[opendtv] Re: News: DTV Converter Box announcements

  • From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:32:28 -0800

Perhaps you do not research it.

You are trying -- it seems -- to refute what I said while agreeing with it.
I said that NTSC pass through was permissive.  You agree with that now, and
use that to assert that NTSC must be disabled.

John Willkie, who believes that the failure is one of advocacy by the CBA.
They apparently didn't discover the issue until after the rules were
adopted.  The word clueless comes to mind.

-----Mensaje original-----
De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En
nombre de Craig Birkmaier
Enviado el: Friday, January 25, 2008 4:36 AM
Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Asunto: [opendtv] Re: News: DTV Converter Box announcements

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: