flat panel tv

[emmababy]

Now that the AKV rooms have flat panel tv's, will it become standard in other dvc resorts?

 

[tubtruck]

I would have thought eventually they will have to change them, I imagine that it will get harder and harder to buy a CRT TV. My local TV shop has nothing but flat screen TVs for sale, its also several years since they had VCRs for sale either.

 

[bicker]

It is now illegal to sell a television in the United States, manufactured after March 1, 2007, which does not have a new digital television tuner in it. Generally, very few CRT televisions have digital tuners, and those that do are often incredibly bulky and heavy (not to mention the fact that they contain heavy metals which are very bad for the environment and therefore make disposing of them when they need to be replaced very expensive). I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing replacements everywhere on property being flat panel.

 

[tomandrobin]

It is now illegal to sell a television in the United States, manufactured after March 1, 2007, which does not have a new digital television tuner in it. Generally, very few CRT televisions have digital tuners, and those that do are often incredibly bulky and heavy (not to mention the fact that they contain heavy metals which are very bad for the environment and therefore make disposing of them when they need to be replaced very expensive). I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing replacements everywhere on property being flat panel.

True, but when you stay on property we get the Disney Network programming. I'm sure they will find a way to stretch out the cost of having to replace every tv, in every resort and hotel to flat screens.

 

[Caskbill]

I see they're definitely 16:9 format, but does anyone know if they're HD or not.

Are they just ED in 16:9 format
HD at 720 resolution?
or HD at 1080 resolution?

Just curious.

 

[Cricket2]

I see they're definitely 16:9 format, but does anyone know if they're HD or not.

Are they just ED in 16:9 format
HD at 720 resolution?
or HD at 1080 resolution?

Just curious.

I hope they upgrade the in-house looped channels to HD material soon to follow up the hardware change. The only thing worse than SD is SD on an HD display. Eww!

 

[bicker]

I'm sure they will find a way to stretch out the cost of having to replace every tv, in every resort and hotel to flat screens.

I'm not sure I know what you're referring to. If you cannot purchase something, you cannot purchase it. Or am I missing your point?

 

[tomandrobin]

I'm not sure I know what you're referring to. If you cannot purchase something, you cannot purchase it. Or am I missing your point?

Ok...Yes, they can not buy the old crt televisions. Disney will delay replacing all the televisions, in all of the resorts (including DVC) as long as possible. They have thier own cable system and I'm sure they will do what they can do they don't have to go out and buy 16:9 format screens right away.

 

[bicker]

Perhaps we're talking past each other. The part that keeps on confusing me is when you talk about Disney having their own cable system. I don't believe there is any relationship between that and the issue with regard to television sets. While I agree that Disney can perhaps try to just keep moving the televisions they have around property, for a while, they're eventually going to end up with fewer old CRTs than hotel rooms, and short of leaving rooms without televisions, they'll have to purchase newer television sets, which for the reasons I mentioned earlier, will likely not be CRTs.

When you mention that Disney has its own cable system, what are you alluding to there?

 

[tomandrobin]

Perhaps we're talking past each other. The part that keeps on confusing me is when you talk about Disney having their own cable system. I don't believe there is any relationship between that and the issue with regard to television sets. While I agree that Disney can perhaps try to just keep moving the televisions they have around property, for a while, they're eventually going to end up with fewer old CRTs than hotel rooms, and short of leaving rooms without televisions, they'll have to purchase newer television sets, which for the reasons I mentioned earlier, will likely not be CRTs.

When you mention that Disney has its own cable system, what are you alluding to there?

LOL...I think this is definately one of those conversations that don't work well, one post at a time.

I agree that they will have to replace them all to flat screens eventually. The sets over at SSR are just a couple years old, some less then a year. They won't be in the trash heap anytime soon. I know that the over the air stations will be all HD soon. But since Disney has its own resort system, I was just figuring they control its content. With that control, they could slow down its need to replace all the crt type sets with flat HD sets.

 

[tjkraz]

IIRC, in the recent refurbs of the Contemporary and Poly (and maybe WL, too), all of the rooms were given flat panel sets. If so, it seems like Disney could be sitting on a stockpile of old SD sets that could be used for replacement at other resorts until they commit to the upgrades.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see them putting flat panels in the DVC room armoires. If so, then converting rooms would likely be a carefully managed project rather than just a maintenance task.

