Coming Soon...Digital Recording
On February 19th, 2009, analog TV will be officially turned off in the US, in favor of a digital signal. This promises a clearer picture, and room for more channels. Note that digital television is not synonymous with high definition television, also known as HDTV. By definition, HDTV has more than 700 lines of resolution, whereas standard TV has a mere 480. However, this has all been known to many for some time, and is hardly news. For the over 20 million folks that get their TV signal via an antennae, they'll need a convertor box to see their favorite shows.
Another important date is March 2007. This is only a little over 6 months away currently. Why is this date important? This is the date that TV recording electronics are required to have a digital tuner in them. Currently, just about none of them do. This means that for the antennae crowd, their VCR, DVD recorder, and my new hard drive based recorder will become expensive paperweights. What about those convertor boxes? They are being designed to only transmit one signal, so I suppose that a recording device might be able to record using the line in jacks, bypassing the tuner, but heaven forbid that some other family member changes the "to be recorded" channel to view another show, and the whole thing goes down the drain. If this sounds familiar, this is what early cable users put up with, and let's just say "been there, not going back!"
So where are these digital recording devices? Not quite in the stores yet. While they may have a digital tuner, they will really be downmixing content so it can fit on existing formats. No, HDTV recording will likely have to wait for the large capacity discs (Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, now we're starting to see how important this battle really is...). The devices in March '07 will be taking the digital signal, high def and standard def, and downconverting it to put it on a disc, or hard drive. However, at least these machines will have a longer, more productive life than the current crop on the shelves that are analog only.
As the manufacturers have shelves full of recorders with analog tuners (walk into any Best Buy or Circuit City and you'll see exactly what I mean) I'm sure they're hoping for a sell out of a Christmas season this year. Unfortunately, the poorly informed public will get stuck in the analog only era, and if they use an antenna for TV, will be back in two years for the inevitable upgrade. The best option may be to wait until March '07, as there should be many early spring digital tuner recording electronics announced. Good things come to those that wait, or at least how this is looking for now.
--Jonas
Another important date is March 2007. This is only a little over 6 months away currently. Why is this date important? This is the date that TV recording electronics are required to have a digital tuner in them. Currently, just about none of them do. This means that for the antennae crowd, their VCR, DVD recorder, and my new hard drive based recorder will become expensive paperweights. What about those convertor boxes? They are being designed to only transmit one signal, so I suppose that a recording device might be able to record using the line in jacks, bypassing the tuner, but heaven forbid that some other family member changes the "to be recorded" channel to view another show, and the whole thing goes down the drain. If this sounds familiar, this is what early cable users put up with, and let's just say "been there, not going back!"
So where are these digital recording devices? Not quite in the stores yet. While they may have a digital tuner, they will really be downmixing content so it can fit on existing formats. No, HDTV recording will likely have to wait for the large capacity discs (Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, now we're starting to see how important this battle really is...). The devices in March '07 will be taking the digital signal, high def and standard def, and downconverting it to put it on a disc, or hard drive. However, at least these machines will have a longer, more productive life than the current crop on the shelves that are analog only.
As the manufacturers have shelves full of recorders with analog tuners (walk into any Best Buy or Circuit City and you'll see exactly what I mean) I'm sure they're hoping for a sell out of a Christmas season this year. Unfortunately, the poorly informed public will get stuck in the analog only era, and if they use an antenna for TV, will be back in two years for the inevitable upgrade. The best option may be to wait until March '07, as there should be many early spring digital tuner recording electronics announced. Good things come to those that wait, or at least how this is looking for now.
--Jonas
posted by digitaldoc at 8:00 AM
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