Stories of the Digital TV Transition - What happened when analog went off the air.

[Ken H]

Please post all related stories of what happened in your area after analog TV went off the air on June 12, 2009.

Thanks in advance for your participation at AVS.

[ChrisPC]

Here in Nashville, WTVF 5 and WNPT 8 flash-cut to their VHF channels. WKRN 2 and WSMV 4 are still broadcasting in analog, as of 1:00 AM Friday.

WTVF had an announcement at 12:01 AM: "This is WTVF-TV 5, Nashville, Tennessee. In accordance with the FCC's digital transition, we will now cease analog broadcasting." It then faded out.

WSMV 4 went to a "nightlight" slide for a few minutes, then back to programming, probably due to storm warnings in the area. When the storms passed, about 1:00 AM, it went back to the slide.

[jtbell]

The first analog station (since February) in my viewing range went dark about an hour ago: WCNC (NBC, channel 36) in Charlotte, NC. No fanfare. They simply turned off the signal at 2:05 AM, after the commercials following Carson Daly's show on NBC.

Their signal during the previous hour (when I started recording it) was much weaker than I was accustomed to. I don't know whether they dialed down the power in preparation for the shutdown, or whether it was the result of strong thunderstorms that passed through the area during the evening. If some equipment went dead, I can understand their not reviving it for only a few hours.

[wh5916]

WVEC, channel 13 in Norfolk VA, has been broadcasting a "nightlight" program continuously this morning. Don't know if they will switch to normal programming later today, as they've been doing this at sporadic times of the day all week. They definitely won't be broadcasting anything in analog after today, not even a nightlight signal. Plans are to terminate the analog signal and shift digital transmission from a UHF frequency over to VHF 13.

[JohnS-MI]

WXYZ (Detroit) cut to static on their analog channel at 5:59 AM in the middle of the anchors talking about the transition. They have to vacate the channel so the Fox affiliate can move their digital channel, so no nightlight. WXYZ-DT has been on their permanent channel for years, and simply carried on with the segment.

2 more will shut down at 9 AM.

[wh5916]

WWBT, channel 12 in Richmond VA, appears to be gone this morning. I can't be completely certain, as I'm 70 miles away from the transmitter. Of the three Richmond analog VHF stations, though, 12 has always been the strongest and most consistent. This morning, there's nothing. The other two Richmond stations, WTVR channel 6 and WRIC channel 8 are coming in as normal. WRIC made an announcement about shutting off its analog signal later this morning.

[bdfox18doe]

Here at WCCB..We had Paul on morning show today.. so we counted down to zero and had Paul throw a big fake breaker in the prop area.. At 8:00AM, master control rolled a tape of snow & noise that went to the analog and digital..We thought we'd confuse the digital viewers for 5 seconds for fun..
killed the analog, and came back to the studio crew for closing on the digital.

See Paul "Flip Us Off" here:

http://www.myfoxcharlotte.com/myfox/...Y&pageId=1.1.1

[Joel Graffman]

WPTV in West Palm Beach telecast their analog shutoff and digital switch from 55 to 12 displaying a good view of their transmitter controls. Since I was watching on digital, all I got to see was the screen go black.

I am 40 miles from the transmitter and received a good signal on their old channel (55) using a Radio Shack UHF Yagi in my attic. The new signal on channel 12 appears to be about the same strength using a 5 element channel 13 Yagi coupled to the UHF antenna.

[jtbell]

In Greenville SC, five stations shut off analog simultaneously at 7 AM, and moved their digital channels:

WYFF - analog 4, digital 59 to 36 (analog nightlight until 7/12)
WSPA - analog 7, digital 53 to 7
WLOS - analog 13, digital 56 to 13
WGGS - analog 16, digital 35 to 16
WHNS - analog 21, digital 57 to 21

It took a while for the dust to settle. WSPA and WHNS completed their moves very quickly, within a few minutes. I didn't check WGGS until about 7:30, and they were finished by then. WYFF had 36 up quickly, but left 59 on for about another hour. WLOS didn't actually move until about 7:45. All of them look good now.

I watched the shutdown live on WYFF, which cut away to the control room and the transmitter site at the end of their 5-7 AM news, and reminded viewers watching the digital OTA signal yet again, that they'd have to re-scan their TV's or converter boxes.

[KCC07]

All Kansas City stations have now made ths switch as of 9:00am with no problems. WDAF, the oldest station in Kansas City at 60 years old signed off with the national anthem followed by the Indian Head test card then static.

[jtbell]

Video: WYFF 4 Shuts Down Analog Programming (doesn't show the "snow", though...)

[Lee L]

Originally Posted by bdfox18doe

Here at WCCB..We had Paul on morning show today.. so we counted down to zero and had Paul throw a big fake breaker in the prop area.. At 8:00AM, master control rolled a tape of snow & noise that went to the analog and digital..We thought we'd confuse the digital viewers for 5 seconds for fun..
killed the analog, and came back to the studio crew for closing on the digital.

See Paul "Flip Us Off" here:

http://www.myfoxcharlotte.com/myfox/...Y&pageId=1.1.1

Ok, that was pretty funny.I was thinking about recording some of the stations here, but I can;t do it since I have no VCRs anymore and DirecTV has been using the digital signal converted for the SD feed so the DVR does me no good either.

[rezzy]

My only real gripe is that my local ABC affiliate was on 87.7 (chan 6); that means I can no longer listen to their live radio weather and traffic reports on the way to work. It also means I cannot listen to The View anymore during lunch breaks. (I did anticipate this happening )

But if this and other stations are allowed to increase their output, I'll be really happy. 'Cause I'm tired of multipathing everytime there's a little bit of wind or rain.

