DTV tips – getting better HD over-the-air

DTV transition – this time it’s for real

The digital transition is just two days away, and according to Knowledge Networks one in four TV households in the U.S. have prepared themselves for the transition by either purchasing a digital TV, acquiring a digital-to-analog converter, or adding television service from a provider. Full Story

DTV coupon exchange and resources

If you haven’t got your federally funded digital converter coupon yet, you may be one of those who finally took note of the transition and are now waiting in line for unused coupons to expire. If you don’t want to wait, the digital converters are available at retail stores and are not that much of an investment. $50 for free digital television forever? It’s not a bad deal. Full Story

Some TV stations going digital

Today was the planned transition to digital television across America. While the Obama administration delayed the mandatory transition until June 12 due to lack of preparedness and the unavailability of digital converter coupons, hundreds of stations will go ahead and convert to digital. Full Story

Up and down about the DTV transition

I’ve been mainly up for the DTV transition to happen on its planned Feb. 17 date. Digital is the future, and analog is getting in the way. The newly acquired bandwidth will provide new channels for emergency and public services, cell phones, more television programming, wireless internet, and I’ve heard even satellite TV transmissions. Full Story

DTV transition back on schedule

Earlier this week we thought the bill to delay the digital TV transition was going to pass, and we’d all be twiddling our thumbs waiting for the 4 month extended period to go by. But yesterday the bill failed to pass the House. Now Feb. 17 is back on the calendar. Full Story

Counting down to the DTV transition

With the DTV transition now only a month away, you may be wondering how flawlessly the conversion will take place. If the test done in Wilmington, N.C. back in September ‘08 is any indication, we will have phone lines flooded with calls about missing television stations. And while the calls from that particular city only ran in the hundreds, multiply that by the number of cities in the U.S. and you would say the FCC better have some extra phone operators that day. Full Story

Current list of approved DTV converters

From time to time we update the list of NTIA-approved digital-to-analog converter boxes. There are over a dozen more models added to the list since our last update, including two RCA models, two Apex models, the Zentech EZTV DF2000L, the Coby DTV-102, and two additional AccessHD models (the Access HD 1080U shown in picture). You can get pricing on some of the converters from Amazon. Full Story

DTV transition shocks residents

Residents of Wilmington, NC were in shock yesterday when they couldn’t receive analog television signals. The city presented a test of what the Feb. ‘09 DTV transition would be like, and the test failed miserably.

Bloomberg news reported on the event, saying residents flooded the city’s phone lines. “Our phone lines were lit up for an hour straight between noon and one,” said Thomas Postema, general manager of WSFX, the Wilmington Fox affiliate. Full Story

Currently available DTV converters

Here is an updated list of currently available DTV converters that are eligible for the government issue $40 coupon. The DTV converter will allow your non-digital TV sets to display digital broadcast signals. If you are still using rabbit ears on your old set, read on for more information. Full Story

Got my DTV converter coupons

I got my digital-to-analog converter coupons in the mail today and immediately went to my local Radio Shack to “cash” them in. The letter from DTV2009.gov lists over 30 models, but this Radio Shack only had one model and both units in stock were on display. Full Story