"It is my understanding that an upgrade to HFC is not necessary to offer digital TV services.....I find your hypothesis difficult to accept since there are two ex-TCI franchises that I am aware of in LA that offer digital services to their subs, and most likely do NOT have fiber in the plant. The plant in these franchises are OLD franchises and ABOVE GROUND strung telephone poles....Although the TCI-Van Nuys system presently offers subs digital services, it is still scheduled to undergo an fiber upgrade in the next year or two. My conclusion, Mike, is that DVB is possible w/o fiber in the plant."
lml- Whoops...I recall now what you are referring too. It's the type of older digital stuff Malone purchased for TCI's plant. It does 3 to 1 channel count upgrade. Today's digital conversions does 5 to 1 with even a higher quality SDTV picture. Malone started rolling out that older digital headend equipment simply to just stuff more analog channels down the pipe with no increase in quality. TCI rolled out that kind of equipment to compete with the, then nascent, DBS market. And, unfortunately, that equipment is not compatible with today's digital headend equipment. Thanks for reminding me.
"If the extra channels are the only digital channels my TV would receive, then I would tell my MSO to shove it, & go for the dish."
Yes. This is the current state-of-the-art HFC digital MSO delivery system. Mainly analog(due to the analog TV/STB set problem), and then added digital content. And from what I understand, even the digital channels today, are primarily compressed analog. I draw this conclusion since only 143 NAB local affliates have even converted to digital content creation.
In general, today's compressed analog-digital is supposed to be better quality because there is no degradation of the signal in the distribution system. What goes into the headend, is what pops up on your TV.
If you want ALL digital channel delivery, then you would have to go to the DBS system. I understand that DBS is very roughly $60/month for the same amount of content a MSO offers for $40/month. Would you happen to know if this is accurate?
Plus the DBS customer has to pay for the dish, whereas the MSO makes you pay for nothing upfront. Very heated battle going on which is good for the consumer. -MikeM(From Florida) |
