I've heard that the deadline for all channels to transfer over to HD is 2009 but is this a "sit in stone" thing? Cause, I thought I heard it was 2008 now pushed back and alot of actors are complaining cause HD shows off more of their "Bad" features unlike Standard that would hide it see I have Dish Network and its HD package only has 30something channels and most of those I don't watch and I'm wanting more than 1 HBO,1Starz, and 1 Showtime like you normally get with Standard in HD!! Also want the music channels, etc in HD but when do they get switched and do you think I'll end up paying more?
What country? In the UK we have like no HD channels(like 8) and aren't even going to be fully digital until 2012.
When they turn off the analogue signal in the UK that bandwidth is going to be added to the digital network. So that will work a lot better and give a good amount of freeview HD channels. I'm not certain but I think there was talk of upgrading to mpeg4 compression instead of mpeg2 on over the air HD channels. Don't you think it's completely out of order that to get BBCHD you have to pay a subscription to sky and whoever else. That should be free!!
Not all shows are filmed in HD to begin with, so it wouldn't really be 'true' HD anyway if there was some change. In Australia I think the analogue is being turned off in 2008 or somewhere close to that. All our free to air digital channels run with a HD sub-channel (is it called sub?), although one or two stations differ on what HD is (All the stations except the community station run digital transmissions).
We bought an HDTV back when they were relatively new (an older interlaced one). That was in 2002. They told us that all channels would be HD within a year. Yeah right. As for shutting down analogue TV to give the bandwidth to digital HD broadcasts, that's BS. The real reason is to force people to buy pay TV subscriptions. The VHF band doesn't have enough bandwidth for high definition programming. That's why satellite TV and WiFi use the higher UHF microwave spectrum. I get the feeling in North America that the networks are going to end up battling the communications industry over it. A lot of people still get their TV via an aerial as they either can't afford pay tv or live in an area where they don't get the service. I get Cogeco HD right now; that's cable. I get about 10 broadcast network stations. A one year's subscription to HD programming came free with an LCD TV we recently bought. We don't get the HD movie channels because that wasn't part of the promotion. I don't know if its worth it since so few programs are actually in HD to begin with. Most are still shot at 480i. In Canada, only CityTV has converted to 100% HD programming with the exception of older program reruns they show. Now that I've had the chance to actually spend some quality time with HDTV, I'm not entirely sure if its worth the expense. Since its free now, that's ok, but I doubt we'll be keeping it once the offer expires.
Channels are not all going HD, which seems to be a common misconception. As someone else mentioned they are canning analog broadcasting, and you will have to atleast have a "digital" tuner to display a picture. Not an HD tuner necessarily. While an HD tuner is a digital tuner and would cover you (and most TV's these days come with one of those), it is not necessary and you will just need either a digital tuner or digital box.
What the OP is talking about is happening in the U.S., but most of the world is transitioning to digital as well. 2009 is when terrestrial broadcast stations can no longer transmit their analog signal. The FCC is taking those frequencies back for other uses. Currently most of these stations are broadcasting both analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC). Not all programming is going to go HD, only digital. ATSC specs allow both standard defintion and high definition formats, as well as 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC The reality is that much of this digital programming will in fact be HD. Much of primetime programming is already HD. Technically, the original cut off date was planned for the end of 2006. This obviously didn't happen. 2009 is now the latest it can happen, with the possibility of it coming sooner. Part of the issue is that stations are not ready, another part is that inexpensive converters have not been available yet. The converters will allow people to use their old analog TVs with the new ATSC signals.
Thats completely inaccurate actually. There are a few reasons why we are moving to digital, but that isn't one of them. If anything, broadcast networks see terrestrial digital television as a way to stay toe to toe with "digital cable" and "digital satellite." The NTSC system has been around for over 60 years now. It is old, outdated and cannot pass HD. This is just a natural progression of technology.
Well I guess my question should have really been different. I'm currently with Dish Network's HD package so I get about 30+ HD channels.. I bumped up cause when I got my new LCD TV the pictures were a little fuzzy and I just wanted to go up to something more clear to match the reason I got the TV inthe first place. Well They told me they had only 5 channels back a year ago now at 30+ channels. I'm wanting them all to be shown in HD!!! Its great! I love how clear everything is and that even goes for some odd channel on it that shows reruns of KnightRider! I think I got spoiled last week with all the Bowl games on ESPN HD that this week they are all shown on CBS or ABC and I have local channels through my dish but they are not shown in HD and that really sucks.
Buy an ATSC set top box, and get your local channels FOR FREE in HD with only an antenna. OTA (over the air) ATSC channels will just kill the picture quality you are receiving from Dish Network, which does use "HD Lite" (downrezing and starving bitrate). DirecTV is much worse, but Dish does still do these things. DirecTV is actually being sued over this currently, as they do not transmit a single 1920x1080i signal. All of their "1080i" channels are actually 1280x1088i using non-square pixels. I beleive Dish uses mostly 1440x1080, and a few of their Voom channels may be 1920x1080i. If you post your zip code I can give offer you much more help and find out what network affiliate (locals) are doing in your area in terms of HD. BTW, Knight Rider is shown on Universal HD. They have also remastered episodes of Stargate Atlantis and Northern Exposure in HD and have begun showing these.
In Finland we have 0 HD channels (excluding Canal Digital 2 HD satellite channels and some cable test HD broadcast). We are going fully DVB-T this autumn (end of analog TV broadcasts), though. So be happy!
HD channels I had Dish and now have Direct TV. If you want more HD Channels get Direct TV as most if not all the HBO channels are in HD along with most if not all premium channels in HD along with a lot more than DISH offers. Plus get it now and you get for free! NFL Ticket which u get every football game showing in HD. A good value for free when it is listed for about $325 a year. If and when u find out when all channels are going to be broadcast in HD post it. They still don't have all channels in digital mode so it I believe is going to take some time. Also, post it if you are changing from dish to direct as I can and u can get $100 if you use me as getting u to change. Thanks
Oh thread digging ) Funny to see how fast some people predict technology advances. By the 50's standard we should all have flying cars and live on the moon Oh and on topic. Half of the norwegian channels have hd options now. But we dont have that many.
It may have to do with the satellite and cable companies, I know there some channels that have an HD version but are shown in SD. That is the case with my Direct TV. Probably sqwabbling about money the the actual channel or it's parent company.
