Digital TV Is Here. Please Remain Calm!Why the DTV transition will give you better, cheaper television.
Posted Thursday, June 11, 2009, at 5:04 PM ET
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StumbleUponFor our purposes, the key thing to remember is that you can enjoy the benefits of DTV without owning a fancy flat-screen HDTV. That's because digital signals are a lot less sensitive to interference than analog signals. Many people subscribe to cable only because they live in areas that don't get great over-the-air reception. For these people—folks who don't care for the Food Network or Bravo and who get enough of Jon and Kate at the checkout line—DTV is a godsend. If you've got an old TV, just buy a digital converter box, which should cost just $10 or so after you redeem your $40 government coupon.
You'll also need an antenna. If you've got one already, use that. Even though many antennas now being sold claim to be specially made to receive digital broadcasts, there is no such thing as an HDTV antenna, and any old one should work fine. (If you're buying a new one, check out these reviews, and don't spend more than $50.) What matters more than the kind of antenna you choose is where you put it—in general, outdoors beats indoors, the higher the better. Connect the antenna to your converter box, connect the box to your TV, and voilà —you're getting TV for free! And, if you do have one of those fancy new HDTVs, your picture will be fantastic—you'll be watching the tube in exactly the same high-def resolution you'd get if you subscribed to cable or satellite.
Now, your channel lineup depends on where you live and where you put your antenna. Check out TVFool.com's signal analyzer to get an idea of which stations come in where you live. Many people report surprisingly good results. When I plugged an antenna in to the TV in my San Francisco apartment, I was able to receive my local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and PBS stations, whereas in the old days I'd get only snow. (The picture wasn't perfect: I would occasionally see some slight ghosting, and the picture would sometimes freeze completely. Once I repositioned my antenna, things looked better.) Because digital signals require less space than old analog signals, you'll also notice that many stations now feature one or more "subchannels"—I can choose from three different programs on my PBS affiliate, for instance.
Of course, your mileage may vary. Some people report getting worse reception after their local stations switched to digital. In the old days, if you lived at the edge of a station's broadcast area you might have gotten a picture that was snowy but still watchable. A weak digital signal, by contrast, resembles what you see when you play a scratched DVD—the picture freezes up, compression artifacts crowd the screen, and sometimes the whole thing just goes blank. As a result, some people in rural areas could find themselves without any watchable signals at all.
Many of these people crowd online forums to complain about the new regime. "Why fix something that wasn't broken!?" is the standard refrain. And you've got to feel for them; suddenly, by government mandate, they've lost access to the nation's favorite pastime. But while the story is sad, it's not tragic. Some people who were previously getting snowy TV will now get nothing at all. Meanwhile, the rest of us will get better Internet and better free TV. In allocating a public good like the airwaves, the government has to make trade-offs. I'd say this is a pretty good one.
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A few months ago I had to give up cable for financial reasons. I bought a digital converter box a few weeks ago and was really impressed by the quality of the picture and the number of channels I get (I live in Chicago). Between that, NetFlix, and internet outlets like Hulu.com, I might not need to go back to cable ever. Never thought I would voluntarily give up my cable box, but I don't really miss it. Most of the basic channels are reruns I can find on the Web, anyway.
Meanwhile, Comcast is offering basic cable for $10 a month for a year. Not sure if it's a one-time promotion to catch new subscribers during the transition, or if they're starting to feel the pinch of losing customers. Maybe both?
-- dobbsfox
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Once one gets over the hump to digital TV, there are some great benefits. The goal is great, the trip is bad.
Congress passed the law for digital television back in 1996, some 13 years ago. The FCC didn't get around to requiring digital TV tuners until March 2006, ten full years later. So, if one got a inexpensive TV or TiVo for Christmas in 2006, just 2-1/2 years ago, the odds are it won't work without a converter box on Saturday. There should have been a vastly longer time period when such tuners were mandatory and when the transition would take place. Something on the order of a decade would have been good. Next, there should have been a good time before that when the packaging and advertising for sets made very clear they were NOT transition ready. Compare the transition from B&W to color with this one. B&W sets STILL work (until Saturday, anyway).
The rules about the picture size, the aspect ratio, the number of pixels/screen should have been fixed, not as loosey-goosey as they are now. One can get from 480i up to 1080p, so most stations went with 720p and more channels. The additional channels don't really help the average consumer because the stations are using them for something other than broadcast television.
There should have been a period of time, about five years, when BOTH NTSC and the new ATSC broadcasts were happening. That is what a transition is. This isn't a transition, it is an abrupt change. This is more like one day we are driving on the left and then, at midnight, we all switch to driving on the right. With driving, there's a good reason not to have a transition, but the only reason not to have both systems going is Congress was VERY anxious to get their hands all the money from the spectrum auctions, which should have been rented with annual payments and reviews, not sold.
Last, there should have been a major recycling effort to get all the olds sets and equipment. Most will likely just go into landfill as they get dumped into the trash. Some people will be responsible, but many will not. We are creating a HUGE trash problem without any thought.
-- MacAdvisor
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