Digital Cutover To Be Delayed ? ? ?

[TheRover]

I opted for an indoor 46db amplified antenna from Phillips.

The MANT 410

I was looking for it at Wal Mart last month, and they no longer carried the MANT410. They had other "new" Phillips antennas. I wanted a second antenna for another box at another location. So I found the MANT410 on the Wal Mart web site and ordered it for in-store pickup.

The Govt, adds do lead people to believe that 1) If you are getting OK to Good reception NOW with your analog TV and current antenna, that 2) All you need is the convertor box, and you'll get the digital channels.

But , of course, several of the VHF stations are actually broadcasting their digital on UHF for now, so that makes it interseting for receiving.

I'm lucky, I live in the middle of the Metroplex, and can receive almost all of the digital broadcasts with just one "sweet spot" setting.

But, I know someone that lives closer to Cedar Hill, where many towers are, and they get their digital channels, with just a Dollar antennar from one of those "Dollar Stores"!

When I used to watch analog TV with a cheaper amplified antenna, I would always have to change the antenna settings, depending on which channel I wanted to watch.

I don;t have that problem now, but I do wish the cutover would take place, so that they can boost the Digital broadcasts.

I got the Zenith DTT900, an April 2008 edition.

 

[kenrayc]

I don't think the dtv conversions should extended, still there will be those that will wait to the last minune regardless of the cutoff date. like TheRover I also have a Zenith TDD 900 on my set in the garage not connected to cable with a 4 bay UHF antenna because I live in a all UHF market until now , In Fresno 3 stations have been assigned VHF DTV channels ,KFSN ABC30 uses ch.9 ,KAIL My 53 Uses Ch.7(they already marketed there dtv signal as 7.1 ,and KNSO Telemundo 51 uses ch.5(will swich to ch.11 02/17/09, the point is surprising with that converter and that all UHF antenna
I get ALL Staions with it.I'm about 25 miles from most towers.One thing about Delaying the transition is that ABC 30 has already went to low power on there analog channel.

 

[fortmill]

What a mess. I would have thought the point of no return for the transision had already past. Many analog stations have already reduced power (a few have already been terminated) in preparation for the switch---what would they do if the transision date is rolled back? But it is true that some people, despite their best efforts, will lose reception on Feb 17. Digital reception near Cumberland MD---about as likely as finding a man on the moon---but I'm surprised anyone can even get analog reception there. Cumberland has to have the worst analog reception of any inhabited place in the country.

 

[Nate Wesley]

The thing people don't understand is digital is not analog

Look at me I live in Chicago only 3 miles from Sears Tower.

With a converter box I went from getting 16 analog channels to ONE channel and two others pixilated constanstly.

With an new RCA television with a digital tuner I get NONE. Not one single DTV station.

So now I am going to be forced to get cable for something I am now getting for free.

In a sense what you're saying is the hell with poor people. It's like saying let's free up bandwidth so people can have cell phones. Which is again toys for the rich at the expense of the poor.

Exactly. I think its laughable that everyone can make such sweeping assumptions about others everyday 'need' for and of television, especially when it is still the primary source for local news and weather for many of the folks we're talking about. There are going to be millions of people affected by this digital transition, and EVERY measure needs to be done to make sure it's as painless as possible.

The early adopters don't have much to brag or complain about. For all of the 'screw them, I got my stuff set up on time'-attitudes, how's about lending some of that expertise to help those who could use it? Somehow I doubt your indignation goes that far.

 

[tripinva]

I offered my expertise. Wrote a front page story for the local paper, and ran a classified offering to survey and provide advice. I got zero calls.

- Trip

 

[KML0224]

Geez Trip...that sucks! I for one hope that February 17th doesn't get pushed back. I sell TVs and converter boxes. How am I supposed to explain the delay to my customers if it happens? Ugh!

 

[gr8oldies]

Sadly, the plug needs to be pulled on 2/17 as planned. Delay it and there will be those who will assume it's a bluff, and will assume it's a bluff the next deadline, and the one after that they'll KNOW it's a bluff.

