RE: [VAL] TV Antennas and the future of TV

["David Tidmore" <dtidmore@xxxxxxx>]

Sorry about the dissertation that follows, but this thread has opened up the
opportunity for a bit of education on a VERY murky subject.  

For the record, ANY antenna that will pick up the current over-the-air (OTA)
NTSC (analog) TV signal (that includes any and all antennas that mount on an
Airstream) will quite successfully pickup the new OTA digital ATSC format.
(don't confuse HDTV and ATSC...HDTV is part of ATSC, BUT ATSC does NOT
automatically mean HDTV).  There is no such thing technically as an HDTV
antenna, just marketing hype to them to overcharge.  Rabbit ears have been
shown to work just as well when the signal is sufficiently strong.  At
present, a huge majority of ALL OTA broadcasters are currently sending both
the old NTSC and the new ATSC signal out (even in many small towns).  This
has been underway for over 5 years.  The new digital ATSC signals all reside
in the SAME frequency range as the old NTSC signals.  The new digital ATSC
signals WILL, sometime over the next 5 years or so (Congress is still
debating a hard cutoff date) REPLACED the analog NTSC signals (ie NTSC is
going to DIE).  The reason for the shutting off of NTSC is that it requires
a guard channel (ie bandwidth) between each and every channel to prevent
interference, while the ATSC does not require those unused (ie wasted) guard
channels.  OTA broadcasters are currently using both their old NTSC
bandwidth and a temporary "loaned" allocation of bandwidth for ATSC (ATSC
uses the same 6MHz of bandwidth as NTSC).  In authorizing ATSC, Congress
dictated that all TV was to go digital so that the unused and wasted guard
channels can be used for other purposes (ie sold at auction with an
estimated value of between $50 and 100 billion dollars). Also, the OTA TV
broadcasters WILL BE REQUIRED to give back either their original frequency
allocation or their loaned one (ie they can't keep both).  There is a push
from the national security angle as well, as bandwidth is needed to support
new communications systems needed within the police/fire and public defense
authorities (there is only a finite bandwidth available, so this is all
about slicing up the pie).  That means that at some point in the not too
distant future all the current NTSC tuners (that means all TVs with
integrated NTSC tuners...ie what you have NOW) will cease to receive
anything.  As no politician is about to turn off grandma's TV, the
anticipated solution is to offer inexpensive ($50 is stated goal) set top
boxes that will receive the digital signals and convert them into
appropriate analog outputs that can be received on an older analog set.
There is also talk of Congress using some of the money from the sale of the
unused bandwidth spectrum to actually subsidize the cost for low income and
fixed income citizens.  One last thing on the conversion, is that even with
a conversion box, an old analog set will NEVER display HD quality.  It may
display a representation of a received HD signal that has had the resolution
downgraded to work on the old analog set, but the quality will be no BETTER
than the current NTSC (btw, DVDs are NTSC but the quality is far better due
to the fact that DVDs are actually digital and only at the last moment
converted into analog as the signal goes to the TV).  DVDs just show that
NTSC could have always been a lot better in quality than what the US
population settled for years ago.  

The only way to see HighDefinition (HDTV) quality is with a 720 or 1080
resolution set.  Both 720 and 1080 sets are wide screen (another requirement
for HD quality viewing). So that is why you are suddenly seeing LOTS of
widescreen TVs advertised as well as displays on all the major news sets (ie
the MONSTER sets on ABC evening news).  BUT BEWARE, wide screen DOES NOT
MEAN HDTV capable.  There have been and are currently wide screen displays
for sale that are only 480 resolution.  All the lower cost Plasma sets are
480 resolution as are most of the lower cost LCD. 

