With the scheduled February 17, 2009 deadline for conversion from the old
fashioned analog TV signal to the newer and more efficient digital TV signal
less than two years away now, there's a fair amount of confusion in the press
about the issue. It all began back in the late nineties when Congress- under
lobbying pressure from consumer electronics manufacturers- mandated that
all over the air analog TV transmissions would cease and be replaced by
analog TV signals. So far that mandatory date of the transmission has been
pushed back from 2006 to 2009 because of objections from TV stations that
don't want to shell out the money for new transmission equipment and from
TV owners who don't want to shell out the money either for a new TV set or a
special set top box that will allow their old analog TV sets to display the
digitally transmitted television.
When discussing all of these issues, it's important to keep a few things in
mind. First of all, digital TV is a relatively new way of transmitting video that
takes advantage of computer technology to send a signal that can easily be
cleansed of any interference by special receiver hardware, thereby providing a
TV picture of incredible clarity. All satellite TV companies already use this
format on all of their programming and many cable TV companies use it on
most of their programming.
One of the reasons that this whole thing is such a fuss is that analog TV
signals take up more of the over the air electromagnetic bandwidth than the
equivalent TV programming does in digital format. This fact, combined with
the fact that many TV stations are transmitting their content simultaneously in
both analog and digital formats, means that there's a lot of electromagnetic
bandwidth being wasted on unnecessary TV transmissions. That bandwidth
could be used for numerous other things like emergency services
communications and wide spread wireless Internet access. That's a large part
of the incentive to completely change over to digital TV.
Another major reason to change over to digital TV is that there's a lot of money
for consumer electronics makers to rake in when all of the analog signals go
off the air because at that point analog TV sets will be obsolete- at least when
it comes to being used to watch TV directly off of the air. At that point,
consumers will either need to buy special converter boxes to make their old
TV sets work or buy completely new TV's. Of course, their are plans for the
government to subsidize purchase of those converter boxes, but no matter
where the money comes from, it still means plenty of profit for the consumer
electronics industry.
Now, there are plenty of mixed signals about the coming transition. For
example, every TV set now on the market has to have a digital tuner that will
allow it to pick up the digital over the air signals. Also a coalition of
broadcasters and electronics manufacturers has formed in order to educate
the public about the impending transition. But at the same time these positive
steps are being taken, some politicians are saying that the transition might
have to be pushed back again and some analysts are saying that it will have
to be pushed back again. Only time will tell how any of this will play out.
Author Resource:-
E.Sanderson writes articles about the latest developments in technology, electronics, and satellite TV. She'd like to inform you about the latest Dish TV services and how you can find the best Dishnet HD Promotions.
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