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Free TV Will Have 4K Content in a Couple Years

posted by martyb on Monday May 29 2017, @03:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the Looks-Better==Is-Better? dept.

mcgrew writes:

Consumer Reports is running an article titled Free Over-the-Air TV Is Going to Get Better. They're rolling out a new standard, ATSC 3.0.

According to the article, you'll be able to watch OTA (over the air) TV on your phone or tablet! I wrote an article a few years back wondering why you couldn't already.

It's a fairly long and very informative article, but very much worth a read. It only talks about American broadcasts, no word about when or if it will reach other countries, but my guess is it won't be long.

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  • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Monday May 29 2017, @04:33PM (3 children)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 29 2017, @04:33PM (#517206)

    According to the article, you'll be able to watch OTA (over the air) TV on your phone or tablet!

    If, and it's a big IF the device makers put the chips in them. I wouldn't hold your breath.

    Also all that 4K OTA goodness is going to require either a new converter box or a new TV since nothing shipping today contains an ATSC 3.0 tuner.

    But at least there is some good news: ATSC 3.0 will allow for subscription OTA channels (if the stations can bribe...er...lobby hard enough for them) and it can show targeted advertising too!

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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday May 30 2017, @02:20AM (2 children)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Tuesday May 30 2017, @02:20AM (#517421) Homepage Journal

    Also all that 4K OTA goodness is going to require either a new converter box or a new TV

    You may be able to simply update software, especially on a "smart" TV. Digital, unlike analog, doesn't always require rewiring.

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 30 2017, @01:37PM

      by VLM (445) on Tuesday May 30 2017, @01:37PM (#517620)

      You may be able to simply update software, especially on a "smart" TV.

      I'm not aware of that being a thing. Its like Android phones, the software development stops permanently before the first retail unit is shipped. It is technically possible, yes.

      Its quite possible if things are optimized enough the hardware isn't going to have the oompf to handle it. There is no software way to make a 1st edition / model roku settop box handle 4K although the newer ones do.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @02:13PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30 2017, @02:13PM (#517641)

      Hardware-accelerated decoding says "probably not". If your smart TV has enough CPU to decode h.265 in software, somebody done goofed -- they could save a whole dollar going with a cheaper SoC.

      If your smart TV is new enough, there's a chance it may have hardware support to decode h.265, and then all you have to do is hope the manufacturer deigns to push a software update rather than simply changing it for next year's models and hoping you'll buy that.