DTV station identification; are local TV stations still analog on digital cable?

[peverett]

One comment I have is that here, on Time Warner, the local stations( analog) are very noisy with quite bit of interference. Broadcast DTV and NTSC analog are/were better than the Time warner picture. I probably should gripe at Time Warner, but I usually watch the local channels via broadcast. I am far more upset at Time Warner for stealing PBS2 and National Geographic than this. I did contact them about losing the channels and got a letter saying "we can do what want, too bad". There is another cable company slowly setting up shop here. I hope it teaches them a few lessons.

The non-local channels seem ok on cable

[JohnAdams]

In March 2008, we were in an RV park in Del Rio, Texas. Boy, was I shocked. I hooked up the coax to my HDTV, let it "auto tune" and when it finished, I had about 200 channels. No box, no nothing. About 30 stations were HD. CBS and NBC at 1080i and ABC and Fox at 720P. Some other cable channels were in HD, most or all at 720P. For the various OTA stations, they had all the sub channels. I think some in the cable industry have deceived customers by forcing them to rent a box for "digital" and "HD".. It appears a box is only needed if that is what the cable company requires to receive their service. They just want the extra money by making you rent several boxes.

[Jeffhs]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have Time Warner's lowest level of service--local channels only; those channels come in better here, IMHO, than they ever did when the system was all analog. I don't know what the problem is with TW's Texas systems if you are getting noisy reception of local channels; they are supposed to be clearer than analog. However, I am very, very seriously considering getting a converter box and dropping the cable altogether, although I don't know how well it will work since I am in a poor signal area, 35-40 miles from the Cleveland TV stations, and got only one station well enough to watch in analog. I may or may not have better digital reception--I'll just have to experiment and see just what digital channels I do get here. Channel 3, the NBC station in Cleveland, did not reach here at all in analog, 5 and 8 were fair to poor at best, 25, the PBS station here, was also fair to poor, as were 43 and 55. How well these stations come in here in digital is anyone's guess; I really don't know, however, if it's worth spending $40 or more on a converter box that may not last longer than a few months (!) if all I may get is one or two channels, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

As far as TW dropping two channels from analog cable in your area and moving them to digital goes, well, I guess that's how a lot of cable systems operate these days (you are correct; the cable companies are like Jack FM: they do what they want and the heck with the subscribers), and they may continue to do so until all channels are on the digital tier, forcing just about every one of their subscribers to rent a cable box.

Like it or not, the company is trying to get more and more money out of our pockets any way they can. This is one reason I intend to at least try a converter box here, and if it works to get just three stations (the ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates from Cleveland), I will be satisfied, as most of what I watch on those channels these days is the news anyway. I have a DVD player and a VCR (I am taping an episode of Charlie's Angels from WGN America as I write this, and have ordered season 3 of the 1970s NBC crime drama Quincy, M.E. on DVD from Amazon.com as well in addition to having several other series on DVD and a lot of shows on VHS), so I really don't miss the channels I used to get on Time-Warner's expanded-basic service; if my experiment with the converter box goes well I'll bid farewell to basic cable too.

[MelodyMaster]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

A I am very, very seriously considering getting a converter box and dropping the cable altogether, although I don't know how well it will work since I am in a poor signal area, 35-40 miles from the Cleveland TV stations, and got only one station well enough to watch in analog. I may or may not have better digital reception--I'll just have to experiment and see just what digital channels I do get here. Channel 3, the NBC station in Cleveland, did not reach here at all in analog, 5 and 8 were fair to poor at best, 25, the PBS station here, was also fair to poor, as were 43 and 55. How well these stations come in here in digital is anyone's guess;

I live west of Toronto and all the Buffalo channels, Toronto Channels, and a few from surrounding areas, come in FAR better (and with crystal clarity) via ATSC using an electronic dish on the chimney, compared with the analog stations using a stacked yagi with rotor on a 36 foot tower. Some of these stations are over 70 miles away and not very high power. Chances are that with a proper antenna you will find a huge improvement in channel choices. In Toronto (Canada) only two stations, CKVR and TVOntario, have not yet started broadcasting in digital. You Americans are lucky, it's done, no more procrastinating; many Canadian viewers are chomping at the bit to get the transition over with.

[45rpm]

"FIOS" simply stands for fiber-optic cable.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by 45rpm

"FIOS" simply stands for fiber-optic cable.

Ah, so! Thanks for the reply. So starts my (re)education on the brave new world of digital TV. I was raised on analog (I worked on analog TVs for years and had a large collection of old sets in my basement back in the '70s) and understand it quite well, but I admit that I have a lot (an awful lot) to learn about DTV.