We’re spending a quiet evening at home tonight, watching stuff on the Science Channel.  During a commercial break from a very interesting show about the ice hotel that gets built annually in Sweden, we saw a commercial for a new show coming to Animal Planet entitled “River Monsters”.  The gist?  It’s a guy who’s dubbed as “an extreme angler”, which I think roughly translates as “fishes with a harpoon gun nearby”, who goes after really big, nasty fish.  Sort of like Bassmasters, but with the chance of the host being ripped to shreds by some sort of ferocious water creature.

As time marches on, it seems that viewers require more & more shocking content in order to hold their interest.  What will be required in 5 or 10 years to draw in viewers?  How about ice hockey, but where the players have nitroglycerin strapped to their bodies?  How far are we away from The Running Man?

Last evening, several of us met at the home of friends to watch the big game.  We all agreed to go there, as they had the largest TV (57″ vs our 46″, or 40″ at the other couple’s house)..  Seemed like a great idea at the time.  Then Comcast intervened.

While all of their other HD chanels worked great, the local NBC and ABC HD versions were just showing a black screen without audio.  The SD channel versions worked fine, but it sort of negates the point of the big HDTV, right?  So, our hosts called up Comcast to see what was up.  After a few minutes, the guy on the phone determined that nothing was wrong, and they’d need to send someone out.  Of course, since we were 10 minutes from kickoff, it wasn’t going to help for the game.

While on the phone with Comcast, our friend mentioned that they were considering switching to FiOS TV and Internet, and this was Comcast’s opportunity to convince her to stick with them by fixing this, or providing some sort of nominal credit, as compensation for degraded service.  They told her there was nothing they could do to help her, have a nice day, buh bye.

She hung up and said, “Well, I was on the fence before, now we’re definitely going with FiOS.”  We’ve had FiOS Internet for about 2.5 years now, and FiOS TV for a bit more than 6 months now, and we’re thrilled with the quality of both services.  Much better than Comcast, who we typically referred to around the house as “Crapcast.”

February 17, 2009 is quickly approaching, and you’re still confused about the DTV Transition, right?  You’re not alone.  There are acronyms flying around like crazy, people don’t understand them, there’s a lot of bad information coming from a variety of bad sources even.  Relax, here’s all you need to know.

First, listen up. The DTV Transition only applies to you if you use an antenna to get your TV signal. Cable and satellite subscribers will not be impacted by the DTV Transition, even if your cable operator is suggesting you will be impacted.  This post is focused on antenna users, not cable or satellite users.

Next, let’s talk about what DTV is and is not.  DTV stands for Digital Television.  You will also hear terms like ATSC and HDTV used to describe the DTV Transition.  To gain a better understanding, let’s rewind a bit and look at analog TV.  In the US, analog TV transmissions are governed by what’s called the NTSC standard.  This standard defines a specific method for transmitting a TV signal.  A tuner, or device that converts the TV signals into a picture on your screen, with the help of an antenna, pulls in TV signals from the air and does its job.  DTV uses a newer transmission standard, referred to as ATSC.  This means, in order to get a picture on your TV after February 17, 2009, you will need a digital, or ATSC tuner, either inside your TV, or as an add-on box, that looks something like a cable box.

Instantly, lots of questions jump to mind…

What does DTV give me over the old analog standard?

First and foremost is picture quality.  Digital transmissions are cleaner, thus better picture quality on your screen.  Also, because DTV transmissions take up less space in the airwaves than their analog counterparts, many stations broadcast what are called “sub-channels,” with additional content.  For example, Philly’s NBC affiliate, Channel 10, broadcasts two channels.  Channel 10.1 is the same old Channel 10 you’ve seen for years.  The extra channel, 10.2 is an all-weather channel that only broadcasts local weather, full-time.  Other stations handle this differently, sometimes running more shows, others not taking advantage of sub-channels at all.

Do I have a digital tuner already?

Unfortunately, there’s no quick & easy answer to this question.  The best advice I can give you is to check your TV’s manual.  If you don’t have that handy, look at the back of the TV, get the model number and check the manufacturer’s website.  If you bought your TV in the past couple of years, you may already have a digital tuner inside!

Ok, I don’t have a digital tuner, do I need a new TV?

Absolutely not.  If your TV lacks a digital tuner, you can get an inexpensive digital converter box.  These are available at your local electronics retailer, and cost anywhere between $40 and $75.  To help defray the costs, Uncle Sam’s willing to kick in 2 $40 coupons per household.  Head over to their website to apply for your coupons.

Do I need to subscribe to cable or satellite?

Again, absolutely not.  There is a lot of clever messaging by cable and satellite operators referencing the DTV Transition out there.  Let’s be perfectly clear – there is NOTHING you need to do if you’re a cable or satellite subscriber.

Do I need a new antenna?

Again, no.  In the store, you’ll see lots of antennas marketed as DTV or HDTV antennas.  DTV transmissions are in the same frequency range as existing analog TV signals, so even those crusty old rabbit ears your grandfather bought at Radio Shack in 1974 will still work fine.

So, how does HDTV fit into all of this?

All HD programming that comes in OTA (over the air), that is, via antenna, is by definition, digital already.  In other words, all HDTV content is DTV.  However, not all DTV programming is in HD.  Think of DTV as a bigger circle with HDTV as a smaller circle completely inside the DTV circle.  A common misconception is that by adding a digital tuner to your existing older non-HDTV, you’ll somehow transform it into an HDTV set.  This is again, not true.

Still not sure what you need to do?  Ok, I cooked up a little flow chart to help you figure out what to do (click it to enlarge):

Your Decision Process