Dtv Transition -- Engadget

dtv transition posts

FCC says DTV transition going smoothly, few TVs shot up

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 15th 2009 at 7:41PM

Well, the DTV transition finally went down, and after the endless delay and countless arguments, it seems as though June 12 hit with more of a whimper than a bang: the FCC says there haven't been any widespread service disruptions, and although the agency's toll-free help lines recorded 700,000 support calls between June 8 and June 12, most converter box issues were resolved in less than five minutes by a simple channel re-scan. Similarly, we can't say we've heard of any particularly big problems out there, so really, we're just wondering what the hell took so long.

DTV voucher waitlist gone, expired coupon holders can re-apply

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 24th 2009 at 7:28PM

Good news for those of you going bonkers over your expired DTV converter coupons -- the voucher waitlist has been cleared out a little early and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is ready to accept new applications. No word on how many vouchers are left in the budget or how long it'll take for this last batch to clear out, but hey -- you should have had this taken care of months ago, Chico. Hop to it.

DTV coupons begin flowing once more, waitlist should vanish in 3 weeks

by Darren Murph posted Mar 6th 2009 at 10:12AM

For all of you still waiting for a little governmental assistance in buying that DTV converter box that you should've purchased months ago (we kid... a little), we've excellent news. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is overseeing the program, has announced that it has finally begun to ship $40 vouchers towards the purchase of these very boxes once more. The waitlist has grown some 4.1 million deep since the subsidy program ran dry back in January, but the agency is hoping to have that cleared within three weeks. Of course, you better not procrastinate on your second chance -- who knows how quickly the $650 million it has left will last.

[Image courtesy of BreakItDownBlog]

DTV switch doesn't kill TVs, drunk septuagenarians with guns kill TVs

by Richard Lawler posted Feb 20th 2009 at 1:19PM

The elderly have been slightly behind in picking up on the DTV transition, so news of a frustrated 70-year old Missouri man doesn't surprise us too much. That the combination of losing his cable and being unable to get a DTV converter working drove him to shoot his TV and cause a short standoff with the police? A bit more shocking. All, however, is explained in one line: "According to the man's wife, he had been drinking." Please, spare your TV and follow instructions.

[Via Multichannel News, Image courtesy of Phrank.com / Sledge Hammer]

Stations can still yank analog plug this month, though many won't

by Darren Murph posted Feb 6th 2009 at 5:20AM

Wow, this isn't confusing. At all. The on-again / off-again digital TV transition date -- which is now formally set for June 12th -- may or may not be honored by the hundreds upon hundreds of local broadcasters across America. You see, when Congress postponed the mandatory cutover date from its original place on the calender (February 17th), it also gave stations the option of sticking to that original date. Thus, what could end up happening is that half a city's local OTA stations would go all-digital in under two weeks, while the others delayed things until June. The good news is that most of the major US television networks (that's CBS, ABC, FOX and NBC) have reportedly decided to hold off until the new June date in order to prevent a chaotic series of events, but it's hard to say if each individual station will indeed abide. The bottom line? Get your converter box now if you need one, and if you're waiting around for one of those $40 vouchers, hats off to you and your patience.

Read - Optional cutover
Read - Broadcaster intent

DISH Network's DTVPal DVR unboxed and previewed

by Darren Murph posted Feb 1st 2009 at 4:09AM

For the longest while, we couldn't figure out who let the standalone HD DVR die. To this day, we're still scrambling to find an answer, but thankfully DISH Network has stepped in to revive the niche while the search continues. The outfit's DTVPal DVR has been circulating for almost a century now (okay, just a year and change, but there's hardly a difference in the grand scheme of things), and Mr. Dave Zatz has done us the honors of unboxing one and setting it up. The unit actually doubles as a DTV converter box and an HD DVR, and Zatz found setup to be almost too painless. Everything seemed to be humming along just fine at last check, so feel free and have a look at the gallery in the read link below before pulling the trigger.

Digital TV transition postponement all but certain

by Darren Murph posted Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:59PM

We're actually having a hard time believing this ourselves, but word on the street has it that the Senate is "on the verge of passing a bill that would delay until June the date when TV stations must broadcast in all-digital format." Without Congressional action, all TV stations will switch off their analog signals on February 17th -- a date that has been blasted out to the general populace for years now. The issue is that millions of Americans are currently on a waiting list for one of those $40 vouchers, and evidently it'll take a few more months to get additional funding and clear the backlog. It's expected that the new switchover date will soon become June 12th, and you can find all the fine print just down there in the read link.

