IT'S DIGITAL, BABY!
-----------------
John Pazmino
NYSkies Astronomy Inc
www.nyskies.or
nyskies@nyskies.org
2007 December 24
Introduction
----------
I was asked several times in October and November 2007 about the
high-definition television (HDTV) scheme that arrives in 2009. Readers
heard 'something' about their current televisions falling dead, to be
thrown out for new digital units.
You should visit the federal Communications Commission at
'www.hdtv.gov'. This is a special section for the high-definition
television (HDTV) project, It has simple text and a FAQ that cover the
more important questions.
There are by end November 2007 several websites, with new in the
mill, discussing the change from analog to digital television. Every
thing here relates only to the US situation. Each other country has
its own peculiar considerations.
I give here a few comments about HDTV. To keep the number of
acronyms and abbreves in check I use 'HDTV' to mean the television
unit, the digital programming signal, and the entire digital broadcast
system.
What's happening?
---------------
On 2009 February 17 all broadcast, 'over the air' (OTA), analog
television is permanently shut down. TV transmitters there after may
send out ONLY a digital signal for HDTV.
This is the date for the United States. Other countries already
switched to digital TV with Luxembourg the first to do so in 2006.
Others are in the process right now or have plans to convert in the
coming years. By 2012 virtually every television OTA signal on Earth
will be digital with no more analog.
Your current television will go blank because there will be no
more signal for it to play. Nothing fails or breaks inside the unit.
It is still a working machine. In fact, it can still be used for all
non-broadcast functions, like for a home security monitor.
This is a global scheme to replace the system of television with a
digital system. Each country works out its own transition. In the US
the utter final date for analog broadcast in 2009 Fevruary 17.
The HDTV system was initiated by the US FCC with participation by
electromagnetic industries all over the wrold. It is pretty much a
globel standard, so that a HDTV from one country can properly operate
in any other country. This is unlike the present analog system, which
has three domains: NTDC (for the US), PAL, SECAM. A television unit
playing a one will not properly play the other signals.
After the shutoff of analog OTA broadcast, the wavebands used by
these broadcasts will be allocated to other, nonTV, functions. They
will never again be available for television service. In the US these
bands will be distributed thru aution for electromagnetic companies.
Is the shutoff voluntary?
-----------------------
No. It is mandated by law under penalty of loss of broadcast
licence. The TV providers by the deadline MUST physicly turn off
permanently their analog programming and 'smash the crystal' in the
transmitters. The frequencies they now use are then after revocked
from television service, to be reassigned to nontelevision functions.
TV providers were given a new frequency in the UHF band for
simulcast of digital programming along eith their current analog
broadcast. When they relinquish the analog transmission in the VHF and
parts of the UHF band, they keep just the new UHF frequency for all of
their broadcasts.
This transition is mandatory in all parts of the world, with very
limited exception . Each country established its own procedure and
schedlue, so that the complete conversion is staged in year-by-year.
The conversion should complete by 2012.
Why is this happening?
--------------------
It's part of the move of the entire electromagnetic industry to an
alldigital society within a few years. Soon, certainly by the
mid2010s, virtually all services now provided in analog signal will be
issued only via digital signal.
There are compelling technical reasons for going to a digital
paradigm, which I pass over here. There are by end November 2007 many
websites with excruciatingly detailed explanations of the sigital
mechanisms, including for television broadcasts.
In the US, planning for HDTV began in 1986, the year of Halley's
comet!, with the startup of a blue-ribbon team of electromagentic
industry leaders. This team in 1994 finalized the technical aspects of
the HDTV system and turned its report in to FCC. FCC in 1997 ruled
that the US will switch to HDTV by 2006 December 31.
For various reasons, partly political and partly chicken-&-egg,
there was little advance toward HDTV by the early thous. in 2005 FCC
revised the rules to make the switch on 2009 february 17 and set
certain other deadlines.
The two more important ones for you as a TV viewer are the
compulsory simulcast of analog and digital broadcast starting in 2006
and the inclusion of digital circuitry in all new televisions and
gadgets by March 2007.
That's why if you have now a HDTV you are already enjoying digital
broadcast television. You also enjoy it if you acquired a new analog
TV unit built after March 2007.
