Quote from WWL-TV's "DTV Countdown" page (
www.wwltv.com/dtv/):
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Your current television will work as it does now until analog broadcasting stops. Under federal law, analog service will continue until most homes (85%) in an area are able to watch the DTV programming.
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Wow - I totally missed this. Guess it's all the scare banners and countdown clocks we're barraged with. Now, how exactly would they determine 85% of homes could watch DTV? Are they testing signal coverage, or estimating the number of coupons distributed in an area? And what about that 15% who are unable to pick up a DTV transmission in their area - "too bad, you have to pay for cable or satellite now." Fifteen percent is not an insignificant number - put it in perspective, 15% is:
15,750,000 American households
159,295 Chicago households
113,549 San Francisco households
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Even after the transition is over, your current TV will not become obsolete. A converter box can be used to receive broadcast DTV signals and change them into the format of your current television. In addition, if you use your analog set with a multichannel pay service like cable or satellite, it will continue to work as it always has. [B]Even with a converter box, however, your current analog television will not be capable of displaying the full picture quality of DTV. To enjoy the full picture quality, you must have a DTV set.[\B] Subscribers to cable and DBS services should contact their providers regarding converter boxes for those services.
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I think they should have a disclaimer about picture quality vs. signal quality.
Or are they implying high definition?
Also, am I the only one who finds hi-def digital programs somewhat more tiring on the eyes after a while?