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This
question asked to me as little as 2 years ago would have
brought a total different answer. The
original intent of the of the Federal Communication
Commission or the FCC and the Advanced Television
Standards Committee-ATSC
was to bring television into the 21 century with a more
versatile signal, cleaner, sharper, detailed, digital,
picture and free up bandwidth space. A
better picture for TV had been brewing for years such as
s-video, DVT, Sony's HI 8 are some the early examples. I
even remember reading about Sanyo's 3-D camcorder
released in the late 80's it had two camera like
binoculars. From a tech point of view it was really
neat, I wonder whatever happen to that format.
Back to
the subject at hand,the basic answer is NO.
My clarification of this event is the FCC (the
people with the power) made a mandate that in its
shortened version more or less sez "all analog
over-the-air television broadcast signals will be shut
off and will be replace with a DIGITAL signal (not
High Definition) and we will do this by FEB 2009.
Basically if you are on cable or satellite (paid TV)
your cable or satellite provider will make sure you have
the right equipment to convert their signal to match
your TV set's. Your program provider can either match a
signal to a 50's TV set or new fangled 1080HD TV or both
at the same time.
The
problem arises with anyone who uses an over-the-air
antenna. Two basic problems;
1.
if your TV doesn't have a ATSC tuner (new fangled TV's
that receives digital signal) then you will no longer
have TV reception. The GOV is issuing coupons to help
purchase set top boxes that will convert the DIGITAL
over-the-air signal to match up to your TV. TVMAN will
help you with this conversion.
2. if
your antenna is not the proper the antenna the convert
boxes will not work well or not at all. In our area
antenna should be UHF type.
An
UHF antenna with a booster is best. An VHF and UHF combo
antenna will work but these antenna have allot elements
devoted to VHF. As far as I know at this time the only
VHF digital broadcast is PBS out of Bangor its digitally
frequency will be channel 9. A straight VHF antenna may
bring some digital reception but is the worst choice in
our area.
antenna
in stock
CM3020
high gain vhf/uhf $129
CM3010
stealth small ant $89
$79
CMm3038
pre-amp
cm3010 $49
ACTIVE
5 small
multidirectional $129
$49
ANT706
RCA
indoor/outdoor $39 $29
HD8800
Eight bay uhf
$99
TV44
clip
on $79
$29
tripod tripod
$29
antenna
advice; All
antennas will receive color, HD, digital, and analog.
You needed to make two choices when picking out an
antenna. One is by channel's or frequencies you want to
watch either vhf or uhf. The second is gain or how far
away are you from the stations or channels location you
want and this will determine the size of the antenna you
will need.
We do antennas in the
Augusta-Waterville markets and my first pick is
CM3010 and pre-amp all installed for about $250 for one
TV. This is not the my strongest antenna but because it
is non-directional and has the pre-amp its performance
in this area has been adequate. My second pick is the 8
bay antenna with an UHF pre-amp all installed for about
$350 for one TV. This antenna devotes all of the
elements to UHF and has given us that extra gain. The
only draw back it may not do both Portland and Bangor
channels at the same time. The 8 bay antenna also can be
put with a rotor for better receptions.
about the chart: Most
ATSC tuners will automatically find this channels and
for example will call them 5-1, 5-2 for channel 5 not
19, and same with channel 6 will be 6-1, 6-2 not 44.
This chart can help fine tune your reception.
Portland
Bangor
old
new
old
new
ABC
8--------46 +WEATHER
ABC
7--------14 +FOX
CBS
13--------38
CBS
5--------19 +CW
PBS
10--------17
PBS
12--------9
FOX
23--------??
FOX
22--------??
NBC
6--------44 +WEATHER
NBC
2--------25
MY PORTLAND 35--------28
CW
51--------43
Extra reading on HD
The
fundamentals of the new digital signal was to have two formats. One a
STANDARD DIGITAL (SD) compressed, informational, 525
lines, 4x3, multi purpose format (for example channel 6
news and weather simultaneous digital broadcast). The
2nd, and the ultimate eye-popping best picture we have ever
seen HIGH DEFINITION DIGITAL (HD) 720 or 1080 scan
lines, 16x9, plus circuit enhancements (for example
movies). We have already greatly improved on this 90's
advanced digital format. An example is channel 6
over-the-air broadcast is broadcasting simultaneously 3
digital pictures with a standard, an HD and 24 hours
weather. We already
have seen the digital TVs system go beyond its planned
growth, and its due to the growth in the electronic
digital TV industry, with greater compression, mpeg4,
quality of TV screens and countless circuit enhancements.
Let
us look, what is HD, and what is required. The 3 HD
formats are (scan lines and pixel count) 720p with 1280
x 720, 1080i with 1920 x 1080, 1080p with 1920 x 1080
pixel count with a greater expense for the higher
picture count, (TVtypically). To have HD, we need at
least two items, HD content or source, HD TV or HD
monitor, and proper hookup all with being able to produce
one of the above mention formats.
HD sources can come in
many types, HD cable, HD DVT, HD DVD, Blue Ray, HD VCR,
over-the-air HD broadcast, and HD satellite. There are
two ways we are making HD content, one way is with the
right equipment using HD cameras, HD storage, HD
studios, etc and then proper transferring the signal to
you via over air, tape or disc for new HD content. The
other way is far more interesting is in a HD studio
where they can up convert a film, analog or tape to HD.
Take the original 60's series Flipper for an example,
when it was filmed, HD was not even thought of. Flipper
was done in good quality cinemascope and wide screen
format. Run it through a HD converter and take out a few
flaws, add some circuit enhancements and improve the
sound, presto, Flipper in HD, WOW, NEATO!!
True HD, new movies, sports, TV series and much more
are being done every day with the proper equipment. The
second has a few weaknesses up converting and is not true HD,
but does provide an improvement in the picture. A great movie or
picture like a 007 Sean Connery film or first generation
Star Wars are of HD quality and make a great up
converted wide screen HD movie. Shows like Laverne and
Shirley, Password, and Dragnet the series can be up
converted also but will not be of HD picture quality and
will have a 4x3 TV format and not 16x9.
Here lies the other
answer to our question. New HD has to be made that way
and all old programs can be up converted to HD which will
be part of be the industry standard. It is up to each
individual network to go HD like HGTV, TNT, Discovery,
and Food to name a few that have gone to HD and channels
like BBC, FINE LIVING, Hallmark, etc have not taken the
plunge yet. Remember the over-air-broadcasters are the
only networks that are mandated by FCC to make a change
and the requirement is to broadcast in digital. If you
want HD (better picture) call your program provide or
better call us at 622-1017 or toll free 877-448-8626.
hdeverything2
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