US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you would think that US TV stations would run a dayly counter...

US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you
would think that US TV stations would run a daily counter ... as a public
reminder.

Technically it is only ~2.2x as long as the US Hostage Crisis in Iran in
remaining days for NTSC.

Remember that the US ABC Net ran a Iran Hostage day counter during the
program 'Nightline" -- and the counter ran for some 434 days appx.

Max Power wrote:
US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you
would think that US TV stations would run a daily counter ... as a public
reminder.

Technically it is only ~2.2x as long as the US Hostage Crisis in Iran in
remaining days for NTSC.

Remember that the US ABC Net ran a Iran Hostage day counter during the
program 'Nightline" -- and the counter ran for some 434 days appx.

Please find your meds, bob.

Matthew

--
I'm a contractor. If you want an opinion I'll sell you one.
Which one do you want?

cross posting deleted

"Max Power" wrote in message
...
US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you
would think that US TV stations would run a daily counter ... as a public
reminder.

Technically it is only ~2.2x as long as the US Hostage Crisis in Iran in
remaining days for NTSC.

Remember that the US ABC Net ran a Iran Hostage day counter during the
program 'Nightline" -- and the counter ran for some 434 days appx.

Great idea. Another annoying distraction from the programming and way to
burn images into displays.

Leonard




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"Max Power" wrote in message
...
US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you
would think that US TV stations would run a daily counter ... as a public
reminder.

Technically it is only ~2.2x as long as the US Hostage Crisis in Iran in
remaining days for NTSC.

Remember that the US ABC Net ran a Iran Hostage day counter during the
program 'Nightline" -- and the counter ran for some 434 days appx.

I believe that most TV broadcasters want to scuttle the turnover to ATSC.
Right now, most stations have digital broadcasts only because of the FCC
mandate. They are probably hoping that if enough of the public ignore the
cutoff, and the date (Feb. 2009) approaches, they can use the ensuing outcry
over lost TV to delay the turnover.

The prime example of this public apathy is the lack of demand for ATSC set
top boxes that will receive the ATSC signals for legacy TVs.

In article ,
"Blue Cat" wrote:

"Max Power" wrote in message
...
US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you
would think that US TV stations would run a daily counter ... as a public
reminder.

Technically it is only ~2.2x as long as the US Hostage Crisis in Iran in
remaining days for NTSC.

Remember that the US ABC Net ran a Iran Hostage day counter during the
program 'Nightline" -- and the counter ran for some 434 days appx.

I believe that most TV broadcasters want to scuttle the turnover to ATSC.
Right now, most stations have digital broadcasts only because of the FCC
mandate. They are probably hoping that if enough of the public ignore the
cutoff, and the date (Feb. 2009) approaches, they can use the ensuing o to delay the turnover.

The prime example of this public apathy is the lack of demand for ATSC set
top boxes that will receive the ATSC signals for legacy TVs.

Do you have any figures comparing the number of analog OTA viewers to
those using cable and satellite? I would guess that only those viewers
would produce an "outcry over lost TV".

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

Tom Stiller wrote:
In article ,
"Blue Cat" wrote:

I believe that most TV broadcasters want to scuttle the turnover to ATSC.
Right now, most stations have digital broadcasts only because of the FCC
mandate. They are probably hoping that if enough of the public ignore the
cutoff, and the date (Feb. 2009) approaches, they can use the ensuing o to delay the turnover.

The prime example of this public apathy is the lack of demand for ATSC set
top boxes that will receive the ATSC signals for legacy TVs.

Do you have any figures comparing the number of analog OTA viewers to
those using cable and satellite? I would guess that only those viewers
would produce an "outcry over lost TV".

The numbers that were publicized over a year ago as the result of a
major FCC sponsored survey is that around %15 of households with a TV
are OTA only. However, there are millions of households which have cable
or satellite for the their primary TV(s), but have secondary TVs in
the bedroom, kitchen, basements which are OTA only. Those TVs will need
a converter box as well if they are to continue to receive OTA channels.
IIRC, the estimates were from 50 to 70 million TVs in the US are OTA
only, but some of these are now ATSC capable TVs.

