Re: Comcast and 8VSB

Wes Newell wrote:
> On Fri, 09 May 2008 06:37:39 -0400, TheWebJunkie wrote:
> 
>> On Fri, May 9, 2008, 2:28am (EDT+4) afiggatt1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Alan F)
>> wrote:
>>
>>> "...Yes, Comcast could provide locals in 8-VSB,
>>> but I don't know if the coupon eligible converter boxes with work with
>>> cable channel frequencies (beyond channels 2-13)."
>> Good point.  However, they *could* relocate the broadcast stations to
>> physical channels 2 through 13 and modify the PSIDs accordingly.  A
>> *few* people at Comcast *must* be intelligent.
> 
> I might be misunderstanding this, but the DTV converters work with 
> channels 2-69 by mandate. I assume the cable companies could use any of 
> those frequencies they wanted to.

  Cable channels 2 to 69 are not all at the same frequencies as
broadcast channels 2 to 69. Only channels 2 to 13 match up. The NTSC
tuner in the "cable-ready" analog TV is designed to handle either set of
channel frequencies. Since the coupon eligible converter boxes are
specifically made for OTA reception use only, no reason for them to
handle cable channel frequencies.

  See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_broadcast_television_frequencies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_cable_television_frequencies

  I don't buy this. The fact that the "knowledgeable" person did not
even understand that the analog cutoff only directly applies to
broadcast TV next February indicates that he is not that knowledgeable
and is confused by a presentation. A basic SD only QAM tuner STB is not
that expensive. Verizon is providing Motorola DCT-700s which are
stripped down SD only boxes to the markets where they are turning off
the limited number of analog locals they provided. IIRC, the DCT-700 was
re****tedly around $150 in quantity.

  A basic QAM STB for cable will also provide access to VOD with pay
movies and PPV services. The STB now have to use cable cards which
drives up the cost, but still, even if only 5% to 10% of the subscribers
  get pay VOD movies, that is extra revenue that they would not get with
the 8-VSB approach.

  Alan F