Market Wide DTV Trasition Test

[WPXE ION]

I was manning the phones last night, did you see me?  It was non-stop for the entire time it was open. We probably could have stayed there until midnight answering phones. Below are some of the most common questions I received.

1. How do I get my coupon? Yes we got this one even with all the advertising broadcasters have been doing about the DTV transition. Call 1-888-DTV-2009.
2. I saw the test fail on my satellite, what do I do? Nothing, your satellite provider will switch over to the digital broadcast before Feb. 17, 2009.
3. I went to (insert store name here) and the salesperson told me that I needed a digital antenna, is this true? No, just get a VHF/UHF antenna that will work for where you live.
4. Why should I get my converter box now if the SWITCH is not until next year? I explained that there are many stations in Milwaukee broadcasting in digital at this time.
5. I bought a new TV this year, but I do not see the digital channels. What is wrong? Do you have an antenna? I would ask. No. They told me it was built in. Was the answer I received. :confused:  I would tell them to look into buying an antenna, and also check the menu for their TV to see if it can receive analog and digital, switch to digital if they can.
6. My (son-in-law/grandson) bought me a new TV for my birthday, but the picture is fuzzy? Again look at the menu to see if it can switch to the digital signal.

Note: if you buy a TV for a relative, make sure it is set-up correctly.

[wysiwyg]

All new TV's have both NTSC and ATSC tuners, and many people who aren't well versed on the diferences often don't know whether they are watching analog or digital. My parents have a plasma TV and I've often found them watching the analog station when they thought they were watching the high definition form of the show. I've told them that HD stations will have a "1" after the station (ie 4-1, 6-1, 12-1, etc) and analog stations have a "0" after them (4-0, 6-0, 12-0). With their TV, if you manually enter the station and mistype it, it can switch from digital to analog under the right circumstances without you noticing.

If people with a digital TV were watching the analog station at the time of the test, they saw the screen that said they weren't ready for the transition. It's an inherent flaw of the testing procedure and will produce many false alarms every time the test is performed.

[Mark Strube]

Does anyone know what DirecTV or Dish plan to do with 16:9 broadcasts for the locals after feb 19th?  For now, I suspect the prefer to use the analog feeds, because they don't have to crop or stretch it out.  After the transition, they will have to put black bars on the top and bottom or crop it down to 4:3.

I suppose same question goes for TWC and AT&T.  Although I think I heard AT&T has always gone with the digital feed, and just crops the sides off that feed.

You're referring to the standard def versions of the locals that the satellite and cable services provide? From what I've seen it's very possible for them to push through a 16:9 version of a 480i SD signal... and then the satellite receivers can decide what to do with it, depending on what type of TV is connected, or at the customer's choice. That would be ideal.

[RonH]

I've noticed on directv that the SD version of fox6 seems to be a slightly zoomed in and then side cropped version of the HD OTA feed.  PBS 10 SD on directv is 10.1 OTA with black bars on the top and the bottom.  Channel 4 and 12 I think are still coming from the analog feed on directv.  Channel 58 of course is a whole 'nother matter.  Actually, in Feb 2009, unless something changes, won't directv either cease to show CBS58 altogether (SD or HD) since they only have the rights to broadcast the SD feed, which will no longer exist?