February 18th headline:
Best Buy won't take back your digital converter box even though you can't get digital tv reception

Transitioning for the bird is one thing, but the military atop of Haleakala probably had more to do with the early switch and the relocation of towers.

Alternate headline: Slack-jawed, incurious people aren't worthy of Oprah in HD.

I work at the radio shack, and dread the day that the transition happens... all the explanations, all the angry old people.

@egoods: I'm desperately trying to find a job somewhere else over it.

I live in a rural area. I explain the tech and how it's supposed to work but people barely get analog signal that works out here, and I doubt that a digital signal with lessened range is going to do them any good.

Consumers got fucked over good on this transition.

OT, but where is the Friday flickr pool post? I like those.

@ Carey:
The dark-rumped petrel is a real bird its the more common name for the Galapagos Petrel or its sub/split off species the Hawaiian petrel (also known as the Ua'u). but while the Galapagos Petrel is endangered yhe Hawaiian Petrel isnt..so you could have a point about the FCC usng the bird as an excuse

I live in an inner ring suburb here in Lexington, a big city by no means, but also not one of the rural villages and hamlets that fill most of Kentucky. However, with your basic $25 amplified antenna even our analog reception was spotty. (Combination of living directly at the foot of a small, but very steep hill, some nearby transmission lines and a lot of mature tree). Our new TV arrived a few weeks ago and while the quality of a perfect digital signal is even better, the frequent artifacts and loss of audio mean that we often switch back to the analog signal. If that is the reception we get in the city, a lot of people are going to be really pissed in a few weeks.

When spring comes I'll probably consider adding an external antenna. Unlike many, I have the skills and know-how to do it myself. I don't really like the idea of having a big ugly aerial outside my house (alas, we have one station that is VHF, so I can't use the slim UHF externals and the attic isn't an option), but I like the idea of a monthly cable bill even less, especially since it looks like I'll be getting 15-20 over-the-air channels once that external antenna is up.

@Trai_Dep: DTV (Digital TV) is not the same as HDTV (High Def TV). DTV is still broadcast in 420p, not 720p or 1080p required for HDTV. The only difference is that the over the air signal is Digital instead of Analog. A byproduct of digital signals is that its more flakey and if you live in an area with current poor analog reception, you'll most likely have no digital reception.

Wow, this is the first I've read about how many people wont be able to actually *receive* the digital signals, despite having a converter box. I wonder how much the FCC thought that through.

The dark-rumped petrel isn't made up, but the bird is no longer officially known by this name. In 2006, the species was split into the Galápagos Petrel and the Hawaiian Petrel. Ironically, The Galápagos Petrel is the one which lives in Hawaii. Okay, I'm just kidding.

I've got a large outdoor antenna, am only 30 miles from the towers, and I still lose the digital broadcasts, especially during severe weather (a great time to lose critical weather info!) During tornado warnings last summer, at least I could switch back to analog. Frankly, I think the decision makers behind this switch didn't fully think things through, but what else is new?

I can just imagine where this goes next. Because receiving TV is a "right", taxpayers have already footed the bill for hundreds of millions of dollars so nobody misses Oprah come February 17th. Who wants to bet that all those poor folks who can't receive the digital signals because of location, terrain, etc. are going to want govt. subsidized satellite or cable.

The dirty little secret of DTV that nobody has made much mention of is that there's a huge difference between the range of DTV and analog signals.

Whatever analog TV channels people are receiving that are marginal and snowy now will be gone once the switch to digital is complete.

Not that I care because there's very little on conventional TV worth watching, but if I did, I'd be pretty upset.

@egoods: Besides issues with the equipment itself, I think many older folks still don't realize a digital format is a series of "blacks and whites" or "yeses and nos" as opposed to grays or maybes. It's not their fault, but I still don't envy you.

@starbreiz: I doubt they care. The FCC is only interested in serving the public interest if doing so generates lots of $$$$$$. The switch to DTV was motivated by the industry and the FCC's push to cram more signals into less frequency spectrum so they can auction off the resulting unused spectrum to the highest bidder.

@wickedpixel: Personally, I've gotten better DTV reception than analog.

@Ryan Duff: You must be so. Much. FUN. at teh partays.

I can't wait to hear about the amount of calls when florida changes into DTV.

@Trai_Dep: (thanks for the explanation for the uninitiated, tho :))

My parents live in rural Maine, according to antennaweb they will only recieve one channel out of 4 when the digital switch happens, even that requires a roof top antenna, which they have. So they better be able to continue to afford directv or they are gonna have to start putting on puppet shows.

