End of and era....

[Alaric]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Verizon and AT%T should buy them new TVs, they got 90% of the bandwidth.

Effing BINGO !!!!

[peverett]

I just saw a blip on one of our local news about the transition. It seems that one person had used the two coupons and bought converters, but both crapped out in short order. One was the RCA from Wal-Mart, I did not recognize the other brand. From what I saw in the blip, the retailers did not want to replace the failed converters. With this kind of stuff happening, we may see rioting in the streets.

I have the RCA mentioned above, it has frozen and needed re-starting a couple of times, but still works. However, I recommend paying the extra $10 and getting the Digital Stream one. These seem to have better reception, do not freeze and introduce less buzz in antique TV sound systems.

[truetone36]

KAIT 8 is switching over at 7:00 AM on the 12th.

[alexkerhead]

Is it me, or does switching to digital just seem useless?

[zenith2134]

Check out "the Zapping of America" by Brodeur . . . just continuing old traditions.

[Jeffhs]

Since at least two of the local TV stations in Cleveland will be transitioning to digital at ten o'clock in the morning on June 12, I don't know if I'll see the event live as I expect to be sleeping at that hour. However, I could (probably will) set my VCR to tape the transition of one of the stations, although I don't expect to see much except a runner at the top or bottom of the picture informing viewers that the station is terminating analog programming, as one station here in northeastern Ohio did when it switched to 100-percent digital a couple months ago. I won't notice the difference, regardless, as I have Time Warner cable, which is already using the digital signals from every local station (direct feeds from the stations to the cable headend, not picking up signals with antennas) and converting them to NTSC analog for folks such as myself with older sets.

I do wonder, however, what the local TV newscasts will look like after the transition. The NBC station in Cleveland has already dropped its "Channel 3 News" brand (did so some time ago) for its noon, six, seven and 11 p.m. newscasts, now showing a screen just before the newscasts which has a huge, 3-D animated "HD" with a small NBC peacock between the letters, followed by a huge numeral 3 with the NBC peacock next to it and "wkyc-hd" in huge lower-case letters below the whole thing. Channels 5, 8 and 19, however, still have their original branding: "NewsChannel 5" for channel 5, "FOX8 News" for channel 8, and "19 Action News" for channel 19. Whether these will change after the transition is anyone's guess, although I think it would be in the public interest to do away with these brands that show the station's analog channel--after all, those numbers won't mean anything after the analog signals sign off. With all signals being transmitted digitally from June 12 going forward, the stations' channel positions will be expressed as a number followed by a decimal point, e. g. WKYC-DT 17.1 (the channel on which WKYC-TV in Cleveland will be operating when its analog signal signs off). Subchannels, if any, will be expressed by the number immediately to the right of the decimal point.

Speaking of subchannels, I don't think many of Cleveland's major TV stations are, at this point in time, even carrying anything much other than a simulcast of their main signal on their digital subcarriers. I do know that channel 5, the ABC affiliate for this area, does not have any alternate programming (yet) on any of its subchannels; however, channel 43, the MyTV affiliate, is supposedly carrying THIStv on one of its digital channels. I'm not sure about 25, 55, or 61, although channel 23, now an ION-TV affiliate, which does not have any digital subcarriers to my knowledge, will convert to digital "on the fly" on 6.12, if it hasn't already done so.

Finally: I feel sorry for antique-TV collectors such as Doug (drh4683), as his TVs will display nothing but snow after 06.12 unless he subscribes to cable or satellite (with many outlets, as he must have 100 TVs or more in his house). Putting that many splitters on one cable line, moreover, will cause signal losses galore, with the sets nearest the head of the line getting the best picture while those at or near the end of the distribution system will probably get the worst reception. This may not actually happen with cable, but I do know it can (and often does) occur with MATV distribution systems using antennas if the amplifiers fail or are inadequate to begin with.

[Hemingray]

Originally Posted by truetone36

KAIT 8 is switching over at 7:00 AM on the 12th.

They're already showing the scrolling alert at the bottom of the screen on KAIT-TV. Nothing on KEMV here though.

The Top TV is connected to a DTV converter box. The bottom one is connected directly to the outside antenna.

[Ghoulardi]

Originally Posted by jeyurkon

I was thinking "Topper", "The Thin Man", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"...

John

I know you guys are talking TV but I'll throw this in. Back in about 1973 or so, one of the radio stations in the Cleveland area was switching to a "Brand New Country Music Format".To mark the event, they played Jerry Reed's "When You're Hot,You're Hot" for 24 hours straight. They would speed it up, slow it down, and drop in all kinds of strange noises and audio clips. If you could stay with it for awhile, it really became quite hilarious.

[Celt]

Originally Posted by truetone36

KAIT 8 is switching over at 7:00 AM on the 12th.

Newsanchor Diana Davis will probably end up looking like a Picasso painting.

[Hemingray]

Originally Posted by Celt

Newsanchor Diana Davis will probably end up looking like a Picasso painting.

Or something like that.

[Tubejunke]

I just got my first converter from Radio (Sattelite-Cell) Shack today. I actually like the device as it gives my old TVs remote control that controls volume, as opposed to the remote channel select that a V.C.R. has to offer.

However, I don't think I like the ugly faces that the pixilating pictures produce on WAY too many channels. The system makes you feel like you have all these free channels that you didn't know that you had. In reality, all but a few are unviewable. Nothing gained/nothing lost I guess. I guess we are just battling pixels instead of snow. Now, I only have the old rabbit ears as an antenna. I did notice that the U.H.F loop works better than using V.H.F. Who would have thought that there would ever be a market for rooftop antennas again. I see it coming, everybody who does not find the sense in/or can't afford paying $60-$100 per month to watch TV will need a rooftop antenna. Still cheaper than PAY PER DAYTV. Perhaps an amplified indoor antenna would be an alternative.

[zenith2134]

Depending on location, a simple unamplified 300 ohm UHF loop with a matching transformer is enough. It is here, but I am pretty close to the transmitters I guess.

if I were to put up a new rooftop antenna it would HAVE TO be directional for DTV.

[bgadow]

I really need to get my act together for the end. First I need to straighten out my outdoor antenna-the mount bent over the winter. With it I can bring in some fuzzy analog from DC & Baltimore. As it is I have just one analog left; their website offers no clue to anything special. The online schedule shows their analog station continuing right on into the next day. Guess that was easier for whoever does the schedule.

We have started having an issue with one of our two DigitalStream boxes. Watch a station, then switch to their subchannel...it will work. Shuffle back again and it will display the proper subchannel number but will be showing the other channel. Turning the box off and on again fixes it.

[AUdubon5425]

I will be visiting my mother in Atlanta when the switch happens, and sadly will miss the end of broadcasting in New Orleans. I may lug my little orange Philco with me just because I've had it so long to watch the end, although the cessation of any station in Atlanta doesn't have any personal meaning to me.

[Trance88]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

Is there a scheduled time?

For my stations here in Grand Rapids it's 10am Eastern Daylight time. What sucks is that I'll be no where near a TV during the switch off. I'll be at a camp. I'm going to try to set my VCR to tape analog's last few moments before the plug is pulled. I'm thinking that they won't just pull the plug and the picture turns to snow, I think they'll switch to a message in big bold letters that just says "Get a converter box to continue watching this station" or something like that for a couple weeks before they really turn off the transmitters.