Self-deleting channels

Just because I haven't posted to this blog in over a year doesn't mean that there haven't been problems with digital television in all that time. Quite the contrary. It's just that they've tended to be some of the same nuisances (a little rain throws off reception, etc.)

However, the old self-deleting channel nuisance has now been happening with Channel 62 a lot, and now I've just memorized 44-1. Almost every time I turn on my Dynex TV, there's no 62-1. I don't even bother with the add-on program search, I just punch 44-1 on the remote. And the next time I want to watch a show on that channel, I will just punch in 44-1 again.

The frequency could of course change in the future. Hopefully they'll change it to one that doesn't cause the channel to inexplicably self-delete.

A full channel rescan may be unnecessary

I have to agree with almost everything said in ConsumersUnion's pamphlet DTV Made Easy (available at your local public library). The one exception is the advice to rescan for channels every week. If you're getting every channel you expect to get (and want to watch), don't bother doing a full channel rescan. And if you're not getting one or two channels you want to watch and you know they should be there, try a search for additional channels first. Doing a full-channel rescan should be a last resort, because in the process you might lose channels you're already getting, delete your list of favorite channels, and cause yourself other inconveniences. Though I've never heard of a full channel rescan that takes thirty minutes, it's still pretty damn annoying to watch your TV waste time scanning for analog channels and then scan for the digital channels. I wish there was an option to scan only for digital channels. Another possibility is that if your antenna is not correctly positioned, you might lose channels you'd already been watching. The point is that a full channel rescan is not something you want to be doing the minute before your favorite show starts.

In the month after the digital transition, the only channel I was missing here in Detroit was the FOX affiliate Channel 2, WJBK, and I pretty much only watch it on Sundays for "Animation Domination." I had gotten it to come in through a converter box in the living room, but for a month I settled for not being able to watch it in my room. They want me to delete all the channels and do a full rescan? I would try everything else first.

Your digital TV or converter box should have an option to search for additional channels. On my Dynex TV set, it's called an "AddOn Program Search." It doesn't bother scanning through channels that are already scanned in, but it still goes through the analog channels before going to the digital channels.

If that doesn't work, you might want to try dialing the "true" channel number. For technical reasons broadcasters haven't wanted to explain to the general public, most TV stations are not broadcasting their digital content on the same channel they used for their analog content: for example, Channel 14 might be broadcasting at 25-1. But through a little bit of trickery, you can punch in the old channel number you remember so well and your TV will bring up the desired program without burdening you with the information that you're actually tuned to another frequency: so, in the example, you punch in 46 or 46-1 and the TV brings up 25-1 but identifies it as 46-1. (Though to be fair, even in the days of analog, the channel numbers hid more complex information: Channel 14 was actually 470,000,000 to 476,000,000 Hertz, or in some cases, 469,990,000 to 475,990,000 Hertz.)

With some TVs, you might be able to pull in the desired channel by punching in the "true" channel number. How do you find out that number? When Wikipedia is not busy slandering John Seigenthaler, it might actually be able to give you the channel number: in the search box, enter the station's call letters (the four or five letters starting with K or W). The "virtual" number should match the familiar number you already know, while the other number will probably be a bit of a surprise. Channel 7-1 here in Detroit is actually 41-1. The last time I lost Channel 7 on my Dynex TV (doing a full channel rescan, incidentally) I got it back by punching 41-1 on my remote. The screen might be blank except for the text "Channel 41-1" in the corner: this is your chance to move the antenna to try to find the right position. If you're successful, you will see the image and sound come up and the TV will recognize the familiar number, and you can safely forget the "true" number. However, in my case, this doesn't work for Channel 2. Its "true" channel number, for reasons I can't comprehend, is 7-1, the number that wasn't good enough for WXYZ's digital transmission! So dialing 7-1 on my remote control gives me the ABC affiliate, not the FOX affiliate.

Last Sunday I finally gave in and did a full channel rescan in an attempt to get Channel 2 to come in on my Dynex TV. After that, Channel 2 came in clear as a bell. I lost Channel 50 in the process, but I was able to get it back through its "true" number, 14-1.

Finally some real instructions from Channel 2

Almost ten days after the "digital transition," Channel 2-0 (analog) is still broadcasting an instructional video on DTV with Michael DiSeria, and reception of Channel 2-1 remains bad. In fact, Carter of ABC Warehouse told me today that "Channel 2 is tricky in most spots." He showed me an RCA outdoor antenna that was plugged in to a showroom TV and let me turn it on. That TV could pull in 2-0 pretty good, but 2-1 not at all.

