Get your DTV questions answered
NEED HELP? Having trouble hooking
up your converter box? Reception issues? Need a technical expert to visit
your home? Well an FCC services DTV contractor may be able to come to your
home to offer additional assistance for FREE! Here's how to get help: Basic
Contractors -- Expert Contractors
-- FCC Vendors
Direct your DTV questions to Oregon Public Broadcasting by calling 1-800-241-8123
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays. or Email dtv@opb.org
ELDERS IN ACTION: Digital
TV: Keeping Seniors Connected Campaign Grant Announced
DTV Fact Sheets: Spanish
* Russian * Chinese
* Vietnamese * Close
Caption
Consumer
Reports Rates 30 Converter Boxes
The FCC has an on-line tool to determine what DTV stations will likely be
received at a particular address post-transition. The tool provides an educated
guestimate by signal strength (first ranked from Green: Strong Signal down
to Red: No Signal). If you click on the call signs for each station, you'll
find a lot of interesting technical data about estimated signal strength in
+/- dBm, direction to the tower; and pre and post channel numbers. Also, if
you look at the map after selecting a station, a new "tower" icon
will pop up showing the APPROXIMATE transmitter location.
The tool uses Google Maps technology, so you can click and drag the location
icon (the inverted teardrop) to a different location to do a A-B comparison.
The results will update automatically. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/
--Use
Care When Calling About the DTV Transition
--Remember to Rescan
--Antennas
& Digital TV
DTV Made East - 5 Simple Steps to
Upgrade to Digital Television
What is the Digital Television (DTV) Transition?
By law American television stations will end all analog broadcasts on February
17, 2009 and will begin broadcasting exclusively in a digital format. Television
sets connected to cable, satellite, or a telephone company video service provider
should not be affected and will continue to receive broadcast programming
after that date. But TV sets not connected to cable or satellite, or without
a built-in digital tuner, will need a converter box to receive broadcast television
after the transition.
Why the switch to DTV?
Digital is more efficient and will free up the airwaves for other services,
including public safety communications (such as police, fire, and rescue squads).
What's a digital TV?
It's not a high-definition or flat-panel set; high-def is only one flavor
of digital TV. What counts is not the set's screen, but what's behind it --
a digital, or ATSC ("Advanced Television Systems Committee"), tuner
that can receive the new signals.
Do I have one?
If you have to ask, you probably don't. The easiest way to tell is to see
whether the set's remote control lets you tune in channels with decimal points:
4.1 instead of just 4, for example. The TV's setup mode should also let you
search for digital and analog channels. Even big-screen sets built before
2006 usually lack a digital tuner. Sets smaller than 26 inches, VCRs, DVD
recorders and digital video recorders are probably analog, too, unless they
were made after last March, when a Federal Communications Commission mandate
kicked in. For more infor click here.
What are my options?
Preparing for the DTV transition requires one of three steps by February 17,
2009:
CONSUMER ALERT!!!!
Buyer Beware! A company called Universal TechTronics is running ads in newspapers
across the country that offer a digital converter box (up to two per family)
for free. But its really a $100 scam.
Read this article
Links for More Information
Transición
a la televisión digital: Guía del consumidor para el 2009
Consumer
Guide 2009
DTV Transition Update: Consumer
Perspective by Gloria Tristani
http://www.dtvtransition.org/
The DTV Transition Coalition is a group of public and a private organizations
working to ensure that no consumer loses free over-the-air television reception
due to a lack of information.
http://www.dtvanswers.com/ An initiative
by the National Association of Broadcasters.
http://dtvanswers.com/dtv_converterbox.html
Converter box details
http://www.dtv.gov/ The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) official information on the digital television transition.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ The National
Telecommunications and Information Association, US Department of Commerce
(NTIA) has adopted regulations to implement and administer a coupon program
for digital-to-analog converter boxes.
http://www.fcc.gov/dtv A comprehensive
list of all DTV-related actions taken by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), including those that may be relevant solely to broadcasters and others
directly involved in the transition to digital broadcasting.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280185A1.pdf
FCC releases agenda for February 28, 2008 digital television consumer education
workshop focusing on consumers with disabilities.
http://www.getreadyfordigitaltv.com/home.htm
http://www.ncta.com/
http://www.thisiscable.com/
https://www.dtv2009.gov/
In the News
DIGITAL TV SHIFT AFFECTS MINORITIES
MOST, [SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John Dunbar]
Digital
transition may delete millions of viewers - Reuters news article
Latinos
lag on digital TV: NIELSEN: THEY'RE ETHNIC GROUP LEAST READY FOR SWITCH
TO DIGITAL. By John Dunbar, Associated Press, Article Launched: 02/15/2008
01:38:26 AM PST
