Thursday, April 24, 2008

How Many TV Sets in your Condo?

I am trying to find out how many TV sets are in the Village.
Please answer- How many TV sets do you have in your Condo?

How many are HD sets?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Larry. Three sets, one is HD. Peter

capt john said...

SAME AS ABOVE --- (why the survey?)

UCO President said...

Hi All,
This is about TV Digital Transition, which is scheduled for early 2009.

As Cable Committee Chair, Larry needs to know the potential exposure regarding how many Cable Boxes may be needed in CV.

The Following question should be added to the Survey; How many Cable Boxes do you have?

This Survey should be placed in the UCO Reporter.

Dave

Topper said...

Hi Larry,
4 tv sets, no boxes, no HD.
Big job, good luck!
chris

Ken said...

4 sets including
1 HD
1 cable box

Mike said...

2 tvs, no hd, no boxes. mike

elaineb said...

Chris and Ken live in sports bars!

Me 2 tvs, no hd, no boxes.

Larry you would get a better sample going door to door or catching people at the clubhouse or usings UCOReporter.

LARRY KALL said...

Dave,
At this point I am only trying to gather numbers on how many TV sets in a unit. My guess it will be an average of 2. ( Some people have as many as 4).Right now the number of cable boxes is another matter that I may take up later.

HD sets do require a set top box but it is a SPECIAL set top box.

Past experience has shown me that most people will not respond to a survey in the Reporter that requires them to bring the information to the UCO office unless we give them a free sandwich as a reward.

The Nutmegger said...

Larry:

I have 4 TV sets and one is
HD. Last week I did receive the 2 kits if I
need them.

LARRY KALL said...

Nutmegger,

If the sets you received are the ones the government is pushing they MIGHT be useless. They are designed to convert OVER THE AIR stations (received with an antenna) from a digital signal back to an analog signal. If you get any just put them aside until the matter become clearer. Comcast MAY be able to adapt them to their cable signal but if they do there will probably be a monthly charge for the service like there is a monthly charge for the use of a set top box.

capt john said...

LARRY: As I posted above: 3 and 1 HD with 1 comcast box.

BIG JOB, my friend, THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!

Anonymous said...

One set, no HD.Len

Flynn said...

According to the site dtv2009.gov:

"A TV connected to cable, satellite or other pay TV service does not require a TV converter box from this program."

Do we believe this? I don't know. What's your opinion?

UCO President said...

Hi Flynn,
This is a Technical matter that perhaps I might shed some light on;

The statement you quote is true for any Cable Subscriber who has a Cable company Set Top Box (STB) or who has a Cable Ready TV.

If you have a cable ready TV you already know that you can receive all of the channels in the CV Enhanced TV package, without a STB.

If you do not have either A STB or a Cable Ready TV; you are capable of tuning about 13, 20 or perhaps 45 channels and you have a very old or very cheap set.

Digital Transition, currently scheduled to occur on Feb. 17, 2009, affects broadcast over the air TV in two ways; there will be a change in Broadcast Frequencies and Modulation of the TV signal, from mixed AM-FM to Digital technology.

Those interested in a detailed explanation of these two issues just ask, but rig for heavy Technical weather.

The Government sponsored Converter Box is designed to receive a RF (Radio Frequency) Broadcast signal and Down-convert the frequency and Demodulate the signal to something your Analog TV can recognize and display.

Additionally, for those who have battery powered emergency, backup Analogue TV sets; As Larry Kall has observed, how will you power the Converter box; worse yet, Broadcast Digital signals are extremely sensitive to signal strength degradation with distance and unless you have a large directional antenna on your roof you will experience pixillation, or breakup of the image.

Indoor rabbit ears will not be satisfactory, unless you are very close to the Transmitter.

So, if you have a Cable Ready set or a COMCAST STB; relax; you are ready for Digital Transition, COMCAST will do all the necessary conversion for you.

Dave

LARRY KALL said...

Dave, You are correct that no matter how Comcast decides to handle the conversion (and there is much confusion as of now) ANYONE with a COMCAST set top box will have no problem.

I also understand that in some markets in the US a set top box from the cable company is a must even if you have a digital TV cable ready set. That is the way they control the programs they want you to have and scramble the rest.

UCO President said...

Hi Larry,
Yes, you are correct; I am making an assumption "not in evidence" that our contract will be renewed with substantially the same package of channels.

Can you comment on this assumption, or is it to early?

Dave

Flynn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Flynn said...

If we put an antenna on the roof of our building, would it be possible to have all the apartments use the same antenna? How about a single dish inside a porch? Would that work?

Is the only answer buy the box and have our cable company completely control whatever they want to give us? Suppose the cableco is Republican and the TV owner is a Democrat, will the cableco control what we see? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

UCO President said...

Hi Flynn,
When you say "an antenna on the roof" There are a number of options; EG. HF/VHF/UHF multi-element yaggi or Satellite dish antenna. (Never forget, there are other sources of TV content besides COMCAST)

Other sources include your legacy copper wire Telephone network and the INTERNET.

In any case, a single antenna, with the addition of signal boosters, may indeed feed multiple units in your building.

In a normal scenario, the Cable provider is required to provide the local Broadcast channels; whatever else you view, be it Democratic or Republican is delivered in various Tiers and depends on what you are willing to subscribe to and pay for.

Dave

LARRY KALL said...

Before the village had cable each building had a master antenna on the roof.The stations available were very limited and there were lots of water problems associated with the antenna mounts.

For Dave-Our present contract with Comcast expires 12/31/2010. Its a little early in the game to consider extending the contract at this time.Would Comcast be willing to extend? Yes. Are we ready to extend? A lot will depends on how the digital conversion gets handled by both Comcast and us at Century Village. If we go with set top boxes we would want to protect the reduced price for some extended period. Is this what our residents want ? I do not know at this time.

We will however have to reach some conclusion within a few months as the new UCO budget for 2009 would have to reflect contract terms and conditions and a budget seminar has already been scheduled for September 2008.

I understand that some of the executives at Comcast are Independent, Some Republican and some Democrats. All are in the business of making money for Comcast.