A last-minute TV scramble
Many residents rush to beat the clock on digital changeover
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Sunday, June 14, 2009 1:24 AM PDT
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| Larry Meyer | Argus Observer
Jim Griffith, owner of the Ontario Radio Shack, shows some of the differences between the analog and digital signals for TV. |
ONTARIO—Friday was “D-Day” for many area TV viewers.
That’s because Friday was the last day for television stations to shut down their analog broadcast operations and go completely to digital signals, and, if some found themselves waiting until the last minute to get the required equipment to receive the digital signals, they were not alone.
A steady stream of people were in and out of Radio Shack in Ontario Friday, asking store staff what they needed to meet the new requirements or to ask why their TVs were not working properly.
“We underestimated the number of people who would wait until the last minute,” Jim Griffith, owner of the Radio Shack store, said. “It’s been an interesting day.”
A lot of people were after the converter boxes required for analog televisions to receive the over-the-air digital signals.
Antennas proved to be another hot item, Griffith said.
People who subscribe to cable or satellite services receive the digital services automatically, although, if their TVs are not high definition, they will not get the full benefit of the new signals.
Television stations made the choice of when to make the federally-mandated switch. KCBI, Channel 2, in Boise made the switch Friday morning. KTVB, Channel 7, was shutting down their analog operation, after the late news. Channel 4, the public broadcasting channel, was still running both systems simultaneously, which it had for sometime, and finally shut down the analog at 10 p.m.
“I was watching it (digital TV) three years ago,” Griffith said.
However, the converter boxes cost about $300.
“People couldn’t afford to fork over big money for converter boxes,” he said.
So the changeover was delayed. The reason for the change is that the government has set aside some analog frequencies for emergency service agencies and sold the rest to telecommunications firms.
The benefit of the switch, particularly for those with high definition televisions, is the quality of the picture, with much better clarity and more vibrant colors, Griffith said. One issue people using converter boxes will have to contend with is that the picture of a HD program will not fill the whole screen vertically, since HD pictures are more horizontal. Adjustments can be made to fill the screens on the non-HD sets, but that is a continual process as programs change. With the digital signal, pictures on non-HD TVs or non-HD programs will still look better than with the analog signals but will still not be as sharp, Griffith said. Griffith agreed that prices on HD TVs have come down and are a lot lower than a year ago, but said that prices are stabilizing as manufacturers add more features. There are two types of screens, Griffith said, LCD and plasma.
“Plasma is pretty much taking a back seat,” he said. “They have quit making plasma screens below 50 or 60 inches.”
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