Wilmington, NC kills analog dead as broadcasters go all-digital

Wilmington, NC had the pleasure of being the nation's first DTV transition test market, and now it has officially become the first market in the nation to flip the kill switch on analog. As of noon ET today, the Wilmington area entered the digital frontier, and initial reports suggest that things are going fairly swimmingly. Granted, "a few" viewers were still "struggling" to see the signal (read: not at all prepared for the change), but at least the world didn't completely implode or anything. Not like we can really avoid that scenario come Wednesday, but hey, an extra 24 or so hours to live it up ain't half bad.

[Matt @ Sep 8th 2008 4:49PM]

I'm a resident of NC. Im still rather confused why of all places they would choose Wilmington.

[johnjohn @ Sep 8th 2008 4:52PM]

First in flight, first in digital, duh!

[d @ Sep 8th 2008 5:14PM]

Actually, the Wright Brothers took off in Kitty Hawk, not Wilmington.

So everything went swingingly... that's great... Wilmington is by the beach...

[Johan S @ Sep 8th 2008 5:21PM]

I have no idea, but maybe they wanted a town of Wilmington's size to try it in first and chose from a list randomly? I guess if you're in Wilmington you'll think it's weird. But if they chose say Savannah, GA .. the residents there may wonder the same thing.

[Blackstar @ Sep 8th 2008 8:38PM]

I just wish they didn't take so long at the photo op. They have to get it over to the Hadron Collider by Wednesday.

[FreshJulius @ Sep 9th 2008 10:05AM]

Raleigh, NC, which is just a couple hours west of Wilmington, had the first OTA HD broadcasting in the nation... maybe they are affiliated with the progressive leadership that made that happen...

OR

Maybe Wilmington took the cue from the publicity that Raleigh generated and decided that it would be a terrific way to get Wilmington in the spotlight, especially as a progressive town with tourism interests.

[blueangel00100 @ Sep 8th 2008 4:52PM]

"Flips Switch"
Everyone: "I can't see!"

Am I the only one who thinks that looks like a giant light switch?

[Mike @ Sep 8th 2008 5:36PM]

Sigh... no, you are not the only one, that is exactly what it is.

[Greg Mcp @ Sep 8th 2008 7:10PM]

And here I was thinking it was more along the lines of giving the stumpy little thing a rub and it goes from Flaccid to Erect. Wilmington being the test town for a new erectile dysfunction treatment.

[Reader @ Sep 9th 2008 2:15AM]

HOLY SHIT WAS THAT A SERIOUS QUESTION?

Sorry for the caps, but I am fucking flabbergasted.

[Jensh @ Sep 8th 2008 4:58PM]

Here in Norway there most of the country is covered by digital signaling, and most of the old analog network have been turned off. The last analog networks will be turned off November 2009.

[Dagreenman18 @ Sep 8th 2008 5:08PM]

DTV signal+ LHC radiation= END OF THE WORLD!!!!


YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL WILMINGTON!!!!!!!!!!



BTW, how noticeable is the difference between DTV an analog?

[kjb434 @ Sep 8th 2008 5:21PM]

The difference:

A weak analog signal will be a little fuzzy and but you can still make out a picture and sound

A weak digital signal will give pretty much nothing. Garbled sound and a very pixellated picture. Think scratched DVD.

[tom @ Sep 8th 2008 5:27PM]

I am thinking...

With the public tv station switching off the analogue frequency, does that mean we "amateur" can take over and run our own tv stations using those vacant bands??

*wild thoughts*
Al-qaeda running their own news channel competing against the CNN
The presidential candidates can run their ads for free 24x7
Free Porn?

[Andy @ Sep 8th 2008 5:45PM]

Can be significant. For one, no more fuzziness or ghosting, you either get the image in perfect condition, or not at all. Also, you can now get 5.1 sound on programs. And it can be widescreen, and/or HD depending on the local station and their capabilities.

