DTV CONVERTER BOXES WITH HD OUTPUTS
In reply to Bob Malsbury's quest for DTV converter boxes with HD outputs, the following letters were received:
o There are a few tuners that have HD outputs,
such as HDMI.
Though a couple of years old now, one such
box is the Samsung DTB-H260F. To be
government coupon eligible, converter boxes
cannot have HD outputs, only SD. This is
because the gvrnmnt subsidy is intended for
existing/older analog TVs only (which
presumably are not HD).
- Name withheld upon request
o Try the Samsung HD tuners at Bust Buy.
They have HDMI and analog video outputs.
- Name withheld, Los Angeles engineer.
o I have a Coby TV convertor which has
component output as well as the usual
composite. As I recall, it might have
cost about $50....
- Red Blanchard, redblanchard (at) sbcglobal.net
(VIA: CGC Communicator Magazine)
[ add comment ] ( 3 views ) | permalink |
( 2.9 / 176 )Here is the official release.
NTIA Release
[ add comment ] ( 3 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 179 )In case you haven't seen this, NTIA is officially accepting applications for replacement coupons. At text version of the NTIA notice follows this message. The notice can be found on the NTIA site at:
https://www.dtv2009.gov/CouponProgramUpdate.aspx
Coupon Program Update
There are several improvements to the TV Converter Box Coupon Program that will help consumers prepare for the shut off of analog broadcasts by June 12, 2009. These changes are a result of the DTV Delay Act and made possible through funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009.
The following program updates are effective immediately:
· Applications for Replacement Coupons. The Coupon Program is now accepting applications from consumers whose coupons expired without being redeemed. The Coupon Program limits each U.S. household to a total of two redeemed coupons.
Therefore, if you have redeemed one coupon toward the purchase of a TV converter box and the other has expired, you may request and be approved for one replacement coupon; if you have redeemed two coupons you will not be approved for additional coupons. Replacement coupons will only be issued to eligible households upon request. Consumers who wish to apply for a replacement coupon can do so online, by calling 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009), mailing an application to PO Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208 or faxing it to 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632). Deaf or hard of hearing callers may use 1-877-530-2634 (TTY).
· Coupon Waiting List and Distribution. The Coupon Program has completed processing approved coupon applications that were placed on a waiting list beginning in January 2009. Consumers who had been notified they were approved for coupons but placed on a waiting list due to a lack of program funds will be issued coupons. (Consumers may use the automatically-generated reference number they received at the time of application to check the status of their request on this Web site.)
Consumers who apply for a coupon and are approved after the waiting list is eliminated will be handled on a first-come, first -served basis, while supplies last. If the Program experiences high demand, it may be necessary for the Coupon Program to once again place applicants on a waiting list. Should this happen we may distribute coupons to over-the-air only households first to ensure as many U.S. households as possible have at least one working television after their local TV stations complete the transition to digital by June 12, 2009.
· Requested Coupons Mailed via First-Class Mail. The TV Converter Box Coupon Program is mailing coupons via first-class mail. Consumers will receive coupons more quickly.
· Application Deadline. Consumers should act now to prepare for the end of analog broadcasts in their local viewing area. The Program will accept coupon applications until July 31, 2009, if funds are available to fill those requests.
[ add comment ] ( 4 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 178 )This article is from the Portland Press Herald newspaper. Some people are experiencing problems like this in Ohio.
Problems never before seen on TV make some viewers wonder whether the conversion really was for the better.
By RAY ROUTHIER, Staff Writer - March 20, 2009
Throughout the seemingly endless buildup to this year's mandatory conversion to digital television, viewers with cable or satellite service were told they wouldn't have to do a thing to get a picture on their TV sets.
That has turned out to be true – they can indeed get a picture.
They just might not be able to see anything beyond a bunch of pixels. Or hear the sound properly. Or see the entire picture.
