How has the HDTV transition gone for you?

[SandrA9810]

We've had the worst problems with the conversion. (we have cable now, but it's going to be a pain when we turn it off again)
1. Bought a new tv for christmas of 2007, digital.
2. My old rabbit ears didn't want to pick up the digital station. So new rabbit ears for "digital" tv.
3. Every other day I had to run the channel set up for it to pick up channels like ABC. And every time I ran it, it would lose a couple and find a couple different ones. Like sometimes it would find NBC and lose a PBS or vise versa.
4. I had to find an extra long cable to have the antenna sit in the living room from the bedroom, because it would pick up half the stations with it in the bedroom.
5. The stupid sound and video are not sent together. So you're watching mouths move but not to what you're hearing. Drives me nuts.
6. It gets choppy/pixelated, lose sound, lose video. I'm much better watching tv a little fuzzy than dealing with that.
7. If it lost reception with a station for too long, like ABC, then it would drop it from the program list and I would have to run the stupid search all over again. It would not pick it up even if i punched in 9-1 on the remote. Even in the middle of watching tv... drove Kari nuts on Sundays and Thursdays. And that's the only thing she watches.

I want to say we got better reception when we moved into our new place, the tv is now in the living room and the windows face north and east, which is the direction the website said to point the ears towards.

 

[lynxstch]

and most of the channels are fine..we have digital cable..we have 3 CBS stations..one of them has been a black screen with 'we are having problems with the digital conversion' on it for over a week..we have 2 FOX channels..one of those keeps doing the pixelating thing, we have 2 NBC ones, they have been problem free (knock on wood) and we have 1 ABC one which has been freezing up on and off all week...all these stations had months and months to get ready..why is it AFTER the conversion date that they are now having problems, I wonder???

 

[bicker]

much ado about nothing for 99% of people.....

Well, at least 89% of people.

Bicker, out of curiosity, how many channels and which ones can you receive from you area by antenna only?

Lemme check.

This is what I get with my indoor antenna:

2-1 WGBH-DT (PBS)
2-2 WGBH-TV (basically a center-cut SD version of what's on 2-1)
4-1 WBZ-DT (CBS)
5-1 WCVB-DT (ABC)
5-2 WCVB-DT2 (dead air)
7-1 WHDH-DT (NBC) (I'm getting this on two RF frequencies, VHF7 and UHF42)
7-2 WHDH-DT2 (This TV)
25-1 WFXT-DT (Fox)
38-1 WSBK-DT (Independent)
44-1 WGBX-DT (PBS, different programming from 2-1)
44-2 WGBX-DT2 (PBS World)
44-3 WGBX-DT3 (PBS Create)
44-4 WGBX-DT4 (PBS Kids)
48-1 WYDN-DT (Daystar)
56-1 WLVI-DT (CW)
56-2 WLVI-DT2 (usually a simulcast of 56-1)
62-1 WMFP-DT (RTV)
62-2 WMFP-DT2 (simulcast of 62-1)
66-1 WUTF-DT (Telemundo)
68-1 WBPX-DT (ION)
68-2 WBPX-DT2 (qubo)
68-3 WBPX-DT3 (ion Life)
68-4 WBPX-DT4 (Worship)

Also do you have a roof antenna that you still need to angle to different directions occasionally?

We don't have an outdoor antenna at all, and we don't ever touch our indoor antenna... it is just pointing towards the general direction of Needham.

If we did have an outdoor antenna, we'd probably get five or six more channels, but we would lose one because the same frequency is used by a channel in that direction (I'm pointing towards Needham) and by a channel in that direction (I'm pointing towards New Hampshire). Since my antenna is directional, and I have it pointed towards Needham, I don't have to worry about interference with channels over there (pointing towards New Hampshire, again).

We don't have cable nor do we want cable. We will probably have to get an antenna to attach to our roof now.

