Digital TV Transition Spoof Video Is Both Informative and Hilarious
[Thanks, Sean]
Posts with tag dtv
[Thanks, Sean]
FCC Official Predicts "Messy" Digital TV Switch
Don't let the smooth transition experienced in Wilmington and other tests fool you, FCC member Kelly McDowell just returned from a tour in LCD TV Prices May Be Slashed for the Holidays
Analysts expect prices to be slashed for Black Friday, and think the lower prices will last through next year. They expect the sweet spot to be smaller sets, such as 32-inchers, which currently cost around $600-$700 and could drop as low $350 for the holidays.
Manufacturers are hoping the low prices and impending digital television switchover will compel consumers to shop, but the unpredictability of the economy may keep even drastic price cuts from luring shoppers in. [From: USA Today]
Portable TVs Won't Work After February 2009 Analog Shut-Off
Portable sets rely on analog signals captured through their rabbit ears, and with many having no inputs on the back there's absolutely no way to make them functional again. This is causing concern among many who use portable sets to get updates during times of emergency, and while there are portable digital TV converters available, not all sets can use them.
The solution? Well, for now, it's simply to get a portable radio and rely on that -- and maybe recycle that soon-to-be obsolete antique of the analog era. [From: USA Today]
Wilmington's DTV Switch Goes (Mostly) Smoothly
Of those, only 23 actually had no idea about the DTV changeover and so were getting a rude awakening. The majority of the other calls were relating to signal strength or other issues, including a few who unfortunately were able to pick up a certain channel on analog signals but, after the changeover, no longer could. We're guessing the nationwide roll-out in February, 2009 won't go quite so orderly, so to make sure you're ready, head on over to our post on coupons for tuners and make sure your 'ol TV can keep on trucking straight into the digital age. [From: USA Today]
Wilmington, NC Kills Analog Dead as Broadcasters Go All-Digital
by Darren Murph, posted Sep 9th 2008 at 8:27AM
Granted, "a few" viewers were still "struggling" to see the signal (read: not at all prepared for the change), but at least the world didn't completely implode or anything. Not like we can really avoid that scenario come Wednesday, but hey, an extra 24 or so hours to live it up ain't half bad.
Digital TV Converter Coupons Expiring Before They Can Be Used
by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 5:31PM
The government coupon program for digital converter boxes for older television sets is stirring up controversy as the coupons begin to expire before customers can get their hands on one. Stores have had trouble getting the converter boxes in stock, which are necessary to continue watching television over the air on older sets after the analog-to-digital switchover in February 2009.
Congress is complaining loudly about the failure of the program, which was intended to ease the financial pressures on consumers surrounding the switchover. Roughly 8.5 million homes have requested 16 million coupons, but only 3 million have been redeemed so far. Even worse, almost 900,000 have already expired and only 42 percent of those were redeemed.
Congress is looking into issuing new coupons or extending the expiration date, but one thing is for certain -- if almost 60-percent of the coupons are expiring before customers can use them, the government will have a major problem on its hands. [Source: MSNBC]
Wal-Mart Fined $1 Million for Improperly Selling Non-Digital TVs
It's a digital age, that's for sure, and in February of next year, one of the last bastions of analog, over-the-air television, will go entirely to 1s and 0s. If you have an old TV still kicking around, you can get a converter box, but according to FCC rules, retailers are no longer allowed to sell new, non-digital televisions without some rather prominent warnings.
Faced with stockrooms full of the things it's no surprise that some retailers have been caught bending the rules a bit, with Wal-Mart being one of the worst offender, picking up a $992,000 fine.
The mega-retailer was far from the only one. Sears was hit with a $1.1 million fine and Circuit City for $712,000, while Best Buy got off relatively lightly with only a $280,000 fine. All that for apparently trying to clear out their inventory of old sets without warning shoppers about their imminent obsolescence.
No word yet on whether the fines will be paid to those shoppers who didn't get the info they were supposed to receive (unlikely), but if you were one of those unwitting buyers don't fear: The coupons the government is handing out for converter boxes should mean upgrading your set won't cost you too much.
From Reuters
HDTV Sales Surge In Super Bowl Lead-Up
Of course you want to watch the Super Bowl in HDTV. Who doesn't? It seems the lead up to the big game is the second biggest driver of high-definition LCD TV sales for Amazon.com, according to the e-tailer's latest numbers. (The biggest driver is, of course, holiday season gift giving.)
So which TV leads the pack? The mantle this time goes to Samsung and its $2,199 52-inch 1080p LNT5265F set.
Samsung also dominates this top 10 list, with four of the spots. Sharp has three, Sony two and Toshiba just one. All but one of these TV sets is 1080p and all but two are larger than 40-inches. (Do we see the continued trend here? Go big and get the highest resolution you can.)
We're going to watch the game on a 42-inch Toshiba, but maybe we'll listen to one quarter of it on the radio -- and imagine what the game action looks like, just as in the olden days.
From Gearlog.
Related Links:
- Sharp's New LCD Is World's Thinnest
- New LCD Monitor Withstands Hammers, Nails, Crossbow
- Just Tell Me What to Get: Home Theater
Japanese Scientists Already Moving Beyond HDTV
Apparently there's still room for improvement, although don't expect to see Super Hi-Vision TV sets in living rooms anytime soon. The first commercial applications likely won't come about until 2025 -- and even then the first likely use will be in art museums for showing works of art.
According to a report today from the BBC News, the new format has a screen resolution of 7680x4320 pixels, which is 16 times greater than current HD. The smallest diagonal TV size on which Super Hi-Vision can be employed is 50 inches.
This begs the question, then: Can the human eye even tell the difference between resolution of 1080p (the best available within the current high definition format) and this next leap in video technology? That's debatable. The human eye has limitations. After a certain point we're unable to see the difference in ever-increasing image resolutions. So perhaps this latest advance in TV tech is just an exercise in technical achievement. In the meantime we're still trying to decide if we want a new HDTV with 1080i or 1080p resolution.
Still, if we could see an oversized work like Monet's 'Waterlilies' replicated at real size and with almost perfect resolution somewhere besides the Museum of Modern Art, maybe the new standard will be considered worthwhile.
From BBC News.
Related links:
