U.S. DTV News & Discussion

[videobruce]

The ERP (Effective Radiated Power) of a digital OTA station need only be a fraction of the ERP needed by an analogue OTA station to cover the exact same area.

Further energy savings are realized throughout the entire broadcast procedure due to digital OTA's inherent efficiencies.

Digital OTA is better for the environment in many ways.

Funny you say that because I have had at least one station engineer say the opposite to me much to my surprise. Unless they didn't understand the question, which I doubt.

I can watch a digital station that I can't measure on my SLM. I can't say the same for analog. The noise floor for the meter is -35dbm.
I have estimated that I can receive stations as low as -50dbm (using an attenuator with a known signal and subtracting the additional attenuation from the orginal signal reading).

Occasionally picking up 66.1 (only three times so far and only for a couple of hours at best) is one of the best proofs.

Shutting down the analogs will stop a LOT of the interference we're getting on digital channels.

Goodby Gilligans Island. (at least some of it)

[tvlurker]

Funny you say that because I have had at least one station engineer say the opposite to me much to my surprise. Unless they didn't understand the question, which I doubt.

Well, it may be true if an analog channel 2 is replaced by UHF. Even at 1MW ERP, the digital station won't be able to replicate the coverage of the 100kW ERP channel 2 analog station. And that MW probably needs 35 to 90 kW of tranmitter output power, more than would be needed to power the channel 2 analog antenna.

[the yates tub]

There's a proposal on the FCC's records right now to convert channels 5 and 6 into a new FM band.

[GeorgeMx]

The request to convert channels 5 and 6 to FM uses was denied by the FCC. See FCC 08-72 "Memorandum opinion and order on reconsideration
of the Seventh report and order and eighth report and order

Adopted: March 3, 2008 Released: March 6, 2008

"1. Mullaney Engineering, Inc. (“MEI”) and EME Communications (“EME”) have filed petitions requesting that the Commission eliminate the requirement in Section 73.525 of the Commission’s rules that new FM stations protect channel 6 DTV allotments or, alternatively, that it altogether eliminate channel 6, and possibly channel 5, from the digital TV allotment process and allocate that corresponding spectrum to the FM service.[1] Dan Priestley and Robert E. Lee’s comments supported MEI’s proposal to reallocate TV channels 5 and 6 to FM broadcasting.[2] For the reasons discussed below, we deny these requests."

[Walter Dnes]

This is a "pilot" before the big American OTA analogue shutdown Feb 17, 2009. The idea is to see what problems, if any, occur, and have them straightened out before the big day (Feb 17, 2009) when the rest of the country does it.

Story at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...echnology/home

[stampeder]

I have the sad feeling that even with all the warnings and press there will still be jammed telephone switchboards at the TV stations with frantic, confused callers wanting to know why Judge Judy, Judge Hatchett, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Maria Lopez, etc. etc. are not on TV.

[james99]

This was on the front page of the USAT the other day. Good idea. Lots to learn.

[stampeder]

Low Powers Seek $450M in DTV Aid

Community Broadcasters Association Eyes $150K for Each Low-Power TV Station

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/9/2008 1:47:00 PM

Just smacked down by the courts, the low-power TV industry's lobby is asking Congress for $450 million to make the conversion to digital as soon as possible, saying that many in the industry face bankruptcy and potential ruin due to government policies.

Low-power stations aren't required to make the DTV transition by any set date, but the Community Broadcasters Association is concerned that if stations don't make the switch soon, they could be left behind in an analog world that few people can access.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...dustryid=48696

[stampeder]

This topic is of interest to Canadians who live in Border areas that are not major U.S. cities.

LP (Low Power) stations are a product of the Reagan de-regulation era of the early 1980s and are considered ugly stepchildren by regular broadcasters. LP stations are analogue and are allowed to operate at a mere fraction of the ERP of regular stations in non-competing locations, but they are also allowed to take another distant channel's programming at no cost to themselves and rebroadcast it using simsubbing of local commercials.

Nobody has told LP stations to go digital, but with the fact of the DTV conversion going forward, the LP stations went to court to force a decision to keep analogue tuners available to consumers. The court would not intervene, so the DTV changeover continues full speed. Now the LP stations are asking for government funding to convert to digital.

People from the Vancouver area and Vancouver Island have been hoping for quite some time that DTV LP stations will come up as SeaTac station repeaters since the original stations seldom reach most of the Canadian areas.

[james99]

Here's a letter to the editor that I read the other day:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/...r-di.html#more

[foxfan]

Here's the info on the freeze being lifted: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...-08-1213A1.pdf

[Walter Dnes]

"Countdown to DTV - Are You Ready?" is the name of the show. It runs 30 minutes. No word on the content level. BTW that's 12:30 around lunchtime, not 12:30 around late movie time. We need to switch to 24 hour clocks.

[kirok1701]

Originally Posted by Walter Dnes

"Countdown to DTV - Are You Ready?" is the name of the show. It runs 30 minutes. No word on the content level.

Pity I missed it.

BTW that's 12:30 around lunchtime, not 12:30 around late movie time. We need to switch to 24 hour clocks.

For what it's worth I always use a 24-hour clock for text communication. On the bright side only three hours are then ever potentially ambiguous.

[stampeder]

It won't be a real flash cut, but analogue viewers will get a superimposed, mid-screen text scroll of DTV info right in their faces. This will be very helpful to many people involved in the DTV transition for its "lessons learned" data.

WHO to Test Conversion Aug. 25

Local TV's Des Moines, Iowa, station to conduct 19-hour digital-conversion test.

By Michael Malone

Local TV ’s WHO Des Moines, Iowa , will conduct a 19-hour digital-conversion test from 5 a.m.-midnight Monday. The test will help viewers to realize if their televisions will pass or fail February’s analog-TV shutdown. Viewers who are up to speed on the conversion will not be impacted by the test. Viewers who are not digitally equipped will see a crawl about one-third of the way up the screen that informs them that they’re not prepared and instructs them on how to fix the issue. Regional vice president and general manager Dale Woods said the idea was hatched at a leadership meeting about one month ago. “It’s one way to help viewers understand how prepared they are,” he added. “We wanted a way to break through the clutter of informational messages and really target those people who we know it will impact.”

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/art....jsp?id=495039

http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8885613

[stampeder]

FCC plans to go through with DTV test in NC

By JOHN DUNBAR – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Friday that he is unlikely to delay plans for an important test in North Carolina that could disrupt television service for some viewers in the path of Tropical Storm Hanna.

Wilmington, N.C., is serving as a test market for the national conversion to digital broadcasting. The city's four commercial network affiliates will stop broadcasting an analog signal at noon Monday, leaving viewers unready for the change unable to watch those channels.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g...bcDwgD930SSV00

Nothing like a baptism by fire!