WILX (NBC) here in Lansing, MI switched to all digital today. I had to re-scan my TV to find the new signal, and now all is well. Finally, that damn DTV scroll that steals my HD every 10 minutes will be gone (until the next weather event or school closings)

hey, screw you, AP, Peoria's totally a bigger market than Rockford! And, yes, we went all-digital today. (Well, about half the stations are going at 11:59 tonight.)

My TV seems slightly confused and needs to rescan for channels, but I might have to find the manual to remember how to do that. I guess I'll have to wait 'til tomorrow for the riots.

@Yankees368: "Finally, that damn DTV scroll that steals my HD every 10 minutes"

If they're all-digital now, won't the scroll not swap you down to the lower signal anymore? I hope? I hate losing my widescreen!

@Eyebrows McGee: Unfortunately, no. Almost all local stations don't have the proper equipment to "inject" scrolls or bugs into network HD programming, and down-convert the HD feed from the network to put in their own scroll. Once the message is over, they switch the outgoing feed back to HD (hopefully, sometimes they forget, and I get mad)

@Eyebrows McGee: I was thinking the same thing.

@Yankees368: Here is one example of a local affiliate doing it right:

[www.engadgethd.com]

Local station has had a banner on the bottom of the screen running for the past 48 hours saying at 10 tonight they would cut off the analog signal.

I have a USB tuner with an unamplified antenna and when I rescanned this morning I still found 0 digital channels. I'm glad it's not my only source.

@Yankees368: DAMMIT.

Oh well, at least if it's mostly weather-related, I won't mind too much -- I work at a college that closes when the local high school does.

I live in Madison, WI, and the only thing louder than the gunfire is the Fire trucks, rushing to try to put out fires started by rioters.

Err, wait, no, nothing has happened. There was no difference between today, and yesterday.

The local papers hardly seem to mention it anymore, its become such an old story. If anyone didn't notice the commercials and news highlights over the last few months, and they didn't pay attention to the local TV stations "DTV questions telethon" played during prime time a month ago, then they sure wouldn't have noticed the scrolling text at the bottom of EVERY analog channel in the last week or so..

So far here in Waco things are quiet. I'm at TWC on call waiting for the flood though. I'll let everyone know if it gets crazy... probably won't though.

You know- this is what they should have done-- phase it in in certain markets. They could have announced a d-day (today) but allowed a market-by-market exception instead of a blanket exception.

@menty666: "I rescanned this morning I still found 0 digital channels"

The reason you're not getting any digital channels has nothing to do with the switch over. Every broadcaster in your area is already transmitting in both analog and digital. The switch over only means they're turning the analog transmitter off.

If you're not receiving any digital broadcasts, you need a better antenna.

Is there still time to buy milk and bread?

@floraposte:

LOL -- Do you live in Rhode Island?

(milk + bread panic = running disaster gag here, particularly relating to predicted snowfall)

@GMFish: Or they need a stronger signal.

I had hoped Grand Rapids, MI would switch today. Waiting was stupid. They should have left the date alone, and simply funded the converter program with another 10 million a month for the next 3 months, or some such. Delaying will hurt viewers, stations, and the people waiting for the frequencies.

People have had over TWO YEARS to prepare.

"We're from the Government and we're her to help" my foot.

Actually, I'm pretty sure (if I heard last night correctly) the Burlington, VT channels are changing tomorrow, not today.

Also, Vermont FTW. Glad to hear someone still remembers we're a state. :)

DH works for the ABC affiliate here in Waco, Texas. Since every station wants to switch today, the FCC decided that one station would also have to remain on air with their analog signal. Ours will be NBC because it is the cheapest, power-wise, and all of the other stations will be helping foot the electric bill. Hubby is editing a 2-hour loop that will start tonight and will run on NBC with information about the switch, and will only be cut into for news and weather emergencies.

I would LOVE to hear stories of people calling in being confused. It keeps my faith in this country ever so strong!

Sorry snm.grr but they had TWELVE years to prepare.

Here in the Phoenix area some made the cut to digital today. I think the PBS station and at least one of the major networks were going to make the cut.

"some stations, mostly in rural areas, are making the switch anyway"

So in other words, the people for whom we enacted this unnecessary delay in the first place are still getting their digital signal on schedule, while those of us in urban areas that were ready for the transition have to wait another four months. Makes perfect sense.

@menty666: So he should call the station and ask them to turn it up to 11.

@Yankees368: I'm not sure if it's relevant here, but I think WHDH in Boston switched to all HD a while ago, and I'm pretty sure they're switching over soon, if they haven't already.

Utter disaster of the coupon system? There was money available for 33.5 million boxes, there are maybe 12 million households that only use over the air broadcasts. The 5 or 6 million households that didn't buy a box are probably those outside of the 20 to 25 mile range of a DTV transmitter.

Delaying this only benefits the politicians, so they look good for their poorer voters. It isn't a coincidence those voters also vote democratic.

Two of the seven stations in Green Bay, WI are switching tonight at 11:59 pm. The CW and CBS affiliates are dropping their analog. The CW station is going to be running a 2 week FCC "night-light" where they will loop a program on how to hook up a convertor box.

The funny thing is the ABC affiliate siad it is not dropping analog signal. They are owned by Young Broadcasting. Young filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Friday. What were they thinking???

Rockford, IL here. I don't believe the shutdown happens till noon, our time.
There have been non-stop tickers during the news and periodically during other shows alerting to the switch. There have been many commercials and news specials as well.
I believe people are going to wait till the TV doesn't work to do something about it and then they won't be able to watch the how-to shows or know who to call... Rockford is like that.