The first big breakout to the public came right now in the yearend
2007 holiday season. Previously, only technophiles dabbled in HDTV.
The switch over is definite, with no credible chance of an other
deferment. The spectrum vacated by the old analog broadcasts is
already up for auction for use by other electromagnetic services.
How many homes are affected?
--------------------------
The change to digital does affect every television now receiving
over-the-air analog signals, but that's not the answer to the
question. There are perhaps 150 million of these sets still running in
US homes. This is a estimate from the alltime number sold and the
design lifetime, but TVs are very durable appliances. I personally
know of friends with TV units pushing 40 or 50 years of age!
WHile probably most homes have several TVs, chances are only one
main unit will be converted to digital, altho, as discussed below,
each home may get a discount coupon for two D/A converter boxes.
An other factor is that overwhelmingly the greater number of homes
do now have cable or satellite for at least one of their units. These
homes will be 'affected' in that they must decide what to do with the
units not attached to the cable/satellite service. These providers
allow only one unit per service feed.
There seem to be very few, a few million at the most, homes with
ONLY analog broadcast reception. These are typicly homes that do
little TV viewing, only for special occasions. Because the TV s a
minor part of home life in these cases, it is probable that they will
abandon their units rather than convert to digital signal reception.
There are surprisingly few homes with NO television, even among
poverty homes. Just about every home, of any affluence level, can
afford some television unit, given that units are priced as low as a
few tens of dollars in the tabletop models.
The feeling in the broadcast industry is that the number of
televisions capable of receiving their new digital programming will be
substantially the same as now for analog. Only marginal units will be
abandoned, those of smaller size, little use. erratic operation,
aging.It feels confident that within the year 2008, just about every
home with one main unit will be ready for digital one way or an other.
Are there any exceptions?
-----------------------
The FCC rules apply to all general public broaadcasting, which is
what 'television' usually means. Certain TV transmitters of low power,
limited range, confined viewership, are exempt from the 2009 shutdown.
Also exempt are television networks that do not send signal thru the
air, like closed-circuit systems. FCC has under review the prospect of
roping these TV providers into the digital scheme in a future year.
Once again, the shutoff is for the SENDOUT of over-the-air analog
programming. It has NOTHING to do with the receivers themselfs. No one
messes with your TV unts.
Are digital shows broadcas now?
-----------------------------
Television providers right now broadcast HDTV programming, which
you can play on a new HDTV unit. It's part of the transition process,
and a new requirement under the broadcasting licences. Both the new
HDTV receiver AND the newest of the analog receivers play BOTH the
analog and digital programming. You can right now start enjoying new
digital and old analog television in one cabinet.
After 2009 February 17 your HDTV will have ONLY the digital signal
to play, there no longer being an analog one on the air.
Your television provider advertises its digital programming in its
litterature. They may tag the HDTV programmings with 'HD', for 'high
definitionn'. Less commonly, they use 'DT' for 'digital television'.So
far, there is no digital-only programming. All digital broadcasts are
simulcasts of the analog ones. so you can enjoy all your shows thru
either method.
A show sent out in both digital and analog form may have a picture
that doesn't fit completely within your TV screen. You'll recognize
this by a black border above and below the picture, for a 'mail-slot'
effect. Or there may be black bands to both sides of the picture for
the 'barn-door' effect. Or the picture may be cropped to fit into the
screen, somwtimes called a 'zoom' effect. This is pura mente a
cosmetic effect due to the way the TV provider codes its signal.
Will HDTV broadcast be free?
--------------------------
Yes. The programming that maps over from the present analog
channels remain free of charge. It is either completely free if you
receive then it the air via an antenna or included in the most basic
subscription for cable or satellite reception. Channels 2 thru 13,
plus the current UHF channels, will stay free for you exactly as they
are now under the analog system.
Cable and satellite comapnies may, and likely will, assess fees
for extra services provided thru digital signals. Entirely new, some
not yet invented, services, prehaps from nontraditional companies,
will most likely be offered at extra cost.
What to do with my analog TV?
---------------------------
Your analog television does NOT self-destruct or otherwise stop
functioning. After 2009 February 17 there simply is no analog OTA TV
transmission for your unit to receive and play. You will see only
sttic on any channel you tune to, like that from a station that went
off duty for the night.
