DTV Is Coming and I'm Not Ready 376
(arg!)Styopa writes "As an early adopter, I have an HDTV-ready set without an integrated tuner. Analog television ends next February. My suspicion is that the $40 set-top box at Walmart has the minimum functionality to get by — i.e. simply a D-to-A converter and not an HDTV receiver. Three years ago I bought a UHF super-antenna (I'm about 40 mi. from the towers: borderline fringe reception) and searched for an HDTV converter to pull down HDTV OTA broadcasts. These were extremely hard to find — none at Radio Shack, Best Buy, Circuit City, or Ultimate Electronics (all the local bigboxen). I ended up buying a SIRT150 from eBay, which never found a signal, despite confirmed reception (on the set's normal tuner) of both VHF and UHF channels. So — any advice on what to look for in a set-top box? Is it going to cost me an arm and a leg, or is it not too far from the $40 Walmart special? Can I use Uncle Sam's $40 coupon towards it? I'd like very much to be able to find a physical store where I could go see the signal, before I decide if HD is worth the up-charge (if any) over simple DTV."
After paying for an early HDTV... (Score:0, Interesting)
It's late now, but if you can afford to be an early adopter, and since it's been known for years about the switch to digital, it seems you didn't research it then.
It's odd that someone who could spend enough for an early HDTV is worried that a new antenna might be worth more than $40.
If I sound harsh, it's because I wonder just how smart this person is. I found a digital TV antenna that feeds into the standard coax connection at Radio Shaft. The connector on my HDTV set is for standard cable, so I don't see what the problem is.
Maybe some people just shouldn't be early adopters. If you can't afford extra gadgets along the way and don't know what kind of roadtraps are ahead, wait until the market settles.
Re:What you need... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Parent may be harsh, but it's not a troll (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Parent may be harsh, but it's not a troll (Score:3, Interesting)
I went tunerless because it is my experience that things change over time, and that the odds favored more features, capability, compatibility, etc. if I got the tuner later.
While I waited for DTV, my actual HDTV, which was a high end component design, went essentially obsolete -- the 1080p it was capable of became forbidden unless it was HDMI, which, the TV being very early, it didn't have.
So now I have yet another system -- a projector, actually -- which does support HDMI, but, and I'm sure you've already guessed -- it still doesn't have a DTV tuner. When the time comes that our local stations broadcast in HDTV, *and* it seems to me that I'm missing something they're broadcasting; then I'll buy a DTV tuner...
Re:Put your money where your mouth is (Score:4, Interesting)
LOL.
I love it. Its a classic.
"We were forced to confiscate your back yard to buld a 6-lane private toll-road, but do not fret! The fire fighters, police men and ambulances will pay no fee on it! Thank you for your public service! Aren't you feeling all warm and tingly inside? Also Remember 9-11! 9-11!"
You Sir, should have become a politiican! You even managed to get 9-11 into it! I can just hear your speech at the launch of the Mega Corporate National Fabricated Happy News Network, DTV edition: "If you do not buy a DTV set now and do not subscribe to at least 100 DRM-covered vapid channels then Osama Bin Laden wins!"
Meanwhile, in this Universe, 99% or so of the freed bandwith will be auctioned (for gazillions of dollars - which will in the case of USA promptly head to Haliburton via Iraq) to private corporations of one shape or another.
Its a lovely deal: the public gets shafted by the corporates from all directions repeteadly on the same deal! Its like a Kung Fu mastery of rank avarice.
And then of course are you, actually trying to peddle the smiley-face corporate PR line on Slashdot, like you were serious!
Sure, the old technologies must eventually be replaced by newer, more efficient ones (which DTV debatably, supposedly is - in some cases, for some users). But this has nothing to do with technological progress and everything to do with shameless greed!
Re:Put your money where your mouth is (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Parent may be harsh, but it's not a troll (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, you're confused. My display system supported 1080p via the component inputs. There's nothing magical about 1080p such that it can't be sent over component, technically speaking. It isn't even that big a deal, it's quite similar in terms of bandwidth to what middle of the road computer displays have been doing for years.
However, after my purchase, collusion in the industry led to a state of affairs where 1080p was not going to be transmitted from component outputs, ever — only via HDMI. Not because it wasn't feasible, it certainly is, but because it couldn't be easily copy-protected. Even my current Sony (STR-DA5300ES) won't convert the 1080p HDMI signal to component for the second set of outputs; heck, it won't even activate the audio tape-outs if the signal is HDMI. Disgusting, really. But that's another rant.
So in the end, there were no program sources. My receiver (a really nice Denon) and my display (a projector whose details I no longer recall) were both perfectly capable of 1080p; but you can't get a 1080p *source* except via an HDMI jack at this point, so the display was limited to what it *could* get over component, which is either 1080i (ugh -- interlace is what I wanted to get away from) or 720p. 720p's not bad... until you've seen 1080p.
BTW, 1080p/24 requires less bandwidth than 1080i/30o/30e, which is what most of the satellite providers source (albeit at shoddy bitrates... but presuming similar compression, 1080p/24 is less greedy by about 20%. And that'd cover most movies made to date.) Not that this has anything to do with my subject matter, but you did mention bandwidth when talking broadcast issues.
Re:Parent may be harsh, but it's not a troll (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why would HDTV become mandatory? (Score:3, Interesting)
Keep in mind that most of TV content was actually FILMED (infact, most is still being filmed) so all we need to do is pull it out of the vaults, re-telecine it in HD, and there you go.