Anticipating TV changes
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 08:06AM This question showed up in this morning's e-mail from a librarian friend down in Florida:
Yesterday I was appointed to a district committee to plan for the 2009 TV changeover - what we need, what we can do, etc. Instead of reinventing the wheel here, I'm asking an expert: What plan does your district have for the HD switch? Any information will be appreciated.
Gulp. Yes, I am the head of the projector sector (I mean AV department) for our schools, but the crown is pretty dusty.
Here's how I replied:
There are basically two issues involved as I understand the future of TV.
The first is that by 2009 that all television transmissions must be digital. This has lots of people worked up but will ONLY effect those who get their TV signals over the air via antennae. They will need to buy a converter for their TVs for about $60. The government is supposed to offset this cost with a $40 coupon of some sort. If you get your TV signal via satellite or cable, you need do nothing and can use your current television sets.
The second change which is more problematic for us in our district is that it’s rumored that manufacturers will only continue TVs with LCD or plasma screens and stop making CRT screens. To me this is an issue because I don’t think our current mounting brackets (or carts) will hold the new flat screens. And I have no easy solution to this one. I expect we will eventually either stop buying TVs and just use LCD projectors connected to VCR/DVD tuners or buy the flat panels and mount them on the wall somewhere in the classroom and just remove our expensive mounts. But this I will worry about in onsies and twosies as the old TVs break down.
Reader Comments (19)
Never thought about it before, but this will also impact our LMC budget.We have TVs with DVD/Video players on carts for classroom use.
Today, my daughter recounted her adventures trying to buy a small, "low-tech" television to play her Pilates DVDs for exercising at home. Stores are only carrying the flat screens, and "regular" sets are scarce and being snapped up when and where available.
Number One Child and her husband went to a shop that repairs and re-sells appliances. They were directed to a back room, had a cryptic conversation with a strange character, and emerged with a $50 reconditioned model that exactly fit their needs.
Can't imagine what will happen when we need to replace our library loaners.Yet another bump in the road to digital equity.
That's a nice one to worry about, but what about the switch from DVD to Blu-Ray? sheesh. My entire home entertainment center is shot, and that after going through all the trouble to get one in the upstairs room. Now, it's all obsolete junk.
Part of me is wondering if we don't need to start putting together MythTVs - http://del.icio.us/mguhlin/mythtv
but everytime I read the instructions, I get downright scared.
Sigh
ONe of my schools only has DLP projectors - no TVs. It works pretty well except for the price of replacing the bulbs (which cost more than the TVs that I have at my other site) and the fact that you can't get closed captioning to show. Since I have some hearing impaired students we have to haul around a small TV with a DVD/VCR to show the movies for those classes. Nothing is perfect.
Hi Diane,
Interesting about your daughter. My department bought about 20 "regular" TVs this fall at close-out prices, but we are just delaying the inevitable.
I am guessing somebody is already making carts for the flat screen TVs. I just haven't looked yet.
Thanks for great story!
Doug
Hi Miguel,
See, I told the LWW it was too early to switch from VCRs to these new-fangled DVDs! She already got me to toss the 8-track player in favor of these fancy cassette tapes too!
In the dark (ages),
Doug
Hi JB,
Yeah, the cost of replacement lamps is very high, although we are now including replacement costs in our bid specs when buying LCD projectors and down to getting them for about $250, I think. Good point about the closed caption too!
Thanks for the insight,
Doug
Our school system installed video projectors connected to computer and VCR/DVD in every classroom. This is a much better solution than TVs on a cart. The display is much larger and engages the whole classroom, even students in the back row.
The video projector eliminates the need for an overhead projector and a TV. The bulbs are expensive but with proper use will last 2 years.
Doug and all -
The local Baltimore news had a report on this a couple days ago ... according to them, several cable companies will be doing the converting for us, like they do now for digital cable and Dish subscribers. The news claimed that people on regular cable and "bunny ears" would be in the lurch and not to run out to buy our converter boxes yet. At home I'm on digital but at school we're still analog. It'd be nice to be able to avoid the problem just by going to digital cable at school ... Who knows how completely correct the news was though, considering how confused the techno geeks of the world are! :)
-Jenny
In my district we are mounting projectors and connecting this to a DVD/VCR + Cable right now...but the world still isn't completely digital...we are still using our cable system within our school...unfortunately we are starting to run into a problem with the new DVD/VHS players not having a tuner as a part of the digital shift...
Hi Jenny,
We are all on cable (analog) at school too, but I am hoping a single device at our point of presence in each building will convert the signal to analog or us.
Too many issues that are more urgent to worry about this much NOW!
All the best,
Doug
Hi JC,
We've been buying the cheapo DVD/VCR players without tuners here too. Something we will need to reconsider as well.
Thanks for the note,
Doug
I understand the problem. We recently eliminated all the TVs in one wing and replaced them with projectors.
Many of the flat panel TVs do come with mounting brackets (for a nominal fee) and would have a much cleaner appearance than the old suspended CRTs that we all have in the corner. Most come with easy connections and some will even connect directly using a normal monitor cable. This would be a viable solution for many. But then we have the lovely suspended mounts in the corner to deal with. How about a suspended aquarium or mini-greenhouse.
Maybe someone will come up with a good use for all those old mounting brackets.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the comment.
I am hoping someone will make adaptors for the old square ceiling mounts.
Although I do like your idea of suspended aquariums!
Doug
The new standards will bring higher quality images that most teachers will want to be able to use. If you have seen good quality HDTV, you know how much more engaging and informative the content can be. I would plan to move to it along with the mass market as prices drop.
Projectors (for now at least) provide the only affordable means of creating an image large enough to be effective in the back rows of most classrooms. There's a formula I use for student-centered classroom design based on psychophysical characteristics of perception, that says to be able to see detail in XGA or HDTV images as used in education requires an image height at least one-fifth the distance to the farthest viewer. For example, in a classroom 25' deep, the image needs to be at least 5' tall (and 8' wide). Someday, flat panels - or perhaps flexible roll-down displays similar to today's screens - may replace projectors. But that's at least a life-cycle away.
As for closed captioning, two solutions I have used with success are VCR's with built-in CC decoders (and tuners, some have DVD players as well), for around $75-150; and outboard decoders for about $40 to $225. In addition, there is at least one projector manufacturer that now has CC included. Some of the decoders also have built-in nasty filters. Some DVD's have closed captions, some (e.g., Universal Studios) do not. Most decoders do not play well with HDTV. Many satellite/cable receivers do not pass along the captions through the HDTV (HDMI) output.
I can provide brand and model information offline by email at HDTVDECODER@edutech.US.
- Malcolm Montgomery
EduTech Consulting Services LLC
EduTech@EduTech.US
Malcolm,
Your comments are interesting and I am sure well-informed.
It's remarkable how our "requirements" have changed. The old rule of thumb for TVs was that the diagonal picture size needed to be the number of viewers in the classroom - 27 kids, 27" TV, for example.
I suppose this is another case of people having one experience at home with HDTV, giant screens, surround sound etc. and quite another at school where in many places a plain old TV is not a sure thing.
I wish the content of programming would more often justify the quality of the picture!
All the best,
Doug
Another suggestion:
Our district has planned to install a tv tuner in each teacher computer and also install ceiling mounted projectors to display the media. Colleyville-Heritage High School
I think our issues go further back to non HD compatible data projectors. You are correct about wall strength, but seems it would be wall real estate as much as anything…one drawback to wall mounted LCDTV and the like.
Gordon
This is very great Anticipating TV.
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