Satellite or cable services already convert digital signal from
the TV provider to analog thru the connection box. It's only the OTA
analog signal that's turned off. Hence, if you are tied via satellite
or cable to a television service, you may keep your current TV.
Satellite and cable services will exchange your current connection
box for a new one that feeds the proper digital signal into your new
HDTV.
You may keep your current television for all non-OTA analog signal
input, like videotape, CD and DVD, camcorder, digital camera, vintage
computer. As long as the input device can generate an 'NTSC' signal at
its video/audio ports (for the United States), it can supply your
current TV with a playable input.
Should I get a new analog TV to replace my broken one?
----------------------------------------------------
If budget fails you, you can get a NEW analog receiver, provided
it was manufactured after March 2007. Deliberately ask if it was, or
examine ihe unit's litterture. Televeision receivers built after March
2007 nust include the circuits to play incoming OTA digital signals
The image on the screen is still an analog image, like that of your
older analog unit.
However, the picture and sound will in general, be far cleaner
than than taken from an OTA analog signal. That's bvecause a digital
broadcast is far more resistant against in-air distortions and
corruption.
It so happens that in fall 2007 only large-size HDTVs are at sale
and they are just now newly issued. They, to some readrs, may be too
pricey, being a mite above what you are ready to pay now. There are no
small units, like 20 to 30 cm screen, Hence, it can be a reasonable
choice to get a analog set for its overall cheaper price,. Once and
again, be SURE it is a newly made unit that plays over-the-air digital
signals.
Can my analog TV play digital signals?
------------------------------------
If you keep your analog TV unit, you must get a converter box,
about the size and bulk of a cable connection box, that digests the
incoming digital signal to an analog one that your unit can play.
These are also calld D/A (digital-to-analog) boxes.
A D/A box is needed ONLY to receive OTA programming. That coming
in thru your cable or satellite connection is already doctored up for
the TV unit. In fact, the whole pwah of digital/analog is transparent
for you. Just keep watching your old television.
Sometime in 2008, date uncertain now, stores will start selling
D/A boxes to connect between your current TV and its antenna. The
module will change the OTA digital signal to the old analog one to be
played on your current TV. The image will in general be sharper,
clearer, more stable, less prone to interference and distortion, than
the OTA analog transmission.
How do I get this special box?
----------------------------
The boxes are hopefuly in the $50 to $70 price range. this is a
oneshot expense. You own the box and can attach to any analog
television you want. They'll be at sale in stores selling televisions
and other personal electronics starting in early to mid 2008.
There is a plan in the works to supply discount coupons for the
D/A converters. As at now there are no firm particulars about this
plan. The converters are still under design and test. Price is
hopefully in the $40-$80 range. The coupons, two per household, are
worth $40 toward the purchase of an D?A box. They are called 'rebate'
and 'discount' coupons -- very different money methods -- but you'll
have to wait for the official instructions in early 2008.
Hopefully the local news media will announce the plan in early
2008 in time for the issuance of the boxes.
What about my other TVs?
----------------------
Look after your extra TVs, those at a second home, car, trailer or
camper, boat. They, too, if they collect OTA signals, will go black on
2009 February 17.
Handheld computers right now accept only the analog signals,
despite being newly invented devices well aware of the coming
changeover. I found no consensus from the computer companies about
upgrades, add-on modules, what ever, so these units can play the new
digital OTA signals.
The discount coupons recognize multiple television units by
allowing two coupons per household. to purchase two D/A boxes.
Can I keep my analog TV gadgets?
-----------------------------
The HDTVs also accept analog input from existing analog devices.
These include VCRs, DVD/CD players, vintage computers, home alarm
networks. At worse, you may need a new attachment cable or adaptor.
Examine your exiting device. Its connection cable may be tethered
permanently so you can not subtitute a neew corrct one for the HDTV
unit. In such a situation, you may have to scrap the device or reserve
it only for your old analog TC receiver.
Brand new gadgets, those manufactured after March 2007, must
output the new digital signal for the HDTVs. Ask about an analog
output if you need the device for an existing TV unit.