People across southern Maine have had a myriad of signal problems since all of Portland's TV stations began using digital equipment earlier this year. The most common problem is bad sound synchronization, meaning the picture and sound don't match.
Viewers have also had cropped pictures, with images and words cut off, and pictures that freeze at any given moment.
The problems are causing many to wonder whether digital really is better than old-fashioned analog, as the TV and electronics industries have been saying since the move to all-digital was announced in the 1990s.
"I've gotten used to the lip-syncing problem – I just pretend it's a Japanese movie," said Michael Whittaker of Portland, who works for the Portland Public Library. "But the cropping, the cutting off of information, drives me crazy. I was watching (a documentary on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network), and there were these talking heads with their names and professions written underneath, but I couldn't read them."
Of course, to notice picture problems, you first have to get a picture. Many Mainers who get TV reception over the air found out earlier this year that digital signals are more sensitive to terrain, obstacles and other interference. Many who got reception with analog cannot get a picture at all with digital.
Five of Portland's seven TV stations were broadcasting via digital exclusively by Feb. 17, the original deadline for the digital conversion mandated by Congress.
The deadline has since been extended to June 12, and two of Portland's stations – WCSH (NBC) and WMTW (ABC) – are sending out both digital and analog signals. They send digital signals to cable and satellite companies.
Congress first told broadcasters that they would have to switch to digital technology in 1996, the stated reason being that the government wanted to make more room on the airwaves for emergency frequencies, wireless service providers and whatever the next over-the-air gizmo would be.
In January 2008, the Federal Communications Commission auctioned off the freed-up space on the airwaves for more than $19 billion. The money was earmarked to pay for $40 coupons that are used by consumers to buy digital converter boxes.
Of the problems that cable and satellite subscribers have experienced since the digital switch, the sync problem seems to be the most common and most unexpected.
The problem has come up around the country and is the focus of much attention from broadcasters, said Lynn Claudy, vice president of science and technology for the National Association of Broadcasters.
"Theoretically, this shouldn't be an issue. It's one of the great unanticipated consequences of going digital," said Gil Maxwell, senior vice president and chief technology officer for MPBN. "Some devices, set-top boxes and others, don't have enough storage (to sync the audio and video). This technology is really in its infancy right now."
The main problem, in broad terms, starts with the fact that a digital signal carries both audio and video in one stream of information, Maxwell said. With analog, audio and video were sent by two signals.
A digital signal typically travels from a content provider, like PBS, by satellite feed to a broadcaster, like MPBN, then over a fiber cable to a cable system, like Time Warner, then over more cable to a home.
All along the way, the audio information in the stream travels faster than the video, so at every stopping point the audio and video must be synchronized. Thus, at every stopping point, there is the potential for the two to be out of sync.
"There is (digital) equipment that will help, but it's not mature yet, and it's very expensive," said Dave Mundee, director of technology for WCSH. "Gradually, as more equipment becomes available, this should go away."
At WCSH, many of the sync problems have been with programming produced in the station's studio using satellite feeds, Mundee said. But news reports recorded in the field don't seem to present a problem, nor does the NBC programming that WCSH airs.
At MPBN, Maxwell said, the problem often occurs in national PBS programming, such as "Nightly Business Report" or various prime-time documentaries.
The cropping issue, seen by viewers of MPBN in the past month or so, should not continue, Maxwell said.
One problem was that when a program came to MPBN in a certain screen size and format – say, high definition – MPBN engineers sometimes had to change the size and format depending on the cable or satellite service to which it was being sent. In some cases, MPBN's staff forgot to make the changes.
Also, in the past few months, Time Warner Cable has had to make changes to MPBN's digital feed because of problems that Time Warner was having with offering closed-captioning. Those changes sometimes caused cropping problems as well.
"It was basically an isolated issue with MPBN, and it was really an issue on our end because of a technical issue with closed captioning," said Peter DeWitt, a Time Warner spokesman based in Portland. "(The issue) has been resolved, and I don't believe there will be an issue again."
