News 4 TV Tech Talk

Canadian regulators get tough on broadcasters

2008-06-27T16:15:00.002-04:00

Canadian officials are reminding broadcasters and viewers alike that the end of analog broadcast TV is coming. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has set August 31, 2011 as the drop-dead date for analog to go dark and they are taking a firm stand on that date. (See http://tinyurl.com/6ahazv for a more complete discussion. Scroll down to “Digital Transition”.)

Since we have so many Canadian sports fans in this area, over-the-air (OTA) reception using your analog set WILL be affected. After the 2011 date your choices will be limited to digital OTA reception via an HD set (or converter) or cable subscription. You should be aware, however, that the Canadian broadcasters seem to be running lower power on their digital transmitters and reception in the Buffalo area will be difficult. The dedicated OTA sports viewer will likely need to put up a large rooftop antenna. For the time being, watching Canadian TV with a digital converter will require one with an analog pass through.

How to find a converter

2008-06-23T13:52:00.002-04:00

Some of us here at the station have noted that there is not an overwhelming supply of DTV converters in stores around Buffalo. If you’re having difficulty finding a converter locally, please remember that you are not limited to brick and mortar stores. There are a number of online retailers that sell coupon-eligible converters.

While we will NOT recommend any particular brand (we have not had hands-on experience with more than one or two), searching the internet will point you to several sites that rate and compare models, including Consumer Reports.

Here is a link to a chart showing where to find converters online: http://tinyurl.com/38mobj. Again, we are not recommending a retailer or manufacturer but simply providing a link to information.

Happy hunting.

Some disturbing facts

2008-06-18T14:44:00.002-04:00

We’re hearing that the transition to DTV is not progressing as everyone had hoped according to some government agencies.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that nearly half of the households that could lose TV service when analog service goes away are still unprepared for the switch. About 84 percent of consumers are aware of the coming transition but many don’t know what they need to do to maintain uninterrupted service. More than half surveyed knew of the converter coupon program but two-thirds of these people didn’t know how to obtain a coupon.

The Washington Post reported that some viewers who didn’t need converters said they were ready to apply for coupons. Confusion exists even though we and other broadcasters have been trying to raise public awareness of the issue.

As far as the coupons go, the agency responsible for the program said that of the 800,000 coupons distributed so far, about 40 percent have not been redeemed.

Here’s where you can help your family and neighbors by spreading the word. Help us make them aware of the coming changes and take them seriously. Those needing converters should apply soon and remember that they carry an expiration date.

Viewers are concerned

2008-06-03T16:40:00.003-04:00

It's encouraging to see that our viewers are taking the digital conversion seriously. We are averaging about 10 calls and emails a day with inquiries, usually regarding the digital converters. And we expect this to increase as we get nearer to February 2009. Below is a quick guide to setting up your converter:

Tips for receiving digital signals from WIVB and WNLO with a converter

- The digital signal for channels 4 and 23 are actually on channels 39 and 32 respectively. These are UHF channels, so make sure your antenna is compatible.
- An old antenna generally is not desirable. If there are broken elements or the cable is in poor condition, you will not have good results with a digital signal.
- Point your antenna at our tower in Colden NY for WIVB. The transmitter site is directly south of East Aurora.
- Point your antenna at our tower in Grand Island NY for WNLO. This is slightly NW of the city of Buffalo.
- After aiming your antenna and powering up the converter and TV, you must perform a channel scan. Instructions for this are in the owner’s manual that came with the converter.
- If you are suddenly missing one or more channels a channel scan will most likely restore them.

Coupon program corrections

2008-05-21T14:43:00.002-04:00

There are two areas where the DTV converter coupon program has failed over-the-air TV viewers: people using Post Office boxes and residents of nursing homes. Neither has been able to take advantage of the program because of the way the law was written. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is now addressing these shortcomings. The NTIA has started the process of making this right and is seeking comment from interested parties to correct the law.

As is stands now, nursing home residents are not considered heads of households and therefore disqualified from the program. The new guidelines would change this and also allow persons other than the applicant to obtain the coupons. Currently, people can apply only on their own behalf. This would help those in nursing homes.

