my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » The Afterlife   » DTV Feb 17 Deadline May Be Delayed (Page 6)

This topic comprises 12 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12

Author Topic: DTV Feb 17 Deadline May Be Delayed Anslem Rayburn Master Film Handler Posts: 476 From: Yuma, AZ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 02-08-2009 01:35 PM                     KECY is technically based in El Centro, though they have local offices in Yuma now. For years they didn't. I believe all towers for the 3 stations here are actually in California about 20 miles from Yuma, but am not positive. There is a Spanish language channel that has been broadcasting full power digital for over a year. You barely need an antenna to get reception. Plug in any set top antenna and it instantly comes in. You could put the damn thing in a drawer and still get that station.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 02-08-2009 02:52 PM                     KTXT TV, Lubbock's PBS outlet owned by Texas Tech University, has made the Big Switch, but involuntarily. The station's 29 year old transmitter, which had been ailing for some time, had given up the ghost Thursday afternoon. The estimated cost of repairs would have been $25,000.  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 02-08-2009 08:36 PM                        quote: The religious ones are already broadcasting in Digtial but still have standard def! The impression I get is that the religious channels are more interested in broadcasting as many subchannels as they legally can than using their signal for HD.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 02-08-2009 09:15 PM                        All the local 'Vegas stations will continue to broadcast their analog signals until the new June deadline, but they will be operating at reduced power. A recent local survey indicated that there are still approx 35,000 households in the 'Vegas MSA that are not digital-ready. Got my badge codes for NAB last week. Getting ready to go play in the toy store again this April.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-09-2009 10:22 PM                     Salt Lake this past weekend also announced they are doing the same. Nothin like throwin money in the camp fire!  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-10-2009 06:20 PM                     Just 7 days left until the end of analog TV broadcasts...at least for some places. It seems like a lot of TV markets are taking an all or nothing approach. They're all either sticking with the original deadline or all delaying until June for the most part. Some markets have maybe a station or two willing to make its own decisions regardless of what the other TV stations decide to do. Management and engineers of our area's local TV stations talked amongst each other and all agreed to turn off analog broadcasts on Feb. 17. Apparently the new FCC paperwork was little more than a 1 page form that could be submitted online. BTW, did the President ever sign the DTV delay bill into law yesterday? Don't remember hearing anything about it. Considering the beating the stock markets took today, it seems like there are bigger problems demanding attention than messing with a DTV deadline that had been established nearly 4 years ago (which changed another that was established 13 years ago).  |  IP: Logged Julio Roberto Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 938 From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain Registered: Oct 2008 posted 02-10-2009 06:48 PM                    For those interested, here is the situation in some other places for the switch over to terrestrial digital transmission (turning off analog signals): -Luxemburg, Sept 1 2006, first country in the world to switch off analog TV completely. -Netherland, Dic 1 2006 -Findland, Sept 1 2007 -Andorra, Sept 25 2007 -Sweden, Oct 15 2007 -Swizertland Nov 26 2007 Other countries are about to turn it off (here in Spain it would be Apr 3 2010) from right now til the limit by the EU of 2012. Some countries, like Germany, Austria or Belgium, have been doing it progressively already by provinces etc. I.e. in rural areas etc, they are allowing analog to go for a bit longer and turning it off completely in regions/provinces better served by stores and stations. Sort-of like if the USA had different dates for different states, depending on how prepared they were for early switch-off, instead of all-at-once. México is targetting a 2022 date for their analog turn-off.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-10-2009 06:52 PM                     quote: Julio Roberto Luxemburg, Sept 1 2006, first country in the world to switch off analog. Well, They only had 13 TV sets there so that one was easy!  |  IP: Logged Julio Roberto Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 938 From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain Registered: Oct 2008 posted 02-10-2009 06:56 PM                    quote: Well, They only had 13 TV sets there so that one was easy! LOL yeah. Most of the countries switching off analog early are small in either size or population, usually in both, so it's much easier there. Large countries with many repeaters and/or large populations have worse logistics and economics at work The largest countries in Europe are usually targetting a 2012 analog blackout.