DTV transition delay approved by Senate

What this fiasco should prove is that the FCC is bought and sold and is not working in the best interest of the public. The change to digital benefits setmakers by making 65 years woth of TV sets obsolete, and the cell phone peole, because it allows them to have much more spectrum to pass off new features that only serve to bring in more profit. It als benefits the FCC by the income from spectrum auctions.

Even with the converter box and a new antenna, I still cannot get reliable reception of DTV over the air. I think the conversion is a ploy to eventually force everyone to use overpriced satellite and cable/internet television.

Remember to lend a hand to the elderly in your neighborhoods since they may not be prepared for the transition.

A lot of people have purchased the converter boxes and once they observer the improvement, went out a bought a new digital TV. Thus a lot of converters are being unused. Cerate a program to recycle them. Some people who currently receive low band analog VHF TV will never receive an adequate signal for the new higher broadcast frequencies. A ?sunken? village near me has several families who will not get the replacement DTV channel with the best of antennas. I have tried at least in one spot (8 bay and LNA) for a friend, without success. A regulated low power translator system needs to be devised for these situations. Satellite providers should be required to provide their local station programming at an acceptable minimum cost.

so what if they grow our food? these are the people that voted for bush.. twice! they don't need any more tv, they need books.

We should allow analog TV to continue, but for fewer and fewer days per week. FOr example, 6 days for next 4 months, 5 days after that, etc. This would stimulate people to take action, but they would not lose all service at once.

Keep the date. Fund the coupons. Folks can survive without TV until they buy a converter.

You want a technical advice so here is one. It is true that DTV does not mean HDTV although many people are confused. However, free over the air (OTA) HDTV exists and is readily available for many channels. The low cost converter boxes do not have HDTV outputs (for coupon eligibility) but if you spend some extra money on it, free HDTV becomes a reality.

Purely a political stunt by new President Obama. Playing to the "victim" mentality Obama is trying to be the pacifier for those who are poor or just wanting to blame Bush or the GOP for their condition. Obama wants his voters to be able to watch his eloquence first hand on DTV and his liberal mainstream news media is broadcast TV which is what the converter boxes are for. The Converter Boxes are for the Liberal News Media and Obama wants to flood their liberal propaganda into every home.

I would thing a tech site would be one place that people understand the ramafacations here and understand the industry terms. I am disappointed to find so many uneducated posts. DTV is not the same as HDTV. Digital TV that you get over the air is not HDTV at this time unless you have satellite or cable. The delay is wrong, people that want to can switch but stations are going to be limited with the services they offer if they keep their analog stations on. Congress does not understand how business works. Every delay we are assured this is the last one.

After spending $1000 on HD TV only to find out most programs fill up only 2/3 of the screen, can you say we are ready? Or you have to 'stretch' the screen and watch people few pounds heavier? I want to see some sort of standard when it comes to digital programming. Where is my ROI on the hardware?

Guess this DTV conversion is presented by the cable and satelite lobbist at our expense. Didnt he say lobbiest wouldnt run the country? Still HD TV is really nice despite the cost!

I agree with Jeve and others mentioning the lack of signal in rural areas. Most people do have a converter box or digital TV, but are now dealing with antenna issues and the weaker digital signal. Its not a matter of just going out and buying a new antenna, either. It may take several tries to find one that works, get it up high enough, and then find you need a rotator if you want to change channels. Low power analog stations arent strong enough to reach rural areas so that isnt a solution either. Cable TV doesnt exist beyond the suburbs, nor does cell service, or high speed internet (for video or a lot of webpages). Satellite service, if you have a clear shot, is more than most can afford to take on, these days. For folks who only need local broadcast coverage for weather alerts and safety warnings, perhaps some low cost solutions could be offered from the satellite companies - like local channels only instead of these huge packages and long contracts. If congress had thought to increase bandwidth to rural areas first, then maybe we could better address these access issues. Either that or they should have included repeater stations in the deal to boost the DTV signals. In our area, the difference between February and June is about 50-60 degrees - which would make it easier to wrestle with yet another new antenna on the roof, thanks. And for those commenters who can only think of themselves, maybe you ought to consider the people who grow your food.