Can I record or capture digital programming?
------------------------------------------
In general, yes. However, the new signal profile includes a
provision to lock out a new sigital recording device. It is expected
that this feature will be applied to programming where an extra fee is
charged, like cinema-on-call. For the free OTA digital programming,
there is no movement to lock out the ablity to capture or record it.
You can record or capture digital programming thru an old analog
device. These never had any lock-out feature. The iamge so captured
will be only as good as an analog image.
There is one heavy caution! Today with analog broadcasts the TV
providers commonly start and end thair programs a little off of the
hours posted in their litterature. The deviation is only a minite or
two, but that's enough to upset preplanned recording as set on your
recorder's timer. You miss the very start or finish of a show! There
This nasty trick began sometime in early 2007 and was first publicly
noticed in summer of 2007 as consumer complaints reached a critical
mass for attention.
This jiggering of the start-finsh hours is NOT announced in
advance. Only the 'book' hour is advertised. You can not anticipate an
early/late endpoint of a given show to adhust your viewing habits or
your recorder's timer.
is no reason to expect this practice will stop for digital
broadcasts. You must take the same care while viewing or capturing a
digital show as you must now do for analog shows.
Once embedded on a commutable medium, such as a videotape or
harddisc, you may play the image back on any television that accepts
that medium. In short, you can do with a digital rcording what you now
may do with an analog recording, always being mindful of fair use and
commercial abuse. You may still, for exxample, record a show for a
friend and give him the videotape.
The line is crossed, just like for analog recordings, if you sell
or otherwise financially benefit from distributing copies of a
captured digital program. Playing a digital capture of a sports
program at a tavern where it attracts customers is a clear no-no. It
is right now a no-no for an analog recording.
Are HDTVs now available?
----------------------
Yes. The first big push is right now in the yearend 2007 season.
In fact, By now most stores stopped selling analog televisions to
stock ONLY HDTVs. Because HDTVs also play the OTA analog signals, you
may continue to watch analog programming, until the trnoff date, in
addition to the new digital ones.
HDTVs are at present a bit pricey, in the high hundreds to low
thousands of dollars. Partly this comes from there being only large
models. When small ones are offered and when volume of sales picks up
in mid to late 2008, prices will decline to about those for similar
size analog units.
You may see remaining analog units at deep discount. These should
have a tag warning of the analog broadcast shutoff so you are properly
advised of their limited function. You may get an old unit knowing
that it will fail as a regular television after the analog shutdown
but will still work with analog devices that attach to it by cable.
They will also wotk with your present cable or satellite connection or
with a D?A conveter box.
Brand new analog units, built after March 2007, have digital
circuits in them to play the new digital programming. You may get one
of these if the price or size of HDTVs is too much for you.
As at March 2007 all new TV gadgets must handle digital signals,
whether or not they also handle analog signals. Hence, when you get
the new HDTV, you can attach these devices to it.
At worse, you may need a new connection cable or adaptor. This
assumes the device has a removable cable or adaptor so you can
exchange it
Can I keep my old antenna?
------------------------
Your existing antenna will pick up the new sigital broadcasts
because they are sent out in the existing UHF spectral band, where you
now obtain the higher numbered channels beyond 13. However, the
reception is still subject to degradation by distance from the
transmitter. If now you get poor reception with your analog TV, you'll
get poor reception with your new digital unit.
The reception quality will be better than that of analog because
the digital signal is less prone to distortion and interference thru
the air. At worse, you may get a new, larger and more sensitive,
antenna.
You may have to aim your antenna to a new transmission station, as
advised by the TV providers in your area. This is because some
providers will build a new transmitting station at a site away from
their present station.
It is a little-known federal law that allows you to place a
television antenna on your own premises. This law overrides state,
local, and private rules that prohibit such antennae. This also
applies to housing estates you rent or pay fees at, as long as the
antenna is placed withon the primeter of your defined dwelling,
including a patio or lawn.
Some sensible restrictions remain but you no longer can be
arbitrarily barred from putting up your antenna within your premises.
Exisitng rules can still ban your antenna from common or public areas,
so make SURE you understand and know where your perimeter is.