As I mentioned above, ATSC is NOT just about HDTV, it has many resolutions
ranging from a much clearer version of NTSC (ie 480lines vertical) all the
way to 1080 lines of vertical resolution.  Within the 6MHz of ATSC channel
bandwidth, an OTA broadcaster can chose to send a SINGLE 1080 signal, ONE
720 signal AND ONE standard definition(480) signal or lastly upto 6 standard
definition (480) signals and NO HD signal.  Most broadcasters are advocating
the 6 standard definition (480) signals during day, switching to HD for
primetime.  HDTV refers to the top two resolutions of 720 and 1080.  720
vertical resolution is a progressive scan while the 1080 is interleaved.
Both achieve filmlike quality and have different strengths. 720progressive
is better at fast moving action such as sports while 1080 interleaved is
better at film.  At present, CBS, UPN, NBC, PBS, HBO and Showtime have
chosen 1080 as their HD standard while ABC and FOX are going with 720.  The
GOOD news is that the tuners that receive and decode these signals do so for
ALL the ATSC resolutions and screen formats.  During the initial setup of
the tuner, you identify what your display device is capable of accepting.
High end LCD and Plasma displays top out currently at 720 vertical lines.
Some HD capable displays can automatically convert 720 to 1080 or vise versa
depending on their native display resolution.  DLP based sets have also been
720 devices but are now moving up to 1080 as are a few very high end LCDs.
Some rear and most front CRT based projectors are 1080 as are virtually ALL
direct-view, HD ready, CRT sets.  As for satellite, the same decoder used
for ATSC is ready and able to decode satellite as both are based on MPEG2 (a
way of digitally compressing a video signal).  Satellite unfortunately is on
the move to MPEG4 (a newer, higher quality, more efficient compression
system, and that will require a different set top receiver, but the good
news is that those new boxes will also be able to decode the older MPEG2
signals either OTA or satellite (if you get a satellite receiver capable of
HD MPEG4 decoding).  Both Dish and DirecTV have sold HD capable set top
boxes for several years that receive satellite, over the air ATSC and in
most cases the older OTA analog NTSC.  But bottomline, to receive and decode
the new digital ATSC signal, you will need either a set with an integrated
ATSC tuner or a separate set top box to do the tuning and decoding. BTW,
satellite HDTV signals work with either 720 or 1080 displays.

As a side note, while the ATSC standard does not include standards for a
1080 progressive format (at the time the ATSC standard was developed it was
felt that it would prove far too difficult to compress 1080 progressive into
the 6MHz bandwidth allowed, so it was left out.  Well, with MPEG4 now a
reality, 1080 progressive within 6MHz is now technically possible and there
are a number of high end displays that can display a 1080 progressive signal
even though NO SUCH OTA signal exist presently.  The satellite company's
move to MPEG4 is to reduced HDTV bandwidth requirements down well below the
6MHz size so as to be able to send MORE signals thru the satellites. 

Okay, I will get down off the soapbox.  Hope someone got some good out of
the above.  This whole conversion from analog to digital TV may seem to have
just happened, but the decision to do so was made 10 years ago.  Some in the
industry REALLY did NOT think it would ever happen, especially the cable
companies, many OTA broadcasters and LOTS of the consumer electronic
manufacturers.  What they did not understand was the billions of $s were at
stake to the Federal Treasury, so while the exact timeline might have been
vague, the inevitability of the situation was certain.  

So BEWARE as you buy ANY new TV.  UNLESS it has an integrated ATSC tuner,
you will ABSOLUTELY have to add an external tuner sometime in the next few
years AND NEVER assume that just because you buy a set that says digital
that it can receive the ATSC signal.  Although a few integrated ATSC tuner
sets were sold over the past few years. ONLY now are they really beginning
to come to your local Best Buy/Circuit City.  Lastly, over the next couple
of years, ALL new TVs will be required to have integrated ATSC tuners OR NO
TUNER at all (manufacturers can choose to not include any type of tuner so
that the customer can choose an appropriate set top box receiver (ie just
another way to get into you pocket)).  This requirement is already in place
for new large screen sets and works it way down to even the smallest set
eventually.

David Tidmore
WBCCI #7548