Also today, Channel 2 has added a scrolling message on its analog channel suggesting one delete all channels, rescan, (old advice so far) and then extend the VHF rabbit ears 16 to 18 inches and put them parallel to the floor, pointing towards Southfield. Finally! Some real instructions. With that new advice, I was able to pull in 2-1 in the living room and watch Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family Guy. Didn't feel like sticking around for American Dad! though.

Don't throw out that old antenna just yet

Some people think that to get the digital channels they have to get entirely new antennas. On the other hand, some Best Buy employees are telling customers that their old antennas should work just fine with new TVs they buy there. I guess they aren't working for commission.

It would be better to tell people: "You might not need a new antenna." If an antenna doesn't work with one TV, try it on the other TV in the house (odds are good there's more than one TV in your house). A flat antenna is useless in my room. It works wonderfully in the living room.

And if the old antennas don't work anywhere in your house, don't rush out to buy a $100 outdoor antenna. A different kind of indoor antenna might work without setting you back hundreds of dollars. I read somewhere that some outdoor antennas need a motor to rotate them when you change the channel. The motor will cost something extra, I'm sure. Wouldn't you feel silly installing a motor and then finding out than an indoor antenna that you can more around with your hand works better?

Digital TV reception can vary widely in one house

First off, let me reiterate that antennaweb.org is a completely useless website. You're much better off heeding the advice in DTV Made Easy, a free pamphlet from ConsumersUnion that is available at the Detroit Public Library and presumably other public libraries around the nation. The pamphlet advises one to try small indoor antennas and consult with neighbors before shelling out $100 or more for an outdoor antenna.

To that advice I would add that digital TV reception can vary greatly from one room to the next in one house. In the living room, a Craig converter box is attached to an old analog Philips Magnavox TV. A couple of months ago I attached an RCA flat antenna that kind of looks like a bat. It pulled in every digital channel there is and needed only a small adjustment to get Channel 50-1. Now it needs greater adjustments for Channels 4-1 and 7-1, but it still gets all the channels. That "bat" antenna is perfectly useless in my room, where I have a Dynex digital TV. With a broken Philips SCP020 antenna attached to that Dynex set, I get all the digital channels except 7-1, 7-2, 7-3 and 50-1. Sometimes I can get 7's channels. But I have never been able to get Channel 50-1 in my room.

Is it because the Internet router is in there? Or is it because I still haven't gotten rid of the old analog set I used to watch in my room? antennaweb.org says nothing on the matter, just brushing it off as "various factors" that can affect the reception of an indoor antenna and urging me to buy expensive outdoor antennas with color codes no antenna manufacturer uses.

Channel 4-1 in the rain

This morning I was watching Ellen at 10 AM on Channel 4's digital channel. Andrew Humphries had just said there would be on and off showers throughout the day. Some time after Ellen's monologue, it started raining, and I was actually impressed that Channel 4's reception didn't deteriorate, even though at times the rain sounded quite heavy. But later on, with no significant change in the rain, Channel 4's reception became awful. They're supposed to stop analog transmission at 6:15 AM tomorrow, not that I can get the analog channel to come in today anyway. Hopefully they will also strengthen digital transmission, so that no amount of rain can challenge reception. After all, a severe weather warning on TV is pretty useless if you can't even get the message.

When will Channel 4 reduce its analog signal

Channel 4 (WDIV) has been announcing since last week that "on or around May 15" they will reduce their analog signal, and, one would hope, boost their digital signal. When is this going to happen? It's almost May 20, and the analog signal seems to remain at the same strength. The digital signal, on the other hand, has been extremely droppy of late. After much wrangling, I found a position that works for the digital TV set in my room. For the analog TV set (with converter box) in the living room around noon today, I couldn't find any position that worked for the digital channel, so we fell back to analog. This is all the more annoying because Channel 4 digital reception had been very good for a long time.

Kudos to Channel 20

Tonight at midnight, Detroit's Channel 20 is turning off its analog transmitter, according to its website and scrolling announcements in both the analog and digital channels. Today was the original deadline, before Congress decided to delay it to June 12 for the sake of a few stragglers. Channel 20 is sticking to the original deadline, so congratulations.

Today I actually tuned in to Channel 20's analog channel for the first time in months. Channel 20's digital transmission has been so good (sometimes reaching the 80s in the signal strength meter) that I have never had to fall back on the analog channel as I've often had to do with other channels (yes, I'm talking about Channel 7). My tuning in to 20-0 was purely out of curiosity, to see something for the last time. My Dynex TV has a signal meter, and it presumably goes from 0 to 100. But I've never seen it at 100. I'll be watching 20-0 at midnight tonight, to see it switch to static. And then I'll switch to 20-1, and hopefully see the DTV signal meter reach the 90s for the first time ever.

