DTV Set Top Box Demo

CET now has on display in our Central Parkway lobby a DTV Converter Set Top Box.  If you have occasion to visit the station, take a look at how it operates.  This is a Zenith/LG model and is very representative of the other models that will be arriving in stores shortly.  So far I have found no local retailers who have any for sale.  That should change soon.  I will make a note here when and where they are available.

I plan to review the various models and features on this blog so you can make a wise investment. As always, you can ask questions by emailing me at techinfo@cetconnect.org or by using our tech hotline (513) 345-6512

You may wish to request your DTV rebate coupons. This can be done on line or by phone.

Call  (888-388-2009) or go to the DTV information website   http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/

Why is “Motor Week” not broadcast in HD on CET?

Steve wrote:
February 2, 2008 at 3:36 pm   

I thought when WCET started simulcating the analog signal on the main digital channel that existing HD shows would still be shown in HD. This morning I saw Motor week which is available in HD on other PBS stations shown with “barn door” black bars on all 4 sides of the picture. The signal was sent out 4:3 and then letterboxed.

———————————————-

Steve, You are right.  “Motor Week” is available in HD but the HD version is not available to CET until Saturday @ 4:30PM.  The standard definition version of the program is fed to CET on Friday Afternoons.  Since we air “Motor Week” each Saturday at 8:30 AM we would have to record the HD version and then play it back the following Saturday morning. This would result in a one week delay for each of the programs in the series.  The national listings etc. would be wrong. In February 2009, most of these anomalies should go away. Thanks for your comment. 

I Can’t Hear You!

I had a call on my voice mail yesterday from a women who was very upset with CET. Of course she did not leave a call back number.  Her complaint was that she experiences loss of audio on some the programs she is watching on CET.  Naturally she thinks that this is CET’s problem.  Actually the problem is in her set. 

Many new TV sets have multiple audio channels.  One of these channels is called the SAP (Special Audio Program) channel and can be used for Spanish language or Descriptive Video for the blind.  Most people don’t know that they have this feature.  And normally this should be turned off on your TV.  If it is left on, there may be times when there is no audio recorded on that channel and the result is that you will hear no audio at all.  This is what is happening to the lady who called me.

How do you allocate bandwidth?

Mr. Dominic,I came across your CET Tech Info Blog and wanted to thank you for your efforts to educate the public on television’s conversion to digital. I have a question for you; hopefully it is not too advanced for the blog but if so maybe you can answer it for me anyway. When analyzing the signal that WCET-DT sends out, in additional to the video and audio streams for CET-HD and CET-World, I notice some other data streams that are not present in other local stations’ signals. I’ve noticed that these data streams can use up 2Mbps or more of the 19Mbps available in an 8VSB channel. Could you tell me what these additional data streams are?On a possibly related note, my television’s guide system (TV Guide on Screen) provides me with programming information for all of the channels I receive. I am OTA-only (why pay for TV when you can get great HD from CET and other local stations) so I am wondering where my TV gets the data from! I have heard rumors that some PBS stations send this data, encoded in their channels. Is this true?Thanks,Zak Lewis————————————

Zak,

     First let me apologize for the tardy response. Your comment ended up my “profile area” and I don’t go there often. Normally the questions and comments are appended to the blog itself. In any case thanks for the questions. I checked with our head of engineering so I was certain to give you the right info. He feels that you may be mistaken about 2 Mbps,. He noted that if your are looking at “World” being statmuxed on your analyzer but we can’t tell for sure without seeing the equipment you are using. Our current stream, before statmuxing, on air is: 14,500,000 for CET-HD 2,500,000 for World 300,000 for the Ohio EAS (audio only that you won’t be able to monitor),  128,000 for DEAS 1,640,000 unused In addition, with a stream analyer you will not see: 250,000 for Aux Data 200,000 for Carousel 

      The Gemstar/TV Guide On Screen is broadcast on 4 lines in the vertical interval of our analog. Most major cities also have a backup of the TV Guide being broadcast on one of the commercial stations. In October it was removed from the digital stream so is only being sent on analog at this time.

      Hope this helps, jack

You may want to wait to request a DTV Converter Coupon

There have been several news reports of late about the Federal Government’s DTV Converter Coupon program.  The program will provide US households up to 2 coupons worth $40 each toward the purchase of a set top converter.  The converter will allow your analog TV to receive digital signals.  These converters are to be available soon in stores. I have yet to see any available in local stores.  If you do, let me know.

     I would suggest that you hold off requesting a coupon until you actually see the converters on store shelves.  The Coupons have a 90-day expiration date. So if you get one now and the devices are not stocked until April or May you may need to apply again.

Watch Out for the “Extras.”

     One of my coworkers at CET recently asked me for some advice about what type of cable she should use to connect her new HD TV to the various components.  She noted that the salesperson at the store from which she bought the new TV was insistent that she needed to use a very expensive HDMI cable when connecting her television.  Wanting to get the most out of her new purchase, she complied and bought the $70 cable, all four feet of it.  After talking to some others, I found out that many who are buying new sets are finding a dizzying array of cables and accessories and service plans that can add hundreds of dollars to an already expensive purchase.      

     Well the bottom line for most of these add-ons is …Don’t do it!   It brings to mind the final steps we have all had to endure when buying a new car.  The salesperson finishes up the “deal’ and then you are sent to the “finance guy” to “just fill out a few papers.”   Once in the office you are confronted with extended warranty plans, undercoating options, glass guard, ultraviolet ray paint coating, fabric protection, cures for acne and several other options.  All of  these of course cost extra and in most cases are a total waste of money.  It seems that some of the electronic retailers have spent a few too many hours shopping for cars, because they are adopting some of these lucrative “up selling” techniques with their customers.       

