Monday, March 31, 2008
Quick facts
The Nielsen Corporation recently released some interesting information on the status of households having HD sets and monitors as of March 2008. They have ordered it into three categories showing percentage of homes with HD.
HD capable and receivable – 15.9%. These are homes that have an HD TV and HD tuner and receives at least one HD network or HD TV station.
HD capable – 20.1%. These are homes that have an HD TV and HD tuner that can receive HD signals.
HD display capable – 28.7%. These are homes that have an HD set capable of displaying HD content. This is a monitor that can be connected to an external tuner such as a cable set top box or satellite receiver.
It looks like HD sets are catching on and purchases will likely increase as we get closer to the analog cutoff date.
HD capable and receivable – 15.9%. These are homes that have an HD TV and HD tuner and receives at least one HD network or HD TV station.
HD capable – 20.1%. These are homes that have an HD TV and HD tuner that can receive HD signals.
HD display capable – 28.7%. These are homes that have an HD set capable of displaying HD content. This is a monitor that can be connected to an external tuner such as a cable set top box or satellite receiver.
It looks like HD sets are catching on and purchases will likely increase as we get closer to the analog cutoff date.
Friday, March 28, 2008
What is this all about, anyway?
We’ve been talking for some time now about digital TV converters and high definition sets but have you wondered why this is all happening?
These days the RF spectrum is getting pretty crowded and more and more valuable as 2-way communications, cell phone use and other wireless applications are on the rise. There is a lot of what some consider wasted space in the UHF television band. (In most markets there are a lot of open UHF channels that have never been used.) By converting to a digital method of transmission, we can fit its narrower band usage into a smaller group of channels and still maintain space for all the terrestrial broadcasters in the US.
The plan is to eliminate television broadcast from channels 52 through 69, and reserve a large portion of the space primarily for public safety use such as fire, police and rescue communications. The remainder of the spectrum will be auctioned off to private companies for other wireless use.
A side benefit of this is that with the new digital broadcast method, the opportunity for enhanced picture quality and more features, as well as additional sub channels, came to fruition. It’s truly a win-win situation.
These days the RF spectrum is getting pretty crowded and more and more valuable as 2-way communications, cell phone use and other wireless applications are on the rise. There is a lot of what some consider wasted space in the UHF television band. (In most markets there are a lot of open UHF channels that have never been used.) By converting to a digital method of transmission, we can fit its narrower band usage into a smaller group of channels and still maintain space for all the terrestrial broadcasters in the US.
The plan is to eliminate television broadcast from channels 52 through 69, and reserve a large portion of the space primarily for public safety use such as fire, police and rescue communications. The remainder of the spectrum will be auctioned off to private companies for other wireless use.
A side benefit of this is that with the new digital broadcast method, the opportunity for enhanced picture quality and more features, as well as additional sub channels, came to fruition. It’s truly a win-win situation.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Low power TV station viewers take note
If you are an over-the-air viewer who watches a low power television station on an analog set, you will want to take note of the following when selecting a digital converter box.
Low power stations are NOT required to transition to digital broadcasting like full power stations. This will not affect your analog set if you choose not to obtain a digital converter. However, if you do purchase a converter you might want to consider what type you select.
If you want to watch digital stations and continue to view the low power analog stations you will need a converter with "analog pass-through" capability. This feature will allow your analog set's tuner to receive over-the-air low power TV signals. Check here https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm for a listing of models with the pass-through feature. They are marked with an asterisk.
There aren't many low power stations in Western New York and you may not need the feature at all, but you should be aware of your options.
Low power stations are NOT required to transition to digital broadcasting like full power stations. This will not affect your analog set if you choose not to obtain a digital converter. However, if you do purchase a converter you might want to consider what type you select.
If you want to watch digital stations and continue to view the low power analog stations you will need a converter with "analog pass-through" capability. This feature will allow your analog set's tuner to receive over-the-air low power TV signals. Check here https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm for a listing of models with the pass-through feature. They are marked with an asterisk.
There aren't many low power stations in Western New York and you may not need the feature at all, but you should be aware of your options.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
You have your new HDTV, now what do you do with your old TV?
If you have purchased a new HD television and are not relegating the old TV to a spare room or passing it on to someone else, how are you going to dispose of the analog set?