With the FCC mandate about to kick on on March 1, 2007 for all TVs,
regardless of screen size to have an ATSC tuner if they have an NTSC
tuner, the selection of small TVs with digital ATSC tuners is going to
finally increase. The FCC mandate controls TVs shipped across state
lines, so after March 1, no chain can move new TVs without an ATSC tuner
across a state line. So expect big clearance sales on soon to be
obsolete small and portable TVs with analog tuners in February.

I expect over the next 2 years the more well off households will be
replacing the old small TV in the kitchen or bedroom for watching the
news or the late shows with much more compact flat panel LCD HD TV with
ATSC tuners and throwing out the old TV. This will cut down the number
of converters needed.

The major TV broadcasters are not going to scuttle the conversion at
this point. They have spend a lot of money to provide a digital signal
and running up electric bills and equipment costs to broadcast both on
analog and digital. It is not cheap to broadcast up to a 5000 Kilowatt
analog signal. The analog shutdown will reduce their monthly operating
costs, once they have gone to the hassle and expense of digital
broadcast. Some small market station owners have been dragging their
heels on offering a full power digital signal, but they are getting there.

The most likely source of any movement to delay the February, 2009
analog shutdown will the consumer interest or various public association
such as AARP. But even with a Democratic congress, I doubt if it going
to get delayed, except perhaps for a few months for some of the low
power and translator stations out there. Hurricane Katrina revealed the
need for new common emergency, fire, police and government communication
systems and that will only happen when the upper UHF channels 60 to 69
are taken away from TV broadcasting. Four of the 6 MHz UHF channels are
to be re-assigned to emergency services. The aftermath of hurricane
Katrina was a driving force behind Congress settling on the Feb. 17,
2009 date over a year ago.

I do think that the government and industry have done a terrible job
of publicizing and explaining the analog shutdown. But there appears to
be a growing awareness in the press and among the people at large about
the impending analog shutdown. Still a lot of confusion over the whole
thing, in large part, because most people have no idea how TV works in
the first place.

Alan F

The prime example of this public apathy is the lack of demand for ATSC set
top boxes that will receive the ATSC signals for legacy TVs.


Are there any low cost, under $50, STB's? I would but a couple right now if
available.

On Jan 29, 9:04 am, "Blue Cat" wrote:

The prime example of this public apathy is the lack of demand for ATSC set
top boxes that will receive the ATSC signals for legacy TVs.

I have neither cable nor satellite. Personally, I refused to buy a
HDTV unless it had a ATSC tuner in it. My options were very limited
until last. I now have two HDTVs/

There is a demand for ATSC converters if the price is reasonable. One
TV store owner told me that the wholesale price of TV's increased
about $40 when the ATSC requirement started last year. Given that, I
think that the retail price of a converter should be well under $100,
but they aren't. I don't even know anyone that sells them.

I purchased a 20" HDTV with ATSC tuner in December for $400. That
price is surely going to drop after March, 2007. If the price of a
converter is $200, it seems more efficient to throw/give the NTSC TV
away even though it's only 4 years old.

On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:48:01 +0000, Al Schmidt wrote:



The prime example of this public apathy is the lack of demand for ATSC
set top boxes that will receive the ATSC signals for legacy TVs.


Are there any low cost, under $50, STB's? I would but a couple right now
if available.

No. And I wouldn't look for any cheap ones til the end of 2008. There are
cheap ATSC tuners however. I've got 5 in my PC's. The cheapest was $17.50.
All of the last 4 or 5 I bought were under $25.

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"Max Power" wrote in message
...
US ATSC conversion: with 700 some odd days until NTSC is turned off, you
would think that US TV stations would run a daily counter ... as a public
reminder.

============================
A reminder?!?
Hell, most people don't even know it is going to happen.
They need to be informed before being reminded.
===============================