Re: HDTV freq. allocations, converter box availability info?

In article <1132674628.985276.117740@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
captainvideo462002@xxxxxxxxx says...
> Does anyone know if it is true that the present VHF TV band will be
> disbanded when HDTV finally takes over? What will then occupy those low
> band frequencies? And what will be the new fequency allocations?

If I understand correctly, what happens is that no new licenses will
be issued for NTSC amplitude modulation, and existing licenses will
stop being renewed, so that analog signals will gradually be replaced
by digital signals on the same channels. It is unclear whether the
existing 69 channels will be needed or further reduced, although
there does seem to be a migration to lower frequencies as many
stations are adding digital VHF while keeping their ananlog UHF
signal on the air for an indeterminate transition period.

At one time it was rumoured that the FCC planned to start shutting
down analog once digital reached majority penetration, although it
is not clear to me how they plan to measure that, and it seems that
adoption has not been nearly as quick as they had thought.

> is there any hope for those of us who would like to keep our existing
> NTSC equipment? There was talk of converter boxes being made available.
> Will this be the case and will they be reasonably priced?

Samsung makes some, and probably others, but they are still a bit
pricey, IMO.

> Or are they perhaps a home brew project that we might be able to build
> ourselves?

Digital requires computing power. It is already possible to add a
HDTV receiver card to a PC and drive an NTSC monitor with a scan
converter. Maybe not very practical just to watch TV, but maybe so
if you already have the computer. It isn't quite like the old days
where you could wire a few parts together and play, most of the new
technologies require someone to write code. Maybe someone will
market a decoder chip with an imbedded Linux or Windows kernel, or
maybe it already exists if I knew where to look.
.

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