Do you have your DTV converter box(es) yet?
National News: With just about 6 months to go before all full powered analog TV stations cease broadcasting, have you ordered your DTV converter box coupons yet? You have until March 31st of 2009 to apply for the coupons. I purchased two converter boxes including the Digital Stream DTX 9950 and the much hyped Dish Network / Sling Media "DTV Pal." Both have analog pass-through, which is handy so that I can watch my satellite when the boxes are off. (Of course you can also use that function to watch low powered analog TV stations after the 2/17/09 deadline as well.) As you may know in my area near Cochranton, I can pull in more than one TV market. With Dish only making the Erie TV locals available in my area, it's a plus to have other markets available with an outdoor antenna. As for the converter boxes themselves, I'll start with the Digital Stream DTX 9950 at $59.99 +tax. I first purchased the DTX 9900 at Radio Shack but it did not have the analog pass-through like the 9950. Once I heard they had a box with the analog pass-through, I exchanged it. Most boxes do have program listings but what I like about the DTX 9950 is the EPG program listings for a particular channel (when available from a station) which is available for up to 12 hours. You can also see what a particular program is about if you advance further. That and a signal meter which goes up to 100 with the best reception in the green area of the meter. However, the remote has an analog / digital (A/D) button which only serves the same function as the power button. Other than that, the box is really top notch & performs flawlessly. I currently use it on my kitchen TV. Now, the Dish "DTV Pal" at $51.00 (at the time) which just arrived last week. The folks at Echostar / Dish Network decided to release a over the air converter box with similar features to some of their Dish Network satellite receivers. Why? Well that's a simple question to answer. It's an alterior motive to possibly get those who purchase a DTV Pal now consider signing up with Dish Network later. (Obviously, I jumped the gun by already having Dish Network.) I decided to get the DTV Pal online through Solid Signal. (There has been a drastic price increase since my order, so shop around for the best deal possible.) The DTV Pal came with a similar Dish remote to the ones for my satellite receiver. However, this remote does not power the TV like the Digital Stream remote does. I solved that problem by using an old Dish Network remote for the box as well as my TV, DVD recorder and sound system. Of course the DTV Pal has analog pass-through but also has a signal meter (which also reads up too 100) you will see every time you change the channel. The EPG is also similar to the one I have on Dish Network. You can see all of the channel listings & what programs are on or will be on up to 7 days in advance. I scanned ahead and was only able to get a day's worth of program information. (That probably varies from station to station.) Another function that only the DTV Pal currently has is a timer that works with your VCR or DVD recorder. With the kitchen adjacent to the living room, I could not have the DTV Pal in the kitchen because of the remotes on the same frequency. I may accidentally change the channel on the satellite in one room while trying to change the channel on the DTV Pal or vice versa, so I put it in the bedroom in order to avoid such problems. Overall, both converter boxes perform very well for my area and will make both TVs' useful even after the transition. You are welcome to drop a line or two regarding your converter boxes or if you have any questions before purchasing one.Readers’ Forum
For those with standard cable, I have some bad news: Comcast is deceiving you. They say that you don’t need to panic in the analog-to-digital transition if you’re a subscriber. What they DON’T tell you (and what some of you might have already figured out with the channel realignments to come next week) is that they plan on shifting every analog channel over to digital eventually, with 20% of the national subscriber base over by 2009 and the whole nation by 2010. The compromise with the FCC only affects “must-carry” stations, which are mainly the local networks. And even so, they probably plan on ending analog service when the compromise expires in 2012. Thus, direct cable-to-TV service is doomed. Everyone will eventually need to get ANOTHER STB from Comcast (for the lovely price of $4/box, and that can add up) or buy QAM-256 converter boxes (and right now, those are much more expensive than the ATSC converter boxes and are not covered under the voucher program). To put it all lightly, Comcast sucks!
Joshua - July 09, 2008 at 01:31 am
Yes, I have my DTV converter box, and I’m still not very happy with it. Sure, under ideal conditions, the picture is clearer than it used to be, but any time the wind blows or if someone walks around the house, the signal gets disrupted and pixelates, not to mention we don’t get as many channels as we used to with just our analog signal.
Troy - July 09, 2008 at 06:45 am
Not even half of the Pittsburgh stations available by way of VHF / UHF analog with a proper antenna are received reliably .
Irony of irony is that I can get a usable picture from a couple of Johnstown stations. Are the ATSC transmitters in operation not at full power on 4, 19 and 22’s Digital counterparts ? And if so will the results improve?
I reside in a two story home at the second highest elevation in Buffalo Twp. Butler County.{1,200 feet or so, ASL.}
The projected range reductions seen on the coverage plots make me think there will be some unhappy over the air viewers in outlying regions come Spring of next year. :(
RJ Kanary - July 10, 2008 at 12:22 am
Far as I know, both 4 & 22 (DT 51 & 42) are at full power with their digital. I believe the problem with WTAE is that their tower is south of Pittsburgh & that the their antenna as high on the tower as their analog. 19 is not on the air with their digital & will not be until 2/18/09 because their new channel is DT 11, which would interfere with WPXI’s analog signal. Any luck with Youngstown DT stations at your location?
