New Technology

[Oren Beck]

On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 10:09 PM, Matthew Copple
<mcopple at kcopensource.org> wrote:
> On 7/5/08 4:08 PM, "Jonathan Hutchins" <hutchins at tarcanfel.org> wrote:
>
>> There's some question what the various cable TV carriers and satellite
>> companies are going to do when analog broadcasting shuts down.  Since anybody
>> watching satellite already has a digital receiver, with analog output if they
>> have an analog TV, not much is likely to change for DishNet or DirecTV.
>>
>> I would imagine that Time Warner won't change - that would mean spending money
>> on new equipment, which they don't like to do.  Ditto Comcast.
>>
>> Everest, on the other hand, is making a big, mysterious fuss about "next
>> year", when they're going to "overhaul the system" or "change everything".  I
>> think they'd be pretty dumb to ditch every customer who doesn't need to
>> replace their analog TV yet, but they don't always do what I consider smart.
>>
>> Of course, getting a straight answer out of any of these companies about their
>> technology strategy over the next ten years wouldn't even be likely for a
>> Congressional Commission, let alone local staff.  Us customers are just going
>> to take what they give us.
>
> There was a recent article in "Red Tape Chronicles" on MSNBC.com about
> precisely this. Right now, most cable companies offer the "Basic" cable tier
> on an analog signal, including TWC and Comcast here in town. Older TVs with
> the BNC connector on the back accept the analog signal.
>
> Comcast has announced that it is converting to all-digital in several
> markets, which will ostensibly allow for more channels and services in the
> bandwidth previously taken by the analog signal. If/when this occurs, folks
> with basic cable may have to upgrade to set-top boxes or newer TVs which
> accept a digital signal.
>
> Matt Copple
> mcopple at kcopensource.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
Above NOT trimmed for making scroll up re-reads easier.


Nitpick or question is an open case till you reply Matt-

BNC or F59? Yeah, technically the cable now is RG6 etc but F59 is
accepted to identify. PAL sets often had either a true BNC or an
Euroclone notquite morphed version. Do confirm if I am
understanding....

Then I am curious about the set top box/es mentioned.

That "already has a digital..." is not as it first seems. VERY few
Pay-TV Sat boxes have an RF input for other than the Sat's LNB band
and perhaps a Ch3/4 NTSC Pass-Thru.
There's a Smaller % of boxes that DID offer conversion of that Ch3/4
NTSC to either HDTVsimulated or NTSC RF/NTSC A/V for Security Lobby
cams etc. I have only seen a handful of them my self and heard of
maybe 10 total actually so used. The reality check here is that other
than the purpose built ATSC OTA boxes damned few external devices will
translate ATSC to NTSC analog with an exception of Linux based gear
that can have it's settings altered. Sad but over all true. With
respect for the part about Dish/Direct subscribers not needing to do
anything -that holds true for the SAT channels only. There's NOT a box
from  any provider I have even heard of that integrates the ATSC
conversion from OTA antenna jacks with Sat.

One legendarily EVIL headache for analog NTSC cabled systems is Bleed
in and out.
Signals from OTA leak
IN and raise one form of havoc. Signals leaking OUT raise others.
Intermodulations between the realms has driven many techs to babbling
substance abusing burnout...
I have worked for and with such victims and have-let's say experiences
of empathy.
Which leads to as part of REUSING the vacated spectrum OTA we have to
vacate it not only OTA but wherever it could LEAK from a poorly
handled cable. EX:
Little kid digs out mommy's  Atari oldskool boxen. It's got a lovely
F59 to twinlead to push on F59 balun lashup last used in 1986.Kid
masters the pluging inof all the cruft and blissfully ignorant of
what's about to befall some unlucky soul as a public radio service
frequency gets clobbered from signal egress. Yeah you may now either
chuckle in consignment to crackpot status or begin the cold sweat of
reality being not an if but WHEN a similar story literally kills.

THAT is why the nitpicking over life safety affecting systems is so elaborate.

See THIS:

http://radiosilencefdny.com/tellus.php

And get more afraid when you begin grasping how many homes are using
VoIP or Cell and whole contigious areas might be totally screwed for
Emergency Comms of any sort.  I live approx 8 miles from the nearest
EMS contact point by road. Call that  close to 20 minutes REAL
response time if a fire run needed to be communicated by car! I
suspect there's a lot of worse cases. The inversion of this could be
if we had mesh backboned spectrum with battery backup in each node a
message for help would become MORE certain to be heard. Here's my
pitch for a REALLY new tech idea.

Mandate the assignment of some "Cloud-to Ground" bandspread so meshed
clouds can link to the larger net. THEN any VoIP device which can
reach the nearest "Cloud" also could reach the web and therefore help.
And Linux of course is the logical toolset for this.

IF you have constructive comments please post here. Flames etc either
send to me

OFF LIST or better yet sleep on them before sharing them . Let's just
leave it as an exercise in civil discourse how you handle this if you
disagree with me.



-- 
Oren Beck

816.729.3645