Interesting Video on ATSC 3.0

[harshness]

I expect that any significant changes to ATSC 3.0 will come at the request of the FCC as part of the review process to insure that it meets all the fairly well defined needs of the public for access and public safety. As Ajit Pai, the new FCC chairman, appears to be paying attention, I see this happening expeditiously.

It is in everyone's best interest that any simulcasting begins as soon as possible as the bandwidth to simulcast will become very difficult to find once the repack commences. The repack clock is going to start soon and it will start in markets where the bandwidth is likely to be the tightest.

 

[navychop]

I suspect the manufacturers will "change their minds" and request mandatory inclusion of ATSC 3 tuners.

I think those tuners should be on the street for at least three years before broadcasting. Five would be better.

I suspect TiVO will love the move to ATSC 3. All those new boxes to sell. All those old boxes with no more support.

 

[Justin Hill]

I hope Mohu's new AirWave antenna gets updated to include both ATSC 1 and 3 compatibility.

 

[harshness]

I suspect the manufacturers will "change their minds" and request mandatory inclusion of ATSC 3 tuners.

Its no big deal for them. If a company doesn't want to include ATSC 3.0 capability, they're shooting themselves in the head.

I suspect TiVo will love the move to ATSC 3. All those new boxes to sell. All those old boxes with no more support.

It isn't just TiVo. It is also all of the also-ran OTA DVRs as well as DVDVRs, DTV adapters, HTPCs, USB dongles and network-based tuners (such as the Homeruns).

I'd imagine that some of the early generation SD TiVos are still in use as they can work with DTV adapters. I expect that finding analog outputs on anything is going to be very difficult going forward.

 

[harshness]

I hope Mohu's new AirWave antenna gets updated to include both ATSC 1 and 3 compatibility.

The AirWave (an antenna-tuner-streamer combo) that you buy in the next year or two won't work with ATSC 3.0 and it doesn't seem reasonable that it will be a user-level upgrade.

As a result of the repack, the VHF frequencies are going to play a bigger part and most of the Mohu (and similar) antennas don't work well with VHF.

I'd suggest staying away from such a deeply integrated solution.

 

[NashGuy]

WatchTV, a broadcasting group that owns several low-power stations in Oregon, was just this month granted a six-month experimental license from the FCC to broadcast ATSC 3.0 from their various towers surrounding Portland. Looks like they're going to test out a distributed transmission system, which is a feature of ATSC 3.0 that allows the same broadcast to be beamed out from multiple towers to provide better coverage throughout an area. They'll be broadcasting in various formats, including UHD.

http://www.tvtechnology.com/atsc3/0031/fcc-oks-watchtv-atsc-30-dts-sta/280385

 

[navychop]

Be interesting to see THOSE results.

I guess they have a few more or less hand made ATSC 3 tuners.

 

[NashGuy]

Be interesting to see THOSE results.

I guess they have a few more or less hand made ATSC 3 tuners.

Yep, the trial should provide stations with some useful data about broadcasting in 3.0 in more challenging topographies than have been trialled so far. As for the tuners being used in the field, my guess is that they're prototypes produced by LG/Zenith. Maybe Harshness can get his hands on one and see if he can pull in the signals over in Portland!

 

[navychop]

Is Harshness a gun owner? That might be what it takes!

 

[Justin Hill]

I'm guess the sales of VHF antennas will go up once the ATSC 3.0 tuners are available (either built into television sets or set-top boxes) and ATSC 3.0 stations go on the air.

 

[primestar31]

I'm guess the sales of VHF antennas will go up once the ATSC 3.0 tuners are available (either built into television sets or set-top boxes) and ATSC 3.0 stations go on the air.

Good luck finding any. VHF antenna's have become very rare. Especially low band VHF.

You aren't going to hang those on a wall.

 

[navychop]

But you can hang Christmas lights on them!

 

[harshness]

Maybe Harshness can get his hands on one and see if he can pull in the signals over in Portland!

While a cellular model would work for those who live in the immediate area, I can't imagine what people who, like myself, have to pick an antenna from 50 miles away. I feel marginalized already.

 

[harshness]

Good luck finding any. VHF antenna's have become very rare. Especially low band VHF.

That has NEVER been true. Full-range antennas have been and remain widely available.

Not every TV antenna is a mud flap or a UHF bay.

 

[comfortably_numb]

While a cellular model would work for those who live in the immediate area, I can't imagine what people who, like myself, have to pick an antenna from 50 miles away. I feel marginalized already.

I don't think your reception will change; except for maybe VHF... I haven't seen any reports that say channels will be more difficult to receive than they are now... it's certainly not going to go back to how easy reception was in the analog days, but do we have reason to suspect it will actually be worse than it is now?

 

[Justin Hill]

That has NEVER been true. Full-range antennas have been and remain widely available.

Not every TV antenna is a mud flap or a UHF bay.

Lots of VHF antennas, new or used, can be found on eBay or Amazon...

 

[Shicks4]

Vhf antennas for those closer to broadcast wont be that hard of an issue, though they are much larger then typical uhf antennas. For folks in my area the uhf/vhf combo antennas would be quite large, and easily damaged. Wont take long and rural fringe areas will consume less ota tv. Its pretty simple really, but like with many things since less people live in rural areas its ok I guess. Of course we are all getting our panties in a wad over something that we cant even get tuners for until later this summer, and probably wont even be seen except in some parts of the country for some time. Oh yeah and those uhd broadcast eveyone is so excited about, yeah might be a few but like with the digital transition not many stations broadcast in full hd either, I believe only one in my area ever broadcast in 1080p, sometimes other then that its upconverted 720 stuff. IM not too keen on hooking my tv up to the internet either. Is it a neat idea? Sure, but when i watch ota its for local news and a couple of primetime shows and thats about it, which in the case of the primetime shows I dvr, other then that i fully consume premium subscription channels because commercials suck. Its bad enough that everywhere you go online now there are tons of ads. I sure dont want popups when im watching tv, its not cool, it aint hip, and it aint fun. Popups are annoying, especially when im trying to sit down and relax and tune out of reality for a few hours in the evening. Im gonna watch how this rollout works, might just be that I wont have ota after full transition cause I certainly am not gonna put a 10' long antenna up just to watch tv, already had to replace several of those monsters over the years due to storm damage. For those of you excited about all the new bells and whistles in ATSC 3.0, im glad for you but just because your happy dont mean that others have to like the idea. Heck I mentioned it to several people and they have no idea what im talking about. I see a bunch of people getting mad. What about the less fortunate, what are they gonna do another government tuner box program? No thanks, my hdmi slots are precious as it is and i dont wanna have to decide what im gonna have to unhook just to watch tv because someone decided it was a good idea to change things up, again. Cant beleive im going to see another major ota transition in my life time.

 

[Justin Hill]

If you want to learn more about ATSC 3.0 in layman's terms, here's a link:
http://www.antennasdirect.com/blog/atsc-3-0-laymans-terms/

(I like the idea of 100 subchannels per main channel. It means we could see more netlets in the future! I just hope the pop-up advertising won't be much of a problem...)

 

[navychop]

So sub channel 99 will give us the PQ of the original Andy Griffith show! B&W with 50 shades of grey!

And that indoor antenna reception: Yep! I'll bet it comes as a kit. You assemble it in your living room and the LR BECOMES the antenna. Not for homes with children or non nimble adults.

Seriously, that article might as well promise world peace. Whirled Peas is what we'll get.

 

[Voyager6]

Unless the FCC allows an increase in power, how will indoor reception be easier? If you can't pick up an ATSC 1.0 UHF signal indoors now, what will change with an ATSC 3.0 UHF signal?