It’s important to consider the impact of tossing it out with the rest of the household trash. You may not realize the amount of harmful elements contained in an analog TV. Since X-Rays are found inside an operating picture tube, leaded glass is used to protect viewers from exposure. It’s said the typical picture tube contains 4 pounds of lead. Surprising, isn’t it? Add to that the circuit boards found in the set with all those solder connections and you can see the potential for contaminating landfills. Now that more and more HD televisions are making their way into households, we stand to do some real environmental harm by improper disposal of old analog sets.
Electronics trash, or e-trash is a growing problem. So please do the responsible thing and take your old set (and this goes for any electronic equipment: radios, computers and the like) to an electronics recycler. You can find them in the phone book or through an on-line search.
It’s important to consider the impact of tossing it out with the rest of the household trash. You may not realize the amount of harmful elements contained in an analog TV. Since X-Rays are found inside an operating picture tube, leaded glass is used to protect viewers from exposure. It’s said the typical picture tube contains 4 pounds of lead. Surprising, isn’t it? Add to that the circuit boards found in the set with all those solder connections and you can see the potential for contaminating landfills. Now that more and more HD televisions are making their way into households, we stand to do some real environmental harm by improper disposal of old analog sets.
Electronics trash, or e-trash is a growing problem. So please do the responsible thing and take your old set (and this goes for any electronic equipment: radios, computers and the like) to an electronics recycler. You can find them in the phone book or through an on-line search.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The High Definition Experience
We’ve been focusing on the digital converter boxes recently and they will benefit a lot of folks since it will keep your present set useful until you decide to take the plunge and invest in a new HD set. But if you haven’t yet seen an HD television tuned to a broadcast station with an antenna feeding it, you’re in for a real treat.
Simply put, over-the-air HDTV is stunning. You will be amazed at the clarity, the richness of color, the texture and detail that HD delivers (not to mention the drama of the larger screen). Even via cable or satellite, the image quality is far and away better than anything you’ve ever seen on analog. And, of course, a lot of programming is available with surround (5.1) sound to heighten the experience.
Though you may not be in the market for a new TV right now, have a look at what’s available in the stores. You might want to make the jump to HD sooner than you thought.
Simply put, over-the-air HDTV is stunning. You will be amazed at the clarity, the richness of color, the texture and detail that HD delivers (not to mention the drama of the larger screen). Even via cable or satellite, the image quality is far and away better than anything you’ve ever seen on analog. And, of course, a lot of programming is available with surround (5.1) sound to heighten the experience.
Though you may not be in the market for a new TV right now, have a look at what’s available in the stores. You might want to make the jump to HD sooner than you thought.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Viewer DTV calls
We get very interesting calls occasionally from viewers with reception issues. There was one that came through yesterday that I want to share.
A gentleman in Clarence NY had just set up his converter box and had great results with most local stations. There were a couple he couldn’t receive, though, including WIVB. I tried to help him work through what can sometimes be a tricky setup problem.
He had a rotor-type antenna on his roof that he used to feed the converter. You remember the antennas you used to see on a lot of roofs before cable and satellite became popular? A rotating antenna can actually make it more difficult to tune a digital signal. The problem being if you’re sweeping through and pass by a good reception position, the receiver may not have enough time to lock to the signal. With analog you can easily see a picture appear through the snow on the screen and keep aiming the antenna until you actually see the picture improve dramatically. Digital television does not “fade-in” like analog. You will either have a picture or not. (Later, I’ll qualify this statement.) To further complicate the issue, the converter (or your new HDTV) has to do a channel scan to know a channel is there in the first place. So you have to do a kind of dance of aim/scan, aim/scan, aim/scan. This can take several tries. This is another good reason to get your converter sooner rather than later. After analog goes away in February of 2009, it will make the process that much more difficult.
My answer to his problem was to attach his antenna directly to his analog TV and rotate it until reception of analog Channel 4 was as good as he could get it. Our analog and digital transmitters are at the same site in Colden. Then he could put the converter back on line and do a channel scan again. This should have cleared his problem.
One of the important lessons from this is the channel scan. This establishes a baseline for the receiver - HD set or converter. If you ever find that one day WIVB or WNLO disappears from your set’s channel lineup (and we've heard of this happening), the first thing we recommend is to do a channel scan so the receiver can re-discover what’s out there.
A gentleman in Clarence NY had just set up his converter box and had great results with most local stations. There were a couple he couldn’t receive, though, including WIVB. I tried to help him work through what can sometimes be a tricky setup problem.