[Yopladas @ Sep 8th 2008 6:25PM]

VERY different. Its never grainy, EVER! its like a good DVD or cable. the difference is if the reception is bad, it pauses.

[Adam @ Sep 8th 2008 6:46PM]

@tom,

No, the unused analog spectrum has been auctioned off for billions of dollars to support new commercial technologies.

[Dan S. @ Sep 8th 2008 5:51PM]

@Tom:

You'll have to talk to Verizon and AT&T -- the auction for the analog TV spectrum ran from January through March.

[Echo1 @ Sep 8th 2008 7:29PM]

@ Adam and Tom

It turns out that the FCC was not able to get a high bidder, So now there planning to auction it off in parts

I'm not 100% convinced that digital is the best. On analog I was able to pick up Channel 64 (WNAC) and 25 (WFXT) with no problem (using an outdoor antenna with a good signal). When I started using the converter box, I was not able to get any signal from these two channels.

As for ham radio usage of some of the spectrum, I'm for it

KB1KOI

[Trip @ Sep 8th 2008 10:38PM]

@Echo1

WFXT-DT has been operating at low power ever since they signed on. They have an application in with the FCC to move their antenna up to the top of their tower (it's currently on the side) and boost from 78 kW to 950 kW. That will probably solve your issue.

WNAC-DT is at 1000 kW, but is directional to protect WEDN analog in Connecticut, which harms their signal in that direction and some others. If you can see WPRI-DT now, after next year you should be able to see WNAC-DT as well, since they'll have almost identical transmitters and whatnot (even side-by-side channel-wise, 12 and 13). Again, this assumes the FCC grants the applications they've filed.

[ArtVandelay @ Sep 8th 2008 5:09PM]

Can't wait to get home tonight and check this out. They made it very clear down here that DTV does not mean HDTV. Basically stations don't have to go HD they just have to transmit their signal digitally...which means 5.1 surround on all channels and better picture, but that picture may not be 720 or 1080p. I'm hoping most channels have gone HD also...I'll see in about an hour.

[Sally @ Sep 8th 2008 5:31PM]

The digital channels are already in place now, if you haven't seen it already most stations have several digital channels, so NBC has its normal channel, an HD version of the same, weather channel and sports channel. Here it is 5-1 through 5-4. This is assuming you have an over the air signal, who knows what the cable companies carry.

[Nathan @ Sep 8th 2008 5:33PM]

Uh, no. Expecting 5.1 on all channels is absurd. And the picture may or not be better, that depends on the source and compression. Anyone expecting digital to mean amazing HD on their channels is going to be greatly disappointed. Any HD OTA channels you get now you probably could have gotten long ago before the transition.

[ArtVandelay @ Sep 8th 2008 10:07PM]

Uh yeah...in all DTV transmissions, audio is carried via Dolby Digital.

[Trip @ Sep 8th 2008 10:48PM]

It may be "Dolby Digital" but it's not necessarily 5.1. I've seen "Dolby Digital" stations with one-channel (yes, Mono) audio. Many have Stereo. It's all technically "Dolby Digital" but that definitely does not mean 5.1 channels.

[Eric @ Sep 8th 2008 5:16PM]

I can understand the reasons behind the digital switch, but for just regular non-HD programming, I'd prefer analog.
I hate it that with analog if you have a poor signal, you just get a little snow in with your show.
with digital, if you have a poor signal, you get complete dropouts and bad pixelations.

so when the say some viewer are "struggling" with to see their signal, that might not be just that someone didn't buy a converter... but might be that someone is getting crap for tv reception and thus is being driven crazy with dropouts

[Maeztro @ Sep 8th 2008 5:41PM]

Maybe so but analog takes up so much more bandwidth than digital and theoretically it can be used for other things besides tv...

[Jonathan @ Sep 8th 2008 5:20PM]

I installed this light switch so you could turn the digital television on and off, NOT so you could throw light switch raves!

