CyberGuam Inc.

With the transition to digital television just around the corner for Guam, along the rest of the US, all old analog televisions will not function with the new digital signal coming from Marianas Cable Vision without a converter box to change the signal from digital to analog and vice versa. In addition, many Guam residents will probably use this time as an excuse to shell out some cash to purchase that new digital television they’ve been dreaming about for quite some time, and we thought providing some helpful information on how to choose a new digital tv would be a great idea.

There are many quality levels of digital television programming. The most common are:

Standard Definition TV (SDTV) - SDTV is the basic level of quality display and resolution for both analog and digital. Transmission of SDTV may be in either the traditional (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) format.

Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV) - EDTV is a step up from Analog Television. EDTV comes in 480p widescreen (16:9) or traditional (4:3) format and provides better picture quality than SDTV, but not as high as HDTV.

High Definition TV (HDTV) - HDTV in widescreen format (16:9) provides the highest resolution and picture quality of all digital broadcast formats. Combined with digitally enhanced sound technology, HDTV sets new standards for sound and picture quality in television. (Note: HDTV and digital TV are not the same thing — HDTV is one format of digital TV.)

When you purchase a digital television look for a sticker on the screen which will tell you the quality of the digital television: SDTV, EDTV, or HDTV; or you can ask the salesperson for some help if your unable to find this information labeled on the digital tv. If your looking for the best picture quality to play high-definition DVD’s (Blueray discs) or to take advantage of programs broadcasting in high-definition you will need to purchase a HDTV. The other digital formats (SDTV and EDTV) will still work with high-definition DVD’s and broadcasting but you won’t get the best picture quality like on a HDTV.

Pricing on digital televisions depend on the quality of the digital television and the size the screen your purchasing. SDTV quality televisions would be the cheapest priced, HDTV the highest priced, and EDTV somewhere in the middle; and of course the larger the screen the higher the price goes up.

If your out to get a new digital television we recommend you skip the SDTV and EDTV quality televisions and spend a few extra hundred bucks to purchase a HDTV for the best picture quality. If you don’t have enough to purchase an HDTV today it would be better for you to wait until you can afford one, rather than purchasing a SDTV or EDTV television. Today’s television sets last a lifetime and once the conversion from analog to digital signal takes place it’s safe to say there won’t be another huge change in technology in our lifetimes which will require us to purchase another television set.

In a little over a year all television broadcast stations within the United States, including the television broadcast station (Marianas Cable Vision) on Guam, will be required to completely switch over their television broadcast signal from an analog signal to a digital signal. The exact deadline for this cut-over as specified by the FTC is set to be on February 17, 2009.

What does this mean to the average consumer who has a television in their home? The biggest issue related to the conversion of analog to digital in 2009 will be the effect on older television sets that can only receive analog signals. Once Guam’s television broadcast stations transmit completely in digital these older analog televisions will cease to function, unless a digital to analog converter box is purchased that will receive the digital signal from your local television station and convert it to an analog signal that your television will be able to understand.

The FTC has required all television set manufactures to produce televisions that are compatible with digital signals as of March 1, 2007. So most new televisions that are on store shelves today are compatible with the upcoming transition to digital television. Just to be safe, if you are unsure of how to tell whether a television set will be compatible it would be best to speak with one of the sales people and verify this information before making a purchase. There may be some retail locations still selling old “analog only” television sets, but they are required by United States law to display a sign in front of television equipment. The text would read:

Consumer Alert
This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009, to receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the Nation’s transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322) or visit the Commission’s digital television website at: www.dtv.gov.

The good news to consumers is that between January 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009 all households will be able to request two coupons towards the purchase of these digital to analog converters. Each coupon is worth $40 each and more information on obtaining these coupons can be found at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s website: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/dtvcoupon.html

The transition to digital television is a great thing for consumers because more features and services can be provided with digital television than analog television such as on-demand services, greater interactivity, and a higher picture quality. So the small trouble to transition over to digital television will be worth it for most consumers!

It takes some time and patience if your looking to order software or hardware for your computer from an online computer website because many of the websites don’t ship products to Guam.  We’ve decided to compile a list of online computer stores that ship to Guam making it easier for Guam residents to find that exact computer hardware or software they have been looking for.  To see the full list you can go to our dedicated page by CLICKING HERE.

Guam has an opportunity to take advantage of it’s strategically placed location as the last US destination before reaching Asia when it comes to the Internet.  The opportunity is to become a network hub for Internet peering between Asian countries and the United States.

Building a neutral-carrier data center on our island could possibly attract hundreds of new technology jobs on the island as well as bring in technology-related business that will generate income for our island from mainland-based technology firms and international firms located in Asia.

The concept behind a neutral-carrier data center consists of Guam’s government or a privately-owned organization investing into building a facility to house the networking equipment and data center where major networks in the United States and in Asia could setup their networks to peer with each other from within the facility.  Building out the data center of course would include laying out underground fiber optic lines that could handle the large capacity of data traveling through the facility.  Some examples of carrier-neutral internet exchange points located in the United States include the New York International Internet eXchange or NYIIX, and the Los Angeles International Internet eXchange or LAIIX; both run by Telehouse.  Another publicly traded company that specializes in setting up data centers across the United States is Equinix which has a data center located in Hawaii.

In addition to offering peering services, network-neutral data centers could offer colocation services to companies for web hosting, rent space out to content delivery networks to place caching servers in the facility for faster streaming of media between the United States and Asia, and more.  With the growing dependency on the Internet as the medium of choice for various technologies which include telecommunications data, streaming media content, and the Internet, the need for connection hubs between the United States and Asia continues to grow.

Currently, the only two US destinations of choice for a last connection point closest to Asia are Hawaii and Guam.  Hawaii’s government has already started looking into the idea of becoming a technology network hub between Asia and the United States, and already has some major internet backbone networks traveling through the islands.  One of these networks is known as The Southern Cross Cable Network which provides most of the international bandwidth and traffic from Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii to the United States.  Guam could follow in Hawaii’s footsteps by looking into building out a technology friendly infrastructure on the island that will be able to support the growth of our technology industry.

In a future post I’ll discuss some of the roadblocks Guam would need to overcome for this to become a reality.

CyberGuam Inc. has decided to provide a way for local residents of the island of Guam to receive free technology and computer consultation.  This will also provide some interaction between CyberGuam Inc. and Guam’s local community.  Local residents can now send in computer-related questions on issues they may be having with their computer, or general questions that they would like us to answer about anything technology related.  All you have to do is send an email to contact@cyberguam.com with the subject header “Question and Answer” and your question in the body of the email.  In addition, please provide your name.  Every week will select a submitted question and answer it on our blog.

On September 25th 2007 we purchased the Guam page on the Million Dollar Wiki.  We believe this will become a valuable invest in the future, and we intend to fully develop the page to showcase Guam as a travel destination for tourists and visitors.  One of CyberGuam Inc.’s main goals is to push Guam into the online digital revolution, and create a strong branding presence on the internet for the island of Guam.  If anyone has any comments or suggestions to help us improve the page feel free to drop us an email or post a comment here.

Hafa Adai and welcome to our official blog.  This blog will focus on the technology industry on the island of Guam and will discuss such things as recent local technology news and events, the current state of the technology and computer industry on our island, and new and emerging technologies.  Feel free to register on our blog so that you may write comments on our posts and offer your input to us and our readers.  We hope you enjoy our blog and keep coming back for more!