[opendtv] Re: 20060901 Free Friday Fragments (Mark's Monday Memo)
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 19:00:53 -0400
Bob Miller wrote:
> I watched an "estimate" put together by a company showing a group
> of Legislative Assistants in DC a prototype of a converter box.
> Basically the LA's repeated over an over the question "and this
> will cost about $50 right? At first the company officials tried
> to go over what went into the box, IP cost, power cord, led lights
> and various other essentials but in the end they just answered
> "right" accompanied by a silent shrug.
Legislative assistants vs. corporate execs. What an image that makes.
> The cost had to be $50 because that is what they wanted to hear.
> They also didn't want to hear about any problems with reception.
> Same scenario at a meeting with Senator Barton. Didn't want to
> hear their was any problem. I was shouted down in that
> conversation by a Motorola rep who basically chanted that all
> problems had been solved.
And, depending how you define "all problems," this turned out to be
true. If "all problems" means that 8-VSB could be received following the
guidelines originally set by the FCC, i.e. about the same coverage as
NTSC, this has come to pass. Certainly with up-to-date receivers, at
least.
In my experience now, indoor and outdoor antenna reception, you can
argue that even 3rd gen boxes do a better job of picking up TV signals
than NTSC receivers. Especially if you take into account the difference
in ERP between analog and digital.
Yes, there is the digital cliff to be dealt with. But for example, I
will gladly watch any interesting show from Balt Channels such as 45 and
54 in digital, whereas their higher power analog counterparts (also UHF)
are viewable perhaps, but you wouldn't want to stay there. Channel 2
analog VHF is very bad, whereas its UHF digital counterpart is
excellent, although without a big margin. These are all almost 50 miles
away.
In certain weird atmospheric conditions, the Balt UHF digital stations
drop off completely, whereas their analog UHF channels, especially, come
in very grainy. And the analog channels have considerably more power.
These are rare conditions, so IMO, one could argue that overall "same
coverage as NTSC" has already been exceeded. In my location.
Bert
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