DTV transition "Soft test" on 11-20-08 in Chicago

[drh4683]

I heard this on the news and it was also in today's tribune. Apparently the FCC will "visit" chicago on 11-20 and shut off all the analog transmitters for 30-60 seconds. A message will appear in the snow indicating that OTA users should call a number for further DTV information.


So from what I gather, this is like a "pretest" to see how the public will react. A good way to get the message out I guess. As a person against change, I do not look forward to the day everything analog shuts down. I hate digital TV. Whenever I watch DTV with the converter, I get alot of intermittent audio drop out, even with a very strong signal. I hate it. Im so tired of hearing about digital this and digital that and digitally remasterd and better than ever etc etc. Its a shame my natural sense of hearing is analog only......... IMO, digital has its practical purposes, but its not for everything.

Story here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,4081006.story

[Fast_Eddie]

The FCC is "visiting" several cities they have identified as "at risk" based on surveys- too many people don't know about the transition. They're coming here too. I suspect there will be a "soft test" in Denver too.

[peverett]

I am not against change that actually works for the better(i. e. fuel injection for automobiles), but am against change that is just driven by greed(as I believe this one is). I believe the average person who depends on broadcast TV will be worse off with DTV, especially in poor weather.

[drh4683]

Originally Posted by peverett

I am not against change that actually works for the better(i. e. fuel injection for automobiles), but am against change that is just driven by greed(as I believe this one is). I believe the average person who depends on broadcast TV will be worse off with DTV, especially in poor weather.

I agree with you completely.

As for the converter, it actually works fine now. It hasn't acted up at all. Then again, I dont use it too much. I wonder if there is a thermal cut out in this unit? I need to open it up again and take a look. Perhaps an intermittent cap. I am stunned with the amount of lytics in these and the extreme heat being genererated. The extreme heat will only lead to early failure of the lytics if used constantly.

[peverett]

I have several DTV converters. The best of the coupon applicable ones has been the one sold by Radio Shack. With the same type antenna(amplified rabbit ears) it runs rings around the RCA model sold at Wal-Mart. On top of that, the RCA model tends to crap out, with re-starting needed.

I also have some DTV receivers from a defunct CATV company. These require an external component video to NTSC converter, but seem to be the highest quality ones that I have. They are larger than the common ones and do not seem to get hot at all. The reception on these also seems to be better.

I have also have a couple DTV converters made by RJtech and sold by Newegg.com. These work ok, but also get very hot.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by peverett

I am not against change that actually works for the better(i. e. fuel injection for automobiles), but am against change that is just driven by greed(as I believe this one is). I believe the average person who depends on broadcast TV will be worse off with DTV, especially in poor weather.

The DTV transition is not something that was proposed (and eventually enacted) entirely out of greed. This country's communications frequencies are badly overloaded and often unusable in dire emergency situations, as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed us. The freeing of 700 MHz of spectrum space will allow the FCC to reassign these frequencies to public safety and other services, so that communications problems such as I just mentioned will not happen again.

Whether or not the average TV viewer will be worse off with DTV than with analog, that's the way things will be starting next February (except for low-power and translator stations). There will always be radio for dissemination of emergency information, which I think is a better medium for such than television ever was. How many people, after all, are going to be able to see emergency warnings from the Emergency Alert System and/or local stations, weather radar maps, etc. on TV when they are forced from their homes by a tornado, hurricane or other natural disaster? This is also why Conelrad (the predecessor of the Emergency Broadcast System of the '50s-'80s and today's Emergency Alert System) never broadcast emergency alerts over TV, and does not do so even to this day (except for very short screen crawls from the EAS)--after all, again, no one should be thinking about watching television, even for emergency warnings or information, in the middle of a disaster. The first and foremost thing on anyone's mind in an emergency must be to get out of harm's way as soon as possible. In the 1950s, people in bomb shelters heard emergency information over battery-operated portable radios, not televisions, as the TV stations (what few there were back then) were probably all off the air. Today's EAS is no different. The EAS broadcasts over all stations in the affected area (no more fiddling with trying to find 640 or 1240 on a radio which may be out of alignment or does not have CD markings on the tuning dial), so anyone with a radio tuned to any of his/her area's local stations will get the emergency info they need to hear. No one is going to be trying to get a signal on DTV in the midst of an emergency; their homes, including the TV antenna (if they even have one) will be either severely damaged or destroyed anyway, so what is the use? Again, an emergency is definitely no time to be fiddling around with a DTV box, trying to get a signal that may or may not be there.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

The DTV transition is not something that was proposed (and eventually enacted) entirely out of greed. This country's communications frequencies are badly overloaded and often unusable in dire emergency situations, as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed us. The freeing of 700 MHz of spectrum space will allow the FCC to reassign these frequencies to public safety and other services, so that communications problems such as I just mentioned will not happen again.

