Digital TV Facts: The Latest

Demonstrations of set-top converter boxes will take place on Capitol Hill today. The set-top boxes take in digital TV signals and convert them for display on analog TV sets.

South Korea’s LG Electronics will show off a prototype:

LG says it will sell for about $50–in the low range of recent handicapping for the price of the box–assuming “volume in the millions of units.”

LG has hooked it up to a 25-year-old Zenith TV (Zenith is a subsidiary of LG) to demonstrate that the box converts HD signals and multicast signals as well.

A key question: Does the prototype use the 5th-generation LG chip?

LG receivers employing that chip have been said to reduce the over-the-air reception problems that have caused lingering doubts about the digital TV standard chosen for the U.S. (”These are the first 8-VSB receivers THAT EVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOLD,” according to a comment from Bob Miller in an HDTV forum. 8-VSB is the demodulation standard used by ATSC, the U.S. digital TV format. Miller, of Viacel Corp., is a vocal critic of 8-VSB whose comments regularly draw fire in internet forums.)

The last I heard, LG was using the 5th-generation chip in some of its integrated HDTVs but had no plans to use it in its own set-top boxes. The chip has been used in other manufacturers’ receivers, reportedly with mixed results. (I have twice approached LG about their chip technology plans, but they have provided no information.)

If Congress backs Sen. McCain’s call to turn off analog TV by 2007, they had better be sure that reasonably priced set-top boxes are available to consumers, and that they enable most viewers to get reception using indoor antennas.

• Links: PFF Blog; Broadcasting & Cable (subscription); hdtv.forsandiego.com