Hdtv mandatory in 2009?
the governement is selling off the rest of the waves.
is any of this true?
give me a website where i can investigate more on this please.
Answer:
Michael L. is essentially correct; the only change that will occur on 2009 February 18 will be the complete cessation of analog television broadcasting.
From one of my earlier posts: as you may know all broadcasters are required to discontinue all analog broadcasting as of 2009 February 18. However, this does not mean that everyone must use an HDTV display if they wish to watch (digital) television programming. There are 30 allowed compression formats in the ATSC DTV Standard from which broadcasters may choose, of which only 7 are considered high definition; broadcasters are not obligated to utilize HD come 2009 February 18. The following is a quote from the ATSC Website: "The FCC did not mandate use of the specific HDTV and SDTV video formats contained in the ATSC Standard, but these have been uniformly adopted on a voluntary basis by broadcasters and receiver manufacturers."
Until and unless there is a widespread consumer groundswell demanding broadcast HD content you can be assured that broadcasters will utilize the most conservative, cost effective approach.
Consumers with non-HD televisions - either digital SDTVs, analog TVs equipped with DTV capable set-top boxes or DBS/DTH receivers - will continue watching broadcast television albeit at a display resolution no higher than 720×480; the same resolution provided by DVD-Video.
www.fcc.gov/dtv/
The federal government is mandating that all over-the-air broadcasters broadcast all of their programs is digital format, which may or may not be high definition. If you subscribe to cable televisio, you probably have a digital coverter box for your television, so this won't affect you. This mandate applies to the stations you get without cable.
It is also true that the federal government is selling some analog spectrum and the remaining spectrum will go to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The goverment wants to ensure that first responders can still communicate in the case of an emergency (e.g. 9/11 attacks)
I highly doubt that SD broadcasts will beocme extinct anytime soon. It probably will happen at some point, butI don't think that time is going to be for a decade at least
I heard something on talk radio about this too. Something about the government might be sending out money to each household so they can afford the video equipment needed.
will suck though because free "rabbit ears" wont work any more.
Digital TV is going to become mandatory, but it will still be available in standard and high definition. There are no planes at the moment to cut out any digital signals.
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