Digital Converter Boxes

canada doesn't change until 2011, but living on a border town i got a box for the new year, it works pretty good, but i'm going to need a better arial if i'm going to get the most out of it

I have bad DTV reception and will not be able to watch most of it when it fully converts; especially in bad weather. In fact, I just sent in some questions to the local station about it. I'll post it here:

I have two questions that I have not seen addressed anywhere:

First one: KCRA is the strongest signal I get using rabbit ears and a converter box. Most of the other local stations are marginally watchable with intermittent blue screens.

When the switch to DTV is in full effect and stations don't need to broadcast both digital and analog signals, will they be boosting the strength of their digital signals or is this the best that it gets?

Second question: Even with the stronger reception for KCRA, when there are high winds or bad weather, the signal degrades horribly and results in all TV stations being unwatchable. (I am currently able to remove the converter box for viewing during storms but that won't fix it after the conversion.) This concerns me in emergency situations such as earthquakes, flooding and other storm dangers where TV stations have been our source for the Emergency Broadcast System notifications.

What are the broadcasters and emergency preparedness planners in the area doing to ensure public access to the Emergency Broadcast System notifications for those of us unable to afford cable and satellite TV subscriptions and live in apartments where aerial antennas are not allowed?


As it is now, when this new DTV goes into effect, I will no longer have access to a news source for local news. Local radio stations abandoned us years ago and only pretend to offer local news. With analog TV broadcasts, in bad weather at least I am still able to hear the audio even when the video was snowy.

Thanks for addressing these.

The local station has some really good instructional videos if anyone needs info. They also have some performance vs price comparisons on several of the coupon-qualified converter boxes.

http://www.kcra.com/dtv/index.html

Edgar, there's a video that teaches people how to hook up the converters and use the remote and digital menus. That might help your apartment residents.

My living room TV is great with the converter box. It has an outside antenna and an electric booster I found abandoned in an empty apartment at work. I tried it without the booster, and the picture began to break up a lot. Put it back, and all is fine.
The bedroom TV is on a rabbit ears. The picture breaks up a lot, and I get a lot of "no signal." I may be obliged to put it on an antenna also.

A thought. The brand I bought (with the $40 discount coupon) was Insignia. Every week or so, I rerun the "auto find channel" (from the Set-Up menu), since the closer we get to the cut-off of the analog signal in Feb. 09, the better some channels come in. I would guess things are being worked out in sending the digital signal? Sometimes I get some new UHF channels found; other times I do not?

I got several UHF channels earlier, but it could not find most an hour later. That's with the bedroom set. No real problem in the living room.

I think at the cut-off date there will be many complaints, and articles written about the conversion to the digital signal. At that point, with a more stable situation, there might be more knowledge available as to how to address specific problems. I am following George Costanza father's advice (Seinfeld): Serenity Now!

I bought a different antenna and that helped the picture. The biggest drawback to this new setup is sound. My wife is a bit hard of hearing. But, even turned up to full volume, the sound is muted for me and she can't understand the words. I can't imagine a way to turn up the volume more.

Just a thought. The sound on the digital box's remote could be turned up to 100%. Then there is the old sound control for the tv before the digital box was installed. Is that on high too?

Two other thoughts. First, with the Insignia brand digital converter box I bought there is a choice during the Set Up program, under Options, to choose Mono or Stereo. I had to choose Mono, since the connection from the digital box to the tv was just one jack. I would only have chosen Stereo, if the connection to the tv, from the digital box, had the right audio, left audio and video input connectors used. My tv only had one tv connector for connecting from the digital box (previously for the antenna connection), so Mono was the correct choice.

Also, one does have to use the remote, that the digital box comes with, to shut the digital box off, even after the tv is turned off with the tv's original remote. If one leaves the digital box "on," it get fairly warm. No good.

My digital box shuts itself off if I leave it on. It's a Magnavox. I chose the stereo setting, but I have been planning to run through the set up again. I will try mono just to see what happens.

I solved the sound problem by using another TV.

Another problem solved in the world. Progress is being made.

Bumping this up as a companion to the other topic that has resurfaced.