National "switch to digital" day?

Too bad I am not in the biz anymore. I expect there will be lots of calls to installers to "troubleshoot" why the picture isn't there anymore. A local rag cited that "only 50% of viewers are prepared".

Wow! That few. I guess the TV ads, paper ads, govt coupons, and all the new coverage was too little then huh?

I doubt the number is really that high but, I also don;t doubt taht there will be a LOT of service calls coming from the clueless.

I thought this happened last week? The articles I read said there was a surge of calls at the beginning but there were enough people on staff to handle it and there was a sufficient supply of converter boxes everywhere.

I know this

I have an HDTV in my camper and the "old" signals came in better than the "new" signals when both signals werent perfect.

I think the HD signals are going to be A LOT of trouble for anyone trying to use JUST an antenna.

People keep getting bashed for not getting the converters, etc...

There have been numerous news stories backing up the fact that the digital signals are not as strong as the analog ones, and that even if you bought the equipment you still might be hosed. (There are some places in the US where people still don't get cable).

Not sure how many people that actually affected, maybe it's a minority, but it would still suck if you did everything right and still didn't get TV. Maybe it would be a good thing?

McKBrew said:

People keep getting bashed for not getting the converters, etc...

There have been numerous news stories backing up the fact that the digital signals are not as strong as the analog ones, and that even if you bought the equipment you still might be hosed. (There are some places in the US where people still don't get cable).

Not sure how many people that actually affected, maybe it's a minority, but it would still suck if you did everything right and still didn't get TV. Maybe it would be a good thing?

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THIS

At least with the analog it was a bit fuzzy but we could still check out the days news/weather in the camper.
When the HD signal is "fuzzy" its the black screen of death

I suppose there still is the radio.

McKBrew said:

I suppose there still is the radio.

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And even that is becoming a wasteland for local news.

Pretty much every Clear Channel Station in Northern California, Oregon and Washington will be getting their news beamed in from Sacramento soon.

Bokonon said:

The articles I read said there was a surge of calls at the beginning but there were enough people on staff to handle it and there was a sufficient supply of converter boxes everywhere.

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Thank God. I mean, can you imagine if people had to go without TV?

I have cable so....

I read in the paper that the "Official switch off day" is June 17. Pushed up from February. Some stations have already switched, some are dual broadcasting.

The switch was June 12th. DTV Answers : What you need to know about the June 12, 2009 switch to DTV.

I think your paper forgot to switch to digital.

I heard on the news they suspect the number of people unprepared don't speak English. Didn't they communicate this in Spanish as well?

I mentioned this to my GF and she said "Well, there are other channels in many other languages" I agreed, but I have only seen English and Spanish on regular stations those other channels she mentions are on cable or dish which you already either have equipment for digital TV or it is compatible for the change.

I am waiting for the next step to be the government buys all those who complain new HDTVs and free cable or dish service. Maybe these people are actually pretty clever.

Well, they've been dual broadcasting digital for years. It is true that you're not going to get a usable signal with bunny ears or even a set top HD antenna unless you're nice a close to the broadcaster, but is it really that much trouble to throw a directional in the attic?

Last time I looked, a couple of days after the supposed switch, my NBC channels had still not come up. They played the NHL Finals games, but in Analogue mode. I think they are having troubles. Also a few stations that were coming in fine are now gone. Not sure why. Maybe need to rotate antenna, or maybe the final switch-over was faulty.

No biggie for me. I got Dish and anyway, now that hockey is over, I don't have much need for network TV. I got lots to do around the house.

Bobby_M said:

Well, they've been dual broadcasting digital for years. It is true that you're not going to get a usable signal with bunny ears or even a set top HD antenna unless you're nice a close to the broadcaster, but is it really that much trouble to throw a directional in the attic?

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That's what I did. Cost me around $35 on ebay. works fine with every channel but the local Fox channel, but I had that same trouble at my old house with the 40' antenna tower, too. Sometimes it comes in, sometimes it doesn't. It won't really bother me until I miss a Packer game.

Homercidal said:

Last time I looked, a couple of days after the supposed switch, my NBC channels had still not come up. They played the NHL Finals games, but in Analogue mode. I think they are having troubles. Also a few stations that were coming in fine are now gone. Not sure why. Maybe need to rotate antenna, or maybe the final switch-over was faulty.

No biggie for me. I got Dish and anyway, now that hockey is over, I don't have much need for network TV. I got lots to do around the house.

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Sometimes the tuners can't find the stations by searching. Have you tried looking up the channels frequency and tuning manual?

I imagine we'll start seeing the broadcasters putting more power out on the tower to reach those folks that lost the signal in the switch. Analog would at least let you listen to the channels when they were snowy. Digital is all or nothing.

We've a box for our camper. It's nice to be able to get the news and local weather while having the morning coffee. Radio is useless for news AND weather in my area. Doubly so when on the road.

mmb said:

I imagine we'll start seeing the broadcasters putting more power out on the tower to reach those folks that lost the signal in the switch. Analog would at least let you listen to the channels when they were snowy. Digital is all or nothing.

We've a box for our camper. It's nice to be able to get the news and local weather while having the morning coffee. Radio is useless for news AND weather in my area. Doubly so when on the road.

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Forgot about the camper. If we go somewhere that doesn't have cable, we'll be in trouble. Of course, If I had my way, we wouldn't take a camper camping anyway.