Digital TV Transition in USA
The DTV transition in the United States is the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming. The transition from analog to digital television has been described by David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, as representing "the most significant advancement of television technology since color TV was introduced." Under the Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, all broadcasting of analog television in the United States must cease after February 17, 2009.
Impact of Digital TV Transition in USA
Digital TV uses a more efficient transmission technology that allows broadcast stations to offer improved picture and sound quality, as well as offer more programming options through multiple broadcast streams (multicasting). Television stations have been preparing for the transition from analog to DTV since the late 1990s, when they began building digital facilities and airing digital channels alongside regular analog broadcasts. Today, 1,609 out of 1,745 full power television stations nationwide offer digital programming, however, most of the smaller, low-power broadcasters, for whom switching to digital would be cost prohibitive, will still be permitted to transmit in analog for several years to come. Since the majority of US viewership is no longer using over-the-air antennae to receive signals, but has switched to cable and satellite, the impact will be much smaller on current NTSC receivers which will continue to use NTSC content and devices after the cut-off date. Set-top boxes will enable existing over-the-air NTSC only receivers to watch over-the-air ATSC signals.
A major concern is that the broadcast technology used to transmit ATSC signals called 8VSB has problems receiving signal inside buildings and in urban areas, largely due to multipath reception issues which cause annoying ghosting and fading on analog images, but can lead to intermittent signal or no reception at all on ATSC programs. DTV broadcasts exhibit a digital cliff effect, by which viewers will receive either a perfect signal or no signal at all with little or no middle ground. Digital transmissions do contain additional data bits to provide error correction for a finite number of bit errors; once signal quality degrades beyond that point, recovery of the original digital signal becomes impossible.
After the switch from analog to digital broadcasts is complete, analog TVs will be incapable of receiving over-the-air broadcasts without the addition of a set-top converter box. Consequently, a digital-to-analog converter, an electronic device that connects to an analog television, must be used in order to allow the television to receive digital broadcasts. The box may also be called a "set-top" converter, "digital TV adapter" (DTA), or "digital set-top box" (DSTB).
DTV Coupon Program
To assist consumers through the conversion, the U.S. government will take requests from households for up to two $40 coupons for digital-to-analog converter boxes beginning January 1, 2008 via a toll free number or a website. However, these government coupons are limited to an initial sum of $890 million (22,250,000 coupons) with the option to grow to $1.34 billion (33,500,000 coupons), which is far short of the estimated 112 million households (224 million redeemable coupons) in the United States. Nevertheless, not every household will take advantage of the offer, as reports indicate that 1 in 2 households already has a digital TV.
These coupons may be redeemed toward the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter at brick and mortar, on-line, and telephone retailers that have completed the NTIA certification process. Retail prices for the boxes range from $40 to $70 (plus tax and/or shipping); after applying the coupons, the price to the consumer should be between $5 and $40 per box.
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