The crucible of Channel 7 digital reception

Writing good things about Channel 7's digital reception is likely to jinx it for me. Soon after my post of January 27, Channel 7 digital reception became unstable, at least on my digital television. I have now broken the antenna for that TV in four new places and Channel 7 still doesn't come in. Channel 4 comes in reliably, and Channel 20, unsurprisingly, comes in nice and strong. If only Channel 20 had a quality newscast.

In the analog television in the living room which now has a Craig-brand converter box, Channel 7 came in good until yesterday, when all of a sudden it kept dropping frames on Ugly Betty. After the second commercial break I gave up, turned off the converter box and watched the rest of the episode on analog. It seems viewers aren't the only ones unprepared for the digital transition. Some TV stations still have a hell of a lot of work to do.

Why procrastinate on the DTV transition?

So I requested the coupons for two converter boxes, bought them and installed them. (And I've had a 720p digital TV set since September of last year). Now Congress is about to approve delaying the shut-off of full-power analog TV transmission from February 17 to June 12. The Senate has already voted in favor of the delay, according to the Washington Post, and the House is expected to rubber-stamp it; President Obama will almost certainly sign it because he asked Congress to consider the delay in the first place. I agree with almost everything else Obama has done so far: shut down Gitmo, ban torture, restore access to ex-presidential records, etc.

But delaying the DTV transition seems poorly justified. If after all those obnoxious advertisements reminding you to circle February 17 on your calendar, and the annoying DTV Tuesday tests urging you to run up and down your house in one minute to check every TV in your house, you still aren't ready for the transition, you're a procrastinator. It's true that many things about the converter coupons haven't been explained that well, like, for example, what is the cost of making them? They're plastic cards, not paper or cardboard.

I took a picture of one of them before using it. Look at it: it looks nicer than my Capital One credit card! (I've blurred the number and blacked out the bar code, but still). The coupons I bought were valid until practically April, and I got them just a couple of weeks ago. So, if I hadn't used my coupons when I got them, I would still have two full months in which to go down to Best Buy or CVS or Radio Shack or whatever and buy a converter box. It is a little suspicious that most places only carry one or at most two brands of converter boxes (the CVS I went to only had Craig, whereas Best Buy had Insignia and Apex). I'll say more about converter boxes in another post.

Let's not forget about new televisions. They have to have digital tuners anyway. If you can't afford 1080p, you can probably afford 720p, they put them on sale every once in a while. It probably is now time to replace a lot of TV sets in nursing homes, for example. And digital transmission has actually improved over the past few weeks. I actually had the antenna of my digital TV in one position for almost all week last week and I was able to tune in all the Detroit channels, even 7-1, 7-2 and 7-3 (but still no 50-1). Snowflakes still affect digital transmission, but now a simple movement of the antenna is all it takes to fix it, as opposed to the frustrating dance required last year. Like Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post, I don't need any outdoor antennae (maybe for 50-1, but I would only watch Simpsons reruns on that channel, and all the good episodes are now available on DVD – they ought to cancel that show, but that's another issue altogether), indoor antennae do just fine. Now that digital transmission is more reliable, the increased image quality of digital TV is well worthwhile. Watching Obama's inauguration, it almost felt like I could've counted the 1.8 million people crowding the area in front of the Capitol (2 million, by Nancy Pelosi's count) if I had wanted to. Mathematically I know that a 720p display does not have the resolution to distinctly show the tops of the heads of even a million people, but it's still a huge improvement over 480i.

What about content producers? Think about not just the big studios, but also local production companies. Having to produce both high-resolution digital content and downsampled analog content has got to be quite a hassle. We've left 1.44MB floppy disks far in the past. It's time to do the same for analog TV.

DTV has "clearer picture and better sound"... if you can get it to come in

So I've had a digital TV with ATSC tuner for about four months now. And yet, when Channel 7 broadcast their DTV education special yesterday, I watched almost the whole damn thing on analog. That's because here in Detroit, by the Ambassador Bridge, Channel 7's digital channels still have the second worst reception of all digital channels. Only Channel 50-1 is worse: I got it to show up in the channel scan, but its signal level remains stuck at 0 no matter what I do to the antenna. I suppose that, in a way, that's better than Channel 7. Sometimes you get lucky and 7-1 suddenly comes in. But then the wind blows a little, the image gets stuck and then it just goes to black. I've tried to wean myself off of using the analog reception as a guide for digital reception, because after February 17, it's not going to be available. Finding reception for some channels will be like trying to find water with a twig.