     Let’s talk about HDMI cables.  Yes, you should get one for each component that uses this interface to connect to your new HD TV. No, you should not spend $70 on a single cable.  You can get HDMI cables on line and at discount stores for as little as $10 to $15 and they will work just fine.  Sure, the sales person will confront you about impedance mismatches and the benefits of gold plated connectors and any of a host of other “Klingon” jargon.  When you are watching your new TV, you will not be able to tell the difference in picture quality from a set connected with a $15 HDMI cable from one that uses a $100 cable.  The same holds true for the most part for audio cables.   There are slight differences, but they are not worth the steep mark up.      

     The pitch for purchasing an extended warranty will also be an issue as you walk toward the check out counter.  Modern electronic devices will either work out of the box or will fail in a short time, well within the regular manufacturer’s warranty period.  Except for a laptop computer, I can think of no other device that should be protected with an extra warranty policy.   Three years is an eternity in the world of digital electronics.  A DVD player purchased 18 months ago for $200 can now be found on sale for $29.95 and it will come with more features.  Purchasing a $75 warranty for a $200 machine  just does not make sense.  Just say No!      

     Another rip-off is the HDTV Antenna.  If you see a box marked “designed for HDTV,” run out of the store.  There is no such thing as an HDTV antenna.  The design of an antenna, either for set top or outdoor use,  is no different for picking up an HDTV digital signal than it is for analog signals.  The fact is that the new digital over-the-air broadcasts use the same channels as we have used since the beginning of TV in the late 40s.  Don’t pay extra for an antenna just because it says that it is for Digital or HDTV use.  The only difference from the one you bought five years ago is the box.      

    It is a scary world out there …”caveat emptor”…that’s Latin, not Klingon.

What are those white marks on the left side of my picture?

     Some of our viewers using HD sets to watch CET programs may notice that on a few  episodes of Authur, there appears series of white hash marks running along the left side of the picture.  These are only visible when you are watching on a wide screen HD set.  Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to eliminate this part of the video.  On a standard analog set this part of the picture bleeds off the screen and is not visible at all.  On a high definition wide screen set is it quite noticeable.  The good news is that it is only on a few of the older Arthur programs. 

     So what is it?  Well a few years ago some of the kid’s programs on PBS had a special feature that allowed certain Arthur and Barney stuffed animals to interact with the TV.  The computer coding to allow this interaction was embedded in the video signal. 

     This was a short lived technology. Unfortunately the old programs still have the coding and in HD it is visible.  Again it is only on the older Arthur programs.

     Ah…the growing pains of  new technology.

Oh! You wanted it to work…..

One of our CET employees stopped me in the hall the other day and asked  how a certain major discount store could be selling digital TV sets that were not going to work after February 2009.  It seems she was shopping over the weekend and noticed that the TVs in question all had stickers warning of their pending obsolescence.  “I thought that the whole point of getting a digital TV was that it would work after the February 2009 analog cut off,” she said.    

Well she is right and she is wrong.  You will need a TV set with an ATSC (that is digital) TUNER to receive TV broadcasts over the air after the 2009 cut off.  It so happens that there are still digital TV sets that have analog tuners only.   For the most part these are older models that have may have been sitting around in warehouses for a couple years and it seems that some retailers are trying to unload them.    

Well. “Caveat Emptor!”  I can see no reason to buy one of these sets.  I have seen small digital TV sets with ATSC tuners at some of the big box electronic stores selling for as little as $120.  Now they are small sets with 15 – 17 inch screens.  They are not high definition and don’t have the wide screens.  They do have both analog and ATSC tuners, so they will work just fine for watching over the air broadcasts after February 2009. 

    There continues to be confusion about Digital TV and what will happen in February 2009. Here are some simple rules of thumb;

If you have cable or satellite service you need to do nothing.  Your analog TV will work with no modification.

If you watch over the air, you will need a new set with an ATSC digital tuner or use your old TV set with an inexpensive digital converter box.  These boxes will be available in early 2008 and will retail at between $50 and $70.  The government will offer each US household two coupons worth $40 each to help defray the cost of two converters.

Stay tuned here for more information.

   

All HD is DTV but not all DTV is HD

   Perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of Digital TV is that not all DTV is HD.  The terms DTV and HDTV seem to have become synonymous. They are not.

   A trip you your local big box store will demonstrate this.  There are several TV models now offered that have 4  x 3 aspect ratio screens and resolutions of 480 lines.  They have digital tuners and can receive the over-the-air and cable digital broadcasts.  They are indeed Digital Televisions, but they can not display High Definition Television. 

   Recently an “expert”  on a local TV channel opined that “in 2009, all US television broadcasts will be in HD and all TV sets must have an HD Tuner.”  This is not correct.  The FCC has no regulations whatsoever about broadcasting in HD. In the future it may be that all TV is in HD but for now there are various “flavors” of DTV.

CET HD using DirectTv or DISH Network

CET viewers have called to ask why they can not get CET HD as part of the local channel line up on Direct TV™ or the Dish Network™

The two satellite services handle local High Definition channels differently. 

Direct TV does not offer CET HD or any other public station’s HD service in the Cincinnati Market.  Customers should contact them directly and ask for the service.  If enough paying customers ask, they may reconsider.  It is worth a try.

The Dish Network does not offer ANY local HD channels using satellite transmission. Instead they will provide you with an outside TV antenna that connects to the satellite box and receives CET HD and other local HD stations off the air.  Of course if you have an HD set you don’t need either Direct TV or the Dish Network to receive any local signal off the air.

If these services should change, I’ll post the changes here.