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News: Top 10 MSOs Embrace Powell DTV Plan (by Jan 1)

585 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by DaleBarrett, May 3, 2002

burnsy

Discussion Starter · May 1, 2002

From Multichannel News...

Top 10 MSOs Embrace Powell DTV Plan

Anoyone want to bet this doesn't happen...

Quote:

In the letter, Sachs said the cable operators planned to comply with key provisions of the plan, including that cable systems with 750 megahertz of channel capacity would carry up to five high-definition-TV signals from broadcasters (commercial or noncommercial) or cable networks.

The MSOs would meet this commitment by Jan. 1 in the top 100 markets on systems with more than 25,000 subscribers, Sachs added.

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burnsy

Discussion Starter · #2 · May 1, 2002

Here is another article from Rueters...

Cable companies commit to speed digital TV

Quote:

The top ten U.S. cable operators committed Wednesday to take steps to accelerate the transition to digital television, including carrying several high-definition digital channels by January 2003.

Sachs said AT&T Broadband, AOL Time Warner Inc., Comcast Corp., Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Adelphia Communications, Cablevision Systems, Mediacom Communications, Insight Communications and CableOne all agreed to take several steps.

timmy1376

· #3 · May 1, 2002

That's great to see, especially from Cox Communications. I really want to see if they just do the top 100 markets, seeing as I am in market 138. Perhaps this would put too much of a rush on HD cable boxes.

jacmyoung

· #4 · May 1, 2002

"Tracking Powell's plan, the cable companies also agreed to begin ordering the necessary set-top boxes with digital connectors and deploying them to customers as soon as they are available from manufacturers, likely by the end of 2003. "

That will be a whole year of waiting time, I wonder if any of them will initially carry the HD signals in unencrypted 8VSB so anyone with an OTA STB will be able to use the signals.

timmy1376

· #5 · May 1, 2002

I did not see the date for STB of by the end of 2003? So they are going to have the HDTV channels, but will not send out STB's untill late 2003?? I sure hope they would put the signal out in 8VSB.

burnsy

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 1, 2002

Here is the press release from the NCTA...

CABLE INDUSTRY PLEDGES STRONG SUPPORT FOR DIGITAL TV TRANSITION PLAN

And the letter to Powell...

Letter to Chairman Powell

tombarry

· #7 · May 2, 2002

Correct me if I am wrong, but if they use QAM then our stb's are incompatible, and the cable QAM stb's will only have digital connectors, no component out.

DaleBarrett

· #8 · May 2, 2002

Quote:

Correct me if I am wrong, but if they use QAM then our stb's are incompatible, and the cable QAM stb's will only have digital connectors, no component out.

There is no indication of a commitment to any standard so there is no way of knowing how or whether your current display will connect to a cable HD STB when and if it shows up for your local cable company. At least that's my reading unless someone else saw something different.

era

· #9 · May 2, 2002

Quote:

There is no indication of a commitment to any standard so there is no way of knowing how or whether your current display will connect to a cable HD STB when and if it shows up for your local cable company. At least that's my reading unless someone else saw something different.

We got HDTV boxes (Scientific Atlanta 3001) here in Greensboro NC a month ago. They have component out jacks which you attach to your component in jacks on your HDTV-ready TV. Works great.

DaleBarrett

· #10 · May 2, 2002

Quote:

We got HDTV boxes (Scientific Atlanta 3001) here in Greensboro NC a month ago. They have component out jacks which you attach to your component in jacks on your HDTV-ready TV. Works great.

era - I'm happy for you, but that doesn't change my previous statement. There is no COMMITMENT to a standard, so while YOUR cable company may be using that box that doesn't provide any guidance re what MY cable company (Adelphia) will provide. And my 1st-gen HDTV doesn't HAVE component in - it has analog RGBHV, so if I had your box I still wouldn't be there. As I said before, there is currently no way of knowing either when such a box will be available (unless you're in an area where it's already been announced and I wouldn't believe that until there's one I can go pick up) or what the interface to the display will be.

BTW, if your cable company STB is currently providing analog HDTV via component outputs, that would seem to fly in the face of the copy-protection bs - how long is that going to fly? Or am I missing something?

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DrJoe

· #11 · May 2, 2002

Time Warner has been providing HD digital boxes for some time (a year?) until this spring they were modified Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000's (given the model number 2000HD). In most markets, they provide Showtime and HBO HD; where they have negotiated cairrage agreements with local television affiliates they also provide the digital locals. Houston, for instance, has all the OTA DTV stations available.

This spring they began handing out Explorer 3100HD's -- I got one two weeks ago.

I'll have to go home and see if it does RGBHV;

As I understand it, Motorola also has a close to production HD digital cable receiver.

As to how universal its use will be, well, do most DVD players have RGBHV output? I didn't think they did. If you want it, you may need a converter.

Joe

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DaleBarrett

· #12 · May 2, 2002

Quote:

do most DVD players have RGBHV output?

No, and my set predates the arrival of inexpensive progressive DVD players but assuming it didn't and I had a 480P component input for DVD how would that help me with 1080i? I don't see the relevance. Don't see why cable STB shouldn't support digital audio/video out, component video out AND RGB. Anyway, like I said earlier it doesn't really matter what you guys have, only ultimately what my local cable company goes with unless a universal standard is adopted and a commercially available STB implementing that standard is produced - which BTW is what was originally signed up for I believe.

era

· #13 · May 3, 2002

Quote:

BTW, if your cable company STB is currently providing analog HDTV via component outputs, that would seem to fly in the face of the copy-protection bs - how long is that going to fly? Or am I missing something?

The consensus on this, and other HDTV forii, appears to be that the copy protection will likely be limited to pay-per-view only. It's a time-release issue, in other words...Hollywood will want to prevent copying of the latest new movies while they are still being rented via Blockbuster, shown on PPV and so on. However, after a few months or a year, however, when a movie becomes available on the premium channels like HBO, there is less concern about piracy.

I think the fact that hundreds of thousands of set top boxes with component-cable outputs are now being pumped into the market pretty clearly indicates that component connections will be around for quite a while as the HDTV delivery system of choice. In your case, buying a converter to translate component into your connection isn't all that expensive, is it?

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Dylan Savage

· #14 · May 3, 2002

Dale, you're a $65 transcoder away from the component->RBGHV setup. Check ebay.

DaleBarrett

· #15 · May 3, 2002

Quote:

Dale, you're a $65 transcoder away from the component->RBGHV setup. Check ebay.

I have seen them at that price going the other way - i.e. RGBHV->component but not the component->RGBHV direction. Sounds good if true.

In any case, issue is moot until Adelphia - which appears to be under heavy financial pressure BTW - decides to cut me a break and deliver some HDTV in my area. Sometime next year if not before would be nice. Of course I've been talking to them about it for 3 years and their response up to now has been that there's no demand for HDTV, and their focus is on offering broadband services and more channels (i.e. where they think they can make more $$). Offering HDTV wasn't even on their radar screen.

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