Analog shutdown test take two.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm by Dennis Majewicz under TV Tech Talk
Just a reminder to all that the second market-wide analog shutdown soft test will take place on Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 7:58PM. We will again have a phone bank set up for your questions afterward.
Once again, rest assured that if you have a cable, FIOS or satellite subscription, any TV’s connected to these services will not need upgrades. Likewise, if you have a newer TV with an ATSC (digital) tuner you need not worry. Only those with older sets who receive our local channels directly off-air with an antenna will need to take further action if they see the message saying they are not ready.
-dm
Tags: DTV Transition
I found that the last test was somewhat confusing.
I have an analog/CRT TV with a Channel Master cm7000 digital converter box.
During the last test, while viewing channel 4.1 the message banner said I was not digital ready,while other channels 7.1, 2.1 etc appeared that I was digital ready.
Is channel 4.1 digital simply re-broadcasting the analog channel 4 content ?
Does channel 4[digital] currently broadcast on any other channels now or after the transition ?
And does channel 4 have plans for any additional channels such as 4.2, 4.3 etc ?
We can get every channel EXCEPT Channel 4 using our converter box. We only have one TV affected since we have Direct TV on other sets. Why won’t the box pick up your station but all others come thru. Please reply.
Marge,
Can you tell us where you are located and what type of antenna you are using?
-dm
Disclaimer – I am not a WIVB rep, nor am I affiliated with WIVB or any WNY Broadcaster.
Buffalo is awkwardly laid out compared to other municipalities when it comes to locations of transmitters. 17/23/29 are on Grand Island, 4 & 7 are on one of the highest hilltops in WNY in Colden, and 2 & 49 are stuffed away in a random section of wny towards Batavia. Most broadcasters kept their DTV antenna sites the same as their analog, but I think 49 moved to Grand Island.
That all being said – a great resource to figure out the location of the broadcasters antenna’s to your residence is http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
If you click the “choose an antenna button” you are then prompted to enter some data. I personally recommend not inputting your personal info, or signing up for their newsletters, but simply input your address only. Once processed Antenna Web will identify the location of available broadcasters to your address and provide you with a cool photo to locate them to you. This search will not include your Canadian signals.
For a complete list of available American & Canadian DTV signals click here:
http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/
Cheers!
Steve
For a complete list of available American & Canadian DTV signals you could also visit tvfool.com and do a search using your postal code/zip code.
A complete list of transmitter info for all of Ontario/Buffalo/Erie broadcasters can be found at http://www.jmsdigital.ca under the ‘Digital TV broadcasting Information’ link.
We have 4 tv sets, 2 are new and have the appropriate tuner needed to receive dtv, the other 2 we have converter boxes for. We live on a hill in northern, PA, have a rooftop antenna, and normally can pick up your channel (4), 2, 7 and others including some Canadians ones at times. All of the tv’s said on this second conversion test that we are not ready, what is our nest step?
meant next not nest, sorry
Melissa,
This is my best guess.. (I hope this is of some value to you)
It sounds like you are actually watching analog channels(2),(4),(7),instead of the digital broadcasts that should be on channels (2.1), (2.2),(4.1),(7.1), (7.2). Your newer digital-HDTV’s must have integrated atsc/ntsc tuners and must still be set for only analog over the air reception and your converters likely have an analog passthrough feature that is only showing analog signals. You need to use the ‘MENU’feature and find the channel scan function on your TV’s and converter’s to set up your tuners for digital reception and then run the channel autoscan to lock into the available digital signals.
Thanks, I’ll give it a try. Does our only having a VHF-RF antenna make a difference on the “lower” channels also or only those above 13?
Melissa,
VHF antennas are needed for channels 2 – 13
UHF antennas are needed for channels 14 – 69
So,.. you will need a Hi-VHF antenna for digital channels 7 – 13
and a UHF antenna for digital channels 14 – 69…
or a combination antenna such as the channel master cm2020.
Go to http://www.jmsdigital.ca and look at the 3 basic antennas that will prevail throughout the digital era of over the air television.
Any of the newer breeds of combination UHF/VHF antennas should work for digital over the air reception.
Note : If you were getting analog tv 2 – 69, then your antenna should be OK.
I’ve got 3 t.v.’s 2 are hooked up to Directv and the 3rd t.v. is hooked to a converter box. The t.v. that is hooked up to the converter box passed the first test but not the second test.HELP, Thank you Paul Wright.
..]one great source of information on this topicis ,blogs.wivb.com,..]