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| How To Survive The Digital Television Transition |
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The Facts |
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June 12th, 2009
will be a very interesting date. On that Friday, analog television broadcasting
that we enjoyed for years will cease to exist completely. The Federal Government
has several reasons for this change. The first is, the video world has made tremendous
advances in producing better quality (High Definition) pictures with far less transmission
(more efficient) spectrum requirements, thus opening the door to TV Stations ability
to complement their main programming service by “Multicasting” other channels along
with their primary feed. Second, TV Stations use to be in several “RF Bands (VHF-Lo,
VHF-Hi and UHF)”, because there were just so many TV stations applying for licenses.
Now they will be able to reduce the bandwidth needed and narrow up the bands, (Channels
7 (VHF-Hi) – 51 (UHF)). And I leave the best for last! The FCC who is in charge
of the broadcasters and their licenses, will now have the opportunity to collect
the old channels (2 -6 & 52– 69), and re sell or auction them off in each metropolitan
city to other service providers, making millions if not billions for the US Government!
Can we say Cha-Ching?
If you receive your Local Broadcast Channels either thru cable TV (Times Warner,
Cox, etc.) or satellite (DirecTV or Dish Network) and not thru a rooftop antenna,
you will not see the analog signal go dark (keep your fingers crossed). However,
if you do use rabbit ears (usually they are located on the TV itself) or a roof
top antenna to get the local channels (2 – 13 and beyond) in their standard analog
form, you will need to take some sort of action. What will be even more difficult
is if you receive your antenna signals thru a Community Antenna System (MATV). These
are traditionally found in apartment complexes, condominiums, hotels, motels and
hospitals. These properties have one or more rooftop antennas that feed amplifiers
that in turn feed the local TV channel signals to multiple buildings and/or many
residents. Many people live in these complexes and don’t realize that their TV will
be affected on June 12, 2009, it will! If you live in a managed community, you need
to check with the management to find out if they might be able to suggest a remedy
or if they are taking action to prepare.
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Frequently Asked Questions |
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Will the transition affect me? |
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You will need to take action before June 12th, 2009 if
you currently watch TV on an analog TV set that is not connected to cable, satellite
or other pay TV service. If you own a television with a digital tuner or subscribe
to a pay TV service, you will likely continue to receive TV programming as usual
after the tran sition.
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When and where can I purchase a TV converter box? |
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| Anytime, either give us a call at 714-750-5500 OR
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Will my old recordable DVD and VCR still work? |
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VCRs, DVD players, camcorders and video games will continue
to work (playback), even if they are only analog-capable. You will not be able to
record OTA programming without a converter box anymore as the converter tunes and
converts the digital signal to analog that the recorder requires. If you think this
all the way thru carefully, this means no longer can your recorder change it’s own
channel once we go digital. Again, this only applies to those who get their basic
TV from an antenna and not from satellite or cable. This applies to ALL non-ATSC
(digital) tuners including Tivo type recorders. Remember the days of recording one
channel while watching another? Two boxes would be required to solve that one!
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Summary |
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Black Friday is coming
and I am somewhat saddened by the demise of analog transmission, but advances have
made great strides in improvements and the digital age is all around us. I have
only the memories of my childhood and services like “ON-TV”, “SelecTV” and “The
Z channel”. But we demand more choices and to get it, we have to give up something.
This last February, all cell carriers were allowed to turn off the older cell phone
service (analog) as it just wasn’t an efficient transmission means but it did require
people to upgrade if they still used the older phones. Thank goodness we are past
the digital phones that broke up during a routine conversation! Just like silent
movies, digital transmission will greatly improve our viewing choices, not to mention
better picture, more language capability (hey, maybe Spanish language TV can offer
English on their shows so now all can enjoy TV on a level playing field, ya hear
me Univision??).
Andtech is a family based security company, RF systems integrator serving Orange
Counties and the bordering areas. Andtech carries a State Contractors license and
has all of it’s technicians background checked so we are qualified to work in security
sensitive environments. Since the original inception in 1980 to now, this family
based corporation, Andtech continues to grow in many markets thru value added services.
Check out our primary website:
www.andtech.net
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