Pixelating – when the picture breaks down into a bunch of color blocks, rendering the image unrecognizable – and freezing of pictures, while related to digital technology, is not really a new phenomenon.
With analog signals, over the air or through a cable, occurrences such as weak signal strength, inclement weather, loose connections and interference could cause a fuzzy picture.
When the same things happen to a digital signal, the result is pixelating or freezing. Loose connections between cables and devices can sometimes cause the problem, DeWitt said.
So if you're a cable or satellite subscriber, the best thing to do is call your provider, describe the problem, and see if they can help you.
WMTW President Ken Bauder has received complaints from viewers who are Comcast cable subscribers in the Freeport-Brunswick area about pixelating and freezing pictures, and said his engineers are working with Comcast to correct the problem.
Comcast spokesman Marc Goodman confirmed that his company is working "with local stations" to "provide the best possible signal."
But most viewers simply want their picture to be as good as it used to be with analog.
"(Audio synchronization) was the topic of conversation at my house for a while. My son and wife noticed it first, and I thought they were a little loopy. But then I noticed it, too," said Dan Routh of North Yarmouth, creative director for Burgess Advertising in Portland.
"It's just annoying."
______
Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:
rrouthier ((at)) pressherald ((dot)) com
[ add comment ] ( 5 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 182 )DTV Date Not Moving, Hutchison Tells Locke
Texas senator tells presumptice Commerce Secretary that June 12 will remain DTV hard date
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/18/2009 3:01:04 PM MT
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) wanted to make sure that presumptive Commerce Secretary, former Washington Governor Gary Locke, is clear that the new DTV hard date of June 12 is not moving.
In her opening statement Wednesday in Locke's nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, Hutchinson put a fine point on it: "We cannot extend that deadline again. The NTIA has been given additional funding and the number of consumers on the waitlist to receive coupons has diminished, but there are still many out there and I will certainly want to see how you plan to run the NTIA to assure that DTV is ready to transition in June."
Hutchison teamed with Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WVA) on the compromise bill that moved the DTV date.
Locke will not only inherit the DTV-to-analog converter box coupon program if he is confirmed, but he will also get to jump into the middle of the broadband stimulus grant program process. NTIA and the Ag Department are charged with handing out $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money.
The Committee did not vote on Locke's nomination, giving the Senators the rest of the day to submit more questions. According to a source, the plan Thursday is to hold an off-the-floor markup. That is when the committee members are polled as they come off the floor, and if nobody objects, the nomination is approved.
It will then be up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to schedule a full-Senate vote, but committee approval likely spells confirmation.
If Locke is confirmed, he would be in charge of, among other things, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the White House's chief telecom policy adviser. NTIA is currently overseeing the DTV-to-analog converter box coupon program, whose waiting list for those coupons helped prompt the Obama administration to call for moving the DTV transition date.
It is also preparing to hand out billions in broadband stimulus money and help the FCC come up with a grand plan for getting broadband to every home in America.
IF has been the watchword with proposed Commerce Secretary nominees to date. Locke is the Obama administration's third attempt to seat a new Commerce Secretary after Republican Senator Judd Gregg (New Hampshire) withdrew his nomination citing differences with the administration over moving some of the census responsibilities out of Commerce and over the stimulus package.
Gregg was a replacement for former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who also withdrew his name due to an investigation of a private company's dealings with the state government, specifically how political donors won a state contract.
[ add comment ] ( 3 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 162 )Via FCC Notice
Amendment of Section 73.622(i), MB Docket No. 08-101
Final DTV Table of Allotments, RM-11438
Television Broadcast Stations.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Adopted: March 18, 2009 Released: March 20, 2009
By the Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau
1. The Commission has before it a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking1 issued in response to a petition for rulemaking2 filed by Paxson Communications License Company, LLC (“Paxson”), the licensee of WPXD(TV), channel 13 and WPXD-DT, pre-transition digital television channel 33, and the permittee of post-transition digital television channel 31, Ann Arbor, Michigan, requesting the substitution of channel 19 for post-transition digital television channel 31 at Ann Arbor.