I am an active member of a website who's whole purpose is to help folks get their reception working better:

http://www.dtvusaforum.com

If you wish, you can post there, or I can help you from here, if you'd like. However, the first step (and this goes for anyone who is looking for some help with their reception) is to go to http://tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29 and enter your exact address and your best guess for how high off the ground level your antenna is located. Then submit. You'll be brought to a page with pretty charts on it, and this notation:

If you would like to share these results with others, this page can be referenced as:

... followed by a URL. You can post the URL here, on your own thread on http://www.dtvusaforum.com, or you can PM it to me (here or there) if you're very concerned about privacy. (Don't worry; there is no way even I can figure out where you live, closer than a 1-2 mile radius, using the URL. If you're really paranoid, you can enter the address of a neighbor down the street, or some mean old guy a block or two away, but the advice won't be as accurate.)

 

[bicker]

5. The stupid sound and video are not sent together. So you're watching mouths move but not to what you're hearing. Drives me nuts.

Are you using a receiver, amplifier or other type of sound system? or are you just pushing the sound through your television's speakers.

If the former, there should be a way to "move" the sound forward or backward in time by a few fractions of a second to compensate for the delay introduced by your connection cables and your sound system.

If the latter, this is almost always a problem with your broadcaster, and they should fix it. If you're having this problem on all channels, though, then you've got a problem with your television.

6. It gets choppy/pixelated, lose sound, lose video.

See my earlier message.

why is it AFTER the conversion date that they are now having problems, I wonder???

As long as analog television was still being broadcast, digital channels were precluded from operating at full power, because it would have interfered with the analog channels. Also, in some cases, broadcasters decided to turn off the transmitter that they were using for their digital signal, and move their digital signal onto the transmitter that they were previously using for the analog signal. (Why? In each of the cases I know about, it is because by doing so they could save about 90% of the electric bill for their transmitter. If you're really interested in why, please PM me, and I'll try to explain the physics for you.)

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Don't know a single person that its been a problem for.

We have an over the air antenna with an HDTV. I now get only 4 channels. I lost my PBS, CBS, and FOX stations. It says that the signal is not strong enough.

I refuse to pay for cable.

I am pretty ticked off about the whole thing.

 

[C.Ann]

Cable, so obviously no problems..

I wonder if DD's IL's had to get a converter box for the tv in their camper van?

 

[bicker]

One note about televisions in recreational vehicles: They haven't yet come out with any digital television tuners that work in a moving vehicle going more than 15 mph.

 

[Fabala]

For those of us in the DC regional area that don't watch enough tv to warrant having cable, we are dealing with a big ole mess. We transitioned our teles and antennas over the winter and all was great in regards of picking up many digital channels, but when the switch over officially took hold and every stationed powered their digital signal in the area, many of us lost reception over a wide range. It has been a real pain! It has been enough of a mess that tv stations have been addressing it by sending people out. The FCC has officially stated that there are major problems not only in DC, but Philly and Chicago, as well. They are working on it...

I have just got plum tired of searching for stations, or watching stations pixelate and drop out, so I've resorted to the great old past time of reading. LoL

 

[Pigeon]

It's been an absolute nightmare.

We don't have cable and have zero interest in paying for it or having much of the content in our home, so that's a non-starter.

We don't get half of the channels we used to get. We get one more PBS station, but it plays exactly the same shows as the other PBS station, so that's no big advantage. We no longer get CBS at all, which is the channel we were most likely to watch. We got a new antenna and fooled around with it, but nothing. It seems to be a common problem for people in our area with this station.

 

[disney1990]

For those of us in the DC regional area that don't watch enough tv to warrant having cable, we are dealing with a big ole mess. We transitioned our teles and antennas over the winter and all was great in regards of picking up many digital channels, but when the switch over officially took hold and every stationed powered their digital signal in the area, many of us lost reception over a wide range. It has been a real pain! It has been enough of a mess that tv stations have been addressing it by sending people out. The FCC has officially stated that there are major problems not only in DC, but Philly and Chicago, as well. They are working on it...

I have just got plum tired of searching for stations, or watching stations pixelate and drop out, so I've resorted to the great old past time of reading. LoL

Yes, apparently, in addition to Channel 7 & 9 (ABC & CBS) in DC switching to Digital, they went from UHF to VHF signals. Lots of people can no longer receive these channels. There go their ratings.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0609/632832.html