The proposed ruling would also tackle the issue of PO boxes and allow proof of residency from a utility bill, for example, to verify home addresses and allow these residents to receive coupons.

Did you apply for your converter coupons yet? As of today, May 21st, there are slightly over 272 days left to the analog shutdown.

Stayed tuned, we’ll pass along more information as we get it.

Not ready for prime time?

2008-05-15T14:12:00.002-04:00

If you recall we recently praised the promise of better HD displays with sets using the organic LED (OLED) technology. It turns out that the accolades may be a bit premature for at least one manufacturer. Tests by an independent research firm called DisplaySearch have revealed that the Sony XEL-1 model has some problems.

There is noticeable degradation of brightness after about 1000 hours of use. This projects to losing about half of the original quality by 17,000 hours which is about five years of typical use. Sony says that the brightness issue has been addressed in its latest version of the TV.

Given the current high cost of the technology, it’s pretty safe to assume that these won’t be finding their way into local family rooms anytime soon.

Early warning

2008-05-12T17:01:00.001-04:00

In a full scale test of Digital Television readiness, it was announced recently that the Wilmington, North Carolina market will make an early transition to all digital TV. The analog shutdown will occur on September 8, 2008 instead of next February. The only circumstance that would prevent the early cutover would be weather. September is in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Wilmington is one of many markets where all stations are on their final channel and at full power. The area is heavily promoting the coming DTV transition so the public should be totally aware of the coming changes.

One aspect of the early transition will be to reveal any unforeseen problems in the cutover. We will all be watching closely to see how it goes in Wilmington.

We get calls and letters

2008-05-09T15:45:00.001-04:00

We are hearing from a lot of viewers lately who are having difficulties receiving WIVB or WNLO with their new DTV converter boxes. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Depending on your proximity to our transmitter towers, you may get away with an indoor antenna but in a lot of cases you’ll need to install an outdoor one. Obviously, if you live in the city or immediate suburbs, an indoor antenna will most likely suffice. The farther you get from our towers, however, the more likely you’ll need an outdoor antenna. An antenna professional can help with this.

I’ll pass along an interesting story. I had a viewer call recently where the caller had trouble receiving WIVB-DT with an indoor antenna in an area where reception should have been solid. I went down the list of likely remedies but nothing worked. I finally handed off the call to our transmitter engineer and he discovered that the caller lived in an aluminum sided house with a steel roof. There was no way the over-the-air signal could penetrate that kind of shield!

The moral here is to be aware of what you are trying to achieve. If you’re 30 miles or more away from the transmitter an indoor antenna may not work well enough.

New features

2008-04-28T15:57:00.003-04:00

At least one television manufacturer has announced some interesting features in upcoming high definition models.

LG is equipping some future models with a built-in DivX player and a hard disk to use in time-shifting.

The DivX feature will play back legally encoded movies through a USB port making it handy to plug in a thumb drive and enjoy a movie.

The 80 Gigabyte hard drive will allow for time-shifting programs and also backing up recorded material via the USB port.

Look for more unique features popping up in future HDTV sets.

Get your coupons

2008-04-25T14:38:00.003-04:00

We're hearing from a lot of viewers these days who have already obtained their digital set-top converters. If this is any indication of nationwide activity, the coupons are going fast.

If you are planning to apply for a coupon, don't wait too long. Remember it takes at least a month to receive the coupons and then you have 90 days to redeem them.

Get help and apply online for your coupon here: https://www.dtv2009.gov/ or call 1-888-DTV-2009.

More HDTV sets in homes

2008-04-25T14:32:00.002-04:00

Multichannel News is reporting an upswing in HDTV sales.

It’s said that 5.5 million households have purchased their first HD set in December and January, during the 2007-2008 holiday and Super Bowl season. An online survey says that 28 million households in the US now own at least one HDTV set. Also more than 3 million homes have added a second HD set bringing the total of homes that have 2 or more HDTV’s to about 10 million.