[Via TVWeek, thanks Vanbrothers]

Obama's administration supports June DTV transition postponement

by Darren Murph posted Jan 16th 2009 at 3:50PM

Well, wouldn't you know it. It seems like West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller has the same idea as the Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA), as he introduced legislation on Thursday that would effectively postpone the digital TV transition from its current date of February 17th to June 12th. On top of that, John Podesta -- the co-chairman of Barack Obama's transition team -- has issued a letter to Congress signifying that the president-elect supports the aforementioned proposal. The delay would supposedly give the government more time to find funding for the now 2 million-deep voucher waiting list, and we're told that House lawmakers are "considering similar legislation and may schedule a vote as soon as next week." Here's a thought -- why aren't we spending our time getting the money now and keeping the confusion to a minimum?

FCC's Kevin Martin proposes alternatives for delaying DTV transition

by Darren Murph posted Jan 12th 2009 at 4:07AM

Shortly after Barack Obama's transition team urged Congress to postpone the looming digital TV transition, FCC chairman Kevin Martin has hit back with suggestions to keep things on track. His primary concern is that delaying the cutover, which has been scheduled for years and advertised as such, will confuse consumers -- and honestly, we think he has a point. If the February 17th changeover date suddenly becomes meaningless, we could definitely see consumer confusion about this whole ordeal hitting an all-time high. Martin was quoted at an interview at CES as saying that "there are options they can do without having to delay to get coupons flowing immediately," suggesting that extra funding should be hastily given or that those 90-day expiration dates be marked null and void. Additionally, many broadcasters have already scheduled work to take down their analog equipment, and cancellations could be costly and disruptive. Oh, brother -- just call us when this mess is over.

Obama's transition team urges Congress to postpone DTV cutover

by Darren Murph posted Jan 8th 2009 at 6:55PM

With the money well all dried up and a monumental transition looming, Barack Obama's transition team is urging Congress to take a second look at letting the cutover take place as planned on February 17th. According to a letter recently sent to Capital Hill, John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team, stated: "With coupons unavailable, support and education insufficient, and the most vulnerable Americans exposed, I urge you to consider a change to the legislatively-mandated analog cutoff date." Quite frankly, this has the potential to be huge. When would it be rescheduled to? Would additional fundage be applied? How would broadcasters react? Obviously, we shouldn't have to wait long to see how this all pans out.

[Thanks, Tommy]

Eviant introduces 4.3-, 7- and 19-inch digital televisions at CES

by Darren Murph posted Jan 7th 2009 at 1:46AM

Can't say we've ever heard of Eviant, but it's tough to ignore a 4.3-inch television. No, we didn't mistakenly write "television" in place of "digiframe" -- the company is seriously pumping out 4.3-inch (T4) and 7-inch (T7) digital portable televisions, both of which are fully prepared to handle the looming DTV transition. Without any additional hardware, both sets can receive ATSC OTA signals, and there's also a built-in Li-ion battery and inbuilt speakers for good measure. In slightly less amazing news, it's also busting out a 19-inch (T19) digital TV with an integrated ATSC / NTSC tuner, HDMI / S-Video / VGA / composite inputs and a 1,440 x 900 native resolution. The whole trio is expected to ship this quarter for $169.99, $199.99 and $299.99 in order of mention.

Read - T4 / T7 release
Read - T19 release

FCC cancels white space meeting to focus on digital TV transition

by Darren Murph posted Dec 15th 2008 at 12:05AM

Man, we're clearly in the wrong line of work. It seems that being in the FCC means that you can basically ignore everything else going on so long as you squint really hard and pretend to make progress on an imminent event that's just over two months ago. Sure, we're just bitter, but we're struggling to understand why an agency this large can't work towards auctioning a slice of soon-to-be-freed airwaves for widespread internet use while educating consumers on the digital TV transition that's coming in February. Caving to requests from Democratic lawmakers, the FCC has canceled a December 18th meeting that would've been used to discuss the next step in making the most of white spaces, but unless we see these very suits walking the streets with signs saying "THE END IS NEAR! FEBRUARY 17TH, 2009!," we're going to be rather peeved.

[Via phonescoop]

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

by Darren Murph posted Sep 8th 2008 at 4:43PM

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.

DTV converter coupons start to arrive, get pictured

by Darren Murph posted Feb 28th 2008 at 5:59PM

Earlier this week, we posted up a poll to find out just how many of you were planning on utilizing those $40 government-issued vouchers just as soon as they arrived in your mailbox. Now, however, we're seeing the first reports of early appliers receiving their pair of coupons in all of their credit card-sized glory. Nothing too special here -- just a couple of wallet-friendly cards good for $40 off (most) DTV converter boxes out there. But being the geeks that we are, we're strangely satisfied with seeing images proving that these are actually real. Head on over to Engadget HD to check out the gallery!

[Thanks, Alec A.]

T-minus one year till the US analog shutoff: are you ready?

by Darren Murph posted Feb 17th 2008 at 2:00PM

Surely you knew what today was, right? No? Fret not, as Engadget HD has taken the time to consolidate the plethora of 2009 analog shutoff information into one handy guide. Are you ready for the DTV transition that will be going down exactly one year from today? Find out right over here.