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What you need to know about digital television

Background on high-definition TV

News Extra

Published: December 1, 2008

Congress in 2006 set the Feb. 19 deadline for the transition. It did so not just because DTV provided such improvements for television, but because DTV technology uses less spectrum. That makes room in the old TV spectrum band for new wireless technologies, such as wireless broadband access to the Internet. It also frees up spectrum that can be devoted to new public safety uses.

If your TV set was built before 2002, it probably is an old analog receiver. You can use it after February 17 to receive local television signals but only if the set is hooked up to cable, satellite TV (in most cases) or a digital converter box.

If you have purchased a new TV receiver since 2002, it probably already contains a digital tuner. If you're in doubt, check the markings on the set or (if you've kept it) the owner's manual. Digital receivers are marked with words such as "digital," "DTV," "ATSC" or "HDTV."

The latter term refers to "high definition TV," a subset of DTV that delivers the most crystalline form of digital TV pictures and sounds. You do not need to have an HDTV set to receive digital signals; a lower resolution DTV receiver — dubbed "standard definition TV" or "SDTV" — is good enough.

If your DTV converter-box coupons have expired, you will not be allowed to apply for new ones. You are free, however, to ask a friend or neighbor who doesn't need coupons to apply for them and then turn them over to you.

If you subscribe to cable or satellite TV but have one or more analog television sets that rely on an antenna, you'll have to acquire a converter box for each such set that you want to use after Feb. 17.

If you need to acquire a converter box, look for one labeled "analog pass-through." Such boxes will allow your television set to continue to receive certain "low power" TV stations, which often provide foreign-language or religious programming that many consumers. These stations will not have to convert to digital operations for several years yet, so many will continue broadcasting in the analog mode after Feb. 17.

If you are having difficulties receiving an over-the-air signal with your new converter box, the problem may be with your antenna rather than the box.

Digital TV signals are less forgiving than the old analog ones, which means that instead of a snowy picture, you may get only a blank screen if you antenna is pointed in the wrong direction or has other technical problems (such as a missing UHF component part). If adjusting the antenna doesn't work, you may need to buy a new one or add a "booster" antenna to your existing hardware. Such parts can cost as little as $5.

If your new converter box worked well before Feb. 17 but has lost one or more station signals after that date, you likely need to "re-scan" the channels into your box. In many communities around the United States, some stations actually will be changing the frequency on which they transmit their digital signals on or shortly before Feb. 17.

Although the change will look seamless to consumers, it won't to your converter box. The easiest way to address this situation is just to plan to re-scan the channels into your box the first time you turn on your TV on Feb. 18.

If you're hearing about new "digital cable" or "digital satellite" boxes, don't confuse those messages with talk about DTV converter boxes for the digital broadcast television transition. It's easy to get confused, unfortunately, because many cable operators and satellite providers are upgrading their own multichannel systems to digital technology now, too. (They're doing it for the same basic reason: to take advantage of digital technology's ability to pack more channels, and better pictures and sound, into a smaller amount of bandwidth.)

But the cable and satellite digital upgrades have nothing to do with the Feb. 17 DTV transition — and if you are a cable or satellite subscriber, you do not need to upgrade to digital service in order to continue receiving your local broadcast channels through cable or satellite systems.

If you are a satellite TV subscriber in a smaller market, your provider may not retransmit your local broadcast signals through its satellite system. If so, you are no different from any over-the-air subscriber and so must take additional steps to continue receiving your local stations. Check with your satellite provider if you have any questions.

If you are a tech-savvy type, please offer now to help others — especially your family, friends or neighbors in those at-risk groups — acquire and connect their converter boxes and, if necessary, adjust their antennas.

— Information from the FCC, via Media General News Service.