Senate Approves Delay in Digital TV Switch

[bicker]

If your set is less than 3 or so years old (probably is), it has an ASTC (digital) tuner and you won't need a converter box unless you want to receive premium channels from your provider.

Well, not really. Cable does not use ATSC to transmit digital. They've been using QAM for many many years, and will not be changing that.

As I indicated above, CapeCodTenor's issue isn't related to the over-the-air digital transition that is the context of this thread, at all. Rather, it is almost surely just related to that specific cable head-end and its decision to start offering more advanced services. Contrast that with TwinsinCA's scenario which is very likely to be related to the over-the-air digital transition.

Even with that, some TVs have a "cable card" slot that allows the TV to receive those premium channels without a service provide box but (I believe) you have to get the card from your provider.

Yes, rent it, actually. And very few televisions were ever produced with CableCARD slots, and practically none are currently being produced. Customers just didn't value them highly enough to warrant manufacturers producing such televisions in large quantities.

 

[bicker]

If folks are confused, don't worry. It is confusing specifically because there are so many choices available to us Americans for obtaining television channels. Please keep asking... we can do our part here to help clarify what's going on, and what may go on in the future, at least in the minds of the folks reading these threads!

 

[bicker]

I am 100% certain we are getting all our local channels through DirecTV. We pay for them as part of a package. I do not know why we failed the test.

Well, wait a second: The way you've described things, you didn't fail the test. Rather, DirecTV failed the test, and just transmitted the failure to you. That doesn't mean that all will be well as of February 18/June 13, but it does mean that there is nothing you need to do to fix it -- instead DirecTV has to do something to fix it.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Personally, I'd rather that they keep the analog running along side the digital. At our house we have experienced a lot of trouble with the digital and often have to switch to the analog channel in order to make any sense of the program we are attempting to watch. VERY often the digital signal keeps dropping out. Anything can cause it - clouds, hot weather, other fluctuations of the signal strength.

Yep. The exact same thing we experienced when we hooked a box up to our tv. But because they will be getting rid of analog, we now have to pay out money we really can't afford every month to have cable just so we can watch tv.
And we live in Indy. Not out in the boonies.

 

[Carl]

Well, wait a second: The way you've described things, you didn't fail the test. Rather, DirecTV failed the test, and just transmitted the failure to you. That doesn't mean that all will be well as of February 18/June 13, but it does mean that there is nothing you need to do to fix it -- instead DirecTV has to do something to fix it.

Actually, on our HD TV hooked up to Direct TV we get several channels for each station. For example: Channel 11 (CBS) we can tune in KHOU11 which is the digital(HD) version of Channel 11, and Ch11 analogue which is the pass through of the analogue transmission of channel 11, on the off-air feed from our Direct TV receiver we get digital channels 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3. (those last 3 channels are received over our antenna fed into the Direct TV receiver.)
Leaving out Direct TV and just using the built-in TV tuner we get Channel 11 analogue, and digital channels 11.1,11.2, and 11.3.
The analogue pass through on Direct TV as well as the actual analogue channel 11 on the TV both fail the test for "are you ready for digital TV?" This is understandable because these 2 stations are showing what Channel 11 is transmitting over their analogue channel. To me, all this is simple, but evidently a lot of people don't understand what is going on with these transmissions.

 

[bicker]

Your situation is different from TwinsinCA, Carl.

 

[nd5056]

About 1/3 of stations will ignore DTV delay.

Many TV stations to make DTV switch next week.

Despite a regulator-approved delay to the nationwide digital TV switchover, more than a third of the nation's TV stations plan to begin broadcasting completely in digital next week.

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday released a list of 681 of the nation's 1,800 or so TV stations that plan to make the switch by February 17. TV stations were required to notify the FCC by Monday if they planned to turn off their analog TV signal on February 17.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed a bill that moves the deadline for transitioning TV broadcast from analog to digital from February 17 to June 12. The Senate has also passed a similar bill. President Obama is expected to sign it into law shortly. However, a compromise provision allows broadcasters to transition to all-digital broadcasts early if they get permission from the FCC.

Congress approved the delay out of concern that 20 million people, most of whom are poor, elderly, and living in rural parts of the country, were not prepared for the transition after the government ran out of the $40 coupons it was issuing to help defray the cost of the converter boxes necessary to allow older TVs to get digital signals.

Stations have been preparing to cut off their analog broadcasts for the February 17 deadline for months. Leaving the analog signals on will likely cost them more money as they are required to pay for the additional electricity and facility costs of running multiple transmitters. Most stations have already been airing some programming in digital.

The major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC/Telemundo, have all agreed that their owned and operated stations would continue to broadcast in analog until the new DTV transition date.

To see which local stations plan to switch on or before February 17, check the list released by the FCC (PDF). The column labeled Nite Lite indicates whether the station plans to keep its analog signal going for 30 days past the February 17 analog cut-off date in order to provide emergency and DTV education information.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10161213-93.html

.

 

[bicker]

Well, to be fair, they're not really "ignoring" the delay. They're simply opting to transition on February 17, instead of waiting for June 12. The "delay" is a delay of the date when stations must stop analog broadcasts (not a delay of the date until which stations must continue analog broadcast). Stations have been allowed to stop analog broadcasts before now (about 120 stations have already stopped analog broadcasts), and the delay doesn't change that very much. (There are new advance notification requirements, for stations electing to stop analog broadcasts after February 17 but before June 12.)

 

[bicker]

President Obama has signed the delay legislation.

Do note that this just delays the deadline for stations to turn off their analog signals, and give up their pre-transition channel allotments. Many stations have already switched, and hundreds more will still switch next Tuesday.

 

[Charade]

President Obama has signed the delay legislation.

Do note that this just delays the deadline for stations to turn off their analog signals, and give up their pre-transition channel allotments. Many stations have already switched, and hundreds more will still switch next Tuesday.

Good! I can almost hear the cries already...

 

[bicker]

Actually, this morning, the crying is being done mostly by high-tech enthusiasts. They're using all their skills of euphemism, fatalism, and sensationalism, to bemoan the fact that the FCC is going to prevent a hundred or so of the stations that requested to terminate analog service on February 17 from doing so. They're also condemning with predjudice the measures that some stations that wish to turn analog signals off early must take to help residents in their community with converter boxes and such. You'd think that the FCC was ordering Death of the Firstborn, the way some of these people are going on and on. I'm against the delay, but the general sentiment, on high-tech forums, this morning, is ridiculous.