"Delaying this only benefits the politicians, so they look good for their poorer voters. It isn't a coincidence those voters also vote democratic."

Uhhhhh...yeah, so, only people who have money count in a democracy? People who are poor and need additional accomodation- screw them? Maybe they vote Democratic because the Republican party has disasterously ran the economy into the ground the last 8 years?

Frankly, I don't know why they didn't just pay the box money directly to the manufacturer, and require Wal Mart, Best Buy, etc. to sell 'em for 10 bucks each- would have worked better than a coupon.

@Nick1693:

I'm pretty sure they still broadcast in analog as well, they just changed their news broadcast to HD.

@Yankees368: That's a pretty huge oversight that the ability to inject scrolls over the HD signal was not a requirement of the switch.

@JGKojak: What people seem to be missing is that without the government coupon program, these boxes would only have cost the consumer $10 - $20 in the first place!

The ONLY reason these converter boxes cost $40 - $60 at Walmart/etc. is because the manufacturers know that they are going to get an extra $40 from the government.

@Bs Baldwin: Yeah, I guess I'm not really seeing how the coupon program was such a disaster. It would have had plenty of money had sites like this one not encouraged everyone to sign up for as many as they could regardless of need. If only people who truly can't afford to drop $40 for a tuner had signed up there would have been money to spare.

@ElizabethD: In DC it's milk + bread + toilet paper.

@JGKojak: You honestly don't see *anything* wrong with the Government telling stores how to price things? Amazing.

@snm.grr: You should already be getting digital. It affects you not at all if you are configured correctly. There are NO new frequencies going out today.

@JGKojak: I think that probably would have worked. The stores definitely would have liked it-- they'd get a subsidized "loss leader" to help get people into the store without them losing any money.

EhnoValemount, if the government is subsidizing a product, then yes, they should have the power to tell a store how to price the item.

@menty666: Doubtful. A digital signal actually requires less power than an analog one to produce an artifact/static free signal.

He probably just needs a better antenna than what he has.

I saw warning signs on the highway this morning, "WATCH OUR FOR WANDERING CONFUSED OLD PEOPLE"

@JGKojak: I'd beg to differ with anyone who claims that poor people vote for Democrats only. Take one look at the state where I was born, West Virginia. Also look at Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, etc, etc.

@JGKojak: For starters, we're not a Democracy.

And no, it is not the job of the government to pay for things like this. Besides, since when has TV become a necessity of life? If someone can't afford a $40 converter box, maybe they can't afford to watch TV in the first place.

We have awfully screwed up priorities in this country if we think we have to use the force of government to make accommodations for people to watch TV.

@oneliketadow: Yeah, that statement was beyond ridiculous.

@EhnoValemount: I don't see a problem with pricing being set on the subsidized converters, especially if they were specific items that were made available as part of the subsidy plan.

Hell, Apple, Sony, Bose and all kinds of other corporations tell retailers how to price things all the time. Why should it be OK for big business to do it on a regular basis but not for the government to do it for DTV boxes?

The only problem I would anticipate with JGKojak's plan has nothing to do with set pricing, but rather that it would likely provide avenues for fraud that wouldn't exist otherwise (i.e. ensuring that people weren't purchasing more than 2 boxes would be difficult).

@Eyebrows McGee: I've been so sick of the commericals 10 times an hour with some local business guy/gal telling us the change is coming. Thank you Hoerr Nursery for reminding me at 501pm, 506pm, 513pm and 521pm that change is coming.

Poor planning. Instead of these lame coupons, they should have done rebates. Buy the DTV converter, enter your converter box serial number and address info on a website (or call 800 number for those without internet), wait 4 - 6 weeks, get a $40 rebate check. Easy.

And let's face it.. Those who haven't gotten a converter box or applied for a coupon by now won't do so, because now they have another 4 months to procrastinate. The only thing that will get them off their lazy asses is to shut off the analog signals now.

Also, I don't know what moron decided to pick February as the analog shut-off date to begin with. For some people, they need a new antenna to receive the digital signals better. And that might mean installing a new roof top antenna. Not an easy task to do if you live in an area with heavy rain or snow this time of year.

@Bill Scott: LOL, I must have missed the Hoerr ones, but I know ALL ABOUT Sherman's awesome TV offerings!

And now you've made me want it to be spring so I can go stimulate the economy by spending too much at Hoerr. :)

@floraposte: Interesting. I thought the milk + bread thing was only in the south where we hardly get any snow. Which is really silly because the snow usually melts in less than a day.

@undefined: @Corporate_guy:
This really has nothing to do with the DTV switch. It is simply that the local stations don't have the $ for the equipment to inject scrolls and bugs into HD.
HOWEVER: It was insane that the FCC required stations to run the DTV scroll on all broadcasts, digital, cable, and satellite. It should only have been run on analog, as they are the only viewers that need to see it. Forcing me, using DTV and cable, to watch these damn scrolls constantly is just wrong. If I am already watching DTV, why they hell are they telling me about the switch. The messages should have gone out to analog broadcasts ONLY.

"Poor planning. Instead of these lame coupons, they should have done rebates. Buy the DTV converter, enter your converter box serial number and address info on a website (or call 800 number for those without internet), wait 4 - 6 weeks, get a $40 rebate check. Easy."

Are you gonna help my grandparents and parents do this?

Because I promise you they won't.

I'm in San Diego, I have Directv though.