2. The Commission is required to coordinate and seek concurrence with the Canadian government for all proposed post-transition digital television facilities that are located within 360 km of the United States/Canadian border. Paxson’s proposed WPXD-DT post-transition facility is located 27.3 km from the United States/ Canadian border. The Canadian government has indicated to the Commission that Paxson’s WPXD-DT proposed facility is not acceptable because it will interfere with Canadian digital television post-transition channel 19, London, Ontario.
3. We therefore believe, for the reason set forth, that we cannot approve Paxson’s rulemaking petition.
4. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Petition for Rulemaking, filed by Paxson Communications License Company, LLC, to substitute digital television channel 19 for post-transition digital television channel 31 at Ann Arbor, Michigan IS HEREBY DISMISSED.
5. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, That this proceeding IS TERMINATED.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Barbara A. Kreisman
Chief, Video Division
Media Bureau
[ add comment ] ( 6 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 190 )CRTC approves all-obituary cable channel
By Sidhartha Banerjee, THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL - A Quebec entrepreneur is planning to bring obituaries out of the back pages of newspapers to a new home on the small screen.
Gerald Dominique hopes "Je me souviens" - a niche network dedicated to broadcasting digital obituaries - will be ready to begin broadcasting by the summer.
The French-language speciality channel will charge a fee to broadcast obituaries, prayers, hospitalization notices and messages of thanks.
The Quebec entrepreneur obtained a licence in February from the CRTC and has designs on expanding the channel to the rest of the country, under the moniker "Remember the Name."
"The goal of this channel is to tell stories," Dominique said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"How many stories are lost all over the world each year - great stories about people's lives - those are the stories we hope to tell."
Dominique said he'd often hear about people passing away but that the information would be fragmented or cursory.
"There is always the exchange of information (among friends and family) , but it never makes it into the paper which offers only one dimension of the story and it costs a fortune," Dominique said.
"I felt the need to do more."
Dominique said the TV obits will include sound, music, photos, video, text and testimonials and will cost about the same as a newspaper obit.
Eventually, there will also be obits and memorials for more famous personalities, including political figures and celebrities.
Dominique estimates there are about 56,000 deaths yearly in Quebec, and even a fraction of those stories could provide the revenue he needs.
Suzanne Scott, executive director of the Funeral Service Association of Canada, said the television format sounds intriguing.
It's not uncommon for small-town radio stations to broadcast death notices on a daily basis, but she said even such local, free service is starting to disappear.
"There are many radio stations - certainly in Ontario, the Prairies and smaller places - that have a certain time of day that they will announce all the obituaries," Scott said.
If the televised obits are important to people, funeral directors are likely to support them, she said.
Obituary television is relatively new.
Etos TV, one of the world's first television networks devoted to death, launched last year in Germany with quite a bit of fanfare.
That network shows pictures and video clips of the deceased for a fee and broadcasts documentaries on related topics. It is backed by an association that represents German funeral directors.
Dominique, 44, who describes himself as a self-educated entrepreneur, is firming up plans for the launch.
He doesn't have the same type of financial backing yet as the Germans do, and Dominique acknowledges he will need some assistance.
"Certainly I'd like to have some help - I'm not sure what kind - but I would need some help," Dominique said.
"But if the planets align, I should be on the air on July."
[ add comment ] ( 2 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 2.8 / 155 )
Lim Hitchcock of Defiance is concerned. Click RELATED LINK to see his editorial to The Toledo Blade today. He has a right to be.From the start, the converter has been a bad idea. But to those in government it was the cheapest way of getting the job done.
From the start, I've been saying that there needs to be several factors to the success of DTV.