I'm sure most in this particular forum were already HD-ready, but did anyone have anything unexpected come from the throwing of the switch?

[petergaryr]

Nothing significant here. I did watch the last analog station do a live broadcast from their transmitter as the engineer did a 10 second countdown to shut off.

I need to get out more.

[rezzy]

Heh, me too....

Oh, I forgot; I have a smallish HD LCD-TV, and its tuner strangely lumped both analog and digital channels together, with no way to separate them. But now the digital channels are all together the way they should be.

[Berk32]

bunch of NYC stations are shutting down at 12:30 - i'll be tuned in just for the hell of it.

[BobColby]

Originally Posted by Lee L

Ok, that was pretty funny.I was thinking about recording some of the stations here, but I can;t do it since I have no VCRs anymore and DirecTV has been using the digital signal converted for the SD feed so the DVR does me no good either.

You might not see the actual snow (or nightlight), but any sign-off ceremonies should be on the digital side as well.

[tv965]

Well we now know for a fact that Directv is getting WABC OTA to send back out over HD DNS. As the "button was pushed" the signal cut to black. About 2 minutes later a directv slate was put up telling subscribers there is nothing you need to do.

EDIT: SD DNS is unaffected.
EDIT: 12:51 WABC is back on in HD on Directv 396.

[tv965]

Disregard this post. It was wrong.

[Berk32]

Originally Posted by tv965

Also, WNBC switched without a glitch. Since they were changing frequencies its safe to assume their signal is being sent to directv via fiber or sat.

actually wnbc did not shift frequencies

[MarioMania]

I'm recording Analog Ch 10 KXTV & Ch.13 KOVR..I hope they don't go off early, I'm asuming they going off at 12 am tonight

but I'm viewing on my VCR..so I get a blue screen when it goes off

[tv965]

I just came back on to correct my post. I looked at the chart incorrectly earlier.

[Shotgun]

Just saw KTBC (Fox 7) and KXAN (NBC 36) in Austin, TX go off the air at 12:30pm and 12:50pm local time respectively. Fox ran an "in accordance with FCC regulations" type slide for about 20 seconds and then poof. KXAN had a live on location shot of two techs and a reporter in the transmission station for the final couple of minutes and then with one click of the mouse, poof.

[Lee L]

Here, WRAL had the president of the parent company and a reporter out at the transmitter site with a TV in the corner playing analog. They hit a couple of buttons and bam, the signal went to snow. Then they started talking about the historic nature of the whole thing and hte signal went out on Digital, when they started the cutover to their new frequency.

WTVD just hard cut right in the middle of whatever they were doing with no ceremony, though they had talked about it all newscast.

WNCN had a webcam set up at the transmitter site, but evendently when dead prior to actually sying the would be.

[igreg]

Originally Posted by rezzy

My only real gripe is that my local ABC affiliate was on 87.7 (chan 6); that means I can no longer listen to their live radio weather and traffic reports on the way to work. It also means I cannot listen to The View anymore during lunch breaks. (I did anticipate this happening )

But if this and other stations are allowed to increase their output, I'll be really happy. 'Cause I'm tired of multipathing everytime there's a little bit of wind or rain.

I'm sure most in this particular forum were already HD-ready, but did anyone have anything unexpected come from the throwing of the switch?

Not going to be able to receive signals on my 5" color televsion. How are others handling this with portable televisions?

[steverobertson]

Originally Posted by igreg

Not going to be able to receive signals on my 5" color televsion. How are others handling this with portable televisions?

I use signal senders and it works great

[AlanSaysYo]

No change for me today. I'd put up the mission accomplished banners and go about my weekend

[blitzen102]

Originally Posted by igreg

Not going to be able to receive signals on my 5" color televsion. How are others handling this with portable televisions?

I had a little LCD -- 3" or so.

I handled it by throwing it in the trash.

[blitzen102]

For Twin Cities, digital TV transition off to a smooth start
Julio Ojeda-Zapata
jojeda@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 06/12/2009 01:21:45 PM CDT

It's time to adjust your set. Digital TV arrives today in the Twin Cities.The DTV transition: The all-you-need-to-know guideThe long-anticipated and much-ballyhooed digital-television transition has begun in the Twin Cities, and appears to be proceeding smoothly so far.

Twin Cities Public Television at 9 a.m. was the first local broadcaster to go all digital by today's federally mandated cut-off, when U.S. stations must end analog broadcasts.

TPT then braced for calls from viewers, but received only three by 11 a.m. and about 30 by noon, said Glenn Fisher, executive vice president of broadcast services. Most callers were wondering why TPT didn't end analog broadcasts at midnight, when other local stations are scheduled to do so.

A few frantic callers needed guidance with digital-converter boxes and antennas in order to continue getting shows on their older TVs, Fisher said.

As the analog-TV era nears its end, a last-minute scramble is on across the metro area. Converter boxes are flying off the shelves of local electronics stores, and a small army of community-assistance workers is laboring to ensure the poor, elderly and non-English-speaking are not left behind.

Local DTV-preparedness efforts culminate today with a major public event from 1 to 4 p.m. at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. Clinics in five languages will instruct attendees in converter-box use, and those who have converter-box coupons from the federal government can walk away with converters that are equal the value of those $40 coupons.

Those needing DTV-transition assistance can call the Twin Cities DTV Resource Line at 612-246-3017 or the Federal Communication Commission's DTV help line at 1-888-225-5322. Or see the Pioneer Press' DTV site at tr.im/dtvhelp or twincities.com/ci_10479578.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_12577788?nclick_check=1

[bdfox18doe]

Originally Posted by rezzy

means I cannot listen to The View anymore during lunch breaks. (I did anticipate this happening )

Have you considered Prozac?