Judging by the number of TV commercials I saw leading up to the digital TV transition, it must have been one heck of a confusing issue for a lot of people. It’s hard to imagine that anyone living in the U.S. could have possibly avoided hearing about. it.
The DTV transition, as I expected, is not working out all that well for some consumers. I began noticing a while back that the digital TV signals seemed more susceptible to interference from bad weather and other atmospheric events. Digital signals have little tolerance for being interfered with. Since it is essentially a torrent of ones and zeros that makes up the digital signal that is ultimately shown on your TV screen, a good picture depends upon virtually all of those ones and zeros making it from the broadcast location to your home. If some of them are missing, you’re picture will suffer from smudge-like distortions at best and a lost signal at worst.
Unlike the old analog TV signals where a weak signal was more easily tolerated and would often result in a “snowy” or otherwise poor-quality picture, digital TV is just not as forgiving. For some viewers, a snowy picture was better than no picture at all.
I noticed some rather strange fluctuations in the quality of the digital signals I was receiving at my house before the DTV conversion. Many TV stations have been broadcasting both a digital and analog signal for quite some time, so those equipped with a digital-capable TV or an analog TV with a converter box were able to watch digital programming in many areas.
What I noticed in the time leading up to the transition date that finally occurred this month, was that I could receive some stations digital signal fine on one day and then worse on another. At times it seemed like bad weather may have been causing the problem and at other times it did not seem to be a factor at all.
The good news is that things have improved after the transition and I am now receiving virtually all of my local TV stations quite well. In some cases, the signal strength has improved from a reading in the 60′s to a reading in the 90′s. I’m not sure what the broadcasters did on the day of the transition, but it is clear to me that they did something.
Perhaps turning off their analog transmissions made it possible to boost the power output of their digital signals. Perhaps it had something to do with FCC regulations or something of that nature. All I am sure of is that my experience viewing over-the-air digital television signals has improved significantly since the transition.
There are others, however, who have lost most, if not all of the local TV stations they used to watch. This is particularly true for those using indoor antennas, like “rabbit ears.” In these cases, mounting a good-quality outdoor TV antenna on the roof of the house or in some other elevated location may solve the problem. That’s certainly no guarantee, and it might be an expensive experiment.
Some have decided to switch to cable to cable or satellite TV, which will solve all the digital TV problems. Just make sure that whatever provider you sign up with offers the local channels that you want.
I’ve been a satisfied DISH Network customer for more than 10 years, so I do not hesitate to recommend that solution as long as you have access to an area where the satellite dish antenna can be mounted in line with the satellites. That’s something the DISH Network people can help you with if you contact them. You can call the number at the top of the page or click the “Learn More” link if you need contact information.