 

[landtuna]

The early adopters don't have much to brag or complain about. For all of the 'screw them, I got my stuff set up on time'-attitudes, how's about lending some of that expertise to help those who could use it? Somehow I doubt your indignation goes that far.

I set up everyone in my family and countless other friends and neighbors and have responded to news articles providing complete conversion information. I know other techie folks who have done likewise. The help is out there for the asking.

 

[fybush]

The early adopters don't have much to brag or complain about. For all of the 'screw them, I got my stuff set up on time'-attitudes, how's about lending some of that expertise to help those who could use it? Somehow I doubt your indignation goes that far.

I set up everyone in my family and countless other friends and neighbors and have responded to news articles providing complete conversion information. I know other techie folks who have done likewise. The help is out there for the asking.

Every station in my market has either run a phone bank or lent staff to our phone bank at the PBS station. We're about to do our second live call-in special with on-air demos (hosted by yours truly, among others) showing how to hook up the boxes, run a channel scan, connect a VCR, etc. Last time we did it, we had 15 phone lines going nonstop for several hours.

Our viewer services department has been collecting unneeded coupons from our members to distribute to those who need them, and we just got a small federal grant to do house calls for those unable to hook up their boxes on their own.

And after all that, we're being asked to pay the (very much unbudgeted) power bills to keep our aging analog transmitter on the air for who knows how much longer, and to delay the planning to move our DTV antenna from its very directional position on the side of the tower to the top of the tower so we can extend its reach?

Yeah, there's some indignation going on there.

 

[KyDXIn]

I set up everyone in my family and countless other friends and neighbors and have responded to news articles providing complete conversion information. I know other techie folks who have done likewise. The help is out there for the asking.

Every station in my market has either run a phone bank or lent staff to our phone bank at the PBS station. We're about to do our second live call-in special with on-air demos (hosted by yours truly, among others) showing how to hook up the boxes, run a channel scan, connect a VCR, etc. Last time we did it, we had 15 phone lines going nonstop for several hours.

Our viewer services department has been collecting unneeded coupons from our members to distribute to those who need them, and we just got a small federal grant to do house calls for those unable to hook up their boxes on their own.

And after all that, we're being asked to pay the (very much unbudgeted) power bills to keep our aging analog transmitter on the air for who knows how much longer, and to delay the planning to move our DTV antenna from its very directional position on the side of the tower to the top of the tower so we can extend its reach?

Yeah, there's some indignation going on there.

Kudos to you and your station for helping your audience with this daunting problem (for some). I think most people over 60 dread this switchover, or may not even realize they have a problem. We on this board know there is a problem cause we've remained informed, but to those without the net, have few means on finding answers.

 

[landtuna]

We on this board know there is a problem cause we've remained informed, but to those without the net, have few means on finding answers.

This board certainly helps, especially with the fringe reception issues which the general public probably isn't as aware of but....

Local stations in my area have been running PSA's, crawlers and short news pieces on this subject for at least two months now. If people remain uninformed then they obviously are not watching much TV and probably don't have a need to know.

And, what part of a 60+ brain isn't able to comprehend this simple changeover?

 

[MikefromDelaware]

KY DXIn said: What good is a digital box if the signals are so weak they can't be received by the box? I'd rather have a snowy signal than no signal. The FCC either needs to have the TV stations increase power on their digital signals or help us with getting better antennas, especially in these times. I'm on a limited budget due to layoffs and the necessities come first. My home is wired for cable but I don't want to be out $40 each month for basic cable. If I scrimp and save, maybe I will be able to afford a better antenna in a year or so, but seems there is always something breaking that takes what I've saved. I'm sure there are others in the same situation.

Some cable companies (ours here in Wilmington DE - Comcast cable) offer where you can get a very basic cable of only broadcast channels at very reduced price. People living in apartments don't have the option of having a TV antenna so this worked well to get some lower income people who couldn't afford the expanded cable prices, etc, to get cable. Your cable company may have a similar program which would limit you to the broadcast stations carried by your cable provider, but that's all you'd get with an antenna.