I'm from Macon, Georgia and I purchased 3 DTV boxes from Walmart to convert my mother's tvs...She's 78 years old and lives on local news, soap operas, and game shows. Our main local channel is WMAZ which normally has more than perfect reception with the rabbit ears she has on all her tvs. The other local channels often had less than perfect reception. I was very surprised to see major channel would not come in at all in any of the rooms I placed the DTV boxes.

So, I returned them (Walmart had no problem refunding me the money) and had Direct Tv come out and put all her local channels on a digital satellite.

It's not as frugal an option as the converter boxes in the long run, but at least I won't be getting calls from my mother while I'm at work saying she's missing Dr. Phil's latest episode.

@wickedpixel: I'm sure any store with a specific "no returns" or "final sale" purchase won't reimburse you for buyer's remorse eithe... Make sure you can use a product before purchasing it. It's called being a responsible consumer.

How about a little perspective tempered by some facts?

According to the US Census Bureau [quickfacts.census.gov] , there are just shy of 400,000 households in Hawaii. The story states the government estimates there are 20,000 households still receiving OTA television and that roughly 300 calls came in to a special helpdesk set up for the transition. So, depending on how you like your statistics, less than 0.1% of the total households in the state or 1.5% of the still OTA-only households had an issue with the transition.

Not exactly Armageddon, folks. This is as ready as we're ever gonna get.

@Metschick: I also wish to know where the flickr post is.

@jeffbone:

I agree, we'll never be 100% ready for this, we should go ahead and get it over while most baby boomer's can figure out a digital converter box on their own.

It's time all the people wanting to delay the switch start caring about the rest of us and start pushing the broadcasters to use those extra channels instead of running weather or car commercials all day.

@Carias: There's no 100% way to test this without a digital converter box!

Cable companies are using the transition to upsell digital services (not needed, as they're supposed to continue providing analog service for three years after the switch; this doesn't stop companies such as Cox moving channels from the analog tiers to digital-only tiers that cost you an extra $11 or more per month.)

As for the blacking out of many viewers...well, this is going to happen all over, and the carnage is going to be impressive, and it's not just old folks who'll be upset and having issues, it'll go right across the board. There's lot of people who can't afford cable or satellite, and a lot of people who don't want either one (especially cable, which is a collection of monopolizers given government approval), and a lot of people in rural areas who can't get cable service and likely can't easily get satellite service because they're out in the back of beyond. Access to analog isn't all that reliable; digital is basically going to black them out completely -- broadcasters will need to install repeaters and relays if they're going to stand a chance of retaining those viewers. In the current broadcast market, they can ill afford to lose viewers.

I'm presently living in an urban area, downtown. I can't get Fox for love or money using a powered antenna and a booster, CBS seems to depend on wind direction, NBC can be made solid if I work at it, but their technicians here seem to be baffled by how the whole aspect ratio thing works, and ABC is just bland. Of the over-the-air digital signals, only the two PBS broadcasters seem solid and reliable, with subchannels intact.

I do have cable -- analog only. Which frankly looks like crap for the most part, with highly degraded signals on the over the air networks.

I guess I never realized that the digital switchover is going to be bad for people. I have cable, but my grandma lives in a big city and she got her converter back in November. She went from getting 6 analog channels to 14 or 15 digital channels. She loves it.

My parents are in a suburb of Minneapolis, and only 11-12 miles from the transmission towers and should only need a small, multi-directional antenna (according to AntennaWeb). They can pick up the analog stations just fine, but with digital they get macroblocking and audio dropouts whenever the wind blows, geese fly overhead, etc. I'm not exaggerating. My dad is pissed about how they have really dropped the ball with this. At first the commercials were saying "You only need a converter box", and now they are saying you may need to upgrade your antenna, too.

What a cluster.

@Keen314: That's still not the retailer's problem, though. You take the chance when you buy it, or buy anything for that matter, that it might not work for you. There are plenty of resources like antennaweb.org that can give you what is (in my experience) a very accurate picture of what sort reception you can expect.

I live in Hawaii and am glad the switch was done. Our TVs were flooded with commercials and banner text along the bottom of popular tv shows. Time Warner even broadcast dozens of "you don't need to worry about it if you see this commercial" messages. Anyone here who didnt get the message was a moron.

@richcreamerybutter: As an electrical engineer, I highly doubt that the vast majority of young people (or people, period) really understand what "digital" or "analog" modulation methods actually are, either.

@☠Grяrяrяrяrяrяrя is fresh out of weird screen names.: Actually, the shorter range is a good thing. The aliens that are busy watching "Gunsmoke" and the original "Star Trek" and busily preparing their invasion fleet will suddenly lose our broadcasts before they can arrive. They'll think we've destroyed ourselves as our planet goes spectrum dark, making it unnecessary for them to come do the job themselves.