 

[disneybride96]

If someone tells me AKV has HD & 7.1 surround sound, I think I can talk my DH into buying some more points! He thinks he is in the stone age watching an old CRT.

 

[Boston5602]

It is now illegal to sell a television in the United States, manufactured after March 1, 2007, which does not have a new digital television tuner in it. Generally, very few CRT televisions have digital tuners, and those that do are often incredibly bulky and heavy (not to mention the fact that they contain heavy metals which are very bad for the environment and therefore make disposing of them when they need to be replaced very expensive). I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing replacements everywhere on property being flat panel.

HEYYYY Bicker you changed your signature , I almost didn't recognize you! I always read your post .

3-01-07 is true for all tv's , and there was an earlier date ( sometime last year?) for tv's over 35 inches ( maybe 40 ) The digital only transmission signal went from Jan1 2006 to 2008 now. Meaning tv stations won't be able to transmit the tv signal the old way. Eventually in /by 2008 all tv's will have to be digital or have a converter attached to it to get tv. So one way or another its get a new tv or a converter box.

Also when it comes to the purchase of new tv's for DVC , it's not Disney buying them its the owner's through the MF's. ( which you knew ! <G> )

Last thing. This Jan they put new HD flat LCD tv's in at the pool are of BWV. They were NOT hooked up to a HD signal! Bartender said it would be SWEET if they did , but as far as he knew it wasn't happening !

 

[doconeill]

I believe NTSC transmissions stop sometime in early 2009, not 2008.

TV replacements will be by natural attrition. A tube will be replaced with a flat as needed - except, I expect, that if a low-end room needs a TV replacement, a tube will be transferred from a higher-level room until none are left. If rooms are renovated, they would get flats and any functioning tubes will go into inventory for replacement in less fortunate rooms...

 

[DebbieB]

I attended a BWV annual meeting in 2003 and they said they were going to replace the TV's with HD and add coffee tables to the studios. I don't think either happened.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Yes Disney/DVC will end up with at least Flat Panel TVs (My guess would be mostly LCD, because plasma is nice but based on what I've been reading in my IEEE Journals LCD will win.) Perhaps some plasma or DLP but unless something changes quickly LCD will be the long term winner.

They do have their own cable system, so they can continue to use analog TV signals as long as they like (same for your local cable company.) The conversion to digital signals is only mandated for over-the-air signals. And as someone pointed out it's been pushed back once already. I suspect the transition won't happen as quickly as people are predicting, and the date will be pushed back again.

The comment about HD TVs at DAKV, HD requires 2 parts, a HD unit (TV + receiver, yes today most TVs have it integrated) PLUS a HD signal. I doubt Disney is going to start pushing HD signals anytime soon. Because they will have to upgrade their cable TV infrastructure, maybe not the wire in the ground but the signal generators and all the backroom/headend gear.

This is a process there are lot of TVs on the Disney property. They will replace them like everyone else is replacing/replaced computer screens (a few at a time.) Some percentage every year for a number of years. There is no motivation for them to replace them wholesale quickly.

So new construction/renovation get LCDs. I knew since this project was announced that DAKV was getting LCD TVs. How? Well the renovated PopC Suites had them, at that point I knew everything was in place for the conversion (the price point, quality and quantity metrics had aligned.)

johno

 

[bicker]

But since Disney has its own resort system, I was just figuring they control its content. With that control, they could slow down its need to replace all the crt type sets with flat HD sets.

Yup, that's what I kind-of thought you were saying. There's no real relationship between the nature of the content (analog versus digital) and the fact that it will not be possible to acquire new CRT type televisions to replace those that break.

IIRC, in the recent refurbs of the Contemporary and Poly (and maybe WL, too), all of the rooms were given flat panel sets. If so, it seems like Disney could be sitting on a stockpile of old SD sets that could be used for replacement at other resorts until they commit to the upgrades.

That's an interesting thought. I wonder if any WDW CMs that are DIS members have seen what they did with the televisions they removed during the refurbs.

 

[bicker]

The digital only transmission signal went from Jan1 2006 to 2008 now. Meaning tv stations won't be able to transmit the tv signal the old way. Eventually in /by 2008 all tv's will have to be digital or have a converter attached to it to get tv. So one way or another its get a new tv or a converter box.