The new federal regulations are complicated and may require
professional legal assistance to interpret. Please take this
assistance BEFORE going forward with your antenna installation.
What is a HDTV unit like?
-----------------------
HDTVs are the flat-screen models, like the flat-screen computer
montiors. These are much less heavy, bulky, clumsy than 'television'
models of similar screen size. You may free up substantial floor or
table space with a new HDTV and may carry it to alternate viewing
places in your home.
A HDTV has an oblong screen of 16/9 in width/height ratio. It
looks like a minature a panorama cinema screen. An analog screen is
4/3 in width/height ratio. Compared to an analog unit you'll see more
along the two sides of the picture or the whole picture fills the
entire screen. The fit depends on how the TV provider codes the analog
version of the digital programming.
As at now, the HDTVs at sale are the large ones, to replace your
main analog TV. Their screens are a half to a full meter diagonal in
the 'small' models, up to two meters in the giant models. So far no
small HDTVs, for tabletop or portable use, are in the stores. Nor are
there yet pocket models or devices to play HDTV programming on
handheld computers.
Get permission from the property owner before attaching a HDTV on
a wall. A typical 1-meter unit weighs about 30 kilograms, which could
be excessive for nonstructural walls. Let a professinal home
improvement company examine the wall and do the work.
Many, but not all, HDTVs have a connection for video feed from a
computer. This can be used for showing homemade or downloaded videos
and images from your computer. If you intend to do this, ask about the
computer connection.
It really isn't practical to cobble an extra computer display unit
into a HDTV unit. The cost and fiddliness of doing so is not worth the
trouble. Get a proper HDTV.
How do I operate a HDTV?
----------------------
Pretty much like an analog unit. The controller may have strange
new buttons, but you'll learn them from its instructions.
One inportant factor is that the channel numbers of the old analog
broadcasts are mapped to the digital broadcasts, even tho the analog
waveband no longer exists. As example, WNBC in New York is analog
cahnnel 4. It STAYS channel 4 in the digital system, while sending out
on a new frequency with a new internal channel number.
TV providers will still advertise their progamming under the old
channel numbers. When you press '4' on the controller to select WNBC,
the circuit in the HDTV will automaticly tune to the proper new
channel number and confirm that you are now on channel 4. The HDTV
does this without your attention or other intervention.
An other important factor is that each digital channel can be
sliced into subchannels as the provider wants to. The bandwidth of the
digital system is the same 6Mhz as for analog, 6Mhz, but the signal
can be compressed to make room for several outputs within that band.
This technique is multicasitng and your HDTV can select from among
the subchannels of a TV provider.
This offers the prospect of MORE programming in a single channel,
like 'channel 4A, 4B, 4C'. This may happen despite the REDUCTION OF
the number of channels allocated to digital broadcasts asfter the
analog shutdown. This,
in fact, was one motivation to switch to digital braodvast, to
increase the utilization of the limited spectral bands. An analog
channel can carry only one signal spanning the whole 6Mhz.
What's down the track with HDTV?
------------------------------
The HDTV system was designed and intended to interconnect with
other digital sectors of society, like computers and communications.
While no interconnection services are now offered, they are under
development right now. Some include:
Interactive television - You take part in games and mysteries with
a mouse or wand to modulate the outcome of the show.
Linking remote HDTVs - You could watch a sports event from an
other town, blacked out in New York, as it plays on your friend's HDTV
in that town.
Multiscreen display - The large screens of HDTV have room for
several smaller screens, each showing the full area of its programming
Digital capture - You can record and transfer the programming to
computers and portable players via Internet.
Create and transfer shows - Send homemade movies to remote HDTVs.
A community cable staton may supplu equipment to run your own show
from home rather than only from its studio.
Satellite realtime navigation - Pilot your car via HDTV and GPS
tools. Also track other vehicles and people via onboard transponders..
Drive robots on the Moon - A tobotic rover placed on the Moon can
be manoeivered via HDTV control by assignment of time.
There is no timeframe for offering these, and other, new features.
Some require perfection of other facilities, like untra-high-speed
Internet or stronger long-lasting batteries. It will take a couple
years for you to get used to the HDTV medium and then clamor for more
uses for it.
How do I dispose of my old TV?
