Many clueless about making switch, while help is sorely lacking
Savannah Young received her coupons for digital converter boxes, purchased the devices, and then let them sit untouched for two months. "I didn't have one clue," said Young, 55, of Vancouver.
The boxes are finally hooked up to her two television sets, thanks to a friend.
Now she's worried about the elderly, disabled and anyone else who might have difficulty. "If I couldn't do it, I know they're going to need help," Young said.
They may have trouble finding help, but at least they'll have more time.
Today was going to be the day when analog TV signals across the nation were to go dead, freeing up bandwidth for public-safety communications and wireless signals. But the federal government delayed the deadline until June 12.
Portland stations are maintaining their analog signals until then. After that, receiving over-the-air TV will require either a digital TV set, a converter box or a cable TV subscription.
As of December, about 9 percent of households in the Portland media market compared with 5.7 percent nationally were "completely unready" for the digital conversion, according to a January report by The Nielsen Co.
Nationwide, blacks, Hispanics and Asians are less prepared for the switch, according to the Nielsen report.
"This has become a civil rights issue," said Al Stavitsky, director of the University of Oregon's Turnbull Center in Portland and a journalism professor. "One of the reasons behind the delay is that it's vulnerable populations that are the least likely to make the switch."
The economic stimulus package approved by Congress includes $650 million for the digital transition. Most of that money will supply converter box coupons for the hundreds of thousands still waiting for them; $90 million of it will go toward outreach and programs to help rural, elderly, disabled, low-income and minority households make the switch.
The effort isn't just to ensure people can keep watching "American Idol" and "Grey's Anatomy." It's to maintain an important information lifeline, Stavitsky said.
"Even though there are so many sources of information, for many people, television is it," Stavitsky said.
That echoes Young's concern. "Clearly, just being able to know what's happening in the world, you need to have TV," she said.
The recession makes the switch harder, said Young, who recently lost her job. She shut off cable, and now relies on over-the-air TV.
Even with the coupons, she shelled out $28 for two converter boxes. She also bought a $50 antennae to boost the signal. She's grateful a friend helped her set it all up for free.
For those who have trouble hooking it up, there's little help.
The Federal Communications commission offers how-to information on the Web and by phone, as does the AARP.
Drivers for the Meals on Wheels program, which serves 300 people in Clark County each day, have hooked up converter boxes on an informal basis as seniors ask, said Julie Piper Finley of Loaves & Fishes Centers Inc., which runs the program.
The Portland-based Oregon Alliance to Reform Media applied for a grant from the FCC to provide assistance, but hasn't heard back yet, said the group's Bruce Fife. And even if the group does get money, its plan doesn't include reaching across the Columbia River. In Washington, the group Reclaim the Media provides training but only in the Seattle area.
"Someone needs to organize around here," Young said.
Click on RELATED LINK for more information
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( 3 / 215 )
Here is our new master control room that was built just prior to the 2008 Olympics.In this picture you see the two switchers, one for WLIO 8.1, and the other for WLIO 8.2. WLIO 8.1 is now NBC in HD. WLIO 8.2 will be Fox in HD.
The master control was designed by WLIO's engineers, and is a Utah Scientific HD product. Employee involvement was key to the success of the building of the master control.
Click on the picture to get a large image.
The Utah Scientific system consists of Miranda and AJA converters to automatically take content from analog, or SD-SDI and convert it to HD.When SD programming is aired, we put two bars on the sides of the picture to fill out the 16:9 picture. Both station transmit 16:9 in the 720P format at all times.
The monitors you see are large screen "picture in picture" monitors that allow the operator to see what is happening on all the feeds and stations.
Two monitors between the larger big screens allow the operator to see the parameter's of the transmitter, that is located in a room behind the operator.The screen on the bottom is the automation that allows the commercials and shows to be played out on the air.
The automation system is by a company called Wireready NSI which has been a leading automation supplier since the early 1990s.
The Wireready automation runs the MC2020P control panel, that in turn selects the programs and sources seen on the air.The operator can take control of the panel at any time, should there be live programming or breaking news.
Each panel has the ability to seize control from the other station, so operators don't have to dash from switcher to switcher.
Additionally, the panel contains a button called "Emergency Join" that allows once switcher to take over the programming from another station.
The master control room is designed ergonomically for operator comfort, and the floors are wood to remove all possibility of static.
In the back room, behind the operator you find the Axcera 5,000 "Innovator" high-band VHF transmitter. This is our digital transmitter.The transmitter is all air cooled, with (2) redundant exciters, controllers, and eight power amplifiers.