He had a rotor-type antenna on his roof that he used to feed the converter. You remember the antennas you used to see on a lot of roofs before cable and satellite became popular? A rotating antenna can actually make it more difficult to tune a digital signal. The problem being if you’re sweeping through and pass by a good reception position, the receiver may not have enough time to lock to the signal. With analog you can easily see a picture appear through the snow on the screen and keep aiming the antenna until you actually see the picture improve dramatically. Digital television does not “fade-in” like analog. You will either have a picture or not. (Later, I’ll qualify this statement.) To further complicate the issue, the converter (or your new HDTV) has to do a channel scan to know a channel is there in the first place. So you have to do a kind of dance of aim/scan, aim/scan, aim/scan. This can take several tries. This is another good reason to get your converter sooner rather than later. After analog goes away in February of 2009, it will make the process that much more difficult.
My answer to his problem was to attach his antenna directly to his analog TV and rotate it until reception of analog Channel 4 was as good as he could get it. Our analog and digital transmitters are at the same site in Colden. Then he could put the converter back on line and do a channel scan again. This should have cleared his problem.
One of the important lessons from this is the channel scan. This establishes a baseline for the receiver - HD set or converter. If you ever find that one day WIVB or WNLO disappears from your set’s channel lineup (and we've heard of this happening), the first thing we recommend is to do a channel scan so the receiver can re-discover what’s out there.
About your converter box coupon
We hope by now you are contemplating signing up for your $40 coupon for the DTV converter boxes. You can get up to two of them.
The coupons themselves resemble gift cards and something important to note is the expiration date on them. You will have only 90 days to redeem the coupon. So, while you have until next February 17th to get your converter, don't put off the purchase too long after you get the coupon. And, consider this: once your coupon application is approved, it will be at least a month before the coupon is mailed to you.
Once again, get the converter coupon scoop at https://www.dtv2009.gov/.
The coupons themselves resemble gift cards and something important to note is the expiration date on them. You will have only 90 days to redeem the coupon. So, while you have until next February 17th to get your converter, don't put off the purchase too long after you get the coupon. And, consider this: once your coupon application is approved, it will be at least a month before the coupon is mailed to you.
Once again, get the converter coupon scoop at https://www.dtv2009.gov/.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
High Definition DVD Wars
Have you purchased an HD-DVD home unit? You may or may not know that the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray has ended. Toshiba has halted production of their HD-DVD systems leaving only Blu-ray.
Feeling discouraged about owning an HD-DVD player? This may brighten your day a bit. If you purchased your player from Best Buy before February 23rd of this year, they are offering to take some of the sting out of the deal by giving you a $50 gift card . Complete information can be found here: www.bestbuy.com/hddvd. They even offer to take your player and discs on a trade-in basis and give you a gift card in return starting on March 21st. The information page mentioned above has a link to a trade-in value estimator.
Feeling discouraged about owning an HD-DVD player? This may brighten your day a bit. If you purchased your player from Best Buy before February 23rd of this year, they are offering to take some of the sting out of the deal by giving you a $50 gift card . Complete information can be found here: www.bestbuy.com/hddvd. They even offer to take your player and discs on a trade-in basis and give you a gift card in return starting on March 21st. The information page mentioned above has a link to a trade-in value estimator.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Want more information?
Two excellent sources of digital television information are: http://www.dtv.gov/ which is hosted by the Federal Communications Commission and http://www.dtvanswers.com/ which is a service of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Lots of good info on both sites!
Lots of good info on both sites!
Converter question
I received email from a viewer today that raised an excellent question.
She asked if she needed to match manufacturers of converter and television. In other words, if you have a "Brand A" TV, must you purchase a converter made by the same company?
The good news is no. These converters are meant to be universal devices. They will work with any television.
There are several ways of connecting it to your TV. One way is to use the "RF" output. This has the familiar threaded connector ("F connector") that you see on antenna and cable equipment. You just run a length of coaxial cable from the converter to your television and set it to an unused channel, typically channel 3. Another method would be to use the audio and video (or S video) connectors if your set has these. This should result in a better picture than the RF connection. Note: if you have a really old set, the kind with two screw terminals and the flat ("twin lead") cable connected to it, you will have to add a small transformer to adapt the coaxial cable to the terminals.
Either way, you'll quickly and easily be enjoying your favorite shows on your current non-HD set.
She asked if she needed to match manufacturers of converter and television. In other words, if you have a "Brand A" TV, must you purchase a converter made by the same company?
