[opendtv] Re: News: DTV Converter Box announcements
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:35:41 -0500
At 12:04 PM -0800 1/24/08, John Willkie wrote:
LPTVs and Class-A's are secondary services. NTIA appears to be scrambling
on this, but I don't think it's factually correct to assert that NTIA
demanded that analog inputs be disabled; from what I recall, it was
permissive.
Pass Through is permissive
NTSC must be disabled.
This was not some casual conclusion I came to. I was told this by
Greg Herman at the CBA who has had this conversation (actually many
conversations) with the NTIA. The new director of the NTIA, Meredith
Atwell Baker, apparently did not know that there would still be
analog stations on the air after the full power transition. In an
interview with B&C published December 29th she said:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6515730.html
B&C: What do viewers need to know about this transition?
They need to know that between Jan. 1 and March 31, households can
apply for two $40 coupons online at www.dtv2009.gov, that they can
apply by phone at 1-888-DTV-2009, and that they can apply by mail.
The word to get out now is that there is a big change in television
coming on Feb. 18, 2009, and people who have old televisions who
receive free over-the-air broadcasting, which means they are not
hooked up to cable or satellite or another pay-TV service, have to
make a decision. They have three choices. They can buy a new TV
that's digital, they can subscribe to cable or satellite or another
service, or they can buy a converter box. Otherwise, their television
won't work.
After she made this statement she learned about the problem and the
fact that more than 6000 analog TV stations/repeaters will be on the
air after Feb. 17, 2009.
As for the specifics of not allowing an NTSC tuner, take a look at
the manufacturer specs published by the NTIA:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/DTVmanufacturers.pdf
Please note in Technical Appendix 2 the following disqualifying features:
Any device or capability which provides for more
than simply converting a digital over- the-air
television signal (ATSC) for display on an analog
television receiver (NTSC), including, but not
limited to:
- Integrated video display;
- Video or Audio recording or playback capability
such as VCR, DVD, HDDVD, Blue Ray, etc.
You will also find Pass Through in the column labeled Permitted Feature.
JOHN
Do you really think I write about stuff like this in BE without researching it?
:-(
Regards
Craig
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
