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Say No > Australia - Don't turn off Analogue TV - Digital TV flawed

Introduction

In early 2008, the Government of Australia announced a $37.9 million dollar plan to get us to all switch off our analogue TV sets by the end of 2013 and move to 100% digital reception. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the move is not dissimilar to when Australia switched to decimal currency. However, unlike the currency change, not everyone is 'switching on' to digital TV (DTV) - and for good reason.

A 'DigitalReady' programme is bring run by the government to coerce people to switch to DTV. The so-called switchover will cause all analogue transmitters to be progressively shut down over the period 2010 through 2013.

Disadvantages of Digital Television (DTV)

For most existing antenna installations, reception will be good for both analogue and digital broadcasts. However, there is one major flaw with digital - once the signal quality drops below a certain level, a picture is no longer possible. On an analogue set, a (somewhat) snowy picture with acceptable sound would be attainable, but nothing would be viewable on a digital set - the signal quality requirements are simply too high. It's either a good picture or nothing with DTV.

DTV is also extremely susceptible to interference. Even simple things such as arcing caused by turning a light switch on or off (or opening a fridge door) can cause the digital picture to tear up and pixellate, and the sound to be cut off (muted) from one to a several seconds whilst the tuner regains sync. Such interference would cause almost unnoticeable effects on an analogue set, where the picture might flicker briefly for less than one 10^th of a second. But on a digital set, a continous uncorrupted MPEG data stream is required to maintain a good, smooth picture.

Portable sets unusable

Many small, handheld and portable sets still exist. All of them would end up in landfill when analogue is turned off, as a 'set-top-box' solution would not be feasible in most cases. Moreover, even if small receivers were able to receive the digital signal (either built-in or via a set top box), a good antenna would still be needed. The built-in extendable whip antenna would be highly inadequete for digital reception. Usually an outdoor roof-mounted antenna is required for acceptable digital reception. In effect, the move to digital TV and switchin off analogue transmissions is reducing the reach of TV.

Mass E-Waste Imminent, Greenhouse gases and hazardous waste

People forced to dump perfectly functioning equipment

When analogue transmissions are finally shut down, consumers will be forced to upgrade their TV sets. There will be a massive amount of e-waste (electronic waste) generated as perfectly functioning analogue TV sets are rendered useless and thrown out. Some people will also need to upgrade their antenna, which again contributes to unecessary waste.

At present, many city councils dispose of hard waste by transporting it in compactor trucks, which crush and break items. The lead and other hazardous items in a CRT TV set are harmless until the glass CRT is broken or smashed. The resultant crushed waste is put in landfill rather than recycled properly. Until the government introduces a national e-waste recycling scheme, analogue TV should NOT be switched off, and viewers must not be coaxed into purchasing new DTVs.

There are numerous portable and handheld TV sets in use thoughout Australia. A minority of personal computer users also have an analogue TV tuner card installed in their computer to recieve TV broadcasts. By turning off analogue broadcasts, all those devices will also be rendered useless, and end up on the e-Waste scrap heap.

Newer DTVs (large LCD and plasma panels) produce more CO₂

Moreover, consumers are tending to purchase large screen plasma display panels, which consume several times more power than their CRT counterparts. A typical 50 inch plasma panel can consume around 500 watts, compared to only 150 or 200 watts for a CRT TV. The move to digital TV is fuelling the uptake of higher energy consumption appliances as consumers look to attaining the best possible TV viewing experience. Not to mention the amount of carbon that gets produced at the factory to manufacture the plasma TV. The unecessary transition to digital TV is contributing to higher greenhouse gas (CO₂) production.

Those who do not want to buy a new TV to replace their perfectly functioning analogue set will be forced to buy a set-top-box to continue viewing. The set top box consumes extra electricity, again leading to higher carbon emissions.

Whichever way you look at it, digital TV will for all intents and purposes will accelerate global warming.

Austext - Shutdown also caused anger and dismay

A saga was caused when Channel Seven decided to shut down Austext, the Australian teletext service. They cited so-called 'equipment upgrade costs' that would be uneconomical - in fact, there was no need to upgrade the teletext service, and they could have continued to operate the current equipment, owing to the number of existing TV sets that have teletext functionality. A similar uproar is expected when analogue TV is shut down.

Message to the Australian Government

So to the Governments of Australia - don't switch off analogue TV! Leave it running - analogue TV transmissions are good! Not that digital TV is bad, in fact, it is complimentary to analogue boradcasts.

Turning off analogue TV will disadvantage and inconvenience many people, especially econmically disadvantaged or elderly persons. It is also a scam. A scam to force people to buy into Digital TVs and set top boxes. A scam to make perfectly functioning equipment obsolete, and a scam to damage the environment. It gives consumers an excuse to upgrade to power-hungry big-screen TVs without them realising the impact on the environment when they dump their old TVs.

You have a huge role to play when it comes to carbon emissions. So do the right thing - don't turn off analogue TV, and don't force consumers into buying expensive, carbon producing digital TVs. Otherwise, you are simply being irresponsible, and also doing a disservice for TV viewers. Digital TV is rubbish, and DTV causes unnecessary rubbish too.

For viewers
For those of you who want to do something about this, send a message to the ACMA. Maybe start a petition against shutting down analogue TV.

Go to the DigitalReady website and tell them you do not want DTV to kill analogue TV.

Do it soon - for sometime between 2010 and 1013, analogue transmissions may be ceased if nothing is done about this government scam.

Update: First switchoff occurs in Victoria

On 30 June 2010, the analogue TV signal was switched off in Mildura. A proportion of viewers, notably the elderly and migrants who did not understand the switchover ads and messages were left without reception. It was left to community support groups to donate set top boxes to those people. Several areas also suffered from a lack of coverage by the digital signal, and new transmitters had to be installed to fill in the blackspots (using more electricity to do so of course).

See also: Say no to Digital Radio

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