[Luigi193 @ Sep 8th 2008 6:38PM]

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail45.html

[andres @ Sep 8th 2008 5:27PM]

why didn't they switch to digital years ago, after all, it was just a matter of flipping a switch
(joke)

[Brian1625 @ Sep 8th 2008 5:40PM]

Just a fact to pass along. North Carolina was also the first to send an HDTV signal as well. WRAL did so on June 19th 1996. I remember them saying that many will have an HDTV in their home by 2002. So much for that.

[Mike @ Sep 8th 2008 5:40PM]

I shall from now on refer to Jack as "moron".

Short and sweet!

[kit @ Sep 8th 2008 5:47PM]

Actually... Cache County, Utah did this a week ago

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4133898

[Deathalo @ Sep 8th 2008 7:17PM]

Wrong.

If you read the whole article it specifically states that OTA signals switched to digital, not cable. Wilmington, and in fact a large majority of the US, already started broadcasting OTA in digital a while ago. But Wilmington is the first city in America to change everything to digital and leave analog behind completely. No more analog cable or OTA signals will be broadcast.

[Trip @ Sep 8th 2008 10:52PM]

Um, there's no requirement to do away with analog cable until 2012. Cache County did exactly what Wilmington did.

[whatsdamattau @ Sep 8th 2008 5:52PM]

North Carolina needs to get with the time. They now need 4k resolution. Not this obsolete 1080p stuff.

[alexmueller @ Sep 8th 2008 5:57PM]

A bunch of suits with bad haircuts.

[James @ Sep 8th 2008 6:11PM]

Is Michael Scott head of the FCC? Who else would ask for a giant fake analog switch to turn on something digital?

[Peter @ Sep 9th 2008 9:38AM]

Actually a light switch is digital, it only has two states. A dimmer would be an "analog" light switch.

[Wilmington @ Sep 8th 2008 6:24PM]

FIRST!!!

[Jensh @ Sep 8th 2008 7:12PM]

haha

[michas_pi @ Sep 8th 2008 7:55PM]

As my cursor was heading for the Low Rank button like an express train, I noticed your username.

And then, I lol'd. I see what you did there.

[shawn @ Sep 8th 2008 6:49PM]

I really want that thing for my office... I could change it to say INTERNET and then ON and OFF... then when people come into complain "the internet is broken" I can say "Oh SHIT! who flipped this switch to OFF?"

[Brandon @ Sep 9th 2008 12:10AM]

Hahaha that would probably work in my companies office.

[Eh @ Sep 8th 2008 7:00PM]

When this happens does this mean that all local channels will be in HD for free with a QAM tuner regardless of your cable package? Or will HD channels still be seperate from normal channels, allowing dead beat cable companies to scramble them so they can charge extra for HD?

[granny down east @ Sep 8th 2008 7:22PM]

Depends. If you have a good antenna you could pick up a number of HD channels OTA. You could duplex the cable and OTA antenna and switch back and forth.
Right now I receive several local channels in glorious 1080 or 720; ABC, FOX, NBC, and UNC-TV among them.

[Deathalo @ Sep 8th 2008 7:14PM]

I'm from Wilmington, in fact I just moved out a few weeks ago to go to NCSU in Raleigh, my parents are still there though. The "East Coast Hollywood", as it's called, is growing pretty rapidly, it's a university city, a major port, and a tourist trap next to the beach. NC has always been a pretty big leader in new technology too so maybe these factors helped the decision of making it first.

[THJ @ Sep 9th 2008 1:15AM]

I took a bus tour there once, I think you were my guide!

[granny down east @ Sep 8th 2008 7:18PM]

I noticed that during recent TS Hanna digital OTA reception was chancy. (South Outer Banks) Usually the picture is crystal clear and stable.
Anybody else on the NC coast notice?

[Tom Stieger @ Sep 8th 2008 7:25PM]

Now all we need is my 4 year old to go flipping that switch back and forth

Digital - Analog - Digital - Analog - Digital - Analog - Digital - Analog - Digital - Analog

Daddy, come look at what I can do!!! :-)