A Farewell to Analog TV

There goes the front and back porch!

At midnight on Thursday, all television signals will switch from an analog to digital signal transmission.

(RCA Studio Camera - Era 1950s)

So why exactly is this changeover happening?

“Congress mandated the date and the switch,” said Federal Communications Commission spokeswoman Mary Diamond. “The benefits of the switch to digital are that the valuable spectrum that becomes available will be able to be used by public safety groups. Your local police and fire department, as well as wireless innovations and consumers, will be able to have a better picture and sound.

“Literally, the spectrum when you convert from analog to digital, you’re compressing what you’re using. Digital takes up less space.”

I guess this is progress! The FCC mentions public safety groups….and less space. What the FCC is really doing is putting up a sign that says: “Spectrum for Sale” as we have foreclosed on the previous Analog owners! I know sour grapes! However Digital TV has a lot of advantages over analog TV, the most significant being that digital TV channels take up less bandwidth (and the bandwidth needs are continuously variable, and this of course has a corresponding cost in image quality depending on the level of compression). This means that digital broadcasters can provide more digital TV channels in the same space and provide other non-television services such as multimedia or interactivity. Digital TV also permits special services such as electronic program guides and multi language capabilities, spoken or subtitled. The sale of non-television services will also insure an additional revenue source.

(Walter Cronkite broadcasting from the first ENG vehicle!)

Back before Black and White TV everybody got their news from radio, newspapers, and the newsreels that were shown in the movie houses. Radio was big and getting even bigger, reaching audiences in the tens of millions. TV had almost zero audience and very few advertisers. At this point in time, TV looked like it did not even have a future! Then out of nowhere appeared Walter Cronkite, a veteran war correspondent and former Moscow bureau chief for the United Press. He started broadcasting in 1950 and was the first reporter to be assigned exclusively to television at CBS’s Washington bureau and the rest is history!

Saying good bye to analog television makes me sad but when I turn on my HDTV flat screen at home, I have to admit it is fantastic and definitely a step up from my old CRT.

(Mike Wallace going "barefoot" with an early portable set up - the batteries were heavy, real heavy!)

I have to wonder when the HDTV signals cease being transmitted what will replace them!

~ Dan Fancher, President/C.E.O.

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WTI (Wireless Technology, Inc.)

Video Surveillance Products Dedicated to the Broadcast, Global Security and Transportation Markets!

http://www.gotowti.com/ ● http://www.wirelesstech.com/

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