What exactly will this mean when in 2009, TV stations must broadcast in digital?

Question

For people who don't have cable, etc, I know they will have to buy a box to convert. But what will be the impact? Will the quality improve?

Answer 1

There is a lot of misinformation.


FCC has a pretty good site
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html

Answer 2

Many people think that the mandate to go Digital in 2009
means the analog broadcasts will cease. This is not true
many stations have already declared intent to transmit
after the MANY times delayed federal mandate to broadcast
in Digital.
There will come a day when stations begin turning off thier analog broadcasts for economic reasons . It costs money.
However the federal government has been delaying HDTV
because of the impact it will have on our economy.
There are many homes that can not afford to go HDTV
unfortunately the time is coming when NTSC will dissappear
and boxes to downconvert will be a HOT item for those
who can not afford HDTV

Answer 3

To get better quality you need a high definition TV set, which you can buy now if you can afford it. Most TV stations are broadcasting in analog and digital, and will until the law says they must broadcast only in digital.

Answer 4

You can throw your old analog TV out....... unless of course D to A adapters/converters (Digital to Analog) are made available. It should be a small box hooked up to the antenna or cable outlet acting as a tuner. The output of that box should be analog RF going to your old TV tuner input sitting on Ch.3 or 4 like the output of your VCR. Just wait - don't think about throwing it out yet..... if you have to count the pennies :)

Answer 5

The picture will be better. You will get more channels.
If you are in an area that is already covered, buy an adapter box NOW. They're cheap enough and worth it just for the extra channels.

Answer 6

Well yes and no.....the signal will be NOISE FREE....but if you still get poor signal , you may not get any picture at all....

And presently, a DIGITAL signal does not mean the picture will be a HIGH DEFINITION PICTURE...it means it will be a NOISE FREE picture.

I'm sure you understand that OLD shows were never done in high definition, so they will still be low def, but the newest TV shows are in high definition.

Network channels will make a decision about that Depending on what they show.....Nick at Night, with all of their OLD TV shows, will go Digital, but they won't transmit Hi Definition.

Answer 7

they are in higher quality and old tv's will be useless. AKA the jump to HDTV

Answer 8

I think the picture will just be better.