Conversion from analog to digital for 2009

[jegrant]

Well - there are also a lot of old, tall trees, that she does not want to remove. So that could be an issue. Really it depends how high the towers are, if they can get above the tree line, I told her that there might be some very good results indeed.

But if she cannot get much OTA, I am tempted to just give her (including installation) a Ku FTA system, because at least once it was properly installed, she would have great reception, even if a somewhat unreliable channel list. She has indicated however that if she could just get a news channel and some major OTA networks, that would be fine with her. She doesn't actually spend enough time at home to justify paying cable or paying satellite tv.

 

[truckracer]

Wow, having property like that would be my dream. Preferably it would be on the highest hill around and in between two (or more) major metropolitan areas. The HAM towers are already up there, step one complete! Now all that needs to be done is to populate them with Yagis and install a dish farm!

Oh Yeah!! Channel specific yagis with notch filters and pre amps then into the combiner !!! + dishfarm = personal cable headend for the win

 

[truckracer]

What about those echostar receivers that had the 8vsb modulated output that a digital tv could tune? Didn't they have one out for a while?

It sent a "digital over the air signal" over coax to the second set instead of the analog channel 3 or 4 most normal modulators send out.

 

[GreatFTA]

Tell you what, guys, where I live, all stores cannot keep those converters in stock! All Walmart and Radio Shack stores cannot keep them on shelf at all. I was lucky to get mine when I first got my coupons.

 

[Trip]

Well, first off, that's my $40 you are spending ...
---(tax money)---
... but since I get a $40 coupon too , I won't bitch.

So you lucky ones who get digital, enjoy our tax coupon.

I feel a need to clarify something here. Unless you own AT&T or Verizon, none of your money is paying for these coupons. The coupon program is being paid for with the money made from auctioning off the spectrum of channels 52-69 to the cell phone companies. The coupon program costs roughly $1 billion, the auction brought in $20 billion or so.

- Trip

 

[avg1joe]

Anyone ever ask themselves "Why are stations that broadcast commercials
encrypted?" If I were an advertiser, I think I'd have a problem with that.

I agree. Why would I pay a cable or pay sat company to watch commercials? I record a few shows from g10r with a fta pvr but I am increasingly watching shows that are available for "free" online with embedded commercials. My computer is hooked up to my tv to do this. This is quite convenient but you often sacrifice picture size and quality.

To be fair, I'm not sure why I have to pay for internet access when there are numerous "commercials" on every page I view.

 

[tracker1998]

I have been watching this thread I posted almost 1 month ago to see if I would get it straight in my mind how this is going to work. I still don't have a "this is how it's going to work Tracker, answer", so set me straight if I'm wrong as I'm still guessing at this.
1- I see that people are talking of different boxes and such, so a new box is in order?
2- Since my dishes are pointing to the sky, these will not work. These signals will be land based and line of site, as my analog is now with limited range. It will be better picture than now that will be in or out but no half way "snow" signals we are getting now on fringe signals.
I know it may sound silly but I have to get moving on this and get this set up before the cold weather comes around again. I live on the border of Canada and N.Y. State line by the river. 90% + of my signals are U.S. based. My window of opportunity is only a few months to do this along with work, stocking up wood for the stove and the rest of the never ending list of things to do and find time for some R & R.
(Any links that someone could point me to for making my own ant. for these signals?)
If someone could answer these 2 questions for me I would appreciate it. "Shoot from the hip" and give it to me straight. Thanks all!! Tracker.

 

[Mr Tony]

tracker...you're still confusing FTA with OTA

FTA NOTHING is changing...well maybe some analog feeds might go digital but heck that's been going on for years now All your FTA boxes, dishes, motors, LNB"s etc will work fine

OTA (over the air) channels are going digital only as of 2/17/09. The over the air channels you get with an outdoor TV antenna (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, MY, ETC) right now in most cases have both a analog and digital signal out there. Here in Minneapolis all the networks have both an analog channel (2,4,5,9,11,17,23,29,41,45) and a digital channel (2-1,4-1,5-1,etc and some subchannels).

So if you pick up the networks via a OTA antenna you need to have a digital box to continue to get them after 2/17/09. There are 3 ways to get the digital channels
-get a TV that has a digital tuner built into them. It is known as ATSC (versus analog which is NTSC). Most TV's built in the last couple years have that in them
-have a FTA box that can also get OTA. Some of the HD boxes can (Pansat 9200, Coolsat 8000)
-get a digital converter box. They sell for 40-75 bucks US and that allows you to get the digital channels

I guess the simple questions would be what US cities are you picking up? Lets say its Buffalo. What do you use right now to get the US network channels?
When you tune into the channel, does it show on the TV as 7-1 or 7-2 or just plain old 7? Digital will show 7-1 and 7-2 as examples.