I mentioned last year that I had given up on RCA antennae and gone with a Philips antenna. Of that Philips, I broke off the left "ear" and twisted the right "ear." Channel 20-1 comes in almost no matter what I do to the antenna. Channels 4-1 and 62-1 have been fairly reliable with my specially broken antenna, requiring only minor antenna adjustments, as soon as I put the antenna in a position that's worked before, the channel comes in. Channel 2-1 has been OK, but besides Sunday "Animation Domination," is there anything on that channel? (Right, football, the art of the time-out). So Best Buy, forget it if you still want me to shell out $100 for an amplified unidirectional antenna that might not even work anyway. You'd have to pay me a $100 to give it a try. Nor will I shell out $70 each for converter boxes for the remaining analog TVs in my house (I'm still waiting on the rebate coupon, supposedly they mailed it January 2).

DTV does offer more channels than analog. It's actually useful to have a 24-hour weather channel, so I'm not happy about Channel 4 ditching their 24-hour weather channel and replacing it with a 7-2 knockoff (old movies and TV shows at 480i, which on a 1080i screen looks rather crappy and JPEG-artifacty). At least WXYZ still has a weather channel (at 7-3), but it's useless if you can't get it to come in, and when it finally does come in, it gives you the weather for Albuquerque and then drops out before swinging back to Michigan.

Channel 7-1 good... for an hour

On Monday night I started watching Boston Legal on Channel 7-0 (analog), unwilling to mess around with the antenna setup. I had the Philips SCP020 antenna almost exactly the way it came out the box, with its 'ears' folded and tucked in over the loop, but connected to the TV. During the opening credits, I decided to arrow up to 7-1 just to confirm it would just be a blank screen, but to my pleasant surprise, it was the show, in a crisp, clear digital presentation, without all the random dropouts that had plagued the channel last month. The antenna was in the same folded position with which I can watch Channels 4-1 and 4-2. So I watched the rest of Boston Legal on 7-1. But yesterday, Election Day, I couldn't get 7-1 to come in at all. For the most part I watched NBC's coverage on 4-1 and a little bit of CBS on 62-1. I was curious about ABC, so I very briefly tuned in to 7-0 a couple of times. But 7-1 would just not come in at all for me yesterday.

What channel did you watch the debates on?

Theoretically, the channels carrying the presidential and vice-presidential debates are, for the duration of the debate, airing exactly the same thing, with the only differences being minor graphical details, such as what font to use for lower thirds. John McCain will come across just as curmudgeonly and Sarah Palin just as clueless. The lead-in and lead-out is of course different, and the networks would hope that after you watched the debate, you would stay tuned to the same channel. Of the over-the-air networks, my first choice is ABC, then NBC, CBS, PBS, and my last choice is FOX. My and CW didn't carry the debates, so they don't figure into this.

However, I didn't watch the debates on ABC, because Channel 7 (WXYZ), the local ABC affiliate here in Detroit has very strange digital reception. It took one kind of antenna (a multidirectional lay-flat) to get 7-1 (and 7-2, but do you really want to watch old shows look blurry on a new LCD screen?) to even show up in the channel scan and another antenna (rabbit ears I custom-mangled) to actually watch that channel. But for a week now, my specially mangled antenna can't even get 7-1 anymore. To watch an episode of Ugly Betty, applying pressure to the base of the antenna actually helped. But later it was useless, and I've grown tired of having to mangle the antenna. I shouldn't have to destroy something in order for it to work. I know the analog Channel 7-0 is still around, but it doesn't look good on a digital TV, and besides, who knows what shape I'd have to bend the antenna to get that one to come in halfway decent. Maybe no RCA antennas can work for me, so I decided to give Philips a chance. I bought a Philips rabbit ears, SCP020, which right on the box claims "Outstanding reception." Understandably, I was extremely skeptical, but I'm willing to give it a chance. I took it out the box, removed a bit of onion paper it had between components, plugged it in, and without any other adjustments, and without me having to put it upside down, it gets 4-1 and 4-2. Reception on 20-1, 20-2 and 62-1 remains the same. No 7-1. And still no 50-1.

So I watched the final presidential debate on CBS. I could have watched it on FOX, but I didn't care to hear their so-called conservative spin wrap-up. Kudos though to FOX for not censoring last Sunday's Family Guy episode in which Stewie's Nazi uniform has a McCain-Palin button on it.

