Analog TV Question

[darkshadow0001]

I realize some may ask why I'm asking about Analog TV in a digital age, but I have a question for those who still have Analog TV that isn't with Comcast.

My question is, are any of you losing any analog television soon with your cable or dish provider? I mean those still watching analog tv with non-HD TV's. I still have a TV I watch that's a tube TV and I have Comcast cable, and because of their XFinity upgrade, I'm going to lost 99% of my analog stations. Now if I have an HD TV I will still have all the channels, but with this one TV I have I don't. My question is, is this just a Comcast thing or is it going to happen with all providers?

My dad said it was a government thing and not a Comcast issue, but a friend of mine says he's not aware of any other cable providers doing this.

I plan on replacing this TV soon, but I just didn't know if it was just Comcast doing this or what.

Thanks

 

[Squiggy]

There haven't been any analog television stations in the US for well over a year now.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Broadcast television is not the same as cable or satellite. All broadcast TV--meaning the over-the-air signals you can pick up with an antenna--was switched over to digital last year.

Satellite has been digital for quite a long time, possibly since its inception. I'm not sure, but I've never seen an analog satellite setup.

Cable TV has been migrating toward digital--which requires either a set-top box or a TV that supports digital cable cards--for years now. I do remember hearing that Comcast wants to phase out the analog signals entirely and make everyone go digital, but that's a business decision, not a government mandate.

 

[Guartho]

Satellite has been digital for quite a long time, possibly since its inception. I'm not sure, but I've never seen an analog satellite setup.

We had an analog satellite dish in the late 80s. Dad got it right before they started scrambling the signal. There weren't satellite "networks" like Dish and DirectTV back then. You just pointed the thing at the right coordinates and dialed in the right transponder.

Then Satellites came back in a huge way with DSS (which I think later beame DirectTV) and DishNetwork subscriber networks.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Satellite has been digital for quite a long time, possibly since its inception. I'm not sure, but I've never seen an analog satellite setup.

We had an analog satellite dish in the late 80s. Dad got it right before they started scrambling the signal. There weren't satellite "networks" like Dish and DirectTV back then. You just pointed the thing at the right coordinates and dialed in the right transponder.

Then Satellites came back in a huge way with DSS (which I think later beame DirectTV) and DishNetwork subscriber networks.

Ah, you're right. I forgot about that. My grandparents had one of those old unscrambled dishes, and eventually they couldn't pick up anything on it. I guess that was satellite's "digital transition."

 

[Guartho]

For about a week there (probably more like a couple of months) I had Nickelodeon in my house... in my fucking house! It was a pretty big deal to a kid who previously (and subsequently) only got to see "You Can't Do That on Television" at grandma's house when grandma wasn't paying attention to what he was watching.

Later, when the rest of the family had pretty much forgotten why there was a 6 foot dish in the side yard, I discovered the joys of scrambled porn. Dial-up internet was a debauched gift from Satan himself when it came along.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Dial-up porn... that's how I remember the mid-late '90s.

 

[bigdaddy]

I have a tube TV and Charter and nothing is going away for me, but I really have no clue what you are talknig about.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

cable TV

are any of you losing any analog television soon with your cable or dish provider? I mean those still watching analog tv with non-HD TV's. I still have a TV I watch that's a tube TV and I have Comcast cable, and because of their XFinity upgrade, I'm going to lost 99% of my analog stations.

What darkshadow0001 is talking about is cable companies have had analog cable TV service and digital cable TV service. They want to get rid of analog TV service entirely as it is bandwidth hogging when they need to add more HD channels as well as Internet and HD Video-on-demand services on that limited bandwidth pipe.
By introducing newer services they can make a case for their needing to end or turn off analog TV channel services via their cable into your home.
Go and exchange your analog cable box for a digital cable box. They will try to upsell you to rent a digital cable box with a DVR in it. If you don't wish to timeshift your viewing don't accept this and don't pay the extra rental fee.
If you get a new digital cable box from Comcast you can use the composite video output to hook up to your analog television.

 

[sojourner]

Re: cable TV

Brighthouse in Orlando is slowly dropping the analog signals. Every time I visit my parents it seems they've lost a channel or 2. It's gonna really suck visiting them if they decide to just drop cable instead of upgrading to digital.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Dial-up porn... that's how I remember the mid-late '90s.

