As you probably know, the US passed a law that any HD tv cards purchased after a certain date must support a technology know as broadcast flag.
They say the HDTV format will not change, only that the recorders must accept this flag and block us from getting to the digital signal. Furthermore, the MPPA said that we are welcome to buy HDTV recorders before the date and we could do just about anything we wanted with the signal. I was thinking of buying one of these things now if.
Normal broadcast TV uses the same system as the states (System M, NTSC). Is Digital TV the same? If not, please compare. I love a good technical read.
Are these Digital TV boxes on sale now in Taiwan even capable of receiving HD-TV?
Digital broadcast TV in Taiwan uses DVB-T. US uses ATSC. Completely different standards. Not sure what they broadcast here, but you can buy receivers at most electronics stores.
you’ll need to wait to Jim (SatelliteTV) to see this for a definitive answer, but from what he’s told me there is no HDTV available in Taiwan either terrestrial or otherwise other than a handful of feeds from Japanese channels via satellite…
The way Jim explained it to me true HDTV is like iMAX… since like iMAX if it wasn’t shot/recorded in HDTV format, you obviously can’t watch it in HDTV format…
Digital Terrestrial TV is TV that is broadcast by short range RF towers placed around the country, just the same as normal television. So you have no hope of picking up a US signal from Taiwan, so you can forget about whatever laws the US passes, they don’t aplly here anyway.
For Taiwan you will not be getting any English programming on DT. Currently there are a few programs only on DT. Some people up here in the mountains have it as they cannot get cable tv.
Secondly to get HDTV the programming must be filmed in HDTV. That is not happening at this time due to the expense and also because there are not enough HDTV’s installed. Still in it’s infancy.
Cable TV is anologue, sometimes with mono and sometimes with stereo.
Satellite TV is digital and has been for many years. Most providers broadcast stereo although some are now moving towards surround sound for movies and sports.
For English programing you need to remember that it’s called ethnic TV. Thats because you make up a very small percentage of the population in a non English speaking country. Your an ethnic person now so get used to it. Taiwanese in the US can get TVBS and other Taiwan programs thru ethnic satellite TV broadcasts.
Could you imagine US cable showing 30 channels in Chinese to satisfy a few Chinese speaking people? I thought not…
Cable costs are regulated in Taiwan which means the operaters cannot raise fees to pay for the programming you would like to see. That’s why Taiwans cable is so far behind in their TV series shows… they can only afford to buy older reruns.
There is also digital cable … it’s pretty limited though at the moment (about 20 channels, most of which are available over analogue too). BBC World is about the only use I have for it.
There is also digital cable … it’s pretty limited though at the moment (about 20 channels, most of which are available over analogue too). BBC World is about the only use I have for it.[/quote]
You must be one of the few who can access it. But then again most TV’s are also analogue. Same for some plasma’s and lcd’s.
Still not a lot of up to date English programming which is the main concern for most here.