Digital TV problems. Analog appears to be a better system.

[frankiedctv]

i hate the fcc. not only bcuz they censor tities(one of the best thing known to man), but bcuz they switched to this digital sh**. BRING ANALOG TV BACK!

[InspiredMuse74]

It is two years later and my signal cuts in and out,in and out every 10 seconds -15 minutes. It is horrible! I live in an apartment so I can't put an antenna on the roof.

[jsteiger2228]

I don't know what the fuss is about. In Delaware we went from 3-4 fuzzy channels to crystal clear 8+ channels using the oldest, crappiest antenna and amplifier you ever saw. DTV is awsome. Down with the haters!

[RoyFive]

@jsteiger2228 Well, for one thing, there are the times when people freeze up or break out in "crossword puzzle rashes" and dialogue is reduced to "glbb...uir...schnck...flure..­.hlpfqz..." I salute you for being able to tolerate it. You're a better man than I am, Gunka Din.

[RoyFive]

It's very much a disaster.

[RoyFive]

In California, we weren't told until right after the conversion that "Oh, by the way, you're still going to need antennas." The slickest coup d'etat in history. There are some Digital TV Sucks groups on Facebook.

[filmnet]

@RoyFive Eh? How the heck would you receive radio signals without antennas?

[RoyFive]

@filmnet, Well, all the same I would have stipulated that antennas would still be required. But that's what sets me apart from the Digital Folks.

[MoonCrashed]

DTV is a total joke. I can only get NBC and CBS now, both of which still skip and freeze up way too much to be enjoyed. There is not doubt in my mind that this was purposefully done in order to force people to pay for cable...

[RoyFive]

@MoonCrashed Amen. That's what we believe, too. They could have worked out the kinks had they really wanted to, although it may have taken a little longer.

[cryptoki]

Digital TV is a failure ! In our City we could pick up 0 channels. Apparently Digital TV is only line of sight technology. Whereas Analog was better at propagation. They didn't even test it out apparently. The reception is terrible unless you live next door to a broadcaster Wow !

[CCRider100]

@cryptoki

"Apparently Digital TV is only line of sight technology."

Nope, I am getting solid reception of 1 and 2 edge signals

"The reception is terrible unless you live next door to a broadcaster"

Again nope, I live 115 miles from the Seattle antenna farm, and get 10 digital channels. 4 channels rock solid 24/7 and the other 6 channels from 12-16 hours per day.

I get the VASTLY superior HD quality, better reception, and its free. Yep, digital TV sucks_ _ _ _ _ for other people.

[CCRider100]

Its amazing that people have new HDTV's and actually prefer SD analog.

Regarding kdaveem and your called "expert" (TV station engineer), if you are getting worse reception after adding a pre-amp, it is either a crappy unit with excessive noise (7-8 db), or you are getting signal overload from too much signal.

Do your homework guys BEFORE you buy DTV equipment. There are some excellent forums (with helpful people) on this subject, that will save you both money and headaches.

[CCRider100]

Since this is more a wine and cheese party, perhaps something constructive

Google tvfool.com

Enter your address to find signal strengths at your location, and use this information to select the best antenna

digitalhome.ca

The best website for learning about all things digital, including OTA TV

[DXCProductions]

Digital Television was designed to kill free TV i'm sure. I've never ever had cable in my life - i just enjoyed free broadcast channels - and now that Analog is dead, i only pick up NBC - - 1 channel!!!

And poorly! It skips and freezes all the time . . .so now . . i just watch Hulu because i never get to see COMPLETE shoes with digital television.

[ilosittotx]

In short:

GReaT idea that went terribly WronG...

[fordranger797]

The FCC should have just left everything alone! I didnt see any reason in the first place for anything to change

Now I cant even pick up a station which has their transmitter five miles away from my house.

This is one of the worst ideas anyone has ever come up with, And now were stuck with it.

You would think they would have tested tbis syatem a little more before cutting off a large portion of antenna users from TV!

[cllinna]

Why not just get freaking cable....if your not getting what you want FOR FREE than put out some money and buy cable or dish!!! or just read a freaking book

[InvisibleNoMore68]

thats a dumb attitude

[Conflickr]

When your happy with something you've been using for along time and people supposedly give you better stuff as a justification for boning you up the ass people tend to get pissed.

By the way. Cable companies used the switch to digital to fuck their customers into getting cable boxes. Huray....

[kionne123]

i dont l ike dtv either. i only get 3 channels and No signal on the rest of the channel. the channels come in pixelated and freezes. its horrible. my tv is not that old its a 05 samsung dlp with hdtv monitor. but i rather have analog back. now im told i need a roof top antenna which cost $200+ $55 converter box+cost of a ladder+ labor for whatever person who will put it up. i assume it will be about $350 for air channels

[TMW001]

once again the goverment wasted our money on something that isn't necessary.

[JeremyMcCracken]

The thing about DTV is this: with analog, you get a range of signal strength. Weaker signals have more snow. With digital, it's all-or-none. Proponents claimed this meant that weak analog stations would now be crystal clear, since you'd receive the full signal. In practice, signals tend to come and go, leading to digital channels flipping from perfect to dead. Much more annoying to watch than snow in the picture.

[cheesemomma]

who the hell came up with this DTV idea?They should be giving us our money back and bring back analog,this is a ripoff.

