okay so the skinny jeans didn't work out for me so well …

By now if you have been watching television at all you may have heard of a “digital transition” that is taking place next year on Februrary 19th.  It’s confusing to a lot of people, and is to a lot of us “in the know” that should be able to offer some assistance.  What the digital transition is; the discontinuation of what is known as analog television, this is low grade television subject to snow, ingress, ghosting and interference in the form of “sparks” that flicker across the television screen when there is weak reception.  It will be replaced by digital television, the only malady here is what is known as pixellation or “digital tiling”; the picture freezes and turns into a bunch of squares, you know like back in the day Atari 2600 type resolution, the audio may loose it’s sync in where everyone sounds the same.  Your television is not possessed with the devil!  Although it may certainly sound as though that is the case, so don’t leave your television on at night because it may give you nightmares in your sleep, seriously.

There are some main keypoints to note:

• High-Definition television is not synonomous with digital television.  High-definition, as far as television is concerned, is anything DVD quality or higher.  DVDs use a resolution of 720p, and are considered to be low resolution though they are certainly “high” definition with respect to analog tv, BluRay discs use a resolution of 1080p.  The resolution corresponds to the number of vertical lines that the content was recorded in.  Forget about diagonal measurements, they won’t be of much help here; high-definition television is recorded in a “cinema” 16 x 9 format.  Regular television was in a 4 x 3 format.
• Low grade digital television does share similarities with analog television with respect to resolution.  Analog television has a resolution of 480p, while “budget” (for the broadcasters) digital television is the same resolution.  Expect independent stations to use 480 while showing informercials or church services on a Sunday morning.  Expect networks to be in 1080 pretty much all of the time, with the exception of local news broadcasts.  Right now “profitable” television, like sporting events, soap operas, Oprah, etc. are pretty much all being shot in 1080.  The olympics was completely in 1080.  Some networks are still using 720 exclusively though that may certainly change in the near future.
• Expect to see television stations owning more than one channel.  For example 5-1 may be an ABC affiliate; 5-1 could be a standard resolution 480 signal while 5-2 could be 720 and 5-3, 1080.  What television stations are supposed to do, is offer different content on the -2 and -3 subchannels.  So far though the only stations doing that are the CW affiliates, PBS and independent affiliate stations like Worship, ION and Qubo.  CW affiliates do broadcast different resolutions on the sub carrier, PBS has a high definition channel that is typically broadcasting different content from their standard resolution channel, and PBS Kids is on another sub carrier.   Qubo and Worship so far are not using their other channels at all though ION certain does.
• Expect to see a considerably higher amount of digital stations once the transition has taken place.  Many broadcasters are riding out analog to the very end.  In fact I have yet to see TBN, Daystar or any other religious networks in HD, though Pat Robertson’s 700 Club is now shot exclusively in HD.  Currently there are still more analog stations than digital in smaller markets.  Markets are not necessarily determined by population alone though; for example in Hampton Roads one of the 7 cities will have one affiliate for another network and so on and so forth.  I probably cannot even recieve the stations broadcasting on the Peninsula.  So there aren’t 21 affiliate stations, basically, though in a more “urban” area, like DC things are entirely different.
• All digital television, whether 480, 720 or 1080 is the same with respect to the issues that bring about low reception, to an extent.  Digital television takes that same analog signal and chops it up 4 ways, currently one of those ways is being used for analog, the -0, with the transition, each station will have 4 stations, or sub carriers.

A few notes about the equipment you will need to watch television next year.

• Cable and satellite will continue to support analog for 3 years.  Again, cable operators will still support that direct hookup from the wall to your television for 3 years.  You should still be able to use 480p cable receivers and satellite receivers as well; remember the transition to high-definition itself is something that will be phased in over time, the transition to standard-definition digital television is the one that is immediate.
• Satellite was always digital, even before cable was.  In fact satellite was a big part of what pushed cable operators that weren’t already digital to go digital in the mid 90s, as satellite was making that transition perhaps in the late 80s.  You’re watching the same television; nothing “magical” is going to happen if you have been using satellite equipment or digital cable since like 1990.
• VCRs may have digital tuners, but the video tape itself is still 480.  You’re just making an analog recording of a digital signal being pushed through a digital tuner.  It isn’t high-definition, and it isn’t a digital recording either, as it is with a DVD recorder, but it will allow you to recieve digital television with an analog television without having to buy a converter.  Don’t let the punks at Best Buy and Circuit City tell you that the VCR is fully digital, or the video equivalent of digital audio tape when it isn’t.  DVD recorders may give you 720, but you aren’t going to get 1080 out of a DVD recorder, just isn’t going to happen.
• The “converter boxes” that you recieve the government coupons to get the $40 discount on allow you to watch standard high-defitinition 480 programming on an analog television.  That’s it, that’s all, however, if you have a thing for picking up old television sets on the curb or at a thrift store or refuse to get rid of that 1980 RCA or that 1990 Sony Trinitron you may want to take a look into them.  They’re well under a $100 at WalMart and will allow you to get extra channels, remember there will be 4 times as many television channels next year.
• You can get some programming that was typically associated with cable and satellite over the air next year, if you want it.  It’s very light fare, but Worship, ION and Qubo are three networks that used to be exclusive to cable and satellite that are using local affiliates to program over the air.  It’s doubtful that other broadcasters will do so in the future, but don’t be surprised if USA, or the Atlanta or Chicago superstations aren’t over the air as well in the distant future.  Honestly, I think it is because those three networks aren’t heavily watched on cable or satellite though.

That’s pretty much it, we may revisit this topic in the future if anything interesting happens but for right now it seems that the digital transition is pretty much a wrap and will definitely occur in the next 5 months.