The number 1 HDTV myth
By Matt Burns 
posted Nov 21st 2005 5:53PM
posted Nov 21st 2005 5:53PM
The number one thing
These will help you making an educated decision. But there is one more thing that needs to be killed.
The number 1 HDTV myth: All TV will be high-def in 2006.
[Explanation after jump]
There is no law anywhere that states that all TV stations will be high-def in 2006. It is not going to happen. The 2006 law that many retailers and consumers refer to states that broadcast stations (over-the-air) have to have the ability to transmit an ATSC (digital) signal. That does not mean that they are going to "stop" broadcasting the NTSC (analog) signals. Just because it is digital does not mean it is high definition; high definition is just one of the 18 digital standards that broadcasters can choose from.
Many of you are already aware that there are few non-network HD stations out there. Do you think that magically all the stations in 2006 will be suddenly be HD? One of the biggest bottlenecks for HD is available bandwidth. Satellite is making the move to MPEG-4 just to free up room on their data stream. There has been discussion at AVS Forum on how long till every station turns to high-def and the general consensus is a very long time.
It would be nice if every station would be HD, but we have to be somewhat patient. It is expensive for everyone involved with the transition to digital. So one more time because I want you to get this in your head before you go talk to a salesman.
There is no law, or magical date, when every station is going to broadcast in high definition.
I think your #1 myth is a bit inaccurate, or at least a bit deceptive. While the government is not forcing all OTA channels to be HD within a certain timeframe, they absolutely DO have a deadline to move to the digital frequencies -- and they absolutely WILL cut off OTA analog signals by that deadline. The government wants that frequency spectrum badly - hence the governments deadlines and drop dead dates. While there is no guarantee that OTA will be in high-def on those dates, they will be transmitting a digital signal at a frequency that current analog TVs will not be able to receive.