T-24 Hrs Until the End of Canada's Analog TV - Videokarma.org TV - Video

colorfixer · #1 08-31-2011, 01:23 AM

With just about 24 hours until the end of Canada's analog tv in their major cities, the only thing left will be their "public broadcaster" CBC for about another year and some low power translators.

Enjoy it while you can?

miniman82 · #2 08-31-2011, 01:32 PM

Ho-hum....

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=252028
http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=251920

etype2 · #3 08-31-2011, 01:33 PM

The American digital converter box's should work with Canadian analogue sets. You can continue using old TV's.

wa2ise · #4 08-31-2011, 01:43 PM

http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/123946
Story on this at TVTechnology.

If the Canadian stations act like the American ones a few years ago, expect the analog signals to end at various times thru the day. They probably will not wait until midnight to shut off the analog transmitters.

electroking · #5 08-31-2011, 02:20 PM

V-TV (formerly TQS) turned off its NTSC transmitters at least 2 weeks ago.
On the other hand, a number of major stations are planning to go from NTSC
to ATSC overnight, on the same RF channels. Risky business!

All the converters I have bought were surplus from the U.S. market, including
one (sorry I don't have the brand on hand) with reference to the 40$ coupon
on the package. There was no government subsidy program in this country.

MelodyMaster · #6 08-31-2011, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa2ise

http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/123946
Story on this at TVTechnology.

If the Canadian stations act like the American ones a few years ago, expect the analog signals to end at various times thru the day. They probably will not wait until midnight to shut off the analog transmitters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by electroking

V-TV (formerly TQS) turned off its NTSC transmitters at least 2 weeks ago.
On the other hand, a number of major stations are planning to go from NTSC
to ATSC overnight, on the same RF channels. Risky business!

All the converters I have bought were surplus from the U.S. market, including
one (sorry I don't have the brand on hand) with reference to the 40$ coupon
on the package. There was no government subsidy program in this country.

Yah, in the Toronto area analog stations have been disappearing over the last two weeks. TVO turned on their digital transmitters in the middle of August. CBC has been all-digital on-air for four years now, it's just a matter of shutting down the analog stations in bigger markets. The boondocks will have analog repeaters for a while yet. TVO and Global both switched the SAME channel from analog to digital overnight. Right now, on the 31st, there's not much left to happen. it hasn't been a mad dash to switch everything over on the last day.

With a Samsung Plasma, and ATSC capture cards in my computers, I've been receiving HD over the air since 2007. For analog sets I just feed a baseband signal from satellite or a PC tuner into an SVHS and use the channel 3 out.

I was sorry to see the 4Kw channel 6 Global transmitter in Paris switch overnight to ATSC last week. That transmitter has been going since the Global network was founded and felt like an old friend.

colorfixer · #7 09-01-2011, 12:35 AM

Most of the stations that went dark in analog today have had ATSC running at various power levels for a couple of years. Those that are going to change over to ATSC on the same channel as NTSC simply have two transmitters, and will simply swap to the digital tx. Broadcasters usually run a main and a backup transmitter: They would have the analog backup replaced with a digital, and once changed over, would replace the analog main with another digital transmitter. The risk is a non-issue since they would have tested their new ATSC tx into a dummy load before going on the air.

The issue is that the power levels they are running for ATSC are much lower than that of analog. CBC in Vancouver was rumored to keep english and french running analog for another year, but will actually switch over at midnight, going dark on CH2 and changing their UHF channel. This will mean an end to a signal that has been on lowband continuously since 1953. Their french service will be swapped over to ATSC on the same channel, but their english ATSC channel will change. This would be challenging because broadcasters typically use combining to allow multiple transmitters (stations) into a shared antenna, and each combiner is tuned (or made) to one channel. Retuning these are not a trivial matter.

MelodyMaster · #8 09-01-2011, 05:58 AM

Right now I can't get either of the CTV-2 channels, 3 in Barrie or 13 in Kitchener, I did get them on analog yesterday. So they're either dark, or reception is too weak. There's no CTV-2 station local to Toronto, I don't believe.

captainmoody · #9 09-01-2011, 10:30 AM

Well, no more Analog CBC 9 Windsor either. I watched the news at noon yesterday, everything looked fine. Then by the time I tuned in the 6:00 news, there was no color, some video smearing, and reduced signal strength. Oh well, out with the old and in with the new.. I now have to use a converter for all my US/Canadian stations.
I first started watching that channel in 1968 when it was CKLW TV..

MelodyMaster · #10 09-01-2011, 04:19 PM

I remember CKLW well from the 1960s when I lived in Sarnia. And we had a separate yagi for CFPL London, which I could weakly receive in Mississauga and that shut off its analog transmitter two days ago.

Well that's it, I'm surprised at how complete the analog shutdown is in the Toronto area. I can only find ONE analog station, an unlisted Global repeater on channel 27.

Still no OTA reception of any CTV-2 stations, and Bell satellite only carries it in SD.

colorfixer · #11 09-01-2011, 11:36 PM

I really liked CBC's reasoning as to why you may not have TV:

" If this is the case, there is a chance that you may lose your signal. That’s because digital signals do not travel as far as analogue ones do. You may need to subscribe to a cable or satellite service in order to continue receiving a CBC television signal."

..or maybe its because they were 100kW on VHF in analog and 30kW on UHF in digital.

Robert Grant · #12 09-05-2011, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelodyMaster

<snip>
I can only find ONE analog station, an unlisted Global repeater on channel 27.
<snip>

It is listed. It is CIII-TV-27 in Peterborough.

MelodyMaster · #13 09-06-2011, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

It is listed. It is CIII-TV-27 in Peterborough.

The transmitter in Peterborough is 80 miles away, the wrong side of my apartment building, and at right angles to the direction in which my antenna is pointing. And there's no Tropo going on. But it's possible I suppose.