The good news is no. These converters are meant to be universal devices. They will work with any television.
There are several ways of connecting it to your TV. One way is to use the "RF" output. This has the familiar threaded connector ("F connector") that you see on antenna and cable equipment. You just run a length of coaxial cable from the converter to your television and set it to an unused channel, typically channel 3. Another method would be to use the audio and video (or S video) connectors if your set has these. This should result in a better picture than the RF connection. Note: if you have a really old set, the kind with two screw terminals and the flat ("twin lead") cable connected to it, you will have to add a small transformer to adapt the coaxial cable to the terminals.
Either way, you'll quickly and easily be enjoying your favorite shows on your current non-HD set.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
How to get your converter
Larry brought up a good question and this ties in with the post about options available to you if you don't as yet have a digital (HD) television. Incidentally, I have not heard anything about the program running out of funds. As I understand it, once the initial allocation is reached, there will be additional funds available.
The federal government has started a program to provide discount coupons for viewers who currently watch local stations with an antenna. You are eligible to receive up to two $40 coupons to use for the purchase of set top converter boxes. The program is in operation now and you can obtain and redeem your coupons immediately.
What this device will do is convert over-the-air signals from digital transmitters to a format that your current analog set can display. From our testing, we've found it to be a quick and easy setup. Most of the process is automatic. By this I mean that once you hook it up to your antenna and television, discovery of available digital channels is done automatically by the converter's scan function.
Complete information on the Converter Box Coupon Program can be found by clicking here https://www.dtv2009.gov/ or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009.
The federal government has started a program to provide discount coupons for viewers who currently watch local stations with an antenna. You are eligible to receive up to two $40 coupons to use for the purchase of set top converter boxes. The program is in operation now and you can obtain and redeem your coupons immediately.
What this device will do is convert over-the-air signals from digital transmitters to a format that your current analog set can display. From our testing, we've found it to be a quick and easy setup. Most of the process is automatic. By this I mean that once you hook it up to your antenna and television, discovery of available digital channels is done automatically by the converter's scan function.
Complete information on the Converter Box Coupon Program can be found by clicking here https://www.dtv2009.gov/ or by calling 1-888-DTV-2009.
DTV Converter information
I'm taking this from the comment section of the test post below to make it more visible:
LARRY said...
Is it too early to buy a digital converter for my old tv's that are connected to a rooftop antenna? I understand that the Fed may run out of coupon money if I don't act now. If I do buy the converter now, will it still pick up the local Buffalo channels?
March 15, 2008 1:09 PM
My response was:
DJM said...
Larry, all of the major local stations are currently broadcasting in digital form and have been for several years.You can definitely get the converters now and put them to use right away. We have tried them out here at the station and they do the job well. Keep in mind that you will still need to keep your existing antenna. We have also tested them with an indoor type antenna (rabbit ears) and depending on your location, this might be adequate for your needs.
LARRY said...
Is it too early to buy a digital converter for my old tv's that are connected to a rooftop antenna? I understand that the Fed may run out of coupon money if I don't act now. If I do buy the converter now, will it still pick up the local Buffalo channels?
March 15, 2008 1:09 PM
My response was:
DJM said...
Larry, all of the major local stations are currently broadcasting in digital form and have been for several years.You can definitely get the converters now and put them to use right away. We have tried them out here at the station and they do the job well. Keep in mind that you will still need to keep your existing antenna. We have also tested them with an indoor type antenna (rabbit ears) and depending on your location, this might be adequate for your needs.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Are you ready for February 17, 2009?
Over the coming days we’ll show you how your TV viewing may be impacted by the shutdown of traditional television transmission as we’ve known it for the last 60 or so years.
On that date, less than a year away, WIVB, WNLO and a host of other TV stations locally and across the country will turn off their analog transmitters rendering current receivers useless.
Sound scary? All is not lost, however. There are ways to retain use of your current television. Over the next few days we will lay out your options and try and guide you gently through the process of embracing digital television.
We invite your comments and questions and there is a team here, ready and able to provide answers.
On that date, less than a year away, WIVB, WNLO and a host of other TV stations locally and across the country will turn off their analog transmitters rendering current receivers useless.
Sound scary? All is not lost, however. There are ways to retain use of your current television. Over the next few days we will lay out your options and try and guide you gently through the process of embracing digital television.
We invite your comments and questions and there is a team here, ready and able to provide answers.
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