We have also kept our original Larcan DTT-250 transmitter, the one we first used to come on in digital, and now serves as a third level of backup. Along with our new generator, this makes WLIO a very dependable source for information in west-central Ohio
CLICK HERE for a PDF map showing our digital coverage (large circle) vs the analog coverage.
We will have more pictures as time progresses. Look for our new ABC and CBS to pop up soon!
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( 3 / 190 )This was posted in one of the television engineering newsletters. The author of this letter lives in California, but the effect can happen to everyone.
A NEIGHBOR'S ANTENNA CAN AFFECT YOUR DTV RECEPTION
February 20, 2009
Here's a little something to be aware of that I've observed at my home:
I just installed a DTV converter box (after all, why rush into these things). I get about 62 channels of various stuffs with no problems. When I first installed the box I was able to get KDOC's DTV fine.
My house antenna is a combination VHF/UHF Winegard model PR-7010. I don't need a lot of gain since I'm in Glendale and line-of-sight to Mt. Wilson.
The next day I was having problems with poor lock-up and continuous dropouts, particularly on KDOC-DT. I traced this to reflections caused by the orientation of my VHF and UHF [professional] measuring antennas, which are obviously re-radiating signals.
Rotating the measuring antennas a few degrees immediately cleared the problems and I regained a fast and stable lockup. What's interesting is that the two antennas are approximately 50 feet apart at approximately the same height. In the past I'd been aware of a slight ghosting of the analog signals on the house TVs depending on the orientation of the measuring antennas.
The bottom line here is that it's quite possible for a neighbor's rooftop TV antenna to cause multipath into your own TV antenna resulting in severe problems with your DTV reception.
Burt Weiner/K6OQK
Burt I. Weiner Associates, Broadcast Technical Services
Glendale, California U.S.A. -- biwa (at) att (dot) net
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( 3 / 141 )This article was sent to me by a viewer. It's pretty good especially if you were hit by a lay-off or job cutback.
Kill the cable box: Get free TV
By Melinda Fulmer - MSNBC
Opening a hefty cable or satellite-dish bill each month can make you feel like a sucker, especially if much of what you watch can be had for free.
The average cable bill was $98.75 at the end of 2007, according to market research firm SNL Kagan. That has given many strapped consumers incentive to pull the plug.
How can you watch your favorite television shows and movies without paying a dime?
Here's our guide to the best online and offline ways to get your entertainment fix.
TV without paying for it
Rabbit ears: If you're the old-fashioned type, you can put out an antenna and get your local television channels for free on your old analog set.
When the transition to digital television happens in February, however, you'll also need a digital converter box to get the signal. You can receive free coupons for these boxes courtesy of Uncle Sam.
But this works only for local programming. If you want Bravo's "Top Chef," for example, or if you want shows from weeks or months past, you're going to have to look on the Web.
Turn your computer into a TV: Your computer is a gold mine for television shows past and present. You can stream or download episodes from many sites and watch them on your computer. If you don't want to sit at your desk, you can transfer the shows to your bigger television screen by plugging in audio and video cables, using an HDMI connector or using a wireless media player. More on that here:
How to watch TV on a computer
Stream shows from your PC to your TV
You can stream your favorite CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox shows in their entirety at the networks' Web sites. These networks have found that making episodes available online doesn't diminish their broadcast audiences, says Kurt Scherf, a technology analyst with Parks & Associates.
Therefore, most are of good video quality. But they do contain ads, and the number of episodes you can watch varies widely from three of CBS' hit show "CSI" to what appears to be a full season of NBC's "30 Rock."
Hulu, a joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., allows you to stream current shows from NBC and Fox the day after they air and provides content past and present from 50 other providers, such as Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. So it's your choice: "The Office" or "Fantasy Island." And you have the option of watching in high resolution, unlike at some other sites.
You can watch shows from many of these networks on MSN TV, AOL and other portals. Joost, TidalTV and Veoh are also good places to watch television from years past, as well as a handful of episodes from current shows. If you like to watch National Geographic or Discovery Channel programs, you can check out Miro, which offers thousands of options, mostly from independent content providers and with excellent video quality.
One nice thing about watching network shows online is that you can watch an entire season's worth of episodes at a time (if you want) or catch episodes you missed from seasons past. Most of the sites seem to have a full-screen option.
The downside of watching a streaming show, especially if you are using a wireless connection, is that there's the occasional freeze or hitch and the audio and video can get out of sync. Joost and Miro also require downloads of their media players.
And, of course, you have good old YouTube and Daily Motion for getting the occasional television episode and short video, should sitcoms start to bore you.
________________
Full article, click on RELATED LINK below.
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( 3 / 121 )I love Jerry Schwartz's writing. This article appeared in The Lima News, and on several web sites I think it's worth posting.
