[opendtv] Re: For rural West, DTV may be lost in translation

Bob Miller wrote:

> This will be a good test of broadcasters commitment to
> their OTA spectrum. With the few OTA viewers they have
> with DTV as it is they have a hard time justifying
> keeping their transmitters.

The question is, how many NTSC viewers do they have *now* that rely on
these translators? All of them would presumably migrate to DTT
translators (give a few and take a few). Just like all other OTA users.
Just like DTT users in Germany. In these cabled-up countries, the big
uptake to DTT happens when analog TV is no longer available.

> They have far less incentive with their translators
> and NO requirement to protect their must carry there.

I suppose it's easier to provide the translator with a digital signal,
and have it simply remodulate the signal to a different RF frequency.
Almost like an OCR. Or are digital translators fed an uncompressed
signal, which is MPEG-encoded on site?

Still, translators should not exist only because OTA broadcasters are
magnanimous. They should have a sound economic basis for existing.

Bert
 
 
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