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-10-2009 10:04 PM                     quote: México is targeting a 2022 date for their analog turn-off. They may be forced to end analog transmissions earlier than that. I believe it won't be long at all before electronics companies stop including analog tuners in new TV sets. The tuners will be useless in most countries -particularly in the country which uses TV sets the most: the United States. Why waste money including such a feature? Omit it and be able to either lower prices or raise profit margins. I suppose if Mexico buys enough new TV sets then companies like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, etc. will continue making dual tuner TV sets to sell there. Maybe. Or maybe not. Analog TV transmitters are practically antiques at most TV stations. I'm sure that's true in Mexico as well. Such transmitters are expensive to maintain. It may not be easy to get replacement parts either. It won't be long before companies making the components for analog transmitters stop doing so completely. Unless Mexico starts making its own TVs and analog broadcast gear the country may get dragged into the future of DTV much earlier than they're planning. Some rural areas of the United States will continue receiving analog signals via low power analog repeaters. Viewers in those areas may soon find it difficult to buy new TV sets that can receive those signals. It might create a good underground market for obsolete analog TV sets still in good working condition.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 02-10-2009 10:23 PM                     If Mexico can't make the TVs with analog tuners, I'm sure some plant in China will be more than willing to make a shitty one for them.  |  IP: Logged Julio Roberto Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 938 From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain Registered: Oct 2008 posted 02-11-2009 12:33 AM                    Well, manufacturers already make different models for different markets. They've been putting out models with analog PAL tuners for us for ... ever. Our new digital terrestrial TV standard here is different from the one you use in the USA, not counting the electrical outlets being 230v in the EU. So, once again, most models sold in the US would not be useable here. In North america and south korea, it's ATSC. In Japan and Brasil, ISDB-T. Here, in Europe, it's DVB-T, as it is in Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Uruguay and some countries of Africa. Chinese use their own DMB-T/H. A (digital) integrated IC analog-tuner is about a $2 cost. There are no "bad analog tuners" in the market anymore. That is, there may be, but with a top-of-the-line out driven by Philips or Conexant chip inside for $4 for the whole analog front end+digitizer in small qtys ... who cares? Heck, a whole mixed multi-standard NTSC/PAL/SECAM analog plus DVB-T and DVB-S digital front end and decoders is less than $9 in small qtys ... It is not a significant cost or savings to a TV manufacturer. Nonetheless, they indeed are leaving it out of some products. A family member already bought a Philips portable TV that lacks an analog tuner here but includes a terrestrial digital one. It was this one http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/es/es/consumer/cc/_productid_PVD1079_12_ES_CONSUMER/PVD1079-12#/consumer/es/es/consumer/cc/_productid_PVD1079_12_ES_CONSUMER/PVD1079-12  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 02-11-2009 01:48 AM                        Who cares about Mexico? Answer: Not even Mexicans.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 02-11-2009 08:44 AM                     Here in San Francisco Bay Area, where most TV stations transmit from one central tower ("Sutro Tower") all the current VHF stations must make the DTV switch on the same date due to technical issues in relocating and re-tuning antennas located on the tower. According to a recent press release, it will take at least 9 months, and possibly longer, before all the current analog channels operating on channels in the VHF-Hi & VHF-Low bands can transmit at full power on their new DTV channel assignments from Sutro Tower. But several local TV stations (Such as KOFY-TV20) which already opeate on UHF frequencies are intending to stop analog operation on Feb 17 as planned, since they will contine to use their current UHF antenna, with some slight re-tuning. ALSO> If you were 'suckered' into buying a "Digital TV Antenna", you might be in for a surprise in June if you are not in a good signal area when the final DTV transition takes place. DTV transmisissions are currently located in the UHF band occupied by UHF channels 52-59. According to info on the FCC and other websites, these channels will be abandoned when the "Digital D-Day" finally happens and the DTV stations you currently watch will be moving to new frequencies in the lower end of the UHF band. So if you bought an antenna optimised for the current DTV channel line up, it may not work so well when the transition finally takes place if you are in a fringe area. ALSO, some TV stations (Such as KGO-TV7 here in SF) will still continue to broadcast in the VHF-Hi band, and won't be on a UHF freq at all- - again making reception tricky for some people in outlying areas depending on the type of antenna they have. Here in the SF Bay Area, those troubles are minimzed by the fact that most broadcasters are trasmitting from a common location, but in other areas of the country where different stations may have transmitters seperated by several miles or on different mountain-tops, getting all the stations to come in well might be a bit of a challange depending on your exact location relative to the transmitters. The final DTV Channel Assignments can be found On This Link FCC Final DTV Channel Assignments Today's Fun Photo: "Sutro Sunrise" I took this from the roof of the Ft Miley VA Hosptial Current & Future Antenna Locations On Sutro Tower In case you were wondering, Sutro Tower is 977ft high, but is located on a mountain top which makes its' total height 1,811ftASL.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-11-2009 08:11 PM                     Nice picture Jim! quote: México is targeting a 2022 date for their analog turn-off. Mexico may not be around then... they seem to be killing each other off at a fairly rapid rate. Mark  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 12 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.