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Originally Posted by be236
ok, maybe I got confused.. I just thought HD and digital came "together as a package." heh... |
HD is the resolution. Digital vs analog are just how they get the signal to you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by be236
In my area many of my local TV stations keep advertising they are broadcasting in HD...
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I'm pretty sure that the government mandate was for the stations to go digital, mainly to conserve bandwidth. The stations are using this as a way to switch to HD, which they couldn't do otherwise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by be236
Is it possible to broadcast in HD with analog signal?
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Yes, but it would take more bandwidth, which they don't have. Right now, the "channels" allocated to TV stations are about 6 MHz wide, and that is just enough to fit a SD signal into. In order to transmit HD in analog, the channels would have to be much wider. However, with digital, they can squeeze a HD channel and a couple SD channels into the same bandwidth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by be236
I am guessing that a broadcast will just broadcast in HD and digital.. in either case (HD or digital), my old TV of the late 1990s wont pick it up.  |
Well the idea was supposed to be to force stations to switch to digital, but still allow people to use their old TVs via the purchase of a set top digital tuner. Like right now, I have an OTA digital tuner in my computer, and I can send the signal to my old SD TV. I can watch both the HD and SD channels on my TV, however the HD picture has the 16x9 aspect ratio squeezed into my 4x3 (or whatever it is) SD TV, so all the people look tall and skinny. I've gotten used to it for the most part, except that watching NFL football looks weird, as you don't expect to see skinny linemen.