You've seen the countless ads with the dire warnings: switch to digital TV by February 17 or you won't be able to watch any of your favorite shows and you'll have to read a book or play with your kids. And I bet your local news stations have been running various tests and a crawl at the bottom of the screen to remind you about the transition. Now it looks like it might not happen when it's supposed to..The Obama transition team is asking Congress to extend the deadline because the way the transition has been handled hasn't been the smoothest: there's been a problem with the coupons that the government is giving out so people can get a converter box, the education on the new technology has been inadequate, and the government doesn't have the funds to make the current date a reality. Consumers unions are also asking for the date to be extended.
My sister asked me if I was ready for the digital transition, and I told her that I've been ready for years. Then I met someone last week who says she still has a small portable TV with rabbit ears. Are you ready for the change?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
1-08-2009 @ 7:17PM
djbuhhda said...
pretty sure that i've been ready. but my mom didn't really understand the commercials i guess and bought an Hdtv for her room, guess that isn't a bad thing since her old tv didn't have red,white,yellow jacks but i guess that shows the inadequate education.
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1-08-2009 @ 7:33PM
Judy said...
We, in the hard of hearing world, have been planning for this for a couple of years. Our biggest worry is what will happen to closed captioning? There are 33 million Americans with hearing loss to depend on CC to some degree.
I guess we can only wait and see (or not hear).
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1-08-2009 @ 10:05PM
Smithee said...
I get closed captioning just fine on my digital equipment. And why do you think you need to "wait and see?" In many parts of the country a good number of stations are already transmitting digital signals. Just plug your equipment in and scan for channels.
1-09-2009 @ 4:32AM
royce said...
Yeah, closed caption tends to work better on digital channels, I'm not sure what you're worried about.
1-08-2009 @ 7:41PM
Donna said...
Yes, since last May.
I had an old, large analog TV, and bought a converter box. Loved the converter box (loved the menus).
I also bought a smaller 13" digital to replace my old busted 13". Three weeks later, my old analog bit the dust, leaving me with a digital converter box without a TV.
I didn't like the menus and stuff on the 13" digital TV, so I stuck the converter box on it. Pulls the quality down ever so slightly, but I'm not picky about the quality (I'd watch static and snow), but I really wanted those menus!
I'm happy now, and I'm digital ready, regardless. But I wouldn't mind delaying the whole digital thing until after tornado season is over here in Texas. My little 2.5" portable TV is analog, and sticking a converter box on it is useless if the power goes out anyway.
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1-08-2009 @ 7:51PM
JD said...
They have been promoting this more than Obama's Inauguration, everybody knows he's going to be the next President. The information is talked about so much on local TV news, they do commercials, they do infomercials. They been doing it for over a year. Call this number or go to this website if you don't understand.
If people aren't ready it's there own fault for sitting on their ass not doing something. It's not like they have other channels they're getting from their rabbits ears now,every channel they have HAS talked this to death.
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1-08-2009 @ 11:54PM
nmsp said...
I completely agree. I've heard some people say they still don't know what to do and it's mind-boggling AND annoying because they can just look the information up for themselves! I've been ready for about a year now and i LOVE dtv. It's fantastic.
I think they should keep the date in February because everyone should know by now, and if they haven't done anything about it, it's their own fault. Let them learn the hard way--their tvs can become "just a box," as the commercial keeps telling me.
PS. Aren't stations still broadcasting on the regular signals for a bit after the switch to dtv?
1-09-2009 @ 2:31AM
Kyle said...
NMSP: no, actually they already are broadcasting on the digital airwaves, the date is when they have to shut off the analog waves.
1-09-2009 @ 11:53AM
Chrysee said...
Totally agree. If you don't understand it by this point and haven't bothered going online to find out, calling the phone number, or asking anyone else in the world what's up, a couple more weeks/months is not going to change anything.
Of course, if the problem is people not being able to get converter boxes or coupon mixups, then that's not their fault and maybe they should extend it.
I don't watch much TV at all (we don't even have cable) and I'm still sick of being bombarded by info on this. How can anyone not get it at this point??? Then again, my father did tell me not to buy a Blu-Ray player before the switch because older models of electronics might not work after it. Huh?? What does that even mean?
1-08-2009 @ 8:14PM
richardbeaudin605 said...
Theres a bigger issue than the converter boxes. What no one is mentioning is that just getting the converter box won't always be enough.
Some people will need to get a new antenna to get a signal, and if you live too far from the transmitter (more than around 30 miles, even that wont help...even if you get a good signal on your analog tv right now.
oh...and theres the cliff effect too
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1-08-2009 @ 10:15PM
Smithee said...
"...no one is mentioning ..."
