Japan gears up for analog broadcasts' demise
posted Oct 25th 2005 4:00AM
Next month, Japan's Association for the Promotion of Digital Broadcasting will launch their "Let's! Terrestrial Digital Winter '05" campaign. With analog broadcasts set to come to an end in 2011 in Japan, the association is wasting no time letting people across the country know. At participating stores, you'll be seeing yellow or blue stickers on all devices with terrestrial analog or terrestrial digital tuners — yellow lets you know that when 2011 rolls around, you'll either have to purchase an entirely new set or purchase an external tuner box. Blue means you're good to go when digital broadcasts finally take over. Things seem to be moving along nicely for digital broadcasts in Japan; the association plans to have 50% coverage of households across country by as early as the end of this year.
Japan embraces change with open arms. This is something America could never do (well, they can, it'll just take ten/twenty years longer).
This is news?
Sweden has already shut down two regions' analog broadcasts, and will have shut down all of them by oktober 2007.
Too bad we didn't go straight for HDtv though...
Don't care! There is so much CRAP (mostly mind numbingly dull US programs and awful reality tv junk) on television here in the UK that we like a growing number don't have one. Haven't had a T.V. for 8 years. You should all try it. Of course junk T.V. does ensure that the people remain unquestioning and stupid which is exactly what most of our governments would prefer. Exactly the same reason they want to control the internet. When digital is finally foisted on the UK it won't affect many of us. And besides what's so urgent and special about digital T.V. anyway?
Isn't america planning to do this already by 2009? The reason it is important is to clear up that bandwith for things such as blanketing cities with wifi access.
Isn't america planning to do this already by 2009? The reason it is important is to clear up that bandwith for things such as blanketing cities with wifi access.
The US can't even adopt the metric system. I can see HDTV in the US being pushed back over and over again. What they need to do is put a cut off for when no analog TVs can be sold in the US and not push it back.
#1: Only when it comes to technology and the like. Japanese people can be ignorant as hell when accepting SOCIAL changes.
I second #2s comment. In Germany in most regions digital terrestrial broadcast can be received and all private stations have already shut down their analog broadcasts. Satellite and Cable are already digital. I don't why the countries decided to have these looooong transition phases, do you? Analog is dead for all I know ...
Andrea, the original date was Dec. 31, 2006 for all analog transmissions to end in the U.S., but now it appears that will be changed to Jan. 1, 2009. Sure it would cost the government $3 billion to subsidize low income homes with converter boxes but they stand to make $10-30 billion from auctioning off the spectrum.
I don't understand government subsidation of converter boxes. You can already get a DTV box at radioshack for $89. By the time 2009 rolls around, that should be much cheaper(most likely $25 or less). However the bill says that it can spend UP TO $3 billion of the money gotten from the sale of the spectrum(not from taxes). So if there is no need, then no money spent that way. Of course, why buy something if the government will give it to you free, right? Still, i'm sure the government will waste the money somewhere else if they save it here.
Wow, I guess this is gang up on US day.
The terrestrial digital broadcasting didn't start in the US until late 90's and full coverage has yet to be met, we were at about 50% at the beginning of 2004. The population density, and high density population areas is low in the US compared to Europe and Asia. The average american houshold has 2.4 TV sets, you'd expect them simply to be chunked out the window, or pay about the same amount of money for a convert box as what the TV is worth just to watch the things.
Japan has about 1 TV per house hold, Sweden only has 9 million people mostly in southern coastal areas, we don't live in a Socialized state like most of Europe is going to.
Satellite and Cable in the US have been digital for years, we started the revolution in this area if you recall.
I personally watch about 95% of my shows/sports in HD over cable. All my neighbors have one HD set, most of my family members have an HD set. We get HD OTA or Cable.
I personally have 4 TVs in my house (ranging from 25yrs old to 1yr old) all working great. I'm not going to through away my 25yr old 19" TV in one of my guest rooms because it's Analog.
