[mythtv-users] DTV: It Has Begun

[jedi]

On Mon, Sep 08, 2008 at 07:13:15PM -0700, Brad DerManouelian wrote:
> On Sep 8, 2008, at 5:36 PM, Nate Bargmann wrote:
> 
> > * Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> [2008 Sep 08 15:43 -0500]:
> >> Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
> >>> While everyone knows that The Big Ol' Analog Switch will be getting
> >>> pulled next spring, and OTA NTSC-M will be no more (except for low  
> >>> power
> >>> stations and translators; pity them), I'd bet most of you didn't  
> >>> know
> >>> that Wilmington NC pulled said switch *today at Noon ET*:
> >>
> >> The reporter who said this compares with the switch from B+W to  
> >> color is
> >> totally wrong. That transition did not require anyone to purchase new
> >> equipment, and every B+W set out there continued to work precisely  
> >> the
> >> same as it did before that changeover.
> >
> > This is the mantra I'm seeing every broadcaster pitch--that the coming
> > DTV switch is the natural progression of TV technology.  While it may
> > be it's more than a simple enhancement as color and stereo were.
> >
> > I wouldn't fault the reporter as they know no more than the PHBs tell
> > them.
> 
> I'm pretty sure they're comparing the reaction of seeing HD over SD to  
> the reaction of people seeing color after watching black & white TV  
> for years. They're trying to convince people to upgrade, that's all.

    ...of course the obvious problem with that is the fact that to many
people the difference between PROPER SD and HD isn't all that great. The
thing isn't quite so much that HD is so great it's that analog and SD was
so crappy. Providers like DirecTV even go that extra mile to degrade their
SD signal even further.

    The worst of SD is being compared to the best of HD. You don't 
necessarily need to be subjected to the worst of SD and you will typically 
not get the best of HD from your cable provider.

    TNT in particular seems to have this problem: really crappy SD and not
terribly impressive HD (on my provider).

    Just a clean signal and a proper encode will "blow away" most people
and won't take too much bandwidth either. (although OTA stations still
insist on using way more "data" for their SD broadcasts than necessary.