[uv22dac]

I think it's a matter of what kind of terrain your area has . Since most of these digital stations are in the UHF TV-Band ( channels numbers for most are virtual numbers ) they don't work well where the terrain is rugged however for someone like me where the terrain is relatively flat is actually receiving some digital stations that are 45 miles away from me better then I received the analog stations .

[Gianthogweed]

Just hooked up my aunt to an RCA box. 2 Boxes were defective and wouldn't even turn on. Had to make 2 trips to PC Richards to return them. Finally got the third box working. We were able to get 4 channels. 2 of them were so garbled that they were unwatchable. The other 2 were ok. 1 was a spanish channel, the other was a local channel. She's using rabbit ears so it's not surprising. But at least she was gettin 2,4,5 and 7 before. Better than nothing I guess.

[cryptkeeper8913]

YEPPER i am po'd also --- i just made my rant of no tv signal at all............ this digital transition thing can suck my ---- i cant wait for the next attack on america AND US PEEPS THAT NEVER GOT WORD OF ANY EMERGENCY...... due to the damn digital fcc goverment F*CK up..........

[wbd206]

DTV sucks.

TV connection breaks every 30 seconds or so for a few seconds, quality and sound are the same, cant watch movies anymore, Cant flip channels, Sure glad I wasted $40 on this POS, Luckilly I am not freaked out as I only watched tv for about 30mins - 1 hour a day before the DTV arrived. Have tried hooking it up 3 times and re getting channels about 5 times. Today is the day... some really angry people now I am sure!

[wildboy360]

.....Weak Signal...... I hate DTV soooooo much. I rather hate a fuzzy picture than a choppy picture anyday

[drbeerman3]

Soon when this digital conversion takes place and people can't tune to all their local major networks..... Guess what happens then....The fkn GOV is gonna start paying for "Low income" households Cable Bills. Free cable for all the idiots out their that already take advantage of every system our GOV has. Great Idea whoever came up with this BS.

[leerider52]

kdaveem that-you for bring this subject -up Ok I got the box it improved pic & sound GREATLY then the fun begins. IT says the antenna needs turned or to perform a "NEW" channel scan. I started out with 26 stations,all great ...now crap! This sucks I'm between Phx. & Tucson in Arizona...what a rip-off for the money. WHAT? My hobby will be programing my TV box and turning the antenna ?

[kdaveem]

I put up a roof antenna, and had much better results, but I still have some problems with picture drop ou which I did not have with the older analog signals.

[koz303303]

Since the Goverment mandated DTV, why wouldn't the mandate that all the transmitter towers had to be based a 1 locations, so you could use 1 antenna, HMMM Bush you screwed up another thing, I almost forgot they all can afford cable?

[eimac4x1]

Seems kind of rediculous if you ask me. Apartment dwellers arent gonna be able to put up a stack of antennas and a rotator. Heck even most TV shops dont want to deal with this because they have no way to garauntee reliability. DTV is short range television, at best. The ones that can get it will be in for a shick when over the air turns into a subscription service. If you think about it, thats the only reason why the Tv stations embraced this withut a fight.

[kdaveem]

You have a good point as far as those who can't put up an outside antenna, or live to far from the transmitter.

[rep0eagle]

I hate it so much. It's awful! I only get 2 channels.

It's only good if you live in the same city.

[gschjetne]

I got digital terrestrial last year. Used my old antenna and amp, plugged in the box and it worked right away.

We have DVB-T in Europe, that may be a bit more stable than the ATSC standard, I don't know.

[Kimit420]

yes DTV stinks.. its choppy like satalite in a rain storm, but all the time, not even worth watching.. it seems we have went back in time with tv technology.. analog may have static sometimes but atleast u could watch it, much better than "DTV"... what will people do when theres an emergency when they cant see a brodcast, pfft DTV stinks there gonna have to do something about this..

[kdaveem]

Even though there are some problems with the weaker stations, after putting up an outside antenna, I am impressed with the picture quality, and the fact that some of my local stations are now able to broadcast three channels where as before they could only broadcast one.

[Kimit420]

It is tru that the picture quality is better when it works but i have an outside antenna and it still to choppy to watch... not all the time though jus most of the time lol.. We live about 25 miles from the city but i wouldnt think that it would matter to much being that the signal is coming from space.. i still say they need to fix this.. my aunt lives bout 2 blocks from me and gets 9 more channels than i do and she doesnt have outside antenna..hers is choppy but not as bad.. idk what to think.

[iamitchey]

The digital signals we get don't come satellites.

[Kimit420]

lmao well thats not the point it may not come from space but the point is dtv sux .. i cant even watch the news... i mean the news, everyone should be able to watch the news.. all this hype about "the digital revolution" its crap.. like i said its like watching satellite in a storm very choppy and cuts off.... i watch a blank screen that says unusable signal... i can watch better tv on the internet... without cable or satellite a tv is useless... im jus irritated with it..

[shotbakerrr]

Hi,you are  speaking the truth about DTV,

it still needs a LOT of work.

[spacenuke2003]

DTV is not working well for me either. Even with a strong signal it isn't better. But with a moderate or weak signal it is totally unwatchable. I bought an amplified antenna, but I only made things a little bit better. I hope I don't see the same thing happen to FM radio.