Re: NTSC tuners to be extinct ... when?

Bill R wrote:
N. Morrow wrote:
In the US, ATSC tuners are gradually making an appearance in TV's, DVR's,
etc. (per the governmental guidelines) along with NTSC tuners. Retailers
are now posting disclaimers alongside the NTSC-only sets. When will the
trend shift the other way? When will these gizmos only be built with ATSC
tuners? How close will we get to the Feb. 2009 NTSC cutoff deadline before
this happens?



I think that some of the 2008 models will be ATSC/QAM only. Remember that NTSC is NOT going away on some cable systems for quite a few more years. That is why I think that we will still see some NTSC/ATSC/QAM models for a few more years.

Because of the prevalence of analog cable, I expect NTSC tuners will
be around in new TVs for a few years past 2009. Yes, cable companies
have already started in some location to cut the number of analog
channels from the typical ~70 channels to a local core set of 30 or so.
But that core set is likely to stay around for some years pass 2009.

Also, the February 17, 2009 analog cutoff in the congressional bill
only applies to full power TV stations. There are 1000s of low power and
Class A stations and translators in the US. It is up to the FCC to
decide when to force all these stations and translators to go digital.
February, 2009 is regarded as too soon by many to complete the upgrade
of all the translators to digital, especially the translators located in
remote areas. The FCC has not announced a final plan for low power
stations, but it looks as if they will push to get as many of them to
switch to digital on Feb. 17, 2009 as they can. But not all of the low
power stations will have the money to do the digital upgrade quickly.
Since many of these low power stations are religious stations, they may
get sympathetic ears in the current White House and Congress. So NTSC
will likely continue for some rural areas after Feb, 2009.

If I had to guess, they will keep NTSC tuners in most new TVs until at
least 2011 or 2012. Probably longer.

Alan F
.

Relevant Pages

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