By Denise Tran
Coming February 17, 2009, your television may stop working. Television stations that broadcast in analog will no longer work. There will be a switch from analog to digital broadcast television called the digital TV (DTV) transition. Analog TV’s technology has been used by U.S. television broadcasts since the 1940s. And digital TV is a newer form of technology used for sending television broadcasts to your home.
The switch has many benefits. It will free up parts of the valuable broadcast spectrum for public safety communications. For example the police departments, fire departments, and rescue squads. And the consumers are given improved picture and sound quality and efficiency. “Multicasting” will also be offered and it will essentially offer more programming choices for viewers.
However, consumers are worried and confused. How does this effect them? Will they need a new t.v. or a new antenna? What’s the difference between DTV, HDTV, SDTV, and EDTV? What is the converter box? Apparently, if you have an analog television, you will need a digital-to-analog converter box to continue to watch broadcast television on that set. And how much will all this cost?
It is a new change. You’ve seen the reaction of people to change on Facebook. How do you think people will react to a permanent change in television? Do you think the entire country will be informed when the time comes? Or will there be a rage of frustration come February 29th. How will this transition change television as we know it?
7 Comments
September 25, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I heard about this change 4 months ago when I was shopping for a new television set with my parents. The man who was informing us about the different televisions mentioned this new digital transition. He also mentioned that people will be able to obtain these converters for free? I cannot remember the entire coversation though. Even without the free converters, this will benefit everyone a great deal. Freeing up space in the broadcast system for fire squads, police departments and rescue squads will do alot more in the long run than keeping already existant analoge technology. I found a statistic that says it takes an average of 30 seconds for NYC E.M.S. to respond to calls. Shortening this time with new technology will definitely save lives; every second counts when dealing with life or death situations.
September 27, 2008 at 11:54 am
The switch to digital can be downplayed by the fact that the government has been promoting the change for several months now. They are even issuing $40 coupons to people who need to buy the converter box, at a maximum of 2 coupons per household. However, despite the fact that there have been countless ads on tv, there will undoubtedly be people that won’t act before the change is made. This failure to act could be in some cases lack of information, reluctance, denial about the change, or just plain laziness to go out and get a converter box. Other problems will arise before the February switch. A few days ago, I read an article online that certain areas of the US have already made the switch and problems arose where certain channels were not being broadcasted. Another problem has been with trying to find these converter boxes, as major retailers do not carry enough of them, or any at all. This could be profitable for cable companies that make loads of money off people who switch to cable instead of getting converter boxes for their analog sets.
September 28, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I agree with Charles in that despite the deadline for this new innovation, there will certainly be a numerous amount of people who do not make the switch. It’s like that with many new technologies–the item comes out and consumers either rush out to get it or they wait and see what types of negative malfunctions the item has. With the television advancement, however, it will definitely be different from those types of situations–this change is more of a definite change, where it’s relying on every consumer to discover and purchase it him or herself, and if not, they will be left out of the news and other daily programs. I personally do not believe this is a fair attribute–by simply stopping any station in analog and forcing consumers to purchase a new type of television program is not a proper way to enforce change. They should make this rather an alternative that people can freely switch to in their own time.
September 29, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I do not think there is any way televisions will just stop working without a warning a good amount of time in advance. As we near February 17th, the switch will be publicized greatly and everyone will know of it. Even so, as Giuseppe Verde said the convertors should be given for free. If this were to happen, the television market will take all the steps to ensure a smooth transaction. A market this big does not want to lose any customers, and they are too intelligent to make a switch that is unnecessary. If and when the switch is made, television will be better and it will have a component that will make our lives safer. Also, very few people will be frustrated by the switch if they are informed of the switch before it happens and if they are informed of all the benefits the switch consists of.
September 29, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I agree that people will definitely be informed of something so drastic and national. It won’t frustrate too many people because they should already have prepared for it and expect what is coming to them. I think this is a great idea because it will benefit us and free up the broadcast spectrum. It seems a little selfish to worry about how our TV’s work if it is benefitting the country in such an effective manor. Comparing this change with the facebook change is quite different, though. I think the transition will be fine once, and if it happens in the near future.
October 5, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I think that there will definitely be a lot of frustration and anger once the transformation is underway. I do however believe that this change is for the better. Just like everything else in our society, things are slowly becoming more and more technologically advanced, which like Denise stated will not only benefit us, but will benefit in a lot of other ways. Although it is unfortunate that some of those grandparents will finally have to get rid of that television that they have had since their wedding, I am sorry… welcome to the 21st century!
October 6, 2008 at 2:09 pm
The world we live in is constantly evolving and changing. Often there is much confusion and mystery that surrounds these technological advancements. Instead of rejecting these changes as people often do, it is imperative that they try to understand what is occurring and then react to the changes. The advancements of the new analog televisions will have many positive affects as mentioned above. It is unnerving that people have such negative reactions to such events when producers are simply trying to improve existing technology. The changes to the televisions are being made to please the consumer, and I trust that the producers are making this change because it will improve the consumer’s television experience.