By Rob Pegoraro
Thursday, February 14, 2008
TV as we've known it has barely a year left to live. On Feb. 17, 2009, the analog broadcasts that have taken the networks into American homes for decades will end, replaced by a stream of digital bits that carry video and audio more efficiently and with higher quality.
For all the people happily basking in the glow of a new flat-panel, high-definition TV, many others are puzzled by the digital-TV transition. This may be one of the most misunderstood upgrade cycles in consumer-electronics history.
It shouldn't be. People coped with earlier analog-to-digital transitions that took us from vinyl records to CDs, paper letters to e-mail and film to digital cameras.
The digital-TV transition is the basically the same thing. You just have to ask the right questions.
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. 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.
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.
Does it matter if I don't have a digital TV? That depends on how the TV signal reaches your set.
If you have a cable or satellite box plugged into an analog TV, or if you only use the set to watch DVDs or play video games, you don't need to do anything.
If, however, you use a "cable ready" analog set to watch cable without a separate box, you may have to surrender that simplicity to watch more than your ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC or PBS affiliates. While cable systems that haven't already gone all-digital must provide an analog feed of local commercial and public stations through February 2012, they can move other channels to digital services that would require a cable box.
If you get TV using an indoor, attic-mounted or rooftop antenna, you have to get a new tuner -- but not a new TV, unless you also want to watch high-definition broadcasts. To keep using your older set, you need a digital converter box, which should be widely available by early March for about $50.
To help people who rely on analog broadcasts -- 14 percent of U.S. households, according to the FCC -- the government is giving away $40 coupons for the purchase of a converter. You can request two coupons online ( http://www.dtv2009.gov) or by calling 888-388-2009. Coupons expire 90 days after being mailed; the first should go out late this month.
The coupon can be used only to buy a converter box, not a new HDTV or any other gadget. This box, in turn, won't turn your old TV into a high-definition set.
Will I get the same TV reception in digital as in analog? No. You should get better picture quality and sound, and you should also have more channels to watch.
That's "should," not "will." Digital reception, like analog, can have glitches. And weak digital reception is worse than a bad analog signal: The broadcast will freeze, fragment or go blank instead of picking up snow or static.
But when I've compared digital with analog in the same spot and with the same antenna, digital has won every time -- and it's only gotten better over the past two years.
Earlier this week, I tested one of the first converter boxes available, Philips's Magnavox TB100MW9 (list price: $69). At a home in Arlington and in The Post's downtown District office, this tuner made local commercial and PBS stations look as good as cable or satellite, without any flickering or ghosting.
In some cases, though, I had to wiggle the antenna to lock in a signal. A few stations were unviewable in both analog and digital. And some low-powered stations farther up the dial don't have digital signals (the FCC has exempted them from the 2009 deadline).
Many broadcasters send out extra digital-only channels, such as local network affiliates' weather updates and PBS stations' educational and how-to channels. Digital broadcasts also often include program schedules, so you can see what's on now and coming next by pressing a button on a remote control.
Why is the government making me do this? This may be the hardest one to answer. Congress had good reasons to approve the digital transition in 1996. Most of the analog-TV airwaves will be auctioned off to wireless carriers -- expanding the reach of broadband Internet and earning the government billions of dollars -- and some will be reserved for use by police, firefighters and paramedics.
But many viewers seem to regard digital TV as a scheme to line the pockets of TV stations and electronics manufacturers. I think this says more about people's trust in government and corporations than about any longing for analog TV.
Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com. Read more athttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/
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