OTA HD [ was: [OT] HDTV recommendations? ]

[Walter Dnes]

On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 12:18:17PM -0400, Dave Germiquet wrote
> Ok.
> 
> Can someone tell me, do Analog AIr Waves really fill up the spectrum? And if
> it does, what other plans are for them?
> 
> Like why are we clearing them up? Is there something else that needs them.
> 
> I kinda like Analog OTA.

  I watch the Stanley Cup and NFL and baseball in high-definition
digital OTA, and I could never go back to analogue.  One of my former
co-workers is a golf fan, and he feels the same about golf, where he can
see the individual blades of grass.

  BTW, don't go by what you see in Future Shop or Best Buy.  Their TVs
are the same as everybody else's, but the demo models there are usually
set garishly bright ("torch mode"), and they look downright ugly.  The
sales staff don't have a clue.  They spend their time pushing Monster
cables and Rogers/Bell, because they get high commissions from them.

  If a few people within bus ride range need help setting up their TVs,
I can help with the run-of-the-mill basic stuff.  I can also suggest a
retired guy in the electronics business who does a major setup for
around $100.  Depending on your vision, you may or may not notice the
difference between me and him.  Some people are picky about how their
stereo is set up, others, not so much.  Same thing with TV sets.

  Digital (ATSC) has a couple of other advantages over analogue (NTSC)
* you can get away with adjacent physical channels in the same market
  ATSC.  E.g. in Buffalo
  - WNLO The CW (virtual 23.1) is on physical 32
  - WGRZ NBC    (virtual  2.1) is on physical 33

* you can throw in 1 or 2 standard definition subchannels in addition to
  the main channel.  The CRTC is totally anal, and doesn't allow this in
  Canada, but for instance, WGRZ has the following virtuals...
  2.1 WGRZ NBC
  2.2 NBC Universal Sports
  2.3 RTV (Retro TV)

  Between the above 2 items, you can actually squeeze in more digital
channels into the smaller (14..51) UHF band than analogue channels into
the old (14..69) UHF band.  And how many people here remember the days
of channels 14..83?

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
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