered DIGITAL television. |
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