Some cable subscribers are under the impression that they need to buy a digital TV converter box or they'll lose certain channels they now get in analog—all because of the DTV transition.

That's not the case, but an incident related by our friends at the Consumerist shows there's a lot of confusion here. Folks worried about losing analog cable channels need a digital cable TV box, not a DTV converter box, and the reason they need one is because their cable company has decided to drop some analog channels for business reasons—not because the government told them to do that. (Lest every cable subscriber reading this blog panic, let me reassure you that most cable users don't have to do anything to keep getting the stations they now get.)

The changes in a cable company's channel lineup have nothing to do with the DTV transition, though some cable TV companies' ads might seem to suggest that. A DTV converter box works only with an antenna to pull in free over-the-air TV programming, the major networks and a few other channels. You need a converter for any TV (or VCR) that doesn't have a built-in digital ATSC tuner. You have to buy one from a store such as Radio Shack or an online retailer.

A cable TV box, on the other hand, can be hooked up only to a cable TV service. It can bring you hundreds of channels, including the major networks plus stations such as CNN, ESPN, Disney, and others that are available only on for-pay services. A cable TV box can be used with any TV, including HD sets. You can't buy a box outright (at least not at present); you have to rent it from your cable TV company.

So if your cable TV company says you need a converter box to get channels they’re "migrating to digital," what they mean is a cable TV box that can unscramble signals the company is now sending you in encrypted digital format.

Why are cable companies dropping analog service? The reason usually cited is that they can fit many more digital channel into the bandwidth required by one analog channel, freeing up space for more high-definition and video-on-demand programming.

The company must notify affected consumers (it might be in small type in your monthly bill) and offer the equipment they need—not necessarily for free, mind you. A digital cable TV box and remote generally cost about $6 to $7 a month for each TV. So even though the company is not raising your rates or moving channels to a silver or gold tier, you'll wind up paying more to keep getting all the channels you did before on all your TVs.

Most cable TV companies are moving steadily to digital TV transmission (satellite and phone companies are already there), so the handwriting is on the wall. Unfortunately, there's not a heck of a lot you can do about this, other than paying more or getting less—either by watching only what you can get on cable without a box, or by dropping for-pay cable TV service entirely and watching only free TV over the air. You won't get all the channels cable TV service has, but you might be surprised by the quality of free digital TV broadcasts, including HD, which rivals or even surpasses what you get from cable. It's your call. —Eileen McCooey

For some people, DTV is a lot more zeros than ones. The assumption that things will be perfect next month is not exactly correct if they aren’t so perfect now. What exactly is perfect though?

If beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, then certainly DTV is a clear winner. You can see details never before possible. I remember seeing shows in color for the first time, and noticing wallpaper patterns that I’d never noticed before in black and white. Question is though, how much detail can your eyes see?

I encounter folks every week that say their TV is just fine now, and there’s no reason to change it. Then others that are raving about the picture looking so realistic it’s like looking out a window. The human eye is easily fooled, and different people perceive details differently.

I was just reading an article on Switched.com about a company that plans to produce film for the Polaroid instant cameras. There is some merit to it, especially when you consider the ease of sharing pictures in your hands versus holding up a 1.2″ cell phone camera screen to a room ful of viewers. It’s not just nostalgia, it’s a cool look and feel the pictures have. They weren’t incredibly sharp or detailed, but something about them just looks good. It’s the same as some of my musician friends that prefer the rich sound of a tube amp over a solid state amp. Different people are “tuned into” to it differently.

We have fallen in love with lo fi music players with ear buds, and many have forgotten what a true hi fi stereo sounds like. With many TV sets coming with small tinny sounding speakers, you might not know how great a 5.1 surround sound system can be.

But for some, those small speakers are just fine. That analog TV is just fine. Even that VHS machine is perfectly acceptable. The good thing about digital technology is scalability. You can fit what you want into your budget, and upgrade one piece at a time to build the ultimate home theatre. And yes, I do suggest that investment. You can do it at your own pace and the end result will be phenomenal.

Learn to walk first, get the antenna setup right, then add on components to build your system. You will get used to the clarity and crisp picture, and be amazed when that airplane sound comes through the middle your room as it flys toward the camera.

The FCC’s soft test of the digital television conversion was a wake-up call for consumers who aren’t prepared for the June 12 transition.

InformationWeek - By K.C. Jones

A test to help consumers prepare for the transition to digital television drew a record number of calls for help and information, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said.
The FCC said that a “soft test” last Thursday drew 55,000 calls from consumers who need help or have questions about the June 12 transition from analog to digital television. That’s up substantially from the average number of calls (15,000) the FCC has received daily since May 1. More than 125 broadcast markets, including at least one station in each of the nation’s top 30 markets, conducted the test.