Tom Lavery (URL) - July 10, 2008 at 10:39 am
To clarify things, I am using an indoor antenna currently.Analog signals from 2,4,6,7,8,9,11,13,16,19,22 and 53 are available with city grade or near city grade signal.
Channel 10 in Altoona and channel 40 are watchable as fringe reception.
The list of ATSC signals available under the same conditions is a fraction of that number.
It’s not boding well for this “Next Big Thing” in TV.This time of year especially UHF communications get their ears pinned back by a fact of nature. Foliage.Even wireless phone coverage is adversely affected by those nasty moisture laden leaves.:( The 6 mHz. wide TV signal has even more information to lose due to attenuation.
Youngstown stations have been out of my reach simply because I’ve never erected an freestanding outdoor antenna.Now that I’m disabled, the chances of that are even less likely.
The ease of reception of the Johnstown outlets still puzzles me. I must research how much terrain shading there must be between myself and Pittsburgh / Elizabeth and the Johnstown market.
RJ Kanary - July 10, 2008 at 11:59 am
I’m not sure about all the other converters but the Magnavox I got from walmart sucked at picking up signal. A few weeks later I got an Artec T3A pro from http://www.getdtvready.com for $4.00 after coupon and it works much better.
Jeff - July 12, 2008 at 11:01 pm
That Magnavox from Walmart is what I have . . . really bad reception. How did the online company take your coupon? Did you have to mail it to them or maybe tell them the numbers on the card when you ordered?
Troy - July 13, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Troy – Most websites accepting coupons have a section where you can enter the coupon information before paying the balance (after the coupon) with your credit or debit card. I actually used a gift card because I’m still not comfortable with using a credit / debit card online.
Tom Lavery (URL) - July 14, 2008 at 08:03 am
I have the Magnavox box from the Evil Empire, and it seems to work fine for me. I live in New Castle and I get all of the Youngstown stations in fine except for WNEO, which is a little far out anyways in Alliance, OH. I don’t get any Pittsburgh stations in but I only use a little indoor antenna (rabbit ears to be exact), nothing powerful. Once I do have more money to spend I would like to get a more powerful antenna. With analog I can get said stations plus KDKA, WPXI, WQED, WVPX, WNEO, WPGH, and New Castle’s translator for WBGN just with rabbit ears. With a real good one I could get all of those in as well as WKYC, WEWS, WTRF, WJW, WTOV, WFXI (WYFX’s translator in Mercer) WOIO, WUAB, and WBNX. I think it depends on the antenna you have, and not the box.
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 15, 2008 at 08:46 am
A question from the peanut gallery.
IF one of the ‘reasons’ that ATSC is the be the standard for TV broadcasting was to “free up” more of the EM spectrum for “other services”, why are there still going to be channel assignments on the VHF band ? And low VHF band to boot. What did I miss ?
Puzzled North Of Pittsburgh.
RJ Kanary - July 17, 2008 at 03:32 am
Once again, I notice the EPG is not working in the Erie market. All of the programming schedules (for all four channels that I receive) just says “DTV Program” for all time slots.
Not sure why, but this isn’t the first time it has happened.
Anyone care to guess why???
Troy - July 18, 2008 at 02:53 am
I just checked WQLN and found program information there. All of the other Erie stations either just have the program title without any information or “DTV Program” listed. Hopefully things will improve as we get closer to February. As for channel space being freed up for emergency services, that is a good question. I know that the spectrum will be reduced from 2-69 to 2-51, leaving 52-69 open. As for having channels on the VHF band, that can lead to some confusion with a lot of retailers selling more UHF only antennas. In Youngstown, that will work but you’ll need a combination UHF / VHF antenna for Erie and Pittsburgh for VHF channels in each market. Erie with WICU DT 12 and Pittsburgh with WPCW DT 11 and WQED DT 13.
Tom Lavery (URL) - July 18, 2008 at 08:47 am
Like Troy, I also have problems with the EPG for my converter boxes.
First of all, the time sent to the boxes by WFXP is wrong – its an hour behind. When all the other channels (WJET, WSEE, WBEP, WICU, WQLN) send the time to the box, it is correct when I change to that channel and bring up the display. However, my Zenith DTT901 has a simple guide (now and next) and it correctly displays what is on FOX when I access the program information from another channel with the correct time. Otherwise, when I check the guide or program information from FOX, the information is an hour behind for WFXP and the other channels because the station sends the wrong time to the converter box. The converter box does not allow me to manually change the time but the time zone is set correctly to Eastern and Daylight Savings Time is set to auto.
Also, WICU-DT (both 58.1 and 16.3), WSEE-DT (16.1), and WBEP-DT (16.2) all display “DTV Program” for every half-hour in the program guide. Like Troy reports, this has happened before. The guide works for all the other channels, but I think that somebody at WICU/WSEE is not updating and sending out the program information on their digital signals.
Inside the city, on the second story of the house with the TV near the window, I can get all of the local digital channels. However, they often dropout for extended periods of time or breakup. So I often have to rotate or adjust the antenna when changing between channels in order to receive a particular station well. It doesn’t help that most of the stations are using very little power and WICU/WSEE broadcast from near the landfill while WJET/WFXP/WQLN broadcast form upper Peach Street…
Doug
Doug - July 18, 2008 at 10:48 am