1 - Antenna Education.
2 - TV tuners with better sensitivity.
3 - Honest Reporting.
Antenna education is simply letting people know that they may have to upgrade their antenna, or at least the wiring to their antennas. The antennas may be good, but the wiring must be good, too. And the viewers much know the difference between UHF and VHF.
Better Sensitivity is a design in the receiver. There are sets out there that are quite sensitive, but I have also seen some sets that can't get our channel 8 signal from 4 miles away with a good antenna! Come on, manufacturers, your markup is good enough. You can make a tuner that is as sensitive, OR BETTER, than older NTSC tuners. (BTW: The sensitivity issue especially applies to converters).
Honest Reporting is simply that the public is a lot smarter than government thinks they are. The idea of "branding" DTV channels with the NTSC channel number was a bad idea. The PSIP supporters said that it would help people know where their stations are. Stations should have been required to display their call sign followed by the network affiliation. For example, a viewer in Bowling Green commented that he had problems getting WTVG-DT. He said he spent hundreds of dollars trying to get Channel 13. We all know that channels 2-13 are VHF, and 14-69 are UHF, so why couldn't he get WTVG with his antenna?
WTVG is on 13 (analog), but their digital is in the UHF hand. Our viewer couldn't figure out why VHF is somehow UHF. Once he found out this tid-bit he purchased a UHF antenna and all was well. He didn't have a problem with our signal because from the start WLIO said we were channel 8. Period.
I think there is too much water over the dam to correct these issues, but I also think it's a lesson learned about having an arm of government that knows nothing about broadcasting offering, and managing broadcasting.
[ 3 comments ] ( 35 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 2.9 / 157 )CLICK on RELATED LINK for original story.
Peter Svensson ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harry Vanderpool, a beekeeper, lives on a hill nearly 1,000 feet above the Willamette River, outside Salem, Ore. It should be a good spot for TV reception, and it used to be.
Now that analog signals are disappearing, however, leaving only digital ones, he may be losing all his channels.
"When you listen to the advertisements, it's 'Oh, all you have to do is get this little digital converter box and hook it up,'" Mr. Vanderpool said.
"Well, we get nothing. Zero signal strength."
While generally better than analog, digital reception with antennas can be tricky. Although millions of people will receive more channels when switching to digital, many others are finding that stations they used to get in analog form won't come in on their converter boxes or digital TV sets.
In Ionia, Mich., retiree Bruce Jones is down to watching the two or three channels, rather than the dozen he used to get.
"They tell me I need an outdoor antenna, which I just can't afford," he said. To spare the $10 for the converter box, he had "cut out a day of groceries."
It's not just rural and small-town viewers like Mr. Vanderpool and Mr. Jones who are having problems with the phase-out of analog TV, which has been on the air for nearly 70 years. It's being done to give more room on the airwaves to wireless broadband, TV for cell phones and emergency communications.
In Hollywood, broadcast engineer Dana Puopolo gets the local stations fine with an indoor antenna in his bedroom, where he gets a view of the broadcast towers on Mount Wilson, a dozen miles away. Unfortunately, even an amplified indoor antenna isn't enough to supply a watchable image to his widescreen TV, which is in the living room on the other side of the apartment.
"You can get it so the picture's perfect, and then when you sit down, 30 seconds later it pixelates into oblivion," Mr. Puopolo said, describing how the picture breaks up into big chunks of color. "The dirty little secret about digital is that it doesn't have nearly the coverage of analog."
A third of the country's TV stations have already turned off their analog signals. Many of them stuck to the original Feb. 17 deadline set by the government, even though it was hastily extended to June 12 to provide additional funding for converter-box coupons.
However, most of the stations that have turned off early are in smaller cities and sparsely populated areas. The big-city stations are mostly waiting until June 12.
