Quote:
Originally Posted by Carmine
Personally, I would ride the analog train until the wheels fall off.
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That's exactly what I intend to do, when digital takes over for analog in less than 18 months from now. I have two analog TVs (RCA CTC-185 and Zenith SMS1917SG, almost eight and twelve years old, respectively) that are still working very well; it would be a shame, IMHO, to throw these sets out just because of changes in the technical standards for TV broadcasting. I have Time-Warner digital cable (have had for about three years or so now), so I am ready for the day when analog goes dark. I upgraded to digital cable when the first warnings came out that "your analog TV will go dark in 2009", but as it turns out, I could have kept my analog cable until the standards actually changed, as my cable company assures me that when the analog signals do disappear, the cable system itself will still be carrying NTSC signals usable with analog sets. I read, I think it was here in AK on one of the TV forums, that cable systems, and TV stations themselves for that matter, will not be forced to transmit in HD; the FCC is only requiring stations to carry a digital signal along with the analog one for the time being. On cable it won't make any difference because, again as I read in one of AK's forums, cable systems are not and will not be required to carry digital signals; in fact, when the analog stations go off the air, the broadcast channels will still be carried using the NTSC standard--in other words, cable systems are not bound by the same regulations as TV stations, so if your cable system decides it will carry all of the local broadcast channels in NTSC, it may do so. I imagine this option will have to be available for some time after the analog signals go dark, as there will be literally millions of analog sets in use 18 months from now; contrary to what has been said about the subject, people are
not going to throw out their perfectly good analog TVs by the hundreds in early February 2009, unless the sets are defective or going bad anyway.
BTW, what can I expect to see on my analog TVs when the analog signals here go off the air, being replaced by digital? Will my picture look as if it is being presented in letterbox format or will cable companies have the technology to downconvert the picture to 4:3 aspect ratio? The issue does not necessarily bother me; I'm just curious to know what to expect a year and a half or so from now.