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End of analog broadcasting in Japan -
07-24-2011, 07:00 AM
Today japanese engineers marked another milestone in broadcasting technologies. All analog radio and TV broadcasting has been shut down across Japan. They switched to fully digital signal broadcasting.
source : On July 24, 2011, Japan will shut down analog broadcasting. The Japan Times describes Japan's digital transition in the article The countdown: six months and a day till TV goes digital by Mark Schreiber. Even though Japan is using a different terrestrial DTV system--ISDB-T based on COFDM—as compared to the U.S. single carrier 8-VSB system, the article flags concerns that will sound familiar to broadcasters after the analog shutdown in this country. It notes the media is reminding the Japanese "that people residing in remote islands and mountainous areas with poor reception--no one is exactly sure how many--will be left without any TV. Likewise for some homes whose reception may be blocked by adjacent taller structures." An estimated 3.7 million television sets in hotels, hospitals and rest homes will require replacement. The article said the nationwide replacement status to date for hotels and inns "may still be as low as 30 percent." There is also concern about the impact on the environment from disposing of all the old analog sets. "With many municipalities unable to deal with the sheer volume, concerns have been voiced that illegal dumping of discarded sets may reach into the hundreds of thousands, wreaking further damage to the environment." The article's final note will also strike a resonance with U.S. broadcasters: "For all the sound and fury, pundits have pointed out that both television and radio as we know it may already be technologically obsolete." The writer cites "increasingly sophisticated technologies" such as pay-per-view, satellite TV, the Internet and high-speed mobile communications all as diminishing conventional television's audience. It concludes with the statement that digital broadcasting "may barely survive into its teens." Article 
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07-24-2011, 07:23 AM
for us it has been 2 years already. i think only one channel (some national news kind which no one watches) is left which still is broadcasting in analog.
we had a big scandal because of this. turns out the equipment needed was already bought in 2006 by some company which had made some bribes to hold some exclusive rights to digital tv. they were punished and the confiscated equipment was still re-sold so it was a lot cheaper for everyone 
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digital broadcasting -
07-24-2011, 07:33 AM
Quote:
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goin' digit(all) ! :) -
07-24-2011, 10:10 AM
additional info :
Analog TV broadcasting comes to an end in Japan after 58 years National Jul. 24, 2011 - 04:10PM JST ( 58 ) TOKYO — Analog TV broadcasting in Japan ended after 58 years on Sunday, except in the three quake and tsunami-hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, where the changeover to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting has been delayed until the end of March 2012. Although there has been a rush to buy digital TVs at electric appliance stores in June and this month, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry says that as many as 700,000 households nationwide have not yet procured digital TVs or tuners and antennas. The ministry has set up ‘‘digital support centers’’ to answer answer questions on what type of tuners are necessary and how to operate remote controllers for digital-capable TVs. Officials said they have been getting a lot of calls from elderly people. At midnight, analog TV screens will go blank. Currently, there is a notice informing viewers where to make inquiries. The ministry is operating a 24-hour telephone hotline at 0570-07-0101 to handle all inquiries. The changeover from analog to digital TV was first announced in December 2003. Since then, some 80 million TV sets have been rendered obsolete, according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association estimates. Source (and some interesting comments from japanese residents below mentioned article) 
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07-24-2011, 12:18 PM
Quote:
 This has been planned for at least 5 years. When we bought our current television 5 years ago, they were already doing a countdown. I am pretty sure they extended it once also. If you applied, you were able to get the money back that you spent on a tuner - but even without filling out a form, you can pick up a cheap tuner for less than 5000yen (I spotted them on sale for 2000yen last week...). It isn`t necessary to change the antenna, so that is all you need to spend. As for the hotels - all they need to do is get a splitter unit for about 8000yen, hook it to the tuner, and it can be run to all the rooms. The quality difference between analog and digital is so incredibly clear I find it hard to imagine someone not wanting the improvement... As Japan doesn`t do cable in the way that the US does, I think it`s very hard to make a comparison of media consumption. Most people in Japan DO watch broadcast television. Other viewing services are very much a niche market.
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digital age -
07-24-2011, 01:53 PM
Quote:
I found in the Net a depiction of a combined BS/terrestrial digital tuner : HVT-BT200 produced by I-O Data In my region authorities started experimental terrestrial broadcasting of digital TV signal about 3 months ago. And quality of picture ( I have a television set with built-in terrestrial digital tuner) is still much worse than I can get from my digital satellite TV set-top box ...
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End of analog age in Japan -
07-25-2011, 01:32 AM
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