OTA
Latest
CBS in HDTV comes to Evansville
Just in case the folks near Evansville, Indiana aren't reading their morning papers today, we thought we'd give them cause for celebration. You've got a new HD-broadcast feed coming soon! WEVV, the local CBS affiliate on channel 44, is installing equipment to transmit a high-definition signal over the air (OTA).WEVV joins the other major Evansville network affiliates for ABC, NBC and PBS that already transmit a digital feed. According to the WEVV General Manager Dan Robbins, residents in the broadcast area could see CBS in HD by mid-August.Two recommendations for you folks: check out our HDTV Antenna selection post, and tune in to CSI: Miami for your first HD viewing experience. You'll be in awe!
HDTV Antenna help from the CEA
Ok, you've got the biggest, baddest HDTV you could find. You bring it home and hook it up. Now what? There's a good chance you've already signed up for HDTV content through your cable or satellite provider; at an extra fee of course. What if you wanted to get HDTV content and not pay a fee? You already have one required component, the HDTV itself. If the unit you bought has a built-in HD tuner, you only need one more item: an HDTV antenna.Which is the right antenna that will provide you the most OTA, or over the air channels? We can help with that. More accurately, we can "point" you in the right direction thanks to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and their useful antenna selection site.
DTV set-top boxes a $10b industry?
Digital set-top boxes, or STB's, are expected to take off in 2006 and eventually fuel a $10 billion market in 2009 according to In-Stat. Surprisingly, Australia is the leading worldwide consumer of STB's, while the United States is second.One market that will open up in 2007 is China, who is expected to open up their broadcast programming to digital broadcast television within the next year or two. Interestingly enough, with the F.C.C. mandating integrated digital tuners in the United States, you have to wonder if set-top box sales will continue to grow as indicated in this report. I'd place my money on the PVR and hard drive market growing faster than the STB market.
July 17: Weekly HDTV program highlights
We know you've been waiting all week for this. It's our "HDTV best picks" for the week ahead. Don't waste your time watching the "same old, same old" in HDTV! We scour the listings to provide you viewing recommendations. Some of these selections are available over the air (OTA), while others are available from your cable or satellite television provider, so check your local listings for the details.TIP: Do you want this weekly list as well as other great HDTV stories delivered directly to you? Just add our RSS feed to your favorite RSS aggregator.Listing information gathered via TitanTV.
British Open: HDTV or not?
With just a few holes left, Tiger Woods is six clear of field in the British Open. Unless he blows up (which he never does), he seems assured of his tenth Major Championship. Today, we're reserved to watching history in Standard Definition instead of High Definition. One could ask why, but another question is: did we really see the first two rounds in HDTV on TNT?The answer is: yes and no. Turns out that the BBC provided a widescreen, SD feed to TNT. TNT then upconverted the Standard Definition feed from 480i to 1080i and broadcast the result in High Definition. The result is much better than SDTV, but not as crisp as a native 1080i broadcast. More importantly, what a missed opportunity for WABC to show golf history in High Def. Even the upconverted feed would be better than the 480i signal we watched in the final two rounds.
Broadcasters accept 2009 digital deadline
Consumers that receive television programming via analog signal may have until 2009 to purchase a digital tuner or television. Analog channels are slated to go back to the government at end of next year, provided that 85% of the market served by that channel can broadcast digital programming. It appears that the 2006 deadline is unlikely to be met by a number of broadcasters.Much of the recent debate on the topic revolves around potential government subsidies to offset costs of digital converter boxes for the 15% of homes outside of a digital broadcasting area. These converters would allow digital programming to display on older analog television sets.The slow take-up rate on digital signal reception has created a "chicken and egg" effect for a number of years. Content providers have slowly transitioned to digital productions due to low adoption of digital television consumer equpiment. In turn, consumers have held off on digital television equipment due to a lack of HD content. Deadlines such as the 2009 analog cutoff, in combination with HD console gaming and more HD content are finally impacting the adoption rate of digital television.
