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Despite months and months of TV commercials, repeated ad nauseum, warning about the imminent switch to all-digital television broadcasting, it appears that there are still some folks who don't quite get it. As reported in today's Trib, last week the FCC tested the new broadcasting system in 125 markets to gauge audience readiness. The test resulted in over 55,000 calls to a help line, and of those calls about 1,300 came from the Chicago metro area -- more than any other market. 4,849 calls came from Illinois.
The switch to all-digital will finally happen on June 12, postponed from the earlier deadline of February 17. A country-by-country survey indicates that Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Andorra, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany have already switched. If Andorra can do it, so can we.
Our take? If you're still unaware of the switch and your set goes dark on June 12, you probably don't watch enough TV to have a cow about it anyway. Just request your $40 coupon and chill in front of Hulu for a spell.
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Let me take this opportunity to rant about just how much I hate the digital conversion. Used to be, when my reception of a station was weak, the screen turned fuzzy, but I could still watch it. Now with digital TV, I can't watch that station at all. The screen falls into annoying, unwatchable digital hiccups or disappears completely. This is an example of a technological "improvement" that fails miserably.
I doubt I'll ever see CBS again after June 12.
You hit the nail on the head there! The real problem with this is that there are still people who live on the outskirts of the range of stations and yet rely on their TV for important information -- I'm thinking tornado warnings in rural KS or hurricane warnings in rural Gulf Coast states.
The change to digital TV is essentially giving a big FU to these people for the sake of giving the FCC some additional bandwidth to sell off to the highest bidder. Anyone that wants digital TV already has it or can easily get it by getting cable or satellite and those that are still using rabbit ears for their TV reception, probably could care less about "increased definition."
Thanks again FCC for doing absolutely nothing right!
You hit the nail on the head there! The real problem with this is that there are still people who live on the outskirts of the range of stations and yet rely on their TV for important information -- I'm thinking tornado warnings in rural KS or hurricane warnings in rural Gulf Coast states.
The change to digital TV is essentially giving a big FU to these people for the sake of giving the FCC some additional bandwidth to sell off to the highest bidder. Anyone that wants digital TV already has it or can easily get it by getting cable or satellite and those that are still using rabbit ears for their TV reception, probably could care less about "increased definition."
Thanks again FCC for doing absolutely nothing right!
Actually you will get CBS better than ever. Along with the switch to digital there will be a reassignment of the channel assignments of some stations (CBS in Chicago is one of them). In the FCC spectrum allocation channels 2-6 are far separated from 7+ which makes it difficult for some smaller antennas to recieve 2-6. CBS moves from channel 2 to 12 (it will still show up as 2 on your TV though through virtual channels).
All told the digital transition is a great thing. It allows for a more efficient use of the spectrum and frees up a large chunk (the old channels 2-6) for other uses. With digital I have 4 WTTWs, Universal Sports Channel (5.3), HD content and 5.1 surround sound. In Chicago there should be nothing but an improvement. The areas the will be most effected are the outlying areas where it will take time to build signal repeaters to fill in holes that used to be served by analog signal since digital has shorter effective range.
I shall believe this when I see it. Thus far, I've seen only a degradation in the channels I do get. Sure, I get 4 WTTWs now, but every one of them tends to freeze, derezz, or go black on a regular basis. The same holds true with NBC, ABC, and Fox.
Mind you, I live in Logan Square, not some transmission black hole on the edge of civilization. I expect that come June 12, I'll just be watching a lot less television.
Based on this info I'd suspect that there is an issue with your antenna or placement. Mine is on the roof and is in direct line of sight with both the What'ca talkin' 'bout Willis Tower and the Hancock Tower (these are where all major broadcasts come from in Chicago). I have never experienced an reception problems. If you are in a garden apartment of a brick building you will have problems.
I'm on the second floor and can see the Hancock antennas from my back deck. (Sears is blocked by a single brick building about 300 feet away.) I've tried two different antennas and three different converters, have rescanned multiple times, and I still get crap. Meanwhile, my analogue reception works just fine.
So I am forced to wonder progress is defined as the incorporation of ever more delicate technologies.
The snide "you must live in a garden apartment" remarks are tiring. We got the digital converter box and couldn't get CBS for crap until my hubs spent half a day rigging some wire that now hangs out our kitchen window. We live on the 6th floor, not in a basement somewhere.
On any channel, we've noticed that fast motion on the screen causes it to black out. Digital wonderland, baby.
CBS claims that after noon on June 12, their signal will be far stronger.
You'll have to rescan all your TV sets & converter boxes as Channel 2 will change frequencies & supposedly increase the wattage of their transmitter.
It's going to be interesting to see if that works.
If it doesn't, there's going to be a shitstorm from both viewers & CBS!
One would certainly hope so. Since I upgraded to an HDTV over a year ago I haven't been able to get my fix of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, NCIS and who could forget, NCIS: Los Angeles.
This is why delaying the switch until June was stupid. Some people will wait until the last minute, whenever the last minute is.
CBS used to be bad but I've rescanned a few times and now it comes in pretty strong. Channel 7 is the one that I can't seem to dial in period.
I suppose 1,300 calls in a metro area of 10 million isn't all that horrible really.
Will they create universal remotes now that operate the new digital boxes? Because the remote that came with my digital box is terrible. It's tiny, cheaply-made ... it will probably break in a month of use.
I was picking up CBS2 (and others) on digital OTA a couple years ago from Lincoln Square. On a cheap pair of 10 year old rabbit ears (you do NOT necessarily need a "digital antenna"), I couldn't pick up anything on analog. But switch to digital, and everything came in crystal clear.
I would imagine you might have more issues in a garden-level apartment or something.
So no more WNDU-TV in the late evenigs from Indiana or the occasional TV station from Wisconsin or Michigan? That's what made having an antenna magical for me. Local newscasts from other states... now a thing of the past.
There's always radio. I picked up a minor league hockey game from London Ontario once in SW Michigan.
You used to be able to pick up WJR out of Detroit for miiiiiiiles back in the old days, particularly to the north. There was something cool about camping way up in the wilderness and being able to listen to baseball games like you were in the city.
Eh. Sure, I'm ignorant about it -- because I ditched cable and broadcast TV entirely. I watch TV online at Hulu and similar sites, or I wait until a show comes out on DVD. There's no news I can get on TV that I can't get online, and I have the added benefit of not having to watch newscasters pretend to be concerned over bad news. Full of win.
The only time I miss it is when I'm home sick and I have a sudden craving for a Hannah Montana marathon. I think that can be excused as the raving of a sick woman, though.
Yea Marly Marl
Marion, I clueless about this too. But I do dig Hulu! Thanks for reminding me about it.
Any way, I wonder what would happen if watching TV got harder/more expensive in America? Maybe people would get smarter
Marion, I was with you until the Hannah Montana thing. Haven't had cable/satellite for over seven years (the last time I had roommates), and the one or two shows I can be bothered to watch on broadcast television can be easily found on Hulu or iTunes if I feel like seeing them.