Allen Weiner » regulatory

TV 2.0 Update: Digital Transition Complete

Allen Weiner — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:14:34 +0000

A few weeks into my TV 2.0 project ,where I set up a viewing center sans cable or satellite, I successfully completed the digital transition by attaching a Samsung digital converter box and Radio Shack indoor antenna to my Sharp 32-inc TV. At first, it was a total fail, but because my TV had not been connected to cable or satellite or even over-the-air, the channel finder had not been activated. Once I used the channel finder to locate the local signals, everything snapped into place.

Because the official date for the digital transition has been pushed to June, not all the local broadcasters in Phoenix are fully digital. The affiliates are all set, two even have side channels (not sure of the official terminology) that have 24-hour weather. The local PBS station (part of Arizona State University) has four channels at 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4. Some of the local religious and Spanish-language broadcasters have two or three side channels.

Part of the goal of the digital transition is to free up analog space for new communications services as well as allow broadcasters to do innovate things over these digital “side channels.” To be competitive in the new TV 2.0 world, one has to hope that innovation means more than just 24-hour weather channels.

The next step for my TV 2.0 project is to get an IP-based box to watch web-based programs on my TV. The Xbox has some content, but it’s a walled garden in that I have to watch what Microsoft has selected as opposed to giving me free reign to scan the web for video content. The same goes for Apple TV and now that I totally messed up my Boxee interface, I am back to square one. I saw a new box from Neulion at CES that could do this, and I am in the process of installing my ZeeVee box (although not on this TV) for get some web goodies. Stay tuned.

My TV 2.0 Project

Allen Weiner — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:29:12 +0000

Thanks to some reliable technology, I am finally prepared to embark on my TV 2.0 project. After five years of faithful service, our Pioneer HDTV landed us a rebate of $350 from the original warranty we purchased with the set. The store gave us until the end of February to use the credit against any purchase in the store. Several trips later and after countless annoying questions to a number of heavily commissioned sales folks, we purchase a Sharp 32-inch LCD TV that cost a grand total of $185 after rebate. It is my hope to never connect the set to either cable, telco IPTV or satellite. No, it is not my goal to turn this LCD screen into a large paperweight, it is an experiment to imagine a world in which a consumer can select among programming services that don’t require a cable or telco service provider. My experiment will take place in our living room which currently is devoid of any sort of TV.

I already have a host of boxes and gadgets to attach to the TV including an Apple TV, an old Xbox (which is on the install bubble as it’s a little too first generation), a Neulion OTT box (powered by wireless internet), a DVD player, an OTA HD antenna; our XM radio (note to self: make it easy to unplug); an old VCR recorder and one of my PCs (the TV has an easy to locate “monitor-in” port). I do have a ZeeVee box, but have not been able to install it as of yet. As I find new gadgets and boxes, I will report on whether they take me one step closer to calling my cable provider to proclaim, “take this box and…”

Stay tuned.

Senate Votes To Delay Digital Transition: To What End?

Allen Weiner — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:12:34 +0000

Even though U.S. broadcasters are ready and 95 percent of consumers are ready, the fabled Digital Transition, scheduled for February 17, the Senate, at the urging of President Obama, voted to delay the full switch from analog to digital TV for four months. Citing data from Nielsen, some 6.5 million households would go dark if the analog switch was flipped off next month. Those households who have not made the switch include those who are poor, elderly or just don’t have the wherewithal (or interest) to buy or connect the converter box needed to receive digitally delivered over-the-air TV signals.

Welcome to one of those “only in America” scenarios where it is darned near impossible to serve the best interest of all concerned. By delaying the digital switchover the CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service states will cost public TV stations $22 million as they are forced to broadcast both digitally as well as in analog. It also puts on hold the full deployment of new digital broadcast and wireless services that will occupy the spectrum currently occupied by analog broadcast.

Perhaps there is deeper meaning to the delay. Is President Obama using this event to make a clear statement of a more populist broadcast/communications policy and the direction he intends to follow in his selection of a FCC chairman? It remains to be seen just how many of the 6.5 million analog viewers need to be upgraded by June to satisfy the administration and declare the U.S. a digital broadcast nation. As for the poor and elderly who can not afford boxes, even giving them one for free does not solve the problem. Installing it (as this skit shows) requires some technical knowledge and a steady hand.

Co-authored by Mike McGuire