I think the delay is a good decision as well as the decision allowing stations to convert if they want. I have been watching DTV for about a year now. It is fine in good weather, but pathetic in poor weather. The delay may allow people(and politicians) in tornado alley(who depend on TV for severe storm information(ever see dopplar radar on a weather radio?) to see just how bad DTV performs under stormy conditions. I also agree with Carl, that many rural viewers will lose their ability to get over the air tv(converter boxes, antennas not withstanding). I have read that the numbers may be in the low millions. Seems to me that completely killing analog TV mostly so some phone companies can make more money is a very bad idea.

The delay is the wrong choice. The idiot that chose the middle of winter as the deadline had little common sense, but the delay is not going to help the industry, just someone's pocket book. I had better luck picking up the DTV stations then I did the analog. So converting is great, plus there is more content transmitted by each station.

Digital may have better resolution when the signal is perfect. Analog is a more forgiving signal for interference/snowy pictures. For most of the rural population with snowy/noisy reception, there will be bluescreen freezes which blank out video and audio to the point that you will not enjoy watching a show. Go ahead with the conversion and spend the money on packet transmission /buffering / reduced resolution solutions. For example if you reduced resolution, but retransmitted the video and audio multiple times, then the signal may get enough packets through for rural transmission. Sort of like the portable CD players reading at 10X the playing speed(skip protection). I'll wait until they work out the bugs and buy the generation 3 digital box.

The digital transition is not just a "switch over". The digital signals are already in the air and have been for many years. I was watching DTV 6 years ago. I am on my second HDTV. The analog shut off has been planned for many, many years. Understand the current DTV transmitters are running lower power than they will after their analog counterparts are shut down therefore better signals should occur after the cut off date. As far as why this is happening. It is not totally to make us have better pictuers (we will). Remember all the cell phones, PDA's, and Wi-Fi we all think we "Must" have ? Well to take care of our total dependency on air waves, the FCC kicked channels 52 and up off the bands and "FORCED" them to move. What a better way to move them is to make them buy a new digital transmitter and relocate. Oh, the FCC did SELL these channels and made a bundle with a capital B for billions in the process. By the way, all the entertainers, churches, and media stations using wireless microphones had to move around too. So I guess everyone is paying one way or the other

Delaying the switchover should not happen. If congress wants to see how many have not yet converted, shut the NTSC transmissions down for the Superbowl. Then measure the complaints!

The people that are not ready today will not be ready tomorrow. What happened to personal responsibility? Another life lesson from the government as they hold our hands. I am upset I purchased my converters before I needed them, what a waste. Mean what about national security, the ultimate purpose for doing this was setting aside a nation wide standard for Federal, State and local government to operate on. What about the environment, the electricity this analog systems use are huge compared to the digital transmitters. How many times do they need to delay this?? When did analog TV become a right under the constitution, with every delay there is always assurance that we will be ready next time. What is going to be different about June versus February?

The delay is an easy task for our new Democratic controlled Senate/Congress to show some action. Unfortunately, this action will not accomplish much, and will cost more dollars -- the people procrastinating now, will continue until 12Jun. It would be best to keep the 17Feb deadline, and then assist if necessary those who truely need financial assistance.

We live in suburban St. Louis county. I have our two subsidized converter boxes and bought an inside amplified antenna. The first problem is that the station locations vary over more than 90 degrees from our location, so at best, you have to reorient the antenna to pick up the stations to the south instead of east. Furthermore, reception is marginal even then and breakup of both audio and video is common. If I want to reliably receive the signal, I'm going to have to put an antenna on a rotator or buy two antennas and an A/B switch. Furthermore, if I tie the digital UHF signals to our three TVs via normal splitters, I'll have poor (if any) reception due to further signal attenuation through the splitters. Add to the "gotta buy" list a four-output distribution amplifier. And, no, we do NOT feel like paying in excess of $50/month for cable. We may just recycle our TVs and read books, instead...