Not to sound like an a-hole but they use "9/11" for an excuse to take away everything. I'm tired of hearing about "terrorists". They use it to scare us and take freedoms. The only real terrorist I see is George W Bush. Sorry to get political.

[Trance88]

Originally Posted by peverett

I am not against change that actually works for the better(i. e. fuel injection for automobiles), but am against change that is just driven by greed(as I believe this one is). I believe the average person who depends on broadcast TV will be worse off with DTV, especially in poor weather.

Digital in nature was not meant to be sent over the air. It's too sensitive of a medium to send the signal flawlessly. I think of Digital over the air broadcast similar to satellite service. Over the air DTV is just satellite service sent over broadcast towers on land instead of an orbiting satellite in space.

[electroking]

Originally Posted by Trance88

Digital in nature was not meant to be sent over the air. It's too sensitive of a medium to send the signal flawlessly.
...

This statement should be either withdrawn or sustained by serious
references. Don't turn a personal frustration into a smear campaign
against engineers and scientist that have been working decades to
tremendously improve your standard of living! Regards.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by drh4683

I heard this on the news and it was also in today's tribune. Apparently the FCC will "visit" chicago on 11-20 and shut off all the analog transmitters for 30-60 seconds. A message will appear in the snow indicating that OTA users should call a number for further DTV information.


So from what I gather, this is like a "pretest" to see how the public will react. A good way to get the message out I guess. As a person against change, I do not look forward to the day everything analog shuts down. I hate digital TV. Whenever I watch DTV with the converter, I get alot of intermittent audio drop out, even with a very strong signal. I hate it. Im so tired of hearing about digital this and digital that and digitally remasterd and better than ever etc etc. Its a shame my sense of hearing is analog only......... Im working on a transverse wave to digital sound converter, so i can hear better than anyone else. IMO, digital has its practical purposes, but its not for everything.

Story here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,4081006.story

Digital might be OK if the picture remained clear. It is very hard for me to receive PBS's digital signal while their analog signal comes in fairly well. I don't know if it's technical problems or something else; but, sometimes the NBC and CBS stations will go dark (as in no signal) on digital and be fine on analog.

BTW Doug, were you able to get your "problem" DTV box fixed? I remember you starting a thread a while back concerning your box failing.

[mr_fixer]

The problem i have with the digital changeover is that the left hand didn't know what the right was doing. i signed up for the converter coupons and received 2 of them but i couldn't find a retailer that had them in stock, i searched for the 90 day period and no one had them, now my coupons have expired and now i am S. O. L,
it sounds like digital is going to be a grand fiasco, I hope they have enough complaints for the FCC to allow a 2 band standard, HDTV and SDTV like AM and fM, Logan

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by mr_fixer

now my coupons have expired

Can't you have a friend or relative apply for coupons and give you the cards when they arrive?

Phil Nelson

[zenith2134]

SD analog blows dtv away. For this simple reason: It is not compressed. Thats just my opinion.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

SD analog blows dtv away. For this simple reason: It is not compressed.

Odds are that analog signal was delivered to the analog transmitter site as a DTV signal, decoded and downconverted to 525i analog, and fed into the analog modulator and transmitter.

[Chad Hauris]

In my experience I have gotten so much better reception with digital (converted to analog and watched on CRT TV's). I used to get so much ghosting and weak signal issues with analog, when the antenna blew down 5 years ago or so I never replaced it and went with satellite....I now am enjoying over the air TV thanks to digital.

The picture quality of an HD signal downconverted to analog on a set-top box is amazing to me...looks even better than a DVD. To me the signal quality really brings out the best especially in old TV's.

I think in some areas stations may be waiting to go to higher power on digital which may bring better digital reception.