What is Analog Television
What is Digital Television?
How is Digital Television Different?
Why are we Switching to Digital Television?
When is the Full Transition to Digital Television?
Can I get Digital Television Today?
Will My Analog Television Still Work After the Transition?
How Can I Learn More About the Digital Conversion?
Where is Twin Cities Public Television on DTV?
Will I be Able to Record Digital TV Programs?
What are the Digital TV and Antenna Shown in the Promotion that is on tpt?

Since television was first invented, TV signals have been transmitted to viewers using a technology called “analog.”  It isn’t important to understand how this system worked, but it is important to know that this technology is being phased out and will soon be completely eliminated.

Digital television (DTV) uses a new technology for broadcasters to send out their signals.  This new technology improves picture and sound quality and makes it possible for television stations to offer more channels than before.

To take advantage of digital technology, both broadcasters and viewers must have new kinds of equipment.

DTV can provide pictures in different sizes, also called aspect ratios.  Aspect ratio is a technical term that refers to how wide a screen is in relation to its height.  An aspect ratio of 4:3 is what we are used to from analog TV, with the picture being almost square.  DTV can provide pictures in the 4:3 (square) format as well as in 16:9 (widescreen) format. Most movies produced after around 1950 have been made using a widescreen format, which is why the screens in movie theaters are rectangular.  DTV brings this widescreen format right into your home.

Resolution is a technical term that refers to how much detail is contained in a picture and, therefore, how realistic it looks. DTV comes in two levels of resolution:

• Standard Definition TV (SDTV) - SDTV is the basic resolution for both analog and digital TV and is generally referred to simply as “standard definition.”
• High-Definition TV (HDTV) – HDTV is the highest resolution type of digital broadcasting.  To make matters confusing, HDTV can come in slightly different versions, referred to as 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Each of these has certain advantages, but all provide a substantial improvement over SDTV. 

In addition, DTV allows for audio to be broadcast in very high quality, including in full surround-sound.

Finally, DTV allows broadcasters to offer more channels than they could before.  Instead of one channel, say channel 2, a broadcaster may offer several channels: channel 2.1, channel 2.2, channel 2.3, and so on.

In addition to the consumer benefits discussed above, the U.S. government has mandated a conversion to DTV to free up parts of the scarce and valuable broadcast airwaves. Those portions of the airwaves will be used for other important services, such as advanced wireless and public safety services (for example, police, fire departments, and rescue squads.)

The date set by Congress for final transition to DTV is February 17, 2009. After that date, television stations across the United States will only broadcast digital signals.

While all television broadcasting will be digital as of February 17, 2009, not all broadcasts will be in the higher quality HDTV format.  Many, if not most, programs will still be broadcast in the lower-resolution SDTV format.  Conversion to the higher quality HDTV standard is not mandated by Congress and may take many years.

Yes.  Consumers can get DTV today in three ways: 1) by subscribing to a digital service through their cable or satellite company,  2) by connecting a special converter box to their existing analog TV to decode over-the-air digital signals, or 3) by purchasing a new digital television set with a built-in digital receiver.

However, while analog televisions can receive DTV through cable or with a converter box, they can do so only at the lower-resolution SDTV level. To see the higher quality HDTV, a digital television set supporting HDTV is required.  (To make matters confusing, some cable and converter boxes will “down convert” HDTV signals to SDTV, so the program will appear on a analog TV, but not in full HDTV quality.)

Analog TVs will continue to work with cable, satellite, VCRs, DVD players, camcorders, video game consoles and other devices for many years.  However, after February 17, 2009, they will not be able to receive over-the-air television unless a special converter box is added. 

In January, 2008, many companies will begin selling these converter boxes.  They are expected to cost $50 - $75. Also starting in January, 2008, the U.S. government is planning to help consumers cover the cost of these converter boxes by issuing $40 coupons upon request.  More information on the coupon program can be found here: www.dtv2009.gov or by calling 1-888-388-2009

While analog TVs will be able to receive DTV broadcasts, they will NOT be able to display HDTV quality pictures or sound.  In order to take advantage of the increased quality of digital broadcasting, a new digital television set will be required.

For more information on digital television, visit our website, www.tpt.org, and click on “Digital TV Info” in the center of the page.

The government has also set up a website, http://www.dtv.gov/index.html, to help consumers understand all the facts behind this transition.

Yes. The good news is that converter boxes will work with VCRs, but the bad news is that you will lose some of the flexibility you have today.

You can hook-up a DTV converter box between your antenna and your VCR and your VCR will be able to record the output of the converter box.  The converter box will output its signal on channel 3 or channel 4 (you can choose from a menu on the converter box) so your VCR will need to be set on that channel.  Then, you change TV channels by using the converter box.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to record something while watching something else – whatever channel the converter box is set on will be the channel that the VCR “sees”.    

The reason you can watch one thing and record another today is that the VCR has a tuner built-in that is separate from the tuner in your TV.  So your TV can be set on one channel, while the VCR’s tuner can be recording another channel. Since the tuner built-in to the VCR only receives analog TV signals, it will no longer work after February 17, 2009. 

There are a few combination VCR/DVD recorders on the market that have built-in digital tuners, but they are not easy to find and tend to be rather expensive – around $400.

In order to record programs in HDTV, special recorders will be required. Today, the only widely available way for consumers to record in HDTV is to use a special high-definition digital video recorder (usually obtained from TiVo, DirectTV or a cable provider.) Currently, there are not any consumer model HDTV DVD recorders, although these will likely appear over the next few years.

The digital television shown is a LG brand model 26LX1D and the antenna is a TERK brand model 144P006 HDTV Antenna Pro.  There are many different models of digital televisions and antennas available and tpt does not specifically endorse or recommend any particular brands or models.

Please note that the TERK antenna must be connected to a digital television or special converter box in order for a viewer to receive digital television channels.  Simply connecting an antenna such as the TERK to a analog TV will not allow the TV to receive digital channels.