[mythtv-users] The end of analog - Digital Converter Vaporware?

[Curtis Porter]

On Fri, 2008-01-25 at 17:11 -0700, Curtis Porter wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-01-25 at 16:49 -0700, Brian Wood wrote:
> > Kevin Bailey wrote:
> > > On Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 09:16:40AM -0700, Brian Wood wrote:
> > >>> Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't digital channels 7-13
> > >                                         ^^^^^^^
> > >>> going to move back to hi-VHF next Feb ? So are these going
> > >>> to become bricks then ?
> > >> Channels 7-13 ARE High-band VHF (174-216 Mhz.)
> > > 
> > > DIGITAL channels 7-13. My channels.conf file says that
> > > channel 7 is at 707MHz.
> >
> > A channel frequency is a channel frequency, digital or analog.
> 
> In my area, the TV station that broadcasts on channel 7 (174-180 MHz) in
> analog is also broadcasting a digital signal on channel 42 (638-644
> MHz).  Next February the analog VHF channel will stop broadcasting
> altogether, and the digital broadcast on channel 42 will continue.  That
> frees up the VHF bandwidth to be auctioned, which is one of the driving
> reasons behind the whole analog -> digital conversion in the first
> place.

I need to correct myself -- I just learned from the FCCs website
(http://www.fcc.gov/oet/faqs/dtvfaqs.html) that after next February, at
least some of the digital channels are currently broadcasting on
temporary channels, and will move back to their old location after the
analog cutoff:

Question: What are the channel assignments for digital television? 

        Answer: Under the FCC spectrum plan, we have provided most
        existing broadcasters with access to a 6 MHz channel for digital
        broadcasting within a core digital TV spectrum, i.e., TV
        channels 2 to 51. Because of the limited availability of
        spectrum and the need to accommodate all existing facilities
        with minimal interference among stations, however, during the
        transition some broadcasters would be provided DTV channels
        outside of this core spectrum (channels 52 to 69). These
        broadcasters would have to move their DTV operations to a
        channel in the core spectrum when one became available.
        Broadcasters whose existing NTSC channels were in the core
        spectrum could move their DTV operations to their NTSC channel
        at some time in the future. Broadcasters whose DTV transition
        channel and existing NTSC channel were both outside of the core
        area could obtain a new DTV channel when channels in the core
        spectrum are recovered. 
        
        After the transition period (2006), the VHF channels (2-13) will
        remain available for DTV and the analog TV service will end on
        all channels. 
        
It is true, however, that some parts of the currently allocated
television spectrum will be auctioned and/or reallocated for other
purposes after the analog cutoff (see
http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html#faq2).

So to answer Kevin's original question, no, the Hisense tuners won't be
bricks even then, because they scan all channels from 2-69.  That means
that regardless of where the broadcasters end up after all the shuffling
is over, worst case is you'll just have to run the channel scan menu
option again.

Curtis