----------------------------
Do NOT discard it in the household trash or leave it on the
street. New York, and many towns and counties, have procedures for
proper disposal of home electronics. Ask about them and discard the TV
unit by the proper disposal method. In some towns, old TVs are
recycled for other non-OTA uses, so you may have to specify if the
unit works or not.
Is there some astronomy in this project?
--------------------------------------
Not directly, However, in the pst a channel not used in a given
town was from time to time used to monitor meteor echos, cosmic
background radiation, solar flares. Such use was sporadic, a bit
haphazard, and short-lived.
With ALL analog stations falling silent on 2009 February 17 and
before the new services take over the released bands, there could be a
window of opportunity for some intersting radio astronomy. It could be
an ideal situation because there will be, in the US at any rate, NO
other human transmission in the old television band for several months
to interfere with cosmic signals!
Altho, so far, only occasional home astronomers played with off-
duty television channels, it could be feasible for regular radio
telescopes to, at least for a while, avail of the newly quiet zone of
the spectrum in the BHf and part of the UHf zone.
Radio astronomy got going just about when the television bands
were assigned in 1946. I suppose radio astronomy stayed away from the
TV bands because they were by then already filled with human-generated
signal that totally killed any possible signal from celestial targets.
It may in 2009 be feasible to retool for signal, where such may in
theory exist from certain cosmic processes.
The window for astronomy could be brief, a few months. The new
licencees for the television bands want to get their new srvices
running soonest after winning the auction. many right now are gambling
on getting a spectrum slice by building facilities and structures
right now. They want to be ready to fire up their services when the
licence falls thru their mailslot.
There is the very long shot that for SETI the other inhabitants of
the galaxy are trying to 'anser' us by resending our old TV shows back
on the same frequency they were transmitted at.
We don't hear them for being completely overwhelmed by our
outgoing signals. If they are ignorant 9as they must be for it takes
several yearrs at best for the news of the analog turnoff to reach
them) of the impending lapse of TV broadcasts, we MAY start hearing
those old shows coming back at us!! Yes, it IS one hell of a long
shot, but a harmless one to try for.
Are other analog services affected?
---------------------------------
The US FCC has other rules for wireless telcomms, including
cellphones. It set 2008 Febraury 18 -- JSUT 2-1/2 MONTHS FROM NOW --
as the final date that telcomms providers must offer analog wireless
service. They are permitted to continue this service there after but
not a single company is palnning to do so.
There are two reactions. The first is that most of the firms are
converting to digital service and giving their customers new devices.
The other is to give up telcomms service due to the expense or
duration of making the change over.
Firms not converting have the option to keep analog featurs ,but
they will be completely isolated in a nation of digital services thru
which they can not pass their signals. Hence, they are, litterally,
choked off from the global telcomms grid.
You MUST speak eith your eirelrdd provider to learn what its plans
are and how you can maintain its service. In many cases you already
heard from it and were offered new wquipment or alternate digital
service. In other cases you heard that it's bye-bye- charlie.
You MUST check with ALL of your applications that depend on
wireless telcomms. One typical application is an alarm system that
calls its central office and police thru an analog phone provider.
Your alarm company, like the regular phone company, may already have
instructed you about this situation. it may offer an exchange of
equipment to keep you as a customer or it may fold its tent.
OnStar, the vehicle comms and nav company, already announced it
will just stop all analog features at the midnight between 31 December
2007 and 1 January 2008 (when the ball drops in Times Square). It is a
bit blurred for what OnStar will do with its analog equipment in
customer vehicles. You MUST speak with it to learn what to do.
If you did not by now, late November 2007, hear from your wireless
providers -- all and nay of them -- you better get hold of them RIGHT
NOW. It COULD be that your provider already has digital service and
you really have nothing further to do. But it's nivce it the provder
assured you of that.
Without taking corrective action, your service may simply go dead
by 18 February 2008. Note well that this is the ultimate deadline for
required analog service. Wireless companies can, and are, shutting off
analog features RIGHT NOW with NONE planning to continue them after
this deadline. Also note well that this date is NOT the same as for
the analog television shutoff. It is ONE YEAR EARLIER, WITHIN 2-1/2
MONTHS FROM NOW.