Digital Disappointment in Detroit

After trying a dozen different antennas with my Dynex digital TV, I am still only getting one digital channel to come in halfway decent, and even that one digital channel has its share of hiccups. Some of the other digital channels I've been able to get to come in do so rather randomly. And the surly Best Buy kings (a.k.a. customer service reps) have been no help whatsoever. One of those surly Kings told me, when I bought my Dynex TV, that any old antenna I already had for analog TV would work just fine for digital.

The antennas I have tried: every old rabbit ears I could get my hands on, a Terk amplified antenna with two rotating rectangular metal frames, a new RCA rabbit ears and an RCA lay-flat.

The Dynex TV has a signal measuring tool, with a scale that probably goes up to 100 (I've never been able to get higher than 79 on it for any channel. 33 and below is "weak," 33 to 66 is "normal" and above that is "good." Channels 20-1 and 20-2 (My TV) are the only ones that I can get consistently good reception, almost regardless of antenna position. Channel 62-1 (CBS) can come in high normal to good with careful antenna positioning. Channel 2-1 (FOX) might come in good after shaking the antenna a lot, setting it down and then going to sit down away from it. Channel 4-1 (NBC) comes in good ONLY if I set a rabbit ears upside down on the floor, with the tubes pushed in. Channel 7-1 (ABC) I didn't even get until yesterday, the damn channel finally showed up on the channel scan after plugging in an RCA lay-flat antenna. But even though the lay-flat antenna can get 7-1 to show up in the channel scan (the Dynex TV won't even go to a channel if it hasn't been detected on a channel scan) the damn antenna can't tune that channel! What the hell? So the RCA lay-flat gets unplugged and I put RCA rabbit ears in its place. Now I can get channel 7-1 but the reception randomly fluctuates from middle normal to no signal at all.

Yesterday at the Best Buy in Dearborn, surly King Cory asked where I live. A fair enough question. I live in Detroit near the Ambassador Bridge. The lay-flat antenna will do me no good because it is multi-directional, King Cory declared. So what the Best Buy circular for this week said, that that antenna "Eliminates the need for constant adjustment" is bull? King Cory didn't like the sound of that one bit. I reworded "bull" to "false." King Cory didn't want to contradict the store circular, so he instead said that the antenna only has a range of 15 miles in any direction. The reason I can't get 7-1 is because their Broadcast House is about 25 miles away from where I live. Okay, let's believe that for the time being. What I need, King Cory declared, is a Terk amplified single-directional antenna that costs $75. For each channel that I want to receive with that antenna, I'll have to reposition the antenna to point to the station, King Cory decreed. That decree would mean that I can't channel-surf. And can I even be sure that antenna will work? The other Terk antenna I bought failed so miserably (supposedly because it's a multi-directional, according to King Cory). Am I going to shell out $75 for something that might not even work? Go to hell.

I bought the lay-flat anyway. At least it enabled me to get Channel 7-1 in the channel scan, and I said, I can kind of get it with rabbit ears. According to Google Maps, the distance between my house and the WXYZ Broadcast House is 16.4 miles (driving, mostly on the Lodge Freeway, M-10). Let's give King Cory the benefit of the doubt and say that the Channel 7 airwaves also travel along the Lodge Freeway, and thus WXYZ is beyond the range of the RCA lay-flat by more than a mile. Then why the hell could the lay-flat recognize it in the channel scan? And why can the rabbit ears get 7-1 to come in and drop out at random intervals? And what of the fact that upside down rabbit ears can get 4-1 to come in good but the same rabbit ears right side up get no signal from 4-1 whatsoever?

Angry from all this DTV BS, I snapped. I broke a pair of rabbit ears with UHF loop. Guess what? The mangled rabbit ears get almost the same reception! 20-2 comes in slightly worse (but still high normal) and 7-1 comes in slightly better, with fewer drop-outs. It's an insult, really. A destroyed antenna can work about the same as an expensive new one. In all this, I still haven't gotten even a glimpse of 50-1 (CW).

And don't tell me to go to antennaweb.org. That website is useless. Besides some junk mail, all I've gotten from it is being told that I need a yellow UHF, a red UHF and a violet UHF. Each of these types of antennas is supposed to have a color-coded "mark" on them, so you can "look for this mark on your antenna box." But when you go to the store, none of the antennas have those marks!

After so much effort to get Digital TV to come in, you start to expect more quality from the content. It falls so short that it doesn't even begin to compensate for all the trouble that comes from trying to get it. Old Christine is barely passable and Gary Unmarried is just awful. My TV reruns some modern classics but its night newscast is laughable and it has no morning newscast. Etc.

Do the cable and satellite companies expect that people, tired of dealing with antennas, will sign up for their services? Maybe some will. Maybe others will just dump their TVs.