The highest volume of calls, 1,310, came from the Chicago area, followed by New York, where 1,277 people called for assistance. The Dallas-Fort Worth market drew the third-highest number of calls, with 764 people dialing the FCC hot line for help.
Among states, California ranked highest, with 8,090 residents calling. The FCC received 7,735 calls from Texas and 4,849 calls from Illinois, which ranked third.

More than half of the callers (51) wanted more information about the federal government’s converter box coupon program, which offers $40 for set-top boxes that allow old analog television sets to work with digital signals. Some 15 reported problems with service and 10 needed instructions for installing the converter boxes.

“This soft test did exactly what it was supposed to do,” acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps said in a statement. “It was a wake-up call for consumers who are unprepared, alerting them to the fact that they need to take the necessary steps before the June 12 DTV transition.”

The test aimed to simulate what unprepared viewers would experience when signals switch to digital. Instead of completely cutting off the analog signal, the soft test allowed broadcasters to interrupt regular programming of viewers receiving analog signals and warn them that the interruption indicates they are not prepared for the transition. Those viewers must take steps to prevent a complete loss of service in about two weeks.

by The Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board

The transition to digital television is a mere two-and-a-half weeks away. Unlike the previous Feb. 17 target for the shift from analog TV, this deadline offers no excuses to the unprepared. The four-month delay from Congress bought procrastinators more time and offered everyone a second chance to receive a coupon for a converter box. Though a number of people will be left watching snow instead of their favorite show, the switch should proceed.

On June 12, television stations across the country will begin broadcasting through a digital rather than an analog signal. For people who have cable or satellite television, the switch won’t be a problem. Viewers who rely on rabbit ears or roof-top antennas and who do not have internal digital tuners in their current sets, will need converter boxes to continue to watch TV.

The boxes cost between $40 and $80. The government has a program that provides two $40 coupons per household to purchase the boxes. However, the coupon program ran out of cash earlier this year. As the original deadline approached, 6.5 million households were unprepared, and 3.5 million remained on a coupon waiting list.

As part of the stimulus package, Congress authorized another $650 million for coupons and extended the deadline. The additional help has reduced the unprepared to 3.5 million - a big number, yes, but significantly fewer than before.

Those who remain digital-unready have been inundated with information and assistance. Coupons remain available, and the Federal Communications Commission will help install converter boxes on a case-by-case basis.

Congress in 2005 mandated the digital transition to improve picture quality and free up space on the airwaves for wireless services and emergency broadcasts, the last a compelling consideration in a post-9/11 world. Getting this done is important national business. Some stations have already gone digital, alerting consumers through a channel-by-channel snow-out that the transition is under way.

Sony Reader PRS-700

The attention given to the Kindle makes it easy to forget that Amazon’s device isn’t the only e-book reader on the market—or even the only innovative one. Among other brands, there’s Sony, who began selling its Reader before the first Kindle was launched. The latest Sony, the PRS-700, $350, is the first e-book reader to offer a touchscreen.

A pretty decent one, too, as it happens. The screen—six inches in size and black-and-white, like that of the Kindle 2, $359—is about as sensitive as the touchscreens on most cell phones we’ve tested. That is, you need to press down firmly as you swipe your finger across the screen to advance to the next page.

You can choose the direction in which you’d like to swipe in the device’s settings. I opted for left to right —the same direction your finger moves when turning the pages of a real book. After time to calibrate the required pressure (compared with the more-sensitive screen on iPhones), I found page turns to be a bit easier than on the Kindle 2, on which you turn pages by clicking one of the tabs located on each side of the screen. You can turn pages backwards as well as forwards.

I also found the touchscreen made it easier to select content than with the Kindle’s five-way joystick. On the Sony’s home screen (which is a bit slow to appear), you press the square for the type of content, then the title, you want. The screen responds promptly, and content appears rapidly.

The touchscreen also provides handy way to advance through the book. Pressing down your finger continuously at the edge of the screen allows you to advance through pages (at a rate of several per second) until you reach the number you want. You also use the screen to control other functions, like type size—the menus appear when you press tabs mounted along the bottom of the screen.

Two of those tabs—a bit small for continuous, regular use, I found—are the only alternative page-turning controls if you happen not to like the touchscreen. Also, the Kindle has the edge in crispness of type and images, and pages of type appear a little more quickly as they turn.

The Sony and Kindle screens both use so-called e-ink technology, and reading in a range of light conditions is generally fine on both devices. However, I’ll blog again soon on the most-asked issue about reading from these devices—how well legibility holds up on a sunny day. (I’ll also include notes on the PRS-700’s night light, an attempt to solve the opposite lighting challenge.)

I’ll have a more comprehensive comparison of the Sonys—the PRS-700 and less expensive PRS-505, $299—and Kindle 2 (and bigger Kindle DX, if it comes out in time) available soon to subscribers. —Paul Reynolds