DIGITAL TV TRANSITION: Get ready for 2009

‘HDTV Converter’ Scams: What to watch out for.

DTV Converter Boxes: Should you get one for your old TV?

DTV Converter Box alternatives: You don’t have to wait.

THE LATEST

Digital TV Reception

LG touts reception gains from 6th-generation chip

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

Digital TV viewers can expect improved over-the-air (OTA) reception from products that use LG’s new sixth-generation digital TV chipset, according to Choon Lee, who heads the DTV research lab at LG Electronics.

The enhanced technology has eliminated the multipath interference common in urban areas, Lee said. (That’s a big claim, and I sure hope we can believe him.) Improvements in synchronization and equalization should also make antenna positioning easier, according to the television manufacturer.

The ability of OTA viewers to easily obtain digital TV reception is one of the keys to a successful transition in 2009, when analog broadcasts will stop.

Will the $60 set-top converter boxes from LG or its Zenith subsidiary, scheduled to arrive next year, include the sixth-generation chip? The most recent answer to that question had been no—the box would instead use the fifth-gen LG chipset. But now I’m not so sure.

Here’s what their sixth-gen press release says:

Digital-to-analog converter boxes planned for introduction next year (for analog TVs to continue to receive free, over-the-air broadcasts after Feb. 17, 2009, when all U.S. broadcasting is digital) also will benefit from the low-cost, high-performance chipset.

Now, LG also notes that it will supply its chipset to other manufacturers. But nowhere do they explicitly say they will include the sixth-generation technology in their converter box. The company’s wording, I suspect, may be intentionally vague.

• Link: press release

Digital TV law faces court challenge

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

Will A-VSB starve HDTV?

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007

Samsung to demo A-VSB mobile TV at CES

Saturday, January 6th, 2007

Digital TV reception much improved, experts say

Saturday, December 30th, 2006

Local channels on mobile TV: Test shows promise

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

Digital TV broadcasts ‘don’t work’

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

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Monday, May 8th, 2006

Digital TV converter boxes due later this year

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

LG set-top prototype uses 5th-generation chip; decent reception on Capitol Hill

Monday, September 19th, 2005

Will new chips improve digital TV reception?

Wednesday, August 17th, 2005

Digital TV reception endangers free TV, broadcaster charges

Monday, August 8th, 2005