Frank N. Magid Associates, who conducted the survey, credits falling prices and the coming digital transition for the surge in sales.

Another tidbit: 4 out of 10 current HDTV owners plan to purchase an additional HD set in the next year.

Old news? Good news for "Survivor" fans.

2008-04-17T01:17:00.003-04:00

It seems I’m always the last to find these things out, and you may already know this, but it was announced at the CBS Engineering meeting here in Las Vegas that the fall 2008 season of Survivor, CBS’s hugely popular reality show, will be shot in high definition. It’s just another reason to look into a digital solution, whether it be a new HD set or the digital set-top converter box.

FCC gets tough over DTV violations

2008-04-16T22:17:00.002-04:00

Several of the nation’s largest retailers were hit with heavy fines last week for improperly labeling analog sets that needed converters to operate after February 17th of 2007.

In total, the FCC stung some big retailers with fines totaling about $3.9 million. They also fined other companies around $2.7 million for failure to comply with other digital TV rules, such as importing or shipping analog-only TV sets across state lines and blocking technologies such as the V-chip.

The FCC established rules for retailers last May in order to protect consumers. Units sold after May of 2007 must have a warning label if they are analog-only devices that would require a converter next year.

Please be careful if purchasing a new, non-HD set. As we said before, if the box doesn’t state that it has an ATSC tuner, it won’t be usable after next February without a converter.

The official FCC notice can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/68zvyx. (Requires pdf viewer.)

HDTV on the convention floor

2008-04-16T21:31:00.006-04:00

If there was ever any doubt about the future of digital television, it was certainly dispelled here in Las Vegas. We saw very little in the way of standard definition equipment on display. It was high definition everywhere you looked.

Great strides are being made from our end of things – the broadcast side. Cameras and lenses are improving, effects boxes are more dazzling, even virtual news sets are exceedingly convincing.

There was even some gimmickry in the form of 3D high definition displays. You didn’t use your father’s 3D glasses (the old red and green ones) to watch, though, what you put on was a pair of high tech polarized lenses and the effect was very convincing, though somewhat lacking in definition. Still, it was startling to see an arrow coming toward you, or a fish swimming seemingly inches away from your face.

Bottom line is that high definition is not a curiosity any more. It’s being embraced by the networks and becoming more commonplace in the local station. It's the future and promise of digital television.

Smart antenna update

2008-04-16T21:01:00.002-04:00

We had a good conversation with an antenna manufacturer here at the NAB show in a special area called “The DTV Hotspot”. We asked specifically about smart antennas and their availability. This particular manufacturer was indeed developing a smart antenna for indoor use. It wasn’t ready as yet but looked promising.

They also confirmed our suspicions regarding the smart antenna port on HD televisions: there is no such animal as yet. TV makers still have to be convinced of the value of a smart antenna. Someday they will and it will greatly benefit the home viewer who is without cable or satellite sevice.

Good economic news, too. The digital converter set-top box on display at their booth had a smart antenna port and I was told they paid about $45 for it at a big box store. If they had used the $40 coupon, it would have cost them only $5. What a bargain to keep your older analog set going!

It's a safe bet!

2008-04-15T19:53:00.002-04:00

Hello from sunny Las Vegas. We’re attending the National Association of Broadcasters show here. It’s a giant trade show with thousands of attendees from hundreds of countries. It’s where radio and television folk assemble to see what’s new in equipment and hear new ideas and technical paper presentations. For emerging broadcast technology this is where it’s at.

We attended the CBS engineering meeting yesterday morning and on the panel were some lawyers from the FCC. To make a long story short, they emphatically made the point that there is no turning back from the analog shutdown date. There have been rumors claiming otherwise but the FCC and CBS kept saying it: it WILL happen in February of next year. I also spoke privately to FCC representatives at the show and they said the same thing.

Are you prepared? More information here: http://www.dtv.gov/ .

Antenna help

2008-04-09T21:13:00.002-04:00

If you have an HD set or are using a digital converter and are having issues with aiming an antenna to receive all the stations you want, there may be help on the way.

