tenpin784
I Went To The Dark Side?
join:2001-03-30
New Durham, NH
| hooray
no more advertisements for the transition.
I can't believe how many people still lined up though and we're clueless when they didn't have TV Saturday morning.
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Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.
Disclaimer: These are MY comments, my employer cant be held responsible. |
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Mactron
el camino Real
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv
| Yawn...
Yup, the Sun came up this morning too.
Sooo glad it's over. Carry on with your life folks. 
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If only the Verizon CSRs worked this well. |
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dforan
join:2000-12-09
Willoughby, OH | World Ending
Nor did it end on January 1 2000
Oh well move on |
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baineschile
2600
Premium
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI
 ·Comcast
 ·magicjack.com
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
| Its amazing
That people didnt know about this beforehand. You think with all the advertising and family members that take care of their elders, this wouldnt be as big of an issue as it was at all.
We have the DTV box for Grandma Baineschile back in Dec 2008 |
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alg
Just a shot away
Premium
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX
clubs: 
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| reply to tenpin784
Re: hooray
said by tenpin784  :no more advertisements for the transition. Now our local stations are running crawlers with phone numbers/websites if you are getting poor digital reception. It just doesn't end. 
--
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
 ·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
| Typical FCC calls
Consumer: My TV stopped working!!! They're telling me I have to buy a converter box or something?
FCC: Yes, that is correct. Go out and buy a converter box. They cost around $50. If you really can't afford that, we have $40 coupons available.
Consumer: I have a converter box but I lost half my channels!!!
FCC: Please hit the rescan button. kthxbai
Seriously, they could have done this with an IVR... no humans needed.
Even my technically challenged mom who can't figure out how to send an email on a good day was able to get her converter box going, as well as set up a rabbit ears on her 50" LCD and get all the stations. |
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sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH
| Great
"Both WiMax and LTE will offer about the same DSL-ish speed (5-6 Mbps), but bitrates could grow to 15 Mbps by 2012."
That's just sad. Places like Sweden have already defined 4G as 100 mbit/s, and will have ubiquitous coverage by 2012.
Of course in America the cartel of the Big 4 are allowed to underserve its customers while lagging behind the rest of the developed world all in the name of profit. Yay for corporate America. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to alg
Re: hooray
said by alg :Now our local stations are running crawlers with phone numbers/websites if you are getting poor digital reception. I see nothing wrong with that. Many broadcasters had no way of knowing how well or how poorly things would work out until after the switch.
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Blagojevich / Madoff 2012! |
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battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000
| At the stroke of midnight I lost NBC and ABC.
I thought I would watch the analog transmission to see if they might do some sort of good by transmission before the cut the power. At midnight the local ABC station just went dark. I tired the digital station and it was not there either. I rescanned and now I can't get the NBC or ABC local station like I could before midnight. It's no real big deal since I have some HD boxes from Direct. I just liked to watch the local feed of some network programs because the OTA picture looks much better than the compressed signal coming from Direct. |
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richdelb
Go Hawks Go
Premium
join:2003-01-22
Algonquin, IL
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Rescan
I have cable, so, for the most part, this didn't matter to me at all. I do still have a house antenna hooked up (as a backup that I have never needed) and a digital tv. I "rescanned" for OTA channels and, as it turns out, I got my local ABC affiliate (WLS-DT 7.1) to "tune in" for the very first time. (I live pretty far from the city). That channel was the only one of the "major network" channels that I was unable to get OTA before the "official" cutover, so there is actually some improvement.
Like I said, I have cable, so this is just a backup, but its nice to see that I can get all Chicago channels. |
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sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH | reply to tenpin784
Re: hooray
Most of the people who weren't prepared were the elderly. It's kind of hard to blame them for not being up to date with the technology world.
