Cable operators worry about HDTV

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tnale

SatelliteGuys Family
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Jan 30, 2006
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I would like to share this story from a Denver TV station. Seems there is not enough bandwidth on cable for all there carried channels to be in HDTV. Click on the URL below to read the story.

cable operators worry about HDTV
 
Relax children ......

Not a big deal,

I personally would not have seen this article had it not been posted here.

Jimbo
 
As the article mentioned, cable will be a significant disadvantage for the next 2-3 years...cable systems will need to go all digital in order to support the bandwidth requirements for something like DishHD. It's expensive, but doable for the large cable companies...it's the mom & pop outfits who are going to suffer the most.
 
The article fails to mention the "switch video" technology that Cable operators are testing. It is supposed to give them tremendous amount of bandwith just lik IPTV. These articles are absolete.
 
It also fails to mention that in a few years new cable technologies, along with bundled voice, video, and data savings (aka triple play), are going to put a real hurt on the satellite community.
 
now a days in alot of markets, cable is the better value. it use to be dbs was always the better value, not anymore.
 
Minus the lack of new national HD added to DBS, I still can construct a better "quad play" price deal on my own via my personal selections of DBS, internet, cellular and VoIP - without any use of special promo pricing, as this is NOT the real cost. I am not so lazy or worried about needing everything provided by one company or one bill.
 
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Cable has one disadvantage that satellite has. Cable bundles channels available free OTA, and subscribers have paid for it, whether they want it or not. I refuse to PAY for anything I am getting for FREE, and especially when OTA is better quality than cable or satellite retransmitted signal.

Cable's transition to digital will be painful on Feb. 17, 2009. Current satellite boxes, both Dish Network and DirecTV will require no conversion costs, since the ASTC signal CAN be converted on the headend to MPeg2 and sent directly to current boxes.

In order to free up the current analog spewctrum going over cable, every nstc set WILL require a set top box or a cable card.

ASTC to NSTC ota boxes will be available for $50. It's not a bad investment, since it will pay for itself in less than a year, if one is currently getting locals for more than $5 a month.
 
Mike500 said:
Cable has one disadvantage that satellite has. Cable bundles channels available free OTA, and subscribers have paid for it, whether they want it or not. I refuse to PAY for anything I am getting for FREE, and especially when OTA is better quality than cable or satellite retransmitted signal.

Cable's transition to digital will be painful on Feb. 17, 2009. Current satellite boxes, both Dish Network and DirecTV will require no conversion costs, since the ASTC signal CAN be converted on the headend to MPeg2 and sent directly to current boxes.

In order to free up the current analog spewctrum going over cable, every nstc set WILL require a set top box or a cable card.

ASTC to NSTC ota boxes will be available for $50. It's not a bad investment, since it will pay for itself in less than a year, if one is currently getting locals for more than $5 a month.

I don't believe that cable is required to provide a digital signal to their customers in 2009. That is for the broadcast companies. To get ota signals, everyone will need some sort of set top box.
 
raoul5788 said:
I don't believe that cable is required to provide a digital signal to their customers in 2009. That is for the broadcast companies. To get ota signals, everyone will need some sort of set top box.

That might be true, but the analog signals really hog bandwidth. If they convert signals on the headend, they will tie up the valuable bandwidth for years.
 
Cable will for atleast the next 10 years have an advantage in cities and metro's except in locations where they have exclusivity rights such as Livonia, Redford, and Farmington Michigan where Bright House is the only cable provider allowed.

Out in farm land DBS will be the king until cable co's decide to look at the farmer or cabin owner and lake front weekender as a potential revenue source. Cable co's atleast in Michigan are notorious for thumbing their collective noses at rural customers to the extent that the line may end at the utility pole in their front yard yet wont run an airial drop or burial drop to the house.

Way to much is being placed on HD when it should be availability for everyone regardless of wether theres 2k residences in a square mile or just 3. Availability of cable television and high speed internet that is afordable to those living in rural communities is poor at best, countless times I have had these customers ask me about high speed internet and after looking at the utility poles at the road and knowing that they are past the 10 mile limit for DSL I tell them that their only option is for satellite based internet and in almost every single case it was not cost effective for them to not only have to pay for the equipment and for the installation but also the cost of the monthly subscription to get speeds comparable to that of standard cable/dsl.
 
I think the above is a widely held myth; cable may be king in the "extreme" metro areas where multi-story buildings create LoS issues, but DBS is not "farm" restricted as claimed; most metro area suburbs are covered with DBS. Cable may still enjoy its decades worth headstart lead, and unfair law advandages, but that has been constantly shrinking at a decent rate.
 
I believe the limit for the various flavors of DSL is in the 13,000 to 18,000 foot range. I wish it was 10 miles.

Cablecos do not shift to digital when broadcasts move to ATSC. This is one ill defined area in the transition. Most cablecos would like to move to all digital right now, but various regs and maybe laws restrict them- some channels must be receivable w/o a STB by analog TVs. This will likely get resolved over the next 2 or 3 years, freeing up the cable bandwidth.
 
Sean Mota said:
The article fails to mention the "switch video" technology that Cable operators are testing. It is supposed to give them tremendous amount of bandwith just lik IPTV. These articles are absolete.

Is this Switched Video" maybe associated with the Cable Card version 2 that has been mentioned to be on the way ???

Possibly something that is already being worked on as a solution ?


Jimbo
 
navychop said:
I believe the limit for the various flavors of DSL is in the 13,000 to 18,000 foot range. I wish it was 10 miles.

Cablecos do not shift to digital when broadcasts move to ATSC. This is one ill defined area in the transition. Most cablecos would like to move to all digital right now, but various regs and maybe laws restrict them- some channels must be receivable w/o a STB by analog TVs. This will likely get resolved over the next 2 or 3 years, freeing up the cable bandwidth.
depends some telco's run fiber to a cev(controlled enviromental vault) then switch to copper at that point . This really really extends the range of DSL
 
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