This, at least, is not correct, and I believe that was tomandrobin's point. That regulation affects OTA signals only. No cable system -- not Disney's, and not the one in your neighborhood -- will have to stop providing analog signals by then. As a matter of fact, many legislators supporting the analog to digital conversion are hanging their hat on the fact that 70 million homes in our country don't need to worry about the deadline you alluded to (which is February 17, 2009, incidentally), because they have cable and can continue to use their own analog televisions hooked up to cable boxes.

 

[bicker]

I thought we were getting off-topic, but then I realized that we're talking about watching television in our DVC villas... we're remarkable right on topic!!!

Yes Disney/DVC will end up with at least Flat Panel TVs (My guess would be mostly LCD, because plasma is nice but based on what I've been reading in my IEEE Journals LCD will win.) Perhaps some plasma or DLP but unless something changes quickly LCD will be the long term winner.

Someone before mentioned the armoires, where the televisions are stored today. That may give the advantage to rear projection technologies, including DLP, since you get the same or better quality as flat screen technologies, including LCD flat screen or plasma, for a lot less money. In the end, I'd put my money on a technology we haven't mentioned yet: "LCD rear projection." These sets look just like DLP sets (they're not flat screens). They're a little more expensive than DLP, at about the same picture quality level, but a still a lot less expensive than LCD flat screen or plasma. And they're robust -- in for the long haul -- which is really important especially for DVC.

They do have their own cable system, so they can continue to use analog TV signals as long as they like (same for your local cable company.) The conversion to digital signals is only mandated for over-the-air signals. And as someone pointed out it's been pushed back once already. I suspect the transition won't happen as quickly as people are predicting, and the date will be pushed back again.

I hope you're wrong. Too many businesses have invested too much money banking on that date. Pushing back the date yet-again becomes unfairly punitive to the industry.

One thing to factor into this aspect that Disney controls both the cable system and all the users of it: They can switch their entire system to digital practically overnight, once all their television sets have ATSC tuners. That's something your cable company cannot do, because they politically cannot force everyone in the county to make the switch to digital by a certain date. Many experts believe that local cable companies will provide 70 analog channels through 2011, then 50 through 2014, then 30 through 2017, and may even support a half dozen or so, in perpetuity. Each analog channel can carry 7 - 12 digital channels at current resolution (and many channels will continue broadcasting at current resolution forever).

The comment about HD TVs at DAKV, HD requires 2 parts, a HD unit (TV + receiver, yes today most TVs have it integrated) PLUS a HD signal. I doubt Disney is going to start pushing HD signals anytime soon. Because they will have to upgrade their cable TV infrastructure, maybe not the wire in the ground but the signal generators and all the backroom/headend gear.

However, they will really just have to upgrade the head-end equipment and software. Not a small undertaking, but Disney benefits from being able to control both the facilities side of things AND the display devices as well, a luxury that local cable companies don't have.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Someone before mentioned the armoires, where the televisions are stored today.

My guess is they will pull replace the armoires with ones more like what we see in DAKV. They give the room the appearance/feel of more space. I think it would be a HUGE gain in the smaller rooms like PopC and AllStar*.

I hope you're wrong. Too many businesses have invested too much money banking on that date. Pushing back the date yet-again becomes unfairly punitive to the industry.

It's the vibe I get from what I've read mostly in the IEEE Spectrum. I can't think of any place I've read it. But everyone involved seems to be counting on the fact that a lot of consumers have cable, which as we said aren't affected. And TV set attrition, in my house we just bought a new HD LCD TV. But we have no plans to upgrade our cable, for the time being we are waiting on Apple TV and using an HD DVD player, for most of our HD programing.

However, they will really just have to upgrade the head-end equipment and software. Not a small undertaking, but Disney benefits from being able to control both the facilities side of things AND the display devices as well, a luxury that local cable companies don't have.

Yep I agree with this. And they will switch, but I don't expect to see it happen in the next 2-5 years. I'm sure as they replace infrastructure today it's HD ready, I'm sure for the last 2-5 years they have been doing that.

The other end of it is what channels that they carry are in HD today? I don't think the Disney Channel is an HD channel. I'm not sure why you'd want to see the top-7 park attractions in HD. Pretty much the only channels I see that may have HD versions are the commercial stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Tuner.)

Allears TV channel listings

johno