Most of them probably don't even care. |
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
 ·Hollis Hosting
·Verizon Online DSL
·Fairpoint Communic..
| reply to pnh102
There are a lot of "nightlight" services. Some broadcaster's did not shut off analog cold turkey. As of Saturday analog channel is dedicated about programs about DTV conversion. I think that is a nice touch. Rather then get a blank screen viewer gets information about conversion.
»www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/82376
All in all seems to have gone pretty well. Being in a fringe area we lost several stations that had been snowy in analog that only come in once and a while on digital. This is with a high quality outdoor antenna.
/tom
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Hollis Hosting
·Verizon Online DSL
·Fairpoint Communic..
1 edit | reply to battleop
Re: At the stroke of midnight I lost NBC and ABC.
If you used to get digital but cannot get it now even after rescanning most likely station moved digital from temporary UHF channel to permanent VHF assignment.
Do you have a VHF/UHF antenna?
If you have not already done so plug your address into TVfool site to see what stations are available in your area.
/tom |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| Keep in mind that digital signals are now directional. For example, in my area most stations transmit from 160 degrees or so, but NBC's digital tower is somewhere in the high 200 degree range, so you'll need a multi-directional antenna.
Also, the stated reception limit for most indoor antennas is 15 miles. I was able to get all local stations, some of which were out to 20 miles or so, but the NBC station I reference had a listed distance of about 35 miles and I was not able to receive it with an indoor antenna. |
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Da Man
join:2008-05-08
Hanover, PA | reply to sonicmerlin
Re: hooray
The elderly were the most ready. |
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n2ubp
join:2007-07-13
Middletown, NY
|  Sad things about the digital transition...
Sad things about the digital transition...
FEMA expects volunteer fire departments to fix little old ladies digital TV reception problems.
The digital transition did nothing to improve the quality of the programming, just the picture quality.
Too many subchannels are being filled with tripe, infomercials, tele preachers looking for money in five different languages.
It is still a waste of bandwidth. |
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djdanska
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Glen Ellyn, IL
clubs:
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·T-Mobile US
·A + Net
·Mediacom
·RCN CABLE
| UHF Ch. 26 Chicago Sign off
For those who are interested, channel 26 chicago did a sign off show. This is the last part. Posted in the Chicago forum, and possibly in avsforum too. I am fairly sure that channel 26, wciu is the last major independent station for chicago.
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SbizfeDRYQ
--
The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult. The day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
Alden Nowlan |
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Hollis Hosting
·Verizon Online DSL
·Fairpoint Communic..
| reply to sonicmerlin
Re: hooray
said by sonicmerlin :Most of the people who weren't prepared were the elderly. As Da Man posted that is an unwarranted prejudice. The over 65 crowd was very well prepared.
/tom |
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jimk
Premium
join:2006-04-15
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T Southeast
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to battleop
Re: At the stroke of midnight I lost NBC and ABC.
When some stations changed frequencies, they had to reduce their transmit power per the FCC for any number of reasons, such as going back to VHF, other nearby stations on the new frequency, etc. They weren't really able to test this before the transition.
Also, some temporarily are running at a significantly reduced power and possibly a different location, which is reducing their coverage. These stations have to re-configure their broadcasting equipment, move antennas around on the towers, etc. Not an easy task, and would cause an interruption (reduced coverage) to someone no matter when it was done - some did it before, some did it after. It is probably less expensive to do it after when you can rip all the old analog stuff out at the same time, so I can certainly understand why stations would do it that way.
Two Raleigh area stations are having signal problems and both are addressing it on their web sites. The FCC web sit also shows if the station has any construction permits to change their power or broadcast location, even if it is just moving up higher on the tower.
Still, it would have been nice to see the ones that knew they were going to have problems post something in advance. All they had to say was that they weren't going full power for a month or two and to expect some issues until they are finished. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| said by jimk :Still, it would have been nice to see the ones that knew they were going to have problems post something in advance. All they had to say was that they weren't going full power for a month or two and to expect some issues until they are finished. Fox 8 WGHP in the Triad area also has this issue. They've been running ads about it for months thankfully. |
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