$199 HD OTA STB coming this fall (1 Viewer)

[Mike I]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/02/te...rtner=MOREOVER

 

[ChrisMatson]

OK...but this is troubling:
...and they won't be available outside of Salt Lake until 2003. I think I'll wait for the inexpensive Samsungs to hit this summer.

 

[Kevin Coleman]

Excellent news. Thanks Mike.
Kevin C.

 

[Mike I]

A digital tv channel can still broadcast a network HD feed as well as 1 other channel with enhanced services...

Also I was not posting the link to infer that anyone should run out and pick one up but rather the price of HD STB's are starting to really fall and this will not be the only box to hit the 199 or lower price point in the near future..

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Yep, movies on demand, different angles for sports, advertising.

Welcome to the future of OTA DTV. OTA HD may continue to grow for a while, but I expect less and less OTA hi-def as more time passes.

A digital tv channel can still broadcast a network HD feed as well as 1 other channel with enhanced services...

With reduced HD picture quality.

 

[LaMarcus]

Hey guys, the HD thing is still new to me. The only thing I'm not quite clear on is if you have a STB box and say fox is showing something in HD. Will you be able to watch it in HD even if you dont have digital cabel or satelite? If you have a STB and a HD monitor, what else do you need?

I'm into HT and I dont fully understand, how do they expect someone outside of the HT spectrum to get it?

 

[Brad_V]

Web-like banners on TV shows? *sigh* It was only a matter of time, of course. It's not too hard to predict a potential future where _everything_ is pay-per-view. Maybe having to pay 10 bucks more a month to get the HD feed of shows through cable or satellite, who knows.

Actually, my stupid local news does that. During the first five minutes of the show previous to the nightly news, a pretty big banner will show up on the bottom of the screen telling you what exciting stories are coming up on the local nightly news an hour from then. Ugh.

The good news is, if the government wants stations to reach the 2006 digital "deadline," then much cheaper STBs are required. And whenever that happens, everyone including those with 20-year-old TVs will benefit by receiving at least DVD-quality 480i. Now that'd be fun to see... an old black-and-white, piece of junk television getting a DVD-quality 480i signal.

Marcus, all you need for broadcast (Over-The-Air) signals such as Fox and ABC is an HD set, an STB, and an antenna. Fox doesn't broadcast anything in HD, btw.

 

[Mike I]

With reduced HD picture quality.

no..with full HD quality..they can still broadcast at band width of 19 mkz.

 

[LaMarcus]

Sorry I took so long but.....Fox does have HD, Boston Public is broadcast in HD, what ever else they have I dont know.....

 

[RobertR]

If you have a STB and a HD monitor, what else do you need?

.

You don't need ANYTHING else. You will see programs in HD, ASSUMING you're tuned in to an HD broadcast (see above comment about Fox).

 

[Craig Robertson]

Fox does NOT have HD. The best they ever show is 480p, which they try to pass off as being as good as true hidef, but it's not.

they call it "Fox High Resolution" so people will think it's hidef, i think it's shameful. like RobertR said, of the 18 DTV formats, only 720p and 1080i are High Def, the rest are Standard Def.

 

[LaMarcus]

Well at least they tried . But that is DVD quality though, hey I'm not condoning their misrepresentation to the masses, but anything better than reg NTSC signal is worth watching, especially when you have a big a$$ tv like mine.

 

[David WS]

480i is standard definition TV (SDTV)

480p is Enhanced Definition TV? (EDTV)

720p and 1080i are HDTV.

 

[LaMarcus]

Oh really? I thought standard was lower than 480i. I wonder why I thought that....thanks for the info.