The End of TV As We Know It

The End of TV As We Know It: The Digital TV Transition (and what to do about it) Jon Bell, Presbyterian College Faculty Forum, 21 September 2007 with some later updates

How People Get TV National Upstate SC Western NC Cable 61% 49% Satellite 28% 40% Antenna 11% Source: Television Bureau of Advertising, http: //www. tvb. org/

The Big Switch • By the morning of February 18, 2009, all analog broadcast TV stations in the USA must shut down. • Everyone who receives over-the-air TV with an antenna must switch to digital TV stations which are mostly already in operation.

Why the Switch? • Improved picture quality (HDTV) • More efficient use of bandwidth • Vacate channels 52 -69 for other uses and raise money by auctioning them • More bandwidth for emergency services • Keep ahead of the Japanese

Some Alphabet Soup • Analog broadcast & cable TV = NTSC – National Television Systems Committee – Or: “Never Twice the Same Color” • Digital broadcast TV = ATSC – Advanced Television Standards Committee – Also used in Canada, S. Korea, Bahamas, Honduras & Mexico – Europe uses DVB-T – Japan & Brazil use ISDB-T • Digital cable TV = QAM – Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

Key Dates • 1996: Congress authorizes transition • 1997: Each station gets a second channel for digital broadcasts • 2002: Most stations have begun digital broadcasts • 2006: Most stations are at full power • 2006: Congress sets final deadline • 2008: Subsidized converter boxes

ATSC Tuner Mandates TVs 36" or larger July 2005 TVs 25" to 35" March 2006 All other TVs and recording devices March 2007

Greenville Channels (1) Analog Digital (now) Digital (final) WYFF WSPA WLOS WGGS NBC CBS ABC Indep. 4 7 13 16 59 53 56 35 36 7 13 35 WHNS FOX 21 57 21 WNTV SCETV 29 9 9

Greenville Channels (2) Digital Analog (now) Digital (final) WUNF UNCTV 33 25 25 WNEH SCETV 38 18 18 WMYA My. Net 40 14 14 WRET SCETV 49 43 43 WYCW CW 62 45 45 51 - 27 WSQY Daystar

Columbia Channels Analog Digital (now) Digital (final) WIS NBC 10 41 10 WLTX CBS 19 17 17 WOLO ABC 25 8 8 WRLK SCETV 35 32 32 WZRB My. Net 47 - 47 WACH FOX 57 48 48 WKTC CW 63 39 39

The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality – Analog with weaker and weaker signals – Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information – Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

Not great to begin with…

Getting worse…

Still worse…

Yuck!

The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality – Analog with weaker and weaker signals – Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information – Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

Picture stays like this until…

it’s right on the borderline…

and then it’s gone!

The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality – Analog with weaker and weaker signals – Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information – Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

Typical Program Guide

Another Program Guide

The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality – Analog with weaker and weaker signals – Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information – Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

Virtual Channel Numbers • Stations will continue to “own” their old analog channel numbers, in perpetuity. • Digital TVs display them as virtual channel numbers and automatically convert them to the actual digital channels. • You must do a channel scan so your TV can find the actual digital channels and set up a conversion table. • You normally don’t need to know the actual digital channel.

Typical Channel Scan Indicator

The Digital TV Experience • Improved picture quality – Analog with weaker and weaker signals – Digital with weaker and weaker signals • Program guide information – Display depends on TV or receiver • Virtual channel numbers • Multicasting

Multicasting • Total data capacity (bandwidth) of a digital channel is about 19 Mbits/sec • Stations can divide it into subchannels with different programming – SC ETV (channel 29) – WSPA (channel 7)

ETV subchannel 29. 1: Same as analog channel

ETV subchannel 29. 2: South Carolina Channel

ETV subchannel 29. 3: High definition PBS programs

Multicasting • Total data capacity (bandwidth) of a digital channel is about 19 Mbits/sec • Stations can divide it into subchannels with different programming – SC ETV (channel 29) – WSPA (channel 7)

WSPA subchannel 7. 1: Same as analog channel but in HD

WSPA subchannel 7. 2: 24/7 weather information

So Far, a Well-Kept Secret • Stations have generally not promoted their digital channels yet • Some retailers claim that you need to buy cable or satellite service in order to get HDTV (FALSE!) • Expect increased publicity from stations and government agencies during the next year

If you use an antenna for analog TV: • You must either – Buy a new TV with an ATSC tuner • HDTV (widescreen plasma, LCD, DLP, etc. ) • SDTV (old-style tube TV with ATSC tuner) – Buy an external ATSC tuner (“converter box”) • Federal subsidy program begins in January 2008 • Likewise for VCRs and old DVD recorders, if you use them to record directly “off the air”

Subsidized Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes • Free $40 coupons • Good only for specifically designated converter boxes, purchased at retail • Round 1 – 22 million coupons, up to two per household • Apply at http: //www. dtv 2009. gov/ beginning 1 January 2008 • Boxes available in February or March

If you use an antenna for analog TV: • You must either – Buy a new TV with an ATSC tuner • HDTV (widescreen plasma, LCD, DLP, etc. ) • SDTV (old-style tube TV with ATSC tuner) – Buy an external ATSC tuner (“converter box”) • Federal subsidy program begins in January 2008 • Likewise for VCRs and old DVD recorders, if you use them to record directly “off the air”

Antennas and Digital TV • Digital and analog TV use the same set of VHF and UHF channels. • An antenna cares only about the frequency of the signal (VHF or UHF). • Analog vs. digital matters only to the TV’s tuner. • An antenna that works well with analog channels will probably work well with most digital channels.

Local Antenna Conditions • Greenville stations are 20 -80 miles away, several in the NC mountains. • A good roof antenna is needed. – Must be able to receive both high-VHF (7 -13) and UHF (14 -51) channels. • A rotator and pre-amplifier are helpful. • A good setup can also receive some stations from Columbia and Charlotte.

Local Antenna Conditions • Greenville stations are 20 -80 miles away, several in the NC mountains. • A good roof antenna is needed. – Must be able to receive both high-VHF (7 -13) and UHF (14 -51) channels. • A rotator and pre-amplifier are helpful. • A good setup can also receive some stations from Columbia and Charlotte.

If you use cable TV: • You are not directly affected by the analog broadcast shutdown in 2009. • Cable companies must provide local channels in analog format until 2012. – Starting in 2009 they will convert broadcast digital signals for this purpose • They will probably convert other analog channels to digital during the next few years.

If you use satellite TV: • It’s already digital, so you are not affected by all this, except maybe peripherally.

Resources • Federal Communications Commission – http: //www. dtv. gov/ • Subsidized converter box program – http: //www. dtv 2009. gov/ • Info about HDTV and especially antennas – http: //www. hdtvprimer. com/ • Info about TV signals by location – http: //www. antennaweb. org/ – http: //www. tvfool. com/ • Discussion forums – http: //www. avsforum. com/ (see the HDTV Area)