Sounds like it needed to be done. I''m sure the providers have contingency plans.

What is TV?

God forbid congress actually spends time on fixing the economy. The Analog sunset was announced for a long time. Let it come and the procrastinators will finally get off their duffs and get converters or new TV's. I just do not believe as many people are affected by this as they say with the proliferation of satellite and cable. Just another case of 'look what I am doing' without any real substance or real impact for the public. And what about the people who bought the spectrum being freed up? do they just have to wait now. Much ado about nothing!

Who paid these guys off?

What's the rush? Will there be more HD TV sales or will simply live with 10 year old tube with the converter box? If there is no positive impact to economy, let's slow down and save energy by not running extra those extra boxes. Perhaps with enough delay and price of HD TV coming down, people can skip the converter and directly transition to HDTV. This way we can all slow down the energy use.

The mandate was a mistake in the first place. The Government should not be driving technology transitions, especially based on pressure from industry lobbiests. The delay is also a mistake. Anyone that thought this would go smoothly was naive. Now that they pulled the trigger, let the bullets fly.

Just do it. Low power local stations are not affected by the conversion and will still be available. The politicians need to get educated!

Whose economy gets stimulated when the stimulus is used to by chinese made converters.

I listened to the news. I read the information. I did order the coupons. I have my coupons. Let's change on 17 Feb. Quickly add $$ to issue more coupons. If not, then you must extend the 90d expiration.

Converter boxes are not the only issue with the DTV conversion. In rural areas, the signal strength for DTV may not be adequate. I tried converting two TVs over. I can view a couple of channels with analog TV but with the conversion box, the signal is inadequate for DTV. I would guess DTV needs repeaters or similar technology for rural areas affected by weak TV signals. In summary, besides converter boxes, adequate signal strength is required for DTV.

Converter boxes are not the only issue with the DTV conversion. In rural areas, the signal strength for DTV may not be adequate. I tried converting two TVs over. I can view a couple of channels with analog TV but with the conversion box, the signal is inadequate for DTV. I would guess DTV needs repeaters or similar technology for rural areas affected by weak TV signals. In summary, besides converter boxes, adequate signal strength is required for DTV.

No delay. Keep Feb 17

The rural cliff effect is not being addressed

I think the problem with the DTV coupon program is, that when I received my coupons there was not any stock of the converter boxes. About 2 weeks after my coupons expired Best Buy, Walmart, and target had skids of the converter boxes stacked up to the entrance of their stores. I told my wife to just hold on to our coupons, and we can hope that they will be able to be used later. I hope that my gamble pays off.

i say start handing out the converter boxed for free...let the tv stations ay for em...it is thier commercials we wont be watching if the box is not in place...duhh

I think the problem is going to be the antennas not picking up the higher frequency signal. My understanding is the newdigital signal is in the UHF band and many antennas won't work there.

The delay should be accompanied by a reduction in power of the analog service to make people aware that digital is here

What is the effect on tech? This is no big deal either way if the transmitters can be turned off at any time, including some that already have. Another example of feel-good activity without actual substance.

This was known as far back as two yearws ago, What's the problem? Waiting for someone to come along and pick up the tab? Or is it that apathy has set in already.

Meh. Our local station did a 90 second DTV test, which did not come through for us. Given the recent negative temps (down to -10F), I have no plans to fix the antenna, at least not until warmer weather. So, a delay means I'll still get two stations to watch, instead of none. But honestly, if it doesn't come in, it doesn't come in: I wasn't paying for it in the first place. Just who paid for the $40 coupons anyhow? TV set manufacturers, TV stations, or Congress (ie, taxpayers)? Just who's paying for this conversion?

This DTV conversion has been announced for a very long time now. Putting it off only adds to people's natural tendency to procrastinate and wait until the last minute. I have seen so many commercials and "how-to" clips on this, that it should be totally demystified by now. An increased last push marketing campaign for the last 2-3 weeks here should be enough. I say, don't delay, get it done and move on.

It is a mistake to delay. There are always stragglers.