Watching TV on my PC at the Airport!
Have you heard about the DTV transition coming to your TV set?
A couple of weeks ago, RTV 6’s Call 6 for Help reporter Rafael Sanchez did a TV Test that allowed viewers a chance to see if their TVs were ready for the DTV transition. In a nutshell, on February 17, 2009, Channel 6 along with all television stations across the country will, by law, cease broadcasting on analog TV signals and broadcast exclusively on digital television signals.
So, what does that mean to you?
For most of you, it will mean very little. Surveys show about 50 to 55% of Hoosiers watch TV through a cable service. A little over 30% of you watch with a satellite dish or other pay service, like AT&T’s new U-Verse. The rest, about 15% of Hoosiers watch TV for free with the over the air signal broadcast by local TV stations.
The TV TEST featured a message sent on Channel 6’s analog signal (the signal that is going away in February) that gave viewers a “heads-up” that their local TV service could be interrupted come 2/17/09.
It should be noted that many of the cable, satellite and other systems currently capture the local TV stations’ analog signals and then re-transmit it to their customers (that’s you and me.)
As part of the test, Call 6 for Help had a phone bank set up to answer viewer questions. I was lucky enough to talk to some of the over 500 phone calls we received in the couple of hours the phone bank was open.
Since we are about 100 days from the analog switch-off, the cable, satellite and other services have not yet switched over to capturing the digital signal instead. But they will. So if you have one of those pay services, you will still get local stations. For over the air viewers, they will need a simple converter box and digital antenna to pick up the digital signals.
I want to make something very clear so I’m going to type in all UPPER CASE to make the point…(I’m not yelling at you, just wanting to make sure you see this.)
If you have a pay service (cable, satellite or other service) YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING…YOUR CURRENT TV WILL STILL WORK and operate just the same…YOU DO NOT NEED A CONVERTER BOX OR OTHER DEVICE IF YOU HAVE CABLE, SATELLITE OR OTHER PAY SERVICE.
Okay, done with the upper case stuff.
The converter boxes you may have heard about are ONLY for TVs getting the over the air signal. So you do not need to rush out to buy all new TVs. (Unless you want to help the economy.) Now if you want to watch true High Definition, well then you would need a new digital HD TV.
All this stuff is pretty confusing. We’ve set up a terrific site with info about the transition on theIndyChannel.com. The link is on the front page, lower right hand side.
Also, I would be happy to answer any DTV questions I can (or find someone who can.) Just send an email to DTVAnswers@6news.com
*****
You can watch HDTV on your laptop!
Now the reason I wanted to write this post…a cool new toy!
One of the viewers I talked to asked about listening to Channel 6 at work. The audio portion of the Channel 6 signal airs on 87.7 on the FM band. Unfortunately, that will be going away. But I did find a cool alternative way you can listen…even WATCH RTV 6 at work (or wherever you are) if you have a computer or laptop.
You can buy HDTV tuners you can plug into your USB port on your computer (along with a little antenna) and watch full HDTV local channels on your laptop!
It costs about $100. I picked up the stuff at Fry’s but I’m sure you can find them at Best Buy, Radio Shack or other big box stores.
I’m heading out to New York this week on business. My flight out of the old Indianapolis International was delayed by about an hour so I plugged in and watched the NASCAR race airing on RTV 6, in HD no less, on the PC.
Pretty cool.
I tried to get the Channel 8 HD signal but couldn’t get it. I’ve had a lot of southside viewers complaining that WISH’s HD signal doesn’t get to them…I could not get it at the airport. But what I saw of the Colts game, probably just as well. (Thankfully they ended up looking better than the WISH signal!)
I’ll have more updates from NYC later this week (thinking about trying to crash Good Morning America one morning this week.) If I do, I’ll take pictures and share. And of course, you can expect an upcoming blog comparing leaving Indy from the old airport and returning to the new terminal. (I’ve had a sneak peek…it’s impressive.)
Have a good week!
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