Digital TV Around The World

I thought it was just the US. Not so, apparently. As I have been searching for information related to DTV, I've been hitting sites and news from around the world.

From Ireland: BCI Decision on digital television providers expected:

The BCI is the Broadcasting Commision of Ireland. The article is about competition between DTV providers. Kind of a cool look at politics and DTV in Ireland.

From Hong Kong: ASEAN Sets Digital TV Standards:

Sixth running of the ASEAN Digital Broadcasting meeting in Singapore, involving Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, said "alignment of technical specification standards for set-top-boxes will create economies of scale for equipment manufacturers and help lower the prices of set top-boxes."

From Hong Kong (about Chine): China set to dominate digital TV in Asia:

Chinese households will account for half of all digital TV connections in Asia within five years, according to "Asia Pacific TV," a new report by the Informa Telecoms and Media group.

The fast-developing country overtook Japan in 2007 to become the most digitally connected TV nation. Digital household numbers grew from 12.9 million in 2006 to 27.3 million last year, while digital homes in Japan grew from 17.6 million to 19.9 million.

From India: India will likely retain analog while deploying digital TV:

Unlike other countries, India could retain analog TV broadcasts while rolling out digital TV. ... The report stopped short of calling for a cut off date for analog broadcasts.

From Australia: Digital TV in Australia:

Australian TV stations started broadcasting a digital television signal on January 1st 2001, in addition to the existing analog system.

It began with a whimper rather than a bang, with no equipment available for sale and almost no high definition programming (HDTV) planned at that time.

Things have improved somewhat since then, with the stores carrying a fair range of widescreen (16x9) TV's, alongside the increasingly obselete 4x3 sets.Although some of these sets still require a set-top box to receive digital signals, we are beginning to see many sets with inbuilt digital receivers.

Cool, huh.

Technorati : dtv, global

PBS Says Use Your Coupon Now!

Get them while they're hot. But if you do order a coupon, you need to actually use the coupon. I haven't seen mine yet.

According to the PBS, Digital TV Coupons are ticking away. About 1/4 of the coupons sent out have been redeemed. People don't seem to realize that there is a 90 day expiration on the coupons. That's what I keep hearing over and over. But I don't get why. Anytime you read anything about the coupons, it mentions the 90 day expiration.

If you are planning on buying a converter box, be sure to get your coupon and use it on a good converter. This article has a decent review of several models and make some good points about features. The analog pass through could be important depending on where you live.

It also discusses antennas which you might need to upgrade. A converter will only do so much for you. A good antenna can be expensive and, again depending on where you live, might be required.

LewisC

Technorati : converter, coupon, dtv

BBB Says Watchout!

I've been checking into getting that converter box and I see that they are sold out all over the place. As I was doing some seearching, I ran across this article on a Dallas TV station's web site: BBB: Digital TV converter ads are 'misleading'.

Seems a company called Universal Techtronics was purposely misleading consumers by claiming that they could get a free DTV converter box. When people responded, they found out that they needed to pay shipping and handling (which is fair enough) and had to buy a 5 year warranty for $59. That doesn't sound like fraud to me but it is definitely bait and switch.

The article has a comment from a man who says he didn't realize it had an expiration date. People need to read the fine print. Actually, on the site where you order the coupon, it says is normal text that you only have 90 days to use it.

Technorati : bait and switch, fraud, scam

Ordered my Converter

Well, I saw this article in Tech Journal South, Billion-dollar digital TV aid program running out of money, so I went ahead and ordered mine. It's a shame that congress set aside $1.5 billion for the program and paid IBM $120 million but no one set aside enough money to process and mail the coupons to those who order it. I'm sure they'll have a meeting or something about it. ;-)

Anyway, I went ahead and ordered my converter box. You can order two of them, but I figure I will just order one as a backup for when cable goes out. Better safe than sorry.

You only need to answer a few questions and your address. You also need to certify that you're telling the truth. I'm not sure what someone would lie about. So, the box should be on the way shortly if the program doesn't run out of funding.

LewisC

Technorati : converter, coupon, dtv, hdtv

Buy a converter or a new TV?

The digital age is upon us. Just about 8 months before analog signals go away. I have two TVs, neither of which support digital. What should I do?

Well, I currently have cable TV so I'm actually covered. The cable companies will keep supporting analog televisions well into the future. I should expect fewer pay services over time though. HDTV does take a lot of bandwidth and as more people move to HD and fewer paying customers have analog, HD will take over.

So at some point, I'll need to decide, converter or tv? If I hurry, I can still get one of the TV Converter Coupons. The problem with that is that the coupons expire in 90 days and I'm not sure I really want a converter. If I spend the money, shouldn't I just get the TV?

A quick search on google shows me that I can get a box for less than the amount of the coupon. I guess that means I would get it for just the amount of taxes? Hmm, that might be worth it.

A quick search on HDTVs shows that I can get a 19in for $375 or a 50in for $1399. I'd go for the 50in but my wife would kill me. ;-)

I think I am going to send off for the coupons and get the converters for now. I'll update about how it goes.

Technorati : converter, digital, hdtv, tv