Digital TV signals

Anyway, yeah. It won't be like TVs will have to be thrown away anyway - most digital set-ups work by having a set-top box decoder.

The only time I've seen digital telly has been in big department stores, where it's looked pretty ropey. Not content-wise (though that too, I suppose), just picture-wise. Could be all the signal-splitting they do to feed all their sets. I'm not much impressed with DVD either - there seems to be mad amounts of pixellation (if that's the correct term) and obvious quantisation effects with movement and on-screen light-sources. Could be just the cheapo widescreen TV I've seen this format on.

Anyone here experienced DAB (digital audio broadcasting - the digital replacement for FM)? BBC seems very cagey about expanding their coverage in the UK or enhancing their services.

so this is happening in a few months. I know it got delayed by a few years as it is but this seems like really bad timing, with the economy collapsing and all, to require purchase of converter boxes or new TVs (yeah I know they gave out coupons for boxes and I get cable anyway so it doesn't effect me, and I'm going to buy a TV anyway, but still).

That's why there's been a new bill going through Congress essentially extending the date, so you weren't the only one to wonder about the timing.

pig crap now in glorious HD

I currently have one channel (FOX), which comes in all fuzzy. When it all goes digital, is there a chance that I'll be able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS?

A friend of mine converted and now cannot get half the channels he used to because the digital signal apparently doesn't travel as far (or isn't as strong) as the analog.

I would try to drink a gallon of milk in 45 minutes if it meant I could finally have PBS back.

xpost

http://www.ripten.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/nooooo.jpg

The thing is, we already bought the converter about a month ago, and when we set it all up, there was absolutely no reception for any channel. I called the telephone helpline and went through all the usual stuff ("Is it plugged into the wall?", etc), and eventually was told that some regions aren't actually turning the digital signals on until February, while others already have.

So I'm really hoping that in February I'll still get at least one channel. Otherwise, I will be living the nightmare Paranoid Old Man scenario where the government/telecommunications industry has essentially forced me to pay for cable.

Enforced digital conversion = spending = good for an economy in recession

On one of those "things you should know" um, things, I saw it said that "When the analogue signal is switched off, the digital signal will be boosted"

.. which will be nice.

It's funny, some channels have programmes that they made themselves, some have repeeats of old panel shows bought off the BBC, and some have a girl in not much clothing, talking to one person on the phone so's you can't hear the conversation, while she twitches alarmingly.

I could see this being a real problem is you already don't get good reception.

With analog, bad reception = fuzzy picture.

With digital, bad reception = blank screen.

For me, about half the networks come in fine via HD signal, but the other half have intermittent problems where the signal cuts out briefly every 5-10 minutes. It gets much worse in bad weather conditions.

You get an HD signal? Where do u live?

Well, I'm screwed.

It sucks that all I really want to do is watch Frontline, Jim Lehrer and Nova. Is that so much to ask?

I could see this being a real problem is you already don't get good reception.

With analog, bad reception = fuzzy picture.

With digital, bad reception = blank screen.

― Moodles, Monday, November 24, 2008 10:31 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Wow. The end of static.

Yes, but won't it be replaced by the digital equivalent of static? When the screen occasionally freezes up, gets 4-bit pixelated out of nowhere, or goes black for no reason?

I live in Austin, TX. BTW, I don't have a converter box, I have an HDTV. I don't know if that makes any difference in how the signal is received. I would imagine it's the same.

Z S - you are exactly correct.

the whole thing stinks imo

I'm talking about what it does this kind of thing:

http://i36.tinypic.com/20iuebl.jpg

TS "Digital static" vs analog static

As annoying as the pixelation thing is, I'd still take it over analog static. For the past 2 years I have struggled to see what the score was in any baseball or football game.

if you're a college football fan the entire BCS dog and pony show will be heading to cable in 2010 or 11

Moodles I'm just amazed that you can receive HD (rather than just plain ol digital) over the airwaves . Maybe the US is more advanced than the UK in this respect, though. I have an HD tv as well but to date have yet to see anything in HD on it, despite receiving digital broadcast signals through the air for a couple of years now.

The US is more advanced, you can get some HDTV over ATSC, we will be trialing DVB-T HD in Britain next year.

In the UK, some digital channels are overcompressed, leading to a blocky appearance even with a clear signal. There's also the effect where the TV misses part of the signal and suddenly it looks as though there's a square of coloured cellophane over the screen...
Advantages of digital: you can watch X Factor and I'm A Celebrity practically all day... oh wait, that should be disadvantages.