We’re seeing new "smart" antennas coming on the market. A typical smart antenna resembles a pancake with four horizontal rods sticking out from it every 90 degrees. What the device does is take information fed back from the receiver to electrically select a combination of those rods to create a directional antenna for optimum reception. In theory it sounds like a handy idea for digital reception which at times can be trickier than analog.

While I haven’t spotted any televisions as yet with the smart antenna port, there are several digital TV converters on the market with the feature. You want to look for the words "smart antenna port" or "EIA/CEA-909 Standard" which refers to the joint standard developed by the Electronic Industries Alliance and the Consumer Electronics Association.

We’d be very interested in hearing from anyone who is currently using this technology.

Analog portable sets

2008-04-07T14:46:00.001-04:00

If you’re one of many who has a battery operated portable that you use outdoors or while camping, you should know that come February of 2009, the TV will be largely useless. The government does not expect that battery operated DTV converters will be manufactured. These sets are still being sold in stores but beware: unless it specifically states that the set has an ATSC tuner, and there are some out there, you will not receive digital on it next year.

More quick facts

2008-04-03T13:05:00.005-04:00

Some interesting notes from the Association of Public TV Stations:

- Public awareness of the transition to digital next year has risen to over 76% in February of this year (from about 51% in November of 2007). Apparently the educational campaign by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is indeed effective.

- About 17% of those aware of the transition “don’t know” as yet what they will do, while around 10% say they will “do nothing”.

- About 26% of Americans think the government is on the right track with the transition program, up from 17% six months ago.

- As of March of this year, over eight million DTV converter coupons have been requested from just over four million households. It looks like most households are opting for the maximum of two coupons. Did you apply yet?

We’re doing our part to spread the word about the digital transition with on-screen crawls and public service announcements as well as information on our websites. We are getting a lot of calls and email lately from people with questions. Please feel free to click on the comments link below each post to ask yours.

How can you help?

2008-04-02T16:53:00.004-04:00

Since we’ve started airing informational crawls regarding the loss of analog television next February, we’ve been getting calls from viewers seeking advice on what they need to do to prepare for the analog shutdown. And we expect the number of calls to rise as the year goes on.

It appears that some people may be out of touch or not technically savvy enough to keep up with what’s happening in our industry regarding this whole digital move. This can be especially tough on our senior population who didn’t grow up with modern electronic gadgets and their complicated ways. Now, I’m no youngster by any means, but being in this business as long as I have makes a huge difference. I have to admit, though, that as a consumer I was feeling a bit unprepared and somewhat confused trying to shop for an HD set. (I’ll have to relate that story sometime and how I made the process simpler for myself.) Imagine how difficult it might be for one of your older relatives to decipher what’s going on.

So, if you’re up on the new technology – HD televisions, converters and the like – you may find yourself in the role of advisor for your parents, relatives, friends or neighbors who may be out of the loop. They will depend on your support and ours as well, as we try to educate our viewers on our journey to a digital future.

Have you heard of OLED?

2008-04-01T12:07:00.001-04:00

The next technology to watch for in HDTV displays is the organic light emitting diode or OLED. This promising idea may someday replace the LCD or plasma set as the new standard for image quality.

Because the display is comprised of LED’s, it’s an “emissive” display which requires no back light. The panel is extremely thin. We’re talking something in the order of less than 10 mm. Power consumption is very low compared to current technologies. And probably the biggest advantage is in image quality. With an impressive brightness range and contrast ratio (said to be up to 1,000,000:1), the picture is extremely sharp with color depth that produces life-like images. There is a greater response time compared to LCD which means fast motion will not produce lag or artifacts.

It all sounds great but since this is emerging technology, it’s pretty expensive at the moment and screen size is limited to about 27”. But its potential is exciting and it could be the display of the future.

Quick facts

2008-03-31T13:40:00.002-04:00

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.

What is this all about, anyway?

2008-03-28T15:18:00.001-04:00

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.

Low power TV station viewers take note

2008-03-27T11:14:00.004-04:00

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.

You have your new HDTV, now what do you do with your old TV?

2008-03-26T16:45:00.004-04:00

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.