When will cable TV go to HD only signal?

Question

I heard that soon all cable tv setups will have to have hd convertors on them, when will this happen, will all the channels actually be broadcast in hd?.

Answer 1

Broadcast TV stations in the USA must switch off their analog signal on February 17, 2009. That has no effect on cable or satellite. They will continue to deliver as they are now. Direct to home satellite has always been digital. Cable is moving to digital, the cable box will take care of it. Some TV's have a QAM tuner that can be used to receive non-encrypted cable signals.

HD is always digital but digital is not always HD. There is also SD, standard definition. None of them, cable, satellite, or broadcast will be HD only. But they will all eventually be digital only.

Answer 2

it only matters if you are currently recieving your television signal from the air, like with rabbit ears. If you have digital cable or even regular cable nothing will change for you.

Answer 3

There is a difference between digital and HD.  HD is high definition (wide screen with higher resolution).  Not all digital TV is HD.

We are transitioning to digital TV in stages.  Over the air TV is changing in February 2009.  Cable and Satellite systems, being privately owned, will change to keep up with the market conditions.  They are supposed to support analog TV until 2012, however they are changing to all digital delivery now.  If a subscriber wants to buy a digital cable package, many times the cable company will supply a digital box.

HD programming is increasing, however it is only a small percentage of all the programming available.  Over The Air TV stations, the major networks and program producers are making new shows in HD, but there will still be a lot of the old style non-HD programming around for quite awhile.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

I think you're a little confused my friend. It's not hd converters that is being discussed, rather anolog to digital converters. Digital and High Definition ARE NOT THE SAME THING. While High definition is a digital signal, not all digital signals are high definition. Like Cold said, the digital conversion only affects you if you use OTA (Over the air, free channels comming in without having to subscribe to cable/satellite) signals with an antenna, like bunny ears. At that point you would need a DIGITAL converter. This has nothing to do with an HD conversion, so no, Every channel will not be broadcasted in HD.

Answer 5

They won't broadcast in HD just in a digital signal. This is happening in early February 2009.