On Feb. 18, the day after more than 400 stations went all-digital, nearly half of the
25,320 people who called the Federal Communications Commission's DTV call center did so because of a reception or antenna issue. Of the rest, most called because they had problems relating to the converter boxes or coupons.
There are several issues that conspire to make digital reception tricky.
They can be especially vexing because digital broadcasting is an all-or-nothing proposition: You either get a perfect image or you get nothing at all. The only in-between state is the intermittent freezing that Mr. Puopolo experienced, which is more irritating than snow or static wandering across the screen of an analog TV.
A study published last year by market-research firm Centris estimated that more than half of all households will have problems with digital reception. The study was criticized by several groups as exaggerating the problem. The FCC itself said 5 percent of households were likely to have problems.
Mr. Vanderpool's reception problem is likely due to the fact that nearly all digital signals are in the UHF band, which doesn't travel well over hills compared with the VHF band — channels 2 through 13, where most major stations broadcast in analog. While Mr. Vanderpool is on a hill himself, his home is in a small dell. Even the UHF addition to his antenna doesn't seem to overcome that.
The FCC official in charge of engineering and technology, Julius Knapp, said that when a station moves from VHF to UHF, there are spots where the signal will not reach as well as it did before, even though overall coverage will be the same.
The good news for people like Mr. Vanderpool is that some stations will use their VHF frequencies for digital transmissions after June 12.
Overall, however, there will be fewer VHF TV signals because channels 2 to 6 in that band are difficult to use for digital transmission, particularly the lowest ones. As Mr. Puopolo put it, the electrical noise from a thunderstorm or a passing bus can disrupt a digital TV picture on those frequencies.
Also, moving digital signals from UHF to VHF carries its own set of problems. Some indoor antennas that have been marketed as being for "HDTV reception" are designed for UHF only and will do a poor job with VHF. In general, it's difficult to make good indoor antennas for VHF.
Bruce Franca, vice president of policy and technology at the Association for Maximum Service Television, a broadcast-industry group, said new "smart" antennas can help a lot of people. These can direct themselves electronically to pick up the best signals, which is particularly useful in households that lie between major cities. In his home outside the District, he uses a smart antenna to pick up both Washington and Baltimore stations.
"I can watch both the Orioles and Nationals, and you don't have get up and adjust the antenna," he said.
Many stations now have an analog antenna at the top of their transmission tower and a digital one mounted lower down on the side of the tower. Many plan to eventually move the digital antenna to the top, which can improve coverage. The FCC also has given stations clearance to put up a new type of small repeater station for digital signals to help with coverage in hard-to-reach pockets.
There are other developments that are likely to improve reception in the future, but it's not clear if people who have reception problems will have the patience to wait for them, or if they'll conclude on June 13 that they need to pay for satellite or cable.
Mr. Puopolo has already given up on over-the-air TV, expanded his satellite package for $10 a month to get high-definition programming for his widescreen. But, he said, digital TV can catch up, just like color TV did after some initial problems.
"Remember the old color TVs that had color controls? You'd adjust the knob to get a good flesh tone, and then you'd sit down and 10 minutes later the guy would have a purple face, and you'd have to adjust again," he said. "It's like any technology — there's growing pains."
_______________________________________
We would like to hear from our viewers. How is your reception of WLIO-DT channel 8? Click on comments and tell us. - Fred Vobbe
[ 1 comment ] ( 10 views ) | permalink | related link |
( 3 / 147 )From the CGC Communicator, Gary Stigall of SBE Chapter 36 has some antenna recommendations that look very good.
A good antenna for viewing high band channels, such as channel 8, (WLIO-DT) is the Winegard YA1713.
He's a real evangelist for the Terrestrial Digital 91XG UHF receiving antenna. It has high gain AND excellent front-to-back ratio, 28 dB!
Remember, without a VHF and UHF antenna, you have only HALF an antenna system.
[ 1 comment ] ( 25 views ) | permalink |
( 3 / 224 )
Random Entry