 

[KyDXIn]

Some cable companies (ours here in Wilmington DE - Comcast cable) offer where you can get a very basic cable of only broadcast channels at very reduced price. People living in apartments don't have the option of having a TV antenna so this worked well to get some lower income people who couldn't afford the expanded cable prices, etc, to get cable. Your cable company may have a similar program which would limit you to the broadcast stations carried by your cable provider, but that's all you'd get with an antenna.

I'll probably just deal with it-- I've been researching homemade antennas-- and maybe I will make one that will work for me. If I had the cash, I'd go buy a good antenna mast, and probably a Channelmaster 4228 with a rotor, but for now that's a dream. If the cable system only charged $20 a month, that would be $240 in a year's time, and hopefully enough to get a good antenna installed, and then its free TV.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I'm on cable but have one TV set up with a digital tuner more for experimental and emergency purposes than anything else, so I'm as ready as I can possibly be for the conversion, other than eventually setting up an outdoor antenna.

I agree that Feb.17th has been the date chosen for the digital conversion and it should stick. There are things I haven't liked about it, especially with it being on what appears to be a random date with no logical reasoning. A Tuesday in the middle of the month? Why not at the beginning or end of a month, or at least on a weekend? The end of Jan. or Feb. would have been good because the 1st of Feb. and Mar. are on Sundays. But since it was set I believe the date should stick.

I guess another question would be if any TV stations are requesting for an extension. If there was a large number of them not ready I could possibly understand an extension, but I get the impression that isn't a real problem and most if not all stations are ready except for perhaps some final fine tuning.

Actually, even if there is an extension what is keeping stations from going ahead with Feb. 17th or sooner? Why can't they just say "We've already set up for the changeover on Feb. 17th or whatever earlier date, and we're sticking with it." The stations should go on with their plans to change over by Feb 17th regardless of what the government does. What if anything could the government do to stop them? I would love it if the deadline was extended but most stations changed over by Feb. 17th or sooner anyway.

 

[kenrayc]

I think the 02/17/09 dead should stay, for one thing some Dtv stations are using low power temperary waiting for an analog station nearby using that frequency to shut down.Many analog station have already reduced power including some in my market, not only that the power bill on running the analog and the dtv is expensive.

 

[TheRover]

Some cable companies (ours here in Wilmington DE - Comcast cable) offer where you can get a very basic cable of only broadcast channels at very reduced price. People living in apartments don't have the option of having a TV antenna so this worked well to get some lower income people who couldn't afford the expanded cable prices, etc, to get cable. Your cable company may have a similar program which would limit you to the broadcast stations carried by your cable provider, but that's all you'd get with an antenna.

Mike,

I am very suspect of any large cable company 'doing the right thing'......

Time Warner came in to the North Texas area a few years ago, after their switch of properties with Comcast.

Tine Warner Cable just calls ours "Basic" Cable, it has the CSPAN channels, the local channels, and the Govt/Ed Access channels, and No Mini-Weather channel......

On 1/1/07 my basic rate with Time Warner was $10.01, which is what it was with Comcast.

Since then the Basic rates have gone up three times in 2 years with Time Warner:

$12.99

$15.95

And Now.....

$17.99 (Plus Taxes and Fees !) --- BUT NO NEW CHANNELS...SOME CHANNELS HAVE BEEN MOVED UP TO HIGHER TIERS.....

All those MANY years that we had Cable in this town.....

And the rate for Basic stayed about the same.....

And so, at least in the North Texas market, Time Warner Cable does NOT seem to care about people on fixed income, or the elderly, or anything, but selling bundled packages, which the elderly aren't interested in, in the first place.

THANKS FOR NOTHING TIME WARNER CABLE.... AND THE FCC THAT ALLOWS THIS PRICE GOUGING!!

 

[KyDXIn]

We on this board know there is a problem cause we've remained informed, but to those without the net, have few means on finding answers.

This board certainly helps, especially with the fringe reception issues which the general public probably isn't as aware of but....
Local stations in my area have been running PSA's, crawlers and short news pieces on this subject for at least two months now. If people remain uninformed then they obviously are not watching much TV and probably don't have a need to know.
And, what part of a 60+ brain isn't able to comprehend this simple changeover?