Where have you been looking? Everyplace I look people can't stop talking about antenna issues. I shudder to think how many people have been sold a "digital" antenna without even trying their old roof antenna or even rabbit ears first.
1-08-2009 @ 8:30PM
Si said...
What a lot of people are forgetting is that people are getting coupons and not using them. While the program might "be out of money," that's only the coupons they've given out so far. There's supposedly millions of dollars still available from the coupons that haven't been redeemed.
I don't think the program is a failure. The government has done its job at getting people ready. The blame should lie with the cable and satellite companies that try to confuse people to make a buck. It's disgusting when I see them try to sell their service so people can be DTV ready.
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1-08-2009 @ 8:36PM
Modwild said...
Did you know that smoking supposedly causes cancer? I'm shocked. Condoms assist in reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and Ambien MAY MAKE YOU DROWSY!
Seriously - if people don't have coupons or don't know about the transition its either because a) they don't own a tv or b) they've been dead in their easy chair for the last two years.
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1-08-2009 @ 8:52PM
Wii60 said...
We sold the space already. How does forfeiting that money help us with inadequate funds? Seriously, we're all ready to go.
This is troubling. We've been working on this for so long.
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1-08-2009 @ 9:20PM
Jimmy said...
For his next trick, Mr. Obama will turn water into wine!
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1-08-2009 @ 9:53PM
Darren said...
Keep the date so the irritating commercials will come to an end! I don't know the stats but I would assume that at least 90% of people already have cable or a dish, so let's just get it over with already
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1-09-2009 @ 8:08AM
Donna said...
Oh my... I am DTV ready, but I am not able to go to satellite or cable because it's too expensive and totally unnecessary! (I make about $25,000 a year and most of that goes to billls and paying off debt.) I don't watch a lot of TV, and if I had no TV and no way to get a signal, I'd just go without.
There are lots of people who can't afford a new TV. I didn't even get my own digital TV until last May and I used money from my stimulus check to buy a 13" TV. And right now, with the recesssion, a lot of people can't go out and get a TV. Especially if they've just lost a job, they will be using that money to buy food, gas, and medicine.
It's mind-boggling to me when I hear of people who can't live without HDTV, or cable, or who have to have the latest flat-screen for their massive entertainment room. These are the people who aren't in touch with reality, and don't realize that there is a significant group of people out there who only have their old, beat-up 10-year-old TV, without cable, without satellite, and it's worked fine for them all these years.
1-08-2009 @ 9:59PM
tracey said...
The smarmy attitudes in some of these comments are neither necessary nor justified. Yes, of course, all the tech-savvy people who read this blog are ready for the digital transition. We all have the latest and greatest TVs with HD digital cable, and broadband Internet and fancy cell phones, etc., etc., etc.
The people who are not ready are those who are least able to become ready: the poor, the uneducated, the elderly, those who can't afford a new television or cable TV, who can't even afford a $60 cable box without those $40-off coupons that aren't currently available. In the case of the elderly, many of them wouldn't even know how or where to plug in the converter box, if indeed their outdated TVs even have a jack for the converter. I saw a very funny parody clip about the digital transition, where some drone in a suit talks about how easy it is to get ready for the digital transition -- cut to a confused-looking 90 year old woman with a converter box and wires dangling from it and no idea what to do with any of it. It reminded me of my grandmother, a college-educated woman, second in her class at a prestigious women's college, Accounts Receivable manager for a department store chain for 20 years before her retirement at 70, who never could figure out why she had to press "02" instead of just "2" on her remote to change the TV channel to 2. *THAT* is the kind of person who is not ready for the digital transition, and none of the commercials and scrolls and infomercials I've seen about the digital transition come anywhere near helping those people. Add to this the fact that the people selling TVs give incorrect information to their customers, the cable companies also give deceptive information... no wonder there are so many confused and unprepared people out there!
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1-08-2009 @ 10:07PM
Wii60 said...
That's a great concern, but we're not being "smarmy" just realistic. It's been 10 years in the making. We need to free up the bandwidth, and digital just provides better quality. We've done everything we can to raise awareness and have a support line and website ready. We sold the space and set a date. What can delaying this do other than make it more confusing.
Your concerns are valid, but will never go away. This needs to happen and every problem has been addressed as best as possible. Delaying it will only make it worse and cost more money.
1-08-2009 @ 10:31PM
Smithee said...
@Tracey. I agree with most of what you said, but if you are using it to justify the premise of this column (delay cutover and/or have more education) then you are arriving at the wrong conclusion. The people you are referring to are *never* going to get it. Another month of ignored or misunderstood PSAs won't change a thing. Just do the cutover and hold their hands through the whole thing one by one.