Queue up for a digital set top box coupon for CT-100, etc...

[NoTransistors]

Excuse my ignorance on the subject, as I stick to the ANALOG areas of life.
Circuit City, Best Buy, and Amazon stock Samsung converters in the $160 range.
And, I have just applied for two $40 coupons.

What I want to know, is will a picture procured from digital broadcasts, and played on an ANALOG set, be as good as the ANALOG picture I now enjoy on my ANALOG set?
When I watch my old-fashioned TV, I can easily tell what is sourced from digital and what is from ANALOG. Digital is blotchy and smudgy.
Is this what we have to look foward to?
Seems to me that Big Brother has shoved his foot up our collective asses once again, by forcing us to settle for junk.

I am not a fan of digital. It it still no more than just a thin representation of the original.

Seth
Forever Analog and Covered In Parrot Poop

I downloaded the mail-in form and will patiently just sit on it, plus I see no burning need to apply for coupons that only have a maximum 90-day shelf life when the choice and availability of current converter boxes is still sparse and the final price after coupon still over $100.00.

Frankly, I'm debating whether it isn't better to wait and apply that $100+ towards the ever-falling price of a medium-sized wide-screen (32"-37") LCD TV for my 80+ yr old Mom, rather than saddling her with yet another component to deal with along with another battery-eating remote.

[Pete Deksnis]

The current $160-range cost of ATSC-to-NTSC converter boxes will not hold once the $40 chits are mailed to us. One company has already promoted a $39.99 converter box.


Questions about whether analog box output signals will produce a picture equal to an OTA NTSC signal haunts me.

Today I can tune a CT-100 to an analog broadcast and expect the RF signal to be every bit as good or better than the signal it received when it was new in 1954.

It's not the source material/video that has me worried; it's that that little converter chip with a saw filter and channel 3 RF oscillator, or however it's designed today, that doesn't I'm sure have to meet the same FCC broadcaster's rules and regs that define the quality of the analog signal it generates.

When I tune OTA color bars late a night, I have confidence I'm using an in-spec test signal to touch-up the CT-100 alignment. Thankfully, it's something we we can count on for at least another whole year.

Pete

Originally Posted by markthefixer

The Funai input was done during the clarification process as the act that was passed by congress and signed by the president was interpreted into a set of specifications.

Conceivably, one could go to court with the original act, and the specifications as established, and sue to try to get the component video (YPbPr) jacks excluded from the not permitted list on the grounds that they are NOT a digital signal nor convey digital information. (vga should also fall under that umbrella definition too)

The problem is that since the requirements form the blueprint for what the manufacturers have been working on, and since the coupon program is a temporary and limited phenonema, it's too late even if it's wrong.

From the start, Congress intended this program to aid over-the-air NTSC viewers, especially ones that could not afford pay TV. There are very few (if any) NTSC-only 4:3 TVs that have Y-Pr-Pb inputs, and hence providing this interface on a converter box would provide a capability over and above the intent of Congress. For these reasons, this interface would not have survived the Rulemaking, even without the Funai comments.

Funai was just stating the obvious -- the Y-Pr-Pb interface does not aid the target audience.

Also, the Y-Pr-Pb interface increases cost and complexity.

Originally Posted by Pete Deksnis

Here's a Word table of the stats we've accumulated in this thread thus far: it is sorted on the third column, the coupon number returned when the application was successful.

It seems one and a half million coupons have been issued. The first half-million were issued in the first 24 hours, while it took about six days to issue the third half-million.

Pete

Where did you get this data?

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by acug

Where did you get this data?

See post #16:

"All right guys, lets have a couple of those reference numbers; if it seems linear, we might get a handle on how many are signing up...

Pete: Reference Number: 15405"

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by sleddogman

I see no burning need to apply for coupons that only have a maximum 90-day shelf life when the choice and availability of current converter boxes is still sparse and the final price after coupon still over $100.00.

The current ATSC converter boxes have nothing to do with the coupon-eligible boxes, except that both types receive DTV signals.

Current and older tuners, for one thing, have HD outputs and no RF outputs. The coupon-eligible boxes will be SD only and they will have RF outputs.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by NoTransistors

What I want to know, is will a picture procured from digital broadcasts, and played on an ANALOG set, be as good as the ANALOG picture I now enjoy on my ANALOG set?

Probably better, if you have a decent signal in your location and a reasonable antenna. Digital TV signals are usually devoid of the ringing/overshoot/edge enhancement that make vertical parts of on-screen small print brighter than the horizontal parts, for example. I am referring to standard-def digital versus analog. The complete lack of ghosts or snow/noise of any kind is another improvement. Of course, the ability to see these improvements may be limited by the display equipment used.

[peverett]

What Chris says is true as long as you can get decent reception. However, if glitches or periods of poor reception occur, prepare for complete garbage, pixellization,freeze up, and no sound. Unlike analog, there is no getting by with a somewhat snowy picture, it is either good or nothing.

My feeling is that in spite of the less than perfect picture, analog is more reliable than digital at longer distances or in conditions that limit reception quality such as poor weather.

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by peverett

if glitches or periods of poor reception occur, prepare for complete garbage, pixellization,freeze up, and no sound. Unlike analog, there is no getting by with a somewhat snowy picture, it is either good or nothing.

I can second that. We live in an area where reception ranges from good to so-so using rabbit ear antennas.

Last week, I experimented using an analog TV and our Panasonic DVD recorder with digital tuner.

On the weaker stations, the digital signal often pixellated, broke up, froze, etc., becoming pretty unwatchable. In many cases, the digital receiver would display a No Signal message and require you to press Enter to try again.

The analog signal from the same station was always watchable, even if with some snow or ghosts.

I agree with an earlier commentor that this change may leave a lot of people behind, particularly older people living in remote areas. People like my parents, both in their 80s, who don't know analog/digital from shineola.

We live not too far outside Seattle, but the local cable company announced long ago that it will never run cable down our road, because there are too few customers. So the only choices are an antenna or a satellite system, which not everyone can afford.

We'll see . . .

Phil Nelson

I believe some posters are confusing coupon-eligible boxes with cable and satellite STBs. The former are required to have both RF and baseband putputs. They are also banned from having HD outputs. Of course, anyone can market a box with any features, but they may not qualify for the coupon.

[richms]

scart isnt on the banned connector listing and most chipsets now support component out on the rgb pins, so if a company wanted to, they could put a scart on the box and not have it active in software unless you go into a secret menu like to turn region protection off on a dvd player. That way, as sold it is not providing component out, but it can be enabled by the end user.

[Bill R]

Well the boxes finally arrived at our stor yesterday. I'm sure they are funai since they are Magnavox brand. Retail price is $49.87. They have rf out and composite video out. I have applied for my coupons, and will buy a couple of boxes to use in case cable goes down.

Bill R