2008-11-12, 10:42 PM
> Finally, someone else told me a tech told him that when the switch
> happens in Feb. 09, there's no guarantee anyone will continue QAM
> due to bandwidth needs.
You mean continue analog, not qam? Qam is the digital format most are switching too - it can just be clear so anyone can receive it or it can be encrypted so you need a decoder to decrypt it.
Analog is a bandwidth hog and I have no doubt they will eventually all drop it, but my cable co is advertising they are carrying analog and your older tvs will work just fine on their system with no converter box so I don't think they will drop it too soon as they'd have a lot of unhappy customers who'd feel they've been hood winked.
I know for a fact that they've installed the equipment to convert digital otas to analog so that bodes well for them carrying analog for a while longer.
Like I said though, I'm sure eventually everything will go digital and they'll probably do everything in their power to make it so you pay for each tuner in the house. When I lived in another town the cable co was kinda predatory and only gave the three networks in the clear and everything else was using an analog scramble. The town tried to push them to put the basic and expanded basic tier in the clear but the operator was adament - his arguement was that you don't pay for water, electricity, sewer, etc. by a flat rate - you pay it by the usage so why was tv any different. I guess there's some logic to that, though I don't have to like it! The town eventually found another cable company that was interested in coming to town so this guy eventually lost his franchise for the town.
> happens in Feb. 09, there's no guarantee anyone will continue QAM
> due to bandwidth needs.
You mean continue analog, not qam? Qam is the digital format most are switching too - it can just be clear so anyone can receive it or it can be encrypted so you need a decoder to decrypt it.
Analog is a bandwidth hog and I have no doubt they will eventually all drop it, but my cable co is advertising they are carrying analog and your older tvs will work just fine on their system with no converter box so I don't think they will drop it too soon as they'd have a lot of unhappy customers who'd feel they've been hood winked.
I know for a fact that they've installed the equipment to convert digital otas to analog so that bodes well for them carrying analog for a while longer.
Like I said though, I'm sure eventually everything will go digital and they'll probably do everything in their power to make it so you pay for each tuner in the house. When I lived in another town the cable co was kinda predatory and only gave the three networks in the clear and everything else was using an analog scramble. The town tried to push them to put the basic and expanded basic tier in the clear but the operator was adament - his arguement was that you don't pay for water, electricity, sewer, etc. by a flat rate - you pay it by the usage so why was tv any different. I guess there's some logic to that, though I don't have to like it! The town eventually found another cable company that was interested in coming to town so this guy eventually lost his franchise for the town.