Unless we're talking about Omicron Persei 8... those guys have it in for us. But we'd be well matched given how tasty their offspring are.

thats just how it has to be done. you'll find out whats wrong and what to fix once you force people to switch over.

no amount of help will help some people.
look at the idiots falling for nigerian scams....
some people are freakin idiots.

@supercereal: Good point. ;)

To be honest, I've only seen digital transmissions via cable, so I have no idea what to expect (since I'll be among the box users). Does the entire picture depend on signal quality, will you see missing pixels, or will certain sections of the picture work normaly while others freeze (hee hee)?

Volunteering to help old folks with the conversion might make a great community outreach program!

@lockdog: Hold the presses!
If I put an "outside" DTV antenna in the attic, it'll work as well as though it's line-of-sight on the roof?
I'm using an indoor one to overall general satisfaction (nay, delight) except for ABC.

I'm technically competent & have been following the digital change for several years.

But it's only in the last 10 days that I found out that I have to rescan all my TVs & converter boxes on Feb. 18, assuming that date holds.

@RolfeMocker: I'm only 9 miles from the Chicago transmitters & I have a terrible picture on Channel 2 [CBS] because they're going to swap frequencies with their analog & digital signals then. Everyone is complaining about their wretched signal.
But I also lose the other stations digital signals in heavy rainstorms & snowstorms.

Again, just 9 miles out!

In Maine, myself and everyone I know who has tried the switch is missing reception on at least two stations. I should mention we aren't on the barren outskirts but fewer than 30 miles from all the Bangor area broadcast points. This is obviously a very flawed system :)

@jeffbone:

Wisdom

My local CBS station had a brief test at the end of the news a few nights ago. They said go to all the TV's in your house and see if this message is green or red. (It was on the HD in the front room with cable.)

By the time I got to the Philco upstairs and it got warmed up, the test was over. I still don't know.

I have DirecTV. I also have a giant TV antenna on the roof of my house (it was there when I bought it). The wire comes down the side of the house, and into the living room window. The time my satellite went out, I had to plug the antenna in the back of my CRT TV to watch, and I still didn't get a very good signal.

I hope my DirecTV doesn't go out again. If I need an antenna to get the digital signal, I'm screwed because my flat screen is too big to move and the antenna cord is too short. Phhht.

@Sean Gamble: And they're also delicious!

1. Local haole here, just wanted to comment that people here don't really call themselves Hawaiian, unless they really are ([en.wikipedia.org]).

2. Paying attention to the local news here, the switch really went off fine and everyone was satisfied with it. Those caught sleeping at the wheel are now awake.

3. If you think wise Consumerists have little sympathy for those left behind by the transition, check out a tech site like [www.dailytech.com] or [episteme.arstechnica.com] . Sink or swim, indeed!

Guys do you Really thing the TV stations are going to put up with the lackluster signals... i think not.

Give the switch a little time and i'm sure they'll be upgrading the outer analog towers to support the digital relay signals to get to the outer reaches.
or at least with the line of sight issue they'll put some kind of aim down relay's for the Vally folks

those digital towers aren't cheep.

We can't get any reception. for a minute I thought maybe we should go cable (that's all they allow here) then I grew resentful & decided that we'll go radio, so far it's fine, even enjoyable.

It's unfortunate that so many people will not be able to receive a digital signal even with a convertor box. Like it or not, Tv is a common communicator, local channels need to be free so no one is unwillingly out of the loop.

I would be shocked to discover that any station going to switch (because of course, LP and relays are exempt) didn't have their digital fired up months ago, and in most cases a year ago.

So everyone should have known how their signal was going to be.

I think in a year or two when frequency usage settles down, there will be more digital repeaters whose subchannels carry several networks.

Yeah, some people will need better antennas or cable. Many more people will have high quality signals and be able to switch away from cable. Maybe it will help them make their mortgage payment.

I have a satellite provider but I maxed the connections so one TV runs off a 2nd story attic antenna. 40 miles minimum to any tower. I use to get 2 analog channels and now I get 9 digital channels with a converter. Too bad 4 of those are in Spanish but at least I get more now.

Television as we know it will never be the same. Too many people watch grainy-streaked and weak analog signals will not be able to receive digital signals. In addition in my area most digital channels are in the higher - UHF bands and even UHF analog signals are poor. I have mounted an amplified indoor antenna on my roof and it works great so I don't need and expensive antenna system.

I think this will hasten television as we are used to it to be delivered over the internet - Hulu anyone?