The wonders of the new digital channels
By Jerry Schwartz, Associated Press Writer Jerry Schwartz, Associated Press Writer Thu Feb 19, 2009
WESTFIELD, N.J. I just knew there was a pony somewhere.
Like the optimistic boy who found manure in his Christmas stocking, I was certain that the switchover to digital television would somehow work to my advantage.
Sure, the digital switchover was just a scheme to make money for the government and the communications industry. Of course, the poor and the elderly would be hurt disproportionately. Yes, I was too cheap to avoid the whole business by signing up for cable television.
But I had confidence that we were entering a brave new digital world, and that jetpacks would not be far behind. I applied for the federal coupons for digital converters; I would be an early adopter, a heady experience for someone who has never downloaded a ring tone (or even felt the need).
Herewith, some notes from the giddy digital frontier:
1. The coupons came in the mail, as promised, because I applied before supplies ran out. The converters were easily purchased, as promised. The installation was not unduly difficult, as promised (but only because I prevailed upon my son, an 18-year-old technophile, to do it).
2. The rabbit ears on our sets did not suffice. They would be replaced by amplified antennae at what might be considered a reasonable cost, except by those of us who are too poor or too cheap to pay for cable television.
3. For the most part, the picture is crystal clear, a great improvement.
4. Except when it's not, and the cast of "The Office" goes all Jackson Pollock on us, freezing on the screen and becoming pixelated, Dwight Shrute included.
5. We lost a couple of channels along the way. Goodbye, New Jersey Network!
6. We gained a bunch of really, really peculiar new channels.
You may not know this, but in exchange for their old analog channels, broadcasters are being allowed to transmit more digital channels, which use less space on the spectrum.
Some of them have taken the opportunity to provide programming to underserved communities; I now can watch Korean soap operas, and there are numerous Spanish channels that are of little use to those of us who endured French in high school.
But that's not all!
I'm thinking now of WABC in New York, which in addition to its home channel and a 24-hour weather channel, offers a third channel that seems to be reserved for infomercials in particular, one for a piece of cooking equipment called the FlavorWave.
It is flogged relentlessly by Mr. T, who makes his entrance by knocking down a door, much to the delight of the studio audience. Mr. T is looking a bit more portly than he did in his days on "The A-Team," perhaps because he has spent a little too much time with his FlavorWave.
WNBC also transmits on three channels classic WNBC, WNBC weather and a third channel that specializes in sports I do not want to watch. These days, I'm flipping past downhill skiing.
Rupert Murdoch owns two channels in New York, channels 5 and 9. Each has two digital channels. What does channel 5 transmit on its second channel? Channel 9.
So ... what does channel 9 transmit on its second channel? Want to take a wild guess?
(I've come to think of this as the lazy man's digital dividend you need no longer expend the energy to press the remote to go up or down the dial to reach the other Murdoch channel.)
New York City's municipal station goes for something entirely different. For its second channel, it has plugged into the city's network of traffic cameras.
This isn't very useful most of the time, you just can't figure out what roads you're watching, especially at night but ultimately, the effect is hypnotic, like the Yule Log.
But the true fountain of digital delights can be found on the Ion network's four channels.
Ion already is a little flaky you never know whether you'll find a "Boston Legal" marathon or an infomercial for Time-Life's "Romancing the '70s" when you tune in. Ion's extra channels include one devoted to devotion (Ion Worship) and another, qubo, devoted to children's shows. I note that many of these shows originally appeared in Canada.
The real fun is on Ion Life, a channel devoted to lifestyles. This is where you find "The Weekend Guy," a show about ... a guy who likes weekends. He likes doing stuff on the weekends. He has a little song which he sings about how much he likes weekends.
I'm not making this up.
There's another show called "Girls Gone Fishin.'" It's about girls who go fishing.
But the best show is "Get Out!" It features three beautiful women who have adventures, like bungee jumping. They wear bikinis almost all the time. One of them is named Misty.
Why pay for cable?
____________________________________
Click on RELATED LINK for original story.
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( 3 / 138 )Some viewers have asked why we are VHF.
When the FCC came out with the initial table of channels, WLIO was given channel 20. This channel did not serve our interest, and it would have reduced our coverage in several areas where people watch our analog channel 35.
No other suitable TV channel in the UHF spectrum could be found where the coverage was consistent. For example, one channel was great in Lima and Findlay, but people in Celina and St Marys would have problems. Another channel was good in Auglaize and Shelby Counties but was real bad for Van Wert and Paulding.
The solution was for us to go VHF.
The following map shows the WLIO Analog vs Digital Coverage. The black circle is the channel 35 coverage (analog), while the red circle is the channel 8 digital coverage.