This has nothing to do with our acceptance of HDTV. Personally I wouldn't care if they switched over tomorrow, that would kick the Chinese butts into gear to get us $50 converters for our analog sets. But I'm not paying $250-300 for a converter for a 25yr old TV who's equivalent market value today is about $99
Basically, the only people really woried about the US turning off their Terrestrial Analog are people from outside the US, but enjoy bashing the US. I say get the F-bomb over yourselves already. And for insanity sake secure that inferiority complex that you have with a bit of Freud.
Seeing as how now it looks like 2009 is the death date for analog TV in the US, I think it's time they did something along these lines here. I'm sick of seeing all these great new products announced with NTSC only tuners.
Wow... Some pretty tough comments here. I didn't think the article was about the actual schedule of the analog to digital switch.
I think it's a GREAT idea to let consumers know that the TV they're about to purchase won't work in a few years without an additional DTV box.
I'd like to see the same sticker system in the US - Make retailers responsible to inform consumers about the impending obsolescence.
Retailers should embrace this, as it might convince a few customers to spend a little bit more to get the DTV-compatible set.
"Only when it comes to technology and the like. Japanese people can be ignorant as hell when accepting SOCIAL changes."
Pretty ignorant comment there yourself. Japan as a society has changed more than probably any society on Earth in the past 50 years, especially when you consider how ancient Japanese culture is. It embraced western culture far earlier than any other Asian nation (not necessarily a good thing, but there it is), starting with the Meiji Restoration, and since WWII has become more westernized than any other Asian country.
My guess is you're speaking about issues of either race or women's rights, but that's a very narrow view of "social change" and in any case they have made huge strides in those areas compared to even just a few years ago. And it's not as if those aren't problems elsewhere in the world either (including the US and Europe - you don't see skinheads rampaging through the streets of Japan, do you?)
My feeling is that Japan has actually changed too much and is in the process of losing its uniqueness and identity. It is difficult to tell a Japanese person from an American person anymore until you hear them speak. If you followed around an average young Japanese person today, they'd get up in the morning, put on their Levi's and their t-shirt, head off to Starbucks for a venti cappuccino or to Denny's for a real breakfast before boarding the subway to work while listening to their iPod... they'd maybe stop at McDonald's for lunch, then after work they'd hit some bars with their drinking buddies before going home to sleep on their western-style bed in their western-style apartment. It is an almost completely western lifestyle.
Does Japan have social issues? Sure it does. But you're just mistaken if you think Japan as a society is slow to embrace change. If anything, they are too quick to embrace change, and some of their current problems come from having embraced western cultural conventions without considering or planning for the consequences. (For example, Japan has a declining birth rate leading to an aging and declining population... partly the result of young people no longer wanting to marry and more women entering the workforce.)
Anyway, to keep this at least somewhat on-topic, I'd say their embrace of new technology pretty much mirrors their embrace of social change. They always want to have the latest, newest thing, whether it's fashion, culture, or technology. It's getting harder and harder to find anything traditionally Japanese there.
They are actually a bit behind us on HDTV, though. HDTV's there are not nearly as common in homes as they are here yet. I think it's probably mostly the type of programming that's popular there, which is a lot more reality-based. They don't generally have expensive episodic dramas like "Lost" or "ER", although American TV shows do get shown on some networks sometimes (they wouldn't be in HD even if HDTV's were more popular, though). Most popular shows are shot on crappy video to begin with; it's very rare to see anything shot on film and probably rarer to see something shot on high-def video.
#12:
You say it's getting harder and harder to find anything traditionally Japanese there.
Have you ever been to Akihabara? Doujinshis, H games, 290 yen gyuudon and small form factor PCs. Japan is just as culturally unique as it was during the Meiji regime.
As for lack of skinheads, you don't see many foreigners either there, do you?
Japanese may wear Levi's jeans, but they don't use Nokia phones and they eat ramen for lunch. It's not the jeans, it's what you put in them. ;-)
"Hello Upper Class person *shakes hand* I'm Lower-Middle Class, I've never seen an HDTV face to "face", and no one I know owns one, or has any plans to own one, including myself.
Digital charges up the ass, and no one in my family has it, because Comcast are pricks who are already jacking us 120$ a month for normal Cable and Internet, which we'll have to cut off to pay for the blindsiding heat costs this winter.