 

[tracker1998]

Appreciated Ice. Just trying to make sense of this so I understand. Massena N.Y. is my closest U.S. across the pond. Analog TV ant. on a 30' mast. I got (when I last checked a few years ago) regular 9+-vhf-40uhf . Had about 45 channels . All Montreal/ Ottawa and Laurentian hill side signals. My Tv is an older model 42" big screen. I would be surprised that it has what I need to pick up what I need. Will look around and see if this site sponsors have what I need to get me going. Confusing as I am so close to the border as I can swim to it. Some will say bound by one line but I say "Both of both worlds". LOL.
So from the one of your earliest post. 2 different animals. so YES and YES seems to be my answer.
You could not guess what they are asking for boxes here. A dealer told me $100.00 was his cost. !!! Rebate HA!! Not that I know of. True FTA... Way to go!!

 

[Tron]

Another thing to remember is that Canada is NOT bound by the digital TV mandate that full-powered United States television stations must abide by. This means that only the U.S. stations you receive will require a digital converter box by February 17, 2009. Canada will, however, be converting all OTA analog over to digital in a couple of years.

 

[phlatwound]

Another thing to remember is that Canada is NOT bound by the digital TV mandate that full-powered United States television stations must abide by. This means that only the U.S. stations you receive will require a digital converter box by February 17, 2009. Canada will, however, be converting all OTA analog over to digital in a couple of years.

What Tron said may bring up another consideration for you.....if you do go with a digital converter box as your method of picking up the US channels that are converting to digital only by 02-17-09, be aware that a lot of them will not pass through an analog OTA signal.

So if you got one that wasn't capable of analog pass through you might have to switch your antenna input to get your Canadian (and low-powered American that aren't required to go digital) analog OTA channels until they converted to digital in the future.

 

[Rendered]

Ok here is my question: what do you do if your OTA signal is coming from an analog booster and the stations stop broadcasting analog?

The closet stations to my rural area are broadcasting out of Amarillo. But we only get the signal because they are re-broadcasted by low power translator stations that boost and send the signal to more low power translator stations till the signal finally reaches my area. Now if the low power translator stations only send and receives analog, but the broadcast out of Amarillo switches to digital then does that mean no more signal for my area?

 

[Mr Tony]

low powered translators are (as of right now) exempt from the digital cutover until a further date.

The translator stations will still be broadcasting after 2/18/09 with the same channels. We have those in Northern Minnesota too. From what I've read there will be no difference in those picking up the existing stations.

On the positive side, most of the translator stations near our cabin are owned by the respective stations (some translator stations are owned by cities/municipalities or others) so the TV station owners know what is going on

 

[tracker1998]

Ok , I have a pretty good understanding how this is going to work now. Being up here in the area I'm in, things will be moving slowly anyway with this conversion as the closest "Big Cities" are quite far away and cannot even get analog signals from them. Last thing I'm still not clear on is the ant. Surely the one I am using for analog will not do well for digital as the wave lenghts are not even close to being the same? Any pointers on that? Thanks all.

 

[Larobpra]

Last thing I'm still not clear on is the ant. Surely the one I am using for analog will not do well for digital as the wave lenghts are not even close to being the same? Any pointers on that? Thanks all.

tracker,

Check this site for antenna info -

Toys for the 21st Century: DTV Antenna Resources

I'm about an hour SW of Massena. I get more signals from your side of the river than from the US!

 

[Mr Tony]

Last thing I'm still not clear on is the ant. Surely the one I am using for analog will not do well for digital as the wave lenghts are not even close to being the same? Any pointers on that? Thanks all.

yeah it will...any antenna works fine. The antenna I have up for digital is the same one I used for analog for 5 years.

All digital allows the broadcaster to do is
-cram more channels on one "transponder" (channel)...if you want to use the FTA analogy. Some channels use just one but I've seen up to 6 per channel
-clearer picture

downside...less coverage

 

[Tron]

A UHF antenna will be more useful for OTA digital than a VHF antenna will be, because of the fact that most of the digital stations are in the UHF range. But as Iceberg pointed out, any old antenna that was used for analog will work perfectly well for OTA digital, both standard and high definition. My Winegard Square Shooter is very poor for VHF, but is receiving UHF channels quite well. I'm within 15 miles of most of the New Orleans area transmitting towers.

 

[Peter Parker]

Ok , I have a pretty good understanding how this is going to work now. Being up here in the area I'm in, things will be moving slowly anyway with this conversion as the closest "Big Cities" are quite far away and cannot even get analog signals from them. Last thing I'm still not clear on is the ant. Surely the one I am using for analog will not do well for digital as the wave lenghts are not even close to being the same? Any pointers on that? Thanks all.

theya re the same channels. No difference in wave length at all.

 

[tracker1998]

Thank you all for the info. I got it now. Larobpra, the site you pointed me too was very informative and answered my questions. Thanks everyone.