The circles represent reception with a standard roof-top antenna of medium quality.
If you have rabbit ears, or an antenna inside your home, all bets are off for any TV reception as it can't be predicted due to the quality of the antenna. Regardless of what any antenna installer tells you, or how much you pay, the only way to receive good quality "dependable" signals from TV stations is with a roof-top installation. See the brown colored link at the right that says "ANTENNA INSTALLATION" for details.
Yes, I know some people can get a few stations on rabbit ears, but that is the exception, not the norm. If you read a posting from a viewer titled Jim's Antenna System you'll see that with a good antenna installation you can get a lot more than a few stations, and dependably too.
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( 3.1 / 143 )KARE Television: Man Shoots TV Over Converter Confusion
Missouri man angered about losing cable and being unable to get new converter box to work
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/19/2009 2:00:00 PM MT
Filed at 9:53 a.m. EST on Feb. 20, 2009
OK, so the DTV transition hasn't been perfect.
While the early analog-cutoff of 421 TV stations on Feb. 17 has gone relative smoothly according to most reports, that was not the case of at least one Missouri man, according to KARE-TV Minneapolis-ST. Paul.
The station reports that a 70-year-old Joplin man was arrested and charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm after shooting his TV set. Responding to a report of shots being fired, the station reported, the police found the man angry that he had both lost his cable and had been unable to get his new DTV converter box to work.
According to the man's wife, he had been drinking.
Click on RELATED below to see story.
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( 3 / 125 )By James Hibberd
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The digital transition has begun in earnest, and early reports suggest a relatively modest level of disruption for television viewers.
The National Association of Broadcasters said stations are averaging 50 to 200 calls from viewers with questions about the switchover from analog transmission, while the Federal Communications Commission has received 28,000 phone calls from viewers.
That's with one-third of TV stations having switched to digital signals. The NAB said 421 stations flipped the switch Tuesday, joining 220 local affiliates that had already made the change in advance of the June 12 deadline for compliance. Most of the calls, the NAB said, were questions about converter boxes and rescanning issues.
"These findings from local stations, coupled with the FCC data, paint the picture that, by and large, TV households affected in those markets were ready," said Jonathan Collegio, NAB vice president for the transition. "Given the large number of broadcast-only households affected during (Tuesday's) transition, a relatively small percentage of viewers so far have needed assistance."
The NAB said call centers in Virginia received about 150 calls. Stations in Rockford, Ill., received 200 calls, and stations in Topeka, Kan., received 300.
"In each case, stations were able to resolve most viewer concerns over the phone," the NAB said.
Nielsen released an update saying that 5 million U.S. households -- or 4.4 percent of all homes -- remain unprepared. This is an improvement of more than 800,000 homes since Nielsen reported readiness status at the beginning of February. The Albuquerque/Santa Fe, N.M., market continues to be the least prepared.
Some stations switched during the daytime, but an NAB representative said the "vast majority" that switched Tuesday did so after airing their primetime programing. So Tuesday's ratings are not a valid measure of whether the transition has an impact on viewership.
(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)
Click on RELATED LINK to view original story.
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( 3 / 123 )INITIAL PHASE OF DTV TRANSITION ENCOURAGING BUT LARGE CHALLENGES REMAIN.
News Release On DTV Transition. News Release. News Media Contact: Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253, mark(dot)wigfield(at)fcc(dot)gov OCH.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a ... 8731A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a ... 8731A2.pdf
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( 3 / 118 )NEWS CLIP OF THE KFMB ANALOG SIGN OFF
To run the KFMB video, click on the unusual video test pattern (assuming it still exists) near the upper right corner of this Web page:
http://www.cbs8.com/global/story.asp?s=9868675
ENGINEERING REPORT FROM KSWB, SAN DIEGO'S NIGHT LIGHT STATION
Surprisingly, we've received very few calls on the DTV change. We had set up a mini-call center to answer what we thought would be the deluge of calls coming in, but there were only 25 yesterday and five today, and the receptionist handled all except one or two of them. I had created a FAQ book for those who would be manning the call center and the receptionist had a copy. [That's all she needed to do the job.]
Very few of the calls were complaints; the majority were people who needed to rescan their tuner, or who wanted to know where they could get a DTV tuner. The fact that we are the designated Night Light channel may have helped; users tuning in at least got some information so perhaps not as many needed to call.
As I mentioned, we've only had five calls so far today.
We thought we might get more after going through Prime Time last night, but it didn't happen. We are very pleased and very relieved. It looks like San Diego was more prepared than we had expected.
Mia Romano, KSWB Engineering
February 19, 2009 -- 3 PM PST
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( 2.9 / 95 )
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