Here in LA I recently cancelled cable (didn't watch too often - wasn't worth the money) and ended up buying a 13 dollar antenna and it works great. We get all the major + local channels in HD (clearer HD than I was getting with 100 dollar a month Time Warner Cable), plus all the weird digital sub-channels - maybe 30 or more channels in total. I'm actually really surprised by how many channels there are - it's weird to have such a big selection for free. Occasionally you have to move the antenna when you switch channels, from say PBS at 28 to CBS on 2 - no biggie. We are also still getting the analog channels, I guess 'cause the tuner is built into the TV.

Analog static will still be used as an "we interrupt this program" prop in bad local commercials, just like you still hear a needle scratching across a record in radio spots, despite the fact that there can't be two radio stations in America that still use vinyl when playing commercials.

Anyway. So much for videos like these:

indeed

I guess getting HD signals over the air must be dependant on the presence of an actual signal. I don't know if this exists yet in the UK.

In Austin, TX, all major network stations have both regular analog signals and HD digital signals that are broadcast through the air. I was actually amazed that this worked when I first bought my TV. To this day, I still don't have cable. I just watch network HD programming and DVDs and it work great!

that is awesome. i really would like to watch baseball in HD. why because it's intertsing

Digital "noise" is called macroblocking, fyi.

And guess who will get to help everyone learn about the transition.

I was hoping it would be that one cartoon colon mascot you started a thread about.

"Aw what the hell, you're ALL Joe the Plumber!"

I just found out today that this also affects being able to listen to TV on the radio. I think we only had one radio that would do this growing up, but it came in handy during tornado season.

Also, I've got some good memories of driving up through Minnesota on a snowy evening, listening to "The Golden Girls" in my car.

what a disaster for tv

I can no longer listen to NBC in my car.

lol

"I just found out today that this also affects being able to listen to TV on the radio."

Totally thought this was a bad joke about TV on the Radio.

being able to listen to TV on the radio

What the Adebimpe are you talking about?

I kind of thought that this day would never come. I hope the digital signal gets boosted a little, otherwise I'm only gonna have NBC, which means I'll miss pretty much all of my favorite programs.

get ready for the funness of digital signal dropout, which rather than adding a thin film of static to your picture like with analog signal weakness, actually freezes the entire frame and judders to a halt then proceeds several seconds later

that's what SHE said

C"mon guys. I'm not that hip.

"being able to listen to TV on the radio

What the Adebimpe are you talking about?"

On some radios you can listen to TV band which is pretty close to left hand side of FM dial. A lot of times you can end up hearing them on regular radios too, not sure what the cause is.

but this depends on TV continue to broadcast analog.

The entire FM band is located between Channels 5 & 6 on the old broadcast frequencies.

And then there's my neighbor who bought one of those night cameras to watch her baby with from the other room and when she turned it on, she saw a baby inside a different house. Never die, analog, never die.

there's my neighbor who bought one of those night cameras to watch her baby with from the other room and when she turned it on, she saw a baby inside a different house

The Ring 3

I think we only had one radio that would do this growing up, but it came in handy during tornado season.

you are so country

Yes, yes. Here I am updating my browser's "Site New Answers" page.

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_425589741_402506_dorothea-lange.jpg

Iwas not expecting our TV to go out as we have some kind of super basic analogue cable but I came home and there was nothing but snow where TV should be. Converter box does nothing. So I need to get digital rabbit ears or say fuck it Hulu and Netflix are enough for me (guess which one I'm going to choose).

There still seems to be some punk christian station broadcasting OTA analogue. Some crazy lady was say her blindness was god preparing her for the rapture. Perhaps no TV means I have been left behind.

Now we can all start to use our old TV's to make noise. Here's mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRNCFuEoJvI

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ed, tape the crazy punk christian station! we need a record of this!

i realize "crazy" is redundant there!

i'm so glad I got an hdtv so that 80% of the channels I get now look like shit.