Ahh yes, those halcyon days. I remember those days .... with wonder.

 

[UssGlenn]

time warner cable seems to slowly be doing this too.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I saw "Analog TV" and I imagined a world where Analog has their own cable channel. For one brief, shining moment, I was very happy indeed.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think Cox has dropped analog in my area. If not yet, they will soon.

 

[Squiggy]

Dial-up porn... that's how I remember the mid-late '90s.

Ahh yes, those halcyon days. I remember those days .... with wonder.

Oh, Captain Janeway. Lace: The Final Brassiere.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: cable TV

are any of you losing any analog television soon with your cable or dish provider? I mean those still watching analog tv with non-HD TV's. I still have a TV I watch that's a tube TV and I have Comcast cable, and because of their XFinity upgrade, I'm going to lost 99% of my analog stations.

What darkshadow0001 is talking about is cable companies have had analog cable TV service and digital cable TV service. They want to get rid of analog TV service entirely as it is bandwidth hogging when they need to add more HD channels as well as Internet and HD Video-on-demand services on that limited bandwidth pipe.
By introducing newer services they can make a case for their needing to end or turn off analog TV channel services via their cable into your home.
Go and exchange your analog cable box for a digital cable box. They will try to upsell you to rent a digital cable box with a DVR in it. If you don't wish to timeshift your viewing don't accept this and don't pay the extra rental fee.
If you get a new digital cable box from Comcast you can use the composite video output to hook up to your analog television.

Yeah, just because Comcast is getting rid of analog doesn't mean you can't watch TV. You just have to trade in your existing cable box. It'll work just fine.

 

[RobertVA]

Some people haven't been using cable boxes though. For a couple of decades people could buy analog cable ready TVs that could pick up all but premium channels like HBO, Cinemax and Showtime. On most systems you could run multiple TVs without converter boxes, or the monthly per box rental fee.

Now those analog TVs can't receive any of the new digital cable channels without a converter. The more TVs in the household the more converters you will need. IF you buy a late model TV with digital cable ready features you may only be able to receive channels included with the cable systems most basic programing tier. In addition to a monthly rental fee that goes up with each additional converter, your cable provider may demand a monthly bonus for the second "digital outlet".

Even where there are some remaining analog channels the providers are gradually shifting channels to digital exclusive status a few channels at a time.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Some people haven't been using cable boxes though. For a couple of decades people could buy analog cable ready TVs that could pick up all but premium channels like HBO, Cinemax and Showtime. On most systems you could run multiple TVs without converter boxes, or the monthly per box rental fee.

Now those analog TVs can't receive any of the new digital cable channels without a converter. The more TVs in the household the more converters you will need. IF you buy a late model TV with digital cable ready features you may only be able to receive channels included with the cable systems most basic programing tier. In addition to a monthly rental fee that goes up with each additional converter, your cable provider may demand a monthly bonus for the second "digital outlet".

Even where there are some remaining analog channels the providers are gradually shifting channels to digital exclusive status a few channels at a time.

I understand the need for progress, but I think backwords compatibility with analog should still be allowed. What really sucks is that I can't even record with my VCR anymore (yeah I know it's old-school but since analog TV still worked until now I just decided not to upgrade). Now I'll probably have to find a DVD recorder or a TiVO to record. Or just wait until things come out on DVD and get them via Netflix

Anyone know of a way where you can hook up DTV to television and VCR where you could watch & record at the same time? (different channels). If not, then it looks like I'll have to upgrade things slowly...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ If I understand your setup correctly, you will have a Comcast cable box, is that right? If Comcast no longer has analog cable, then you won't be able to pick up anything without that cable box. So using a splitter would be out of the question - unless you had two cable boxes. I think you may be out of options here.

Unless you're willing to rent a DVR from your cable company, which BTW I would highly recommend...

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, a DVR would be much better. If you get a combined cable box/DVR it's actually a dual tuner: one of the tuners is reserved by the DVR to record a different channel from the one you're watching. But at a minimum you need two tuners in order to record one channel while watching another.