[RTC List] Suddenlink Offer

[David C. Thewlis]

William,

The local stations have been broadcasting digital signals for a while 
now - they are running out of time to convert from analog.  But my 
understanding was that while they are broadcasting digital signals (and 
will be turning the analog off as mandated by the FCC either next year 
or 2009 - can't remember which - nobody local is yet broadcasting actual 
hi-def HDTV esp. with 16:9 aspect ratio, as opposed to simply digital 
signals.  If they were, Suddenlink would be able to broadcast those as 
local HD, which they aren't doing.  I do not know whether Suddenlink, 
when it carries the local station, is picking up the digigal broadcast 
or the analog, although I would presume they would prefer the digital if 
available. 


William Van Hefner wrote:
> Rollin,
>
> I'm not sure where you are getting your information from, but most of the
> local stations have been broadcasting in HD for quite some time now. The
> ones I can think of offhand who already broadcast in HD are KVIQ, KIEM,
> KEET (they have TWO HDTV video channels) KAEF and Fox-29. None of them
> seem to have especially strong signals in Eureka, but I can pick up all of
> them with an outdoor over-the-air UHF antenna. I have seen KEET and KVIQ's
> HDTV signal go off the air for days at a time, but it always comes back up
> eventually. Except for KEET, most of the local broadcasters seem to just
> be piping a low-definition rebroadcast of their analog signal on their
> HDTV simulcast. KEET's video is incredible though. Their native HDTV
> programming looks 1,000x better than their analog signal on channel 13.
>
> As far as "it's only voip", it depends entirely on what method Suddenlink
> is using to deliver the service. They could go the cheap route and simply
> slap a Vonage-type ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) on your network, in
> which case your service would be no different than if you bought it from
> any one of 1,000+ other VoIP providers. However, if Suddenlink is using
> its fiber capacity to carry their telephone service on a private network,
> the quality should be equal to, or even better than, the quality you would
> get from AT&T. Just because they are using fiberoptic technology to
> deliver the service does not mean that it is internet based. Most cable
> telephone systems are not. Obviously, you wouldn't have service if the
> internet went down, but then again, with AT&T's track record as of late, I
> can't imagine that the service could be that much more unreliable. AT&T
> has had more outages in the past 12 months than they had in the previous
> 40+ years combined.
>
> Also, most long distance carriers are routing their calls via VoIP and
> using the public internet these days as well. So, unless you are making a
> call that is served by the same central office (not leaving town) the
> service most likely would not be any less reliable or sound any worse
> anyway.
>
>
>   


-- 
*Dave Thewlis, DCTA Inc.*
+1 707 840 9391 (voice) · +1 707 498 2238 (mobile)
http://www.dcta.com · dthewlis at dcta.com <mailto:dthewlis at dcta.com>
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