^

i'm hoping more channels start rolling out hd because having a $800 TV that looks like YouTube is pretty bullshit.

also, fuck you HBO for not having HD on demand.

my tv looks like complete shit. brand new swish sony hd 3d led lcd blah blah but it looks like crap. and it sounds like crap. why dont any of these tvs have good sound? MUST i buy new sound eqipment too? ffs.

something is wrong when tv looks better on iplayer than on my actual tv. :(

tweak the settings.

first, turn off all the "enhancement" stuff completely.

yeah i did that. but if you watch basic bbc 1 or bbc2 it still looks abnormally bright. the other thing with digital tvs is that if you get close to the screen the picture quality looks quite bad, whereas with my old crt tv, it didnt. im right in thinking that i couldnt have stuck with the old crt tv forever arent i? im sure i could have just got a new freeview tuner for it. better to have a higher signal and lesser tv than lesser signal and higher quality tv i think.

if it's too bright you can change the backlighting setting. it shouldn't be all the way up. and don't sit so close to the screen!

/mom

old crt tvs were naturally fuzzy and helped smooth out the picture. new tvs are pixel based and the harshness takes some getting used to. jpeg fringing as well - digital noise is different and weirder than analogue noise. especially noticeable on some of the lesser, low bandwidth digital channels.

aye, tv with a poor signal is basically unwatchable now. it used to be consistent amplitude noise that you could tune out to an extent, now you get unpredictable and horrible loud squawks and picture freezes.

since we moved into a basement flat we've been unable to receive ANY tv channels. now we iplayer/dl/dvd everything. its great. i have no idea what adverts are big on the telly now, and my life is better for it.

i have freeview but i can't remember the last time i watched an ad. the only live TV i watch is newsnight really. #predictable

Bought the converter box to get Poor People's TV. So you have TO BUY AN ANTENNA TOO? Why don't I know these things? Fucked for the end of this ballgame.

If you alrady had an antenna it should still work - at least that's how my converter box works.

I didn't already have one. I got rid of cable 3 months ago, don't get reception as things stand.

For USA HDTV broadcast, your over-the-air antenna should be of the flat type formerly used for analog UHF channels, not rabbit ears that were for VHF. Nearly all the HD OTA channels are broadcast on UHF frequencies. I also needed to add a signal amplifier to get a dropout-free signal on nearly all channels, and if at all possible use a big antenna on the roof, balcony, or high window and run a coaxial cable to the TV or converter box. Now I have crystal-clear reception though. I too ditched expensive cable/satellite/fiber TV service and am considering a Roku 2 internet box.

well I don't have an HD TV, I have a tube TV. What should I lay out for an antenna to plug into the digital converter? $12?

(I'm in NYC, so that's helpful as far as reception goes)

First try it was whatever antenna you can find and see if it works. If you buy a new one, just make sure it's for UHF or HDTV signals; probably a smaller, cheaper one will work fine in a big city, especially if you're up high in the building.

Alot of variance between different digital-to-analog converter boxes IME. The ones made by LG (Zenith or Insignia; they're identical except for the name) work great, and the Channel Master is good too. Can't believe how expensive new ones are - when the government coupon program was in effect these were $20. They're a ton of used ones out there so check Craigslist and the like.

I bought an RCA antenna for about $16, a KCPI (?) converter box for around $60. With my TV in the usual position in the middle of the room: NOTHING. Moved the set and the antenna over by the window outlet tonight; the only network channel I can get is ABC in black-and-white (no help as I wanna watch the World Series on Fox).

I think I'm on the wrong side of the building (faces southwesterly where the big transmitters are north of me). So will a pricier antenna help me, or am I fucked and need to bring all this shit back for a refund?

(oh yeah; I'm on the 4th floor of a 16-story building, and there are others of 6-10 stories in the area, so that's probably an obstacle)

any1

Is there a way to maybe hang the antenna out the window or something? I'm not sure what else I can advise - I get great reception using regular old rabbit ears in Manhattan.

Although the fact that ABC is coming in in black-and-white seems strange to me - I didn't think digital signals did that? They just get all choppy and pixelated, I thought.

Try moving everything to the opposite end of your domicile. If that doesn't work, bring everything back for a refund and spring for the most basic of cable. A pricier antenna is no guarantee of better reception.

The only time I've had dodgy reception in an urban area was in Chicago, and once I moved the TV to the other end of the apartment, it was fine (this was pre-digital, though).

that too... tho that stopped when I played w/ the antenna.

xp

sometimes apt. buildings will have old hookups that go to a common roof antenna -- if you find one, and if they haven't disconnected it...

^ That, if you can.

Also Morbs, it seems weird to me that you got a channel in black and white. Digital signals... don't really do that! Maybe your TV is on the wrong input or something?

well, how did I get the ABC affil at all then, when they don't broadcast in analog?

Ghosts