We'll I have an 89 year old great aunt who is doing quite well for her age. She is getting cable, and I believe she can afford it. I tried to explain to her the situation with the convertor box, but I could tell she didn't understand. She's not into gadgetry. I didn't press the alternative. Things like additional remotes (one for the tv and one for the box) would just confuse her even more. All she knows is the company is going in the alley behind her house, and bring in a wire that will give her television for $300 a year. Yeah, she knows about the change, but sadly I've dealt with others who, until the proverbial well runs dry, won't understand.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I can't remember if I've posted about this before, but when the Indianapolis TV stations did their "DTV test" in Mid-December, each station had a phone bank set up. WXIN/WTTV (FOX/CW) reported zero calls. WISH (CBS) reported a handful. One of the FCC commissioners was dispatched to Indy to provide advice and only a couple dozen people showed up.

But, when Commissioner Martin was in a more rural town south of Indianapolis, dozens of elderly were seeking advice.

I continue to believe the change should proceed as planned. I don't understand the reasoning behind a delay now that this Feb 17 date has been promoted to pieces.

 

[XRQKFM]

I will be going from 30 plus over the air channels, to just two with DTV. Our nearest cable is 30 miles away. Dish does not offer local channels in many areas like Ridgecrest and Needles; but forces people to watch L.A. television instead. Keep in mind the ideal is to keep television free, anything other than over the air cost money, and you loose control over what you can watch. I already have the best UHF antenna on the market, and low noise preamp, many others in our area will loose all television in next month period. For those in rural areas on tight budgets and no access to cableTV should have the analog extended until the mess is fixed. In our area we also suffer from short spacing of many channels, with two or three stations on the same channel. The FCC failed to take in account of the terrain encountered here in California; we have several different stations on the same channel coming from all directions and that's in just one zip code.

I say it was mishandled from the beginning, and needs to be corrected before change takes place. Those DTV conversion are full of more B.S. than I can separate for the average end use. You know there are going to be loop holes and problems when the government tells us to take the medicine because it will be good for us; like the XM/Sirius merger.



Steve
www.xrqk.com

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Mike,

I am very suspect of any large cable company 'doing the right thing'......

Time Warner came in to the North Texas area a few years ago, after their switch of properties with Comcast.

Tine Warner Cable just calls ours "Basic" Cable, it has the CSPAN channels, the local channels, and the Govt/Ed Access channels, and No Mini-Weather channel......

On 1/1/07 my basic rate with Time Warner was $10.01, which is what it was with Comcast.

Since then the Basic rates have gone up three times in 2 years with Time Warner:

$12.99

$15.95

And Now.....

$17.99 (Plus Taxes and Fees !) --- BUT NO NEW CHANNELS...SOME CHANNELS HAVE BEEN MOVED UP TO HIGHER TIERS.....

All those MANY years that we had Cable in this town.....

And the rate for Basic stayed about the same.....

And so, at least in the North Texas market, Time Warner Cable does NOT seem to care about people on fixed income, or the elderly, or anything, but selling bundled packages, which the elderly aren't interested in, in the first place.

THANKS FOR NOTHING TIME WARNER CABLE.... AND THE FCC THAT ALLOWS THIS PRICE GOUGING!!

That's the problem with having a monopoly as most cable companies do in most markets, Wilmington included. So far, at least in my area the price is $11.95 per month for the basic cable that does include weather channel, broadcast stations, both CSPAN, ABC family, EWTN (Catholic religious),Inspiration (Protestant religious). I know because I just downsized a couple of weeks ago as a way of cutting back. We watch very little TV (we're big radio listeners and renting movies to watch on TV) so for us paying $60.00 a month (extended cable) to basically not watch other than some PBS stuff or a rare show from the networks didn't seem worth the price, so this 11.95 deal is good for us for the rare times we actually do sit down and put on TV. Hopefully they'll keep the price that way for a while before the increases start. If they do as they did to you, I'll just go get one of those Digital converters and cancel the cable.