Not everyone lives in the meadow of complacency called Suburbia and not everyone has oodles of cash to dump into some piece of crap they don't care about and would never use, HDTV is a bad idea for America right now, the majority of people could not *begin* to afford this, that's why they pushed it back, the real reason anyhow."
Wow, I've never considered myself upper class. But I guess because I now own an HDTV (previous TV was purchased 9yrs ago), I must be upper class. Have you looked at the prices of Rear Projection CRT based HDTVs, there about the same price as what regular Rear Projection TV was 5yrs ago. People on welfare were buying these things 5yrs ago. You need to do a reality check.
If you don't like Comcast I suggest you go Satellite. I have Time Warner, I pay $120/mo for Digital Cable + HBO/Sho/Cinemax + HD Serv + DVR + Cable Modem. I get my phone service with Vonage (VOIP) for $25/mo. I've got friends who have HDTV and get their service OTA and use Dialup service because that's what they can afford.
Upper class my ass. I didn't say all my friends and family are out buying Plasma, DLP, LCD, LCOS based HDTV sets, which while the most expensive have dropped into the 1.5-3K range for the big screen versions.
What I dont understand is how is the government gonna buy you a digital convertor box, when most cable companies wont let you use a covertor box that you have bought from a 3rd party on their network? they make you rent a box from them. And unless there becomes a unified standard for digital broadcast, I dont see this changing. If you dont know what I mean, there are 2 major digital broadcast systems out there, Motorola, and Scientific Atlanta. They are incompatible systems. A SA convertor box will not work on a systme built around the Motorola standard and vise versa for a Moto box on a SA systme.
Sorry Revrant, I call bluff on your claim of Comcast charging $120/month for regular cable and high-speed internet. Here in DC that is only $44 for cable and $43 for internet, so its just $87 total and that's assuming you don't get any kind of special deals (I got internet for a year for $30). Where exactly are they charging that much? Considering that you've placed yourself in the position to have to choose between an extravegant $120 cable and internet package or heating for your home, its no wonder that you're Lower-Middle Class.
"Lmao, wow, is that the high-class ripping off the government Welfare stereotype I see? Reality Check cashed, we've been on Welfare for years, and we're on the brink of Bankruptcy due to the lack of money provided and constant decreasing for vague reasons, including cutting off Food Stamps while saying such a thing would not happen."
Revrant,
So, I got cousins that are on welfare that managed to buy a bigscreen TV. There are 'system milkers' out there. It sounds like you're one of them, but the tit is running a bit dry because Bush has run our economy into the ground.
I actually work for my money. Uncle Sam has never blindly handed out a dollar to me. I got my education. But I do not fall into the Upper class demographic by anyone's standard except for those who are welfare babies.
If Jeff can spend $120 a month for his cable and internet, he can spend $50 a month on a two year loan to buy a $1000 HDTV. You do the math. It doesn't require going into CC debt to do it.
Drop the high speed internet service use a $10/mo dialup, Get rid of one of the premium channels and you've got the $50 a month.
If a welfare baby can afford $120 a month for Cable and Broadband service, don't tell me he can't afford an HDTV.
Ok, you win the pitty party. Guess what you get for winning. Welfare for life and a padded cushion so you never have to get off your @$$. Courtesy of the tax payers of America. Because, man, your entitled to it.
There, don't you feel better.
I'm really not seeing how an article about the Association for the Promotion of Digital Broadcasting in Japan turned into an argument about welfare. Let's try and stay on topic, please.
A mandated cutoff of analog sales is government helping corporate bottom lines.
If you have satellite or a cable box, you don't need a digital tuner or a hi-def tv. The picture is already digital on satellite and works and will continue to work with analog TV's. If there is a market for analog TV's nobody should be forcing a company not to make product. If hi-def had been left to survive on it's own, it wouldn't have made it.
Deception by programmers by not differentiating "true" hi-def like most discovery HD programming vs "upconverted" HD like HBO movies create confusion...of course if the companies were honest and told only ESPN, Discovery, the loops on HD Net and evening network shows were actually filmed in hi-def for "true" hi def picture, many more wouldn't spring for the high pricing of HD.