[mythtv-users] Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch

[Jeff Walther]

>
> Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:54:31 -0700
> From: Brian Wood <beww at beww.org>
>
> Allen Edwards wrote:
>> Since this digital
>> transition started we have been watching DTV.   The picture is great.
>>  Switching back to analog I now find the signals have so much noise they
>> are basically unwatchable.

> So in your particular case things got better. This will not be the case
> for everyone.

Here in Austin, I can pick up the digital version of all the analog
stations, plus three more new digital stations added by the original
broadcasting stations (weather'y station; extra PBS--cooking all the time,
it seems; and a cool retro station with old "Bold Ones" and "Suspense
Theater" and such).

However, Fox and CW just drop out.   They have episodes where the digital
converter box reports that there is no signal.   I can be going along
watching (box says about 65% signal strength, whatever that means) and
suddenly there's no signal.

Sometimes the signal drops to zero just long enough to miss key action or
dialog and sometimes it drops out for a minute or more at a time.

There drop outs seem to come in clusters.

Because I don't know what that 65% signal strength indication is actually
measuring, I don't know if that means that the station is having technical
problems and the carrier is actually stopping, or if the digital box is
just failing to synch to the digital signal for some reason.

Either way, when it is bad, it makes the show unwatchable.   Reception on
Analog is fine.

My antenna is in the attic so it's not getting blown around in the wind,
or something like that.  I suppose a tree outside could be blowing around
and somehow affecting things, but that seems farfetched.

Anyway, on topic, for those two stations, I am not impressed with the
switch, even though the picture is nicer, when it is actually coming
through.

Off topic, I don't know whether this is switch-over pains for the two
stations with problems (other four are fine) or whether I need to be
looking at my equipment.   Maybe rotate the antenna a bit?   The fact that
the signal indicator drops from good to 0, makes me doubt that the problem
is on my end, but again, I don't know what that indicator is actually
measuring.

The two problem stations appear to share a mast...