In 1996 the United
States started down a road that will dramatically change television
in just a few years from now. In a recent lecture we learned about
the Federal Communications Commissions' decision to adopt a color
system that would, if it had actually happened, made all television
sets already on the market and in homes obsolete. Well the 1996 change
is likely to make all existing sets --millions of them-- obsolete
by 2006.
In 1996 the FCC
issued every television broadcaster in the country a second frequency
--free of charge. But there was string attached. The second frequency
had to be used to broadcast digital television format, as opposed
to the analog format we've had since the 1930s. The turnover was to
be phased in over 10 years with the biggest markets, including Los
Angeles, required to start broadcasting in digital format by 1999.
In 2006 the FCC intends to take bake the analog frequencies and use
them for some other form of radio traffic. All television will be
converted to high definition television format.
That's a problem
for you because your analog set will not be able to receive over-the-air
digital broadcasts (cable companies likely will find a conversion
process, so you can hang on to your set for a few more years). Eventually,
however, we'll all be buying high definition television sets that
are already on the market.(Remember the video we saw in class on digital
television?)
The switchover
will be expensive for broadcasters, who will need new transmitting
equipment and new cameras. Some broadcasters have already started
broadcasting in digital on their second frequencies AND in analog
on their old frequencies.
High definition
television (HDTV) will bring exciting changes to TV. Among the changes
will be:
- A different
screen ratio much closer to movie screens. Today's television
screen mimicked early movie screens. But when television caught
on and movies started losing audiences, new, wider screens were
adopted. For years movies shown on television have had to be altered
to fit your television screen. Either the edges have been lopped
off or the picture was reduced from top to bottom so the full width
could be included. With the new HDTV screens this won't be needed.
All television will have the wide format.
- Greater
screen resolution. Today's television screen is a series of
small phosphorescent dots lit up by an electron gun. The gun scans
the television screen at the rate of 525 lines per second telling
each dot to light up or not and by how much. But the equivalent
resolution of a movie theater is more like 800 lines per second.
That means about 40 percent of the image is being lost in the transmission.
It is good enough for us to see, but is not the same quality we're
used to in movies. And all this time you thought it was because
movie screens were just bigger! The new HDTV signals will have resolution
potential greater than movie theaters. The result will be a picture
quality so crisp it will look like you are looking through a window
at the real thing. Images will look more 3-D, as a result.
- Pictures
closer to the real thing. Better resolution is one thing. But
when a program is broadcast over the air in analog format (and even
cable TV is often broadcast at some point in the process) it loses
about 10 percent of its information thanks to noise (remember our
communication lecture?). With digital each dot is either a 1 or
a 0, off or on. There is less chance of noise interring with the
transmission/decoding.
- Sound quality
will be better. Right now probably the cheapest part of your
television set, quality-wise, is the speaker in the set. HDTV sets
will feature stereo speakers capable of delivering CD quality sound.
- Multiple
content channels. With the new HDTV sets broadcasters will have
the choice of sending a slightly less quality picture or slightly
less quality sound --differences we probably won't be able to detect
-- and use the unused portion of the frequency to send multiple
content channels. For us that might mean that the broadcast has
multiple languages attached. Or for a football game there might
be multiple camera angles broadcast and the user chooses which to
view. Because it is digital, the television screen can be configured
to show multiple pictures at the same time. For instance, in that
football example, your screen might be configured into four panels
that each show a separate camera angle.
High definition
television is in the stores now, and you may see some advertising
for the sets this Christmas. But the cost of the sets is still a bit
on the high side. But the cost will come down, soon, so it does not
make sense to put a lot of money into buying a new television set
these days. Within a year or two HDTV sets should be down to $200-$300,
the optimum price range for an appliance such as a television set.
Likewise, don't rush out and buy an HDTV just yet. Broadcasters in
this area are providing digital content, but it is not necessarily
the same content as analog. Not all shows are recording in digital
format. Cable companies will come up with conversions so you can watch
old shows on digital sets, but the digital quality will not be there.
But there are
those in the television industry who feel the changeover to digital
television will not happen as quickly as planned. Those broadcasters
who are not among the first required to broadcast programming in digital
have been subleasing the frequencies out for other legitimate uses
. . . thus making double the profit. And there are those who feel
they'll wait until the last minute and claim they cannot meet the
deadlines. There is a provision in the FCC rules that 80 percent of
the market --you and me-- must be able to receive digital format,
either over the air or through cable in 2006 or the deadlines do not
apply. It may be years before the old frequencies are taken back.
