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APRIL UPDATE:

PROBLEMS IN DENVER COLORADO--

LOST CHANNELS 7 and 9- HOW TO GET THEM AGAIN

On April 16, Channels 7 and 9 switched to full time broadcast of DIGITAL SIGNAL and dropped their ANALOG signal.

To the complete dismay, confusion and frustration of TENS of THOUSANDS of viewers who had all been getting these stations on the digital TV sets, and/or converter boxes for months previous, suddenly, 7 and 9 were GONE.

Patiently waiting for the glitch to be fixed-- it never was "fixed"

What happened, in the simplest terms, is that 7 and 9 began broadcasting their signal ON ANOTHER FREQUENCY.

If you scanned for digital stations previously before April 16-- the stations displayed as Channel 7 and Channel 9 on your digital receiver NOW SHOW NOTHING.  That's because THERE IS NOTHING on the frequencies that your TV set is reporting as these channels.

AND, in many cases, simply ADDING A NEW CHANNEL will not help you, because your set has already ASSIGNED Digital Channels 7 and 9 on your tuners station locations setting.

HERE IS HOW YOU FIX IT AND GET THE NEW CHANNEL 7 and CHANNEL 9 to register on your DIGITAL TV or CONVERTER BOX.

The method will differ slightly for each brand-- but it's basically the same:

This will ERASE the old channel assignments for Digital Channel 7 and 9, and when you are done, they will be properly assigned

to 7-1  and 9-1  for the main programming.

a) If you use the ADD NEW CHANNEL - this may NOT work (the case in my Insignia brand set.) It will not be able to automatically

re-write over the old channel assignment, and the new frequency, for example for Channel 7, will now show up as 7-3 and will leave

7-1 as KMGH-- but showing nothing but a black screen.

Read your manual if you need to to customize your channel selections.

OR ALTERNATIVELY

or on set button.

MORE BELOW

For those who just hooked up their new fancy digital TV set to their old antenna and discovered that their picture was a whole let less perfect than the one they saw at Best Buy

Surprise Surprise Surprise!!

You see- all the sets in the store are actually hooked up to either a DVD player (and possibly a Blue Ray Hi Def player) or a CABLE.

This gives the ultimate non-interrupted picture quality that often you will not get from your free over the air-waves digital signal--  like the kind promised by all the stations and the FCC.

What you will quickly find is that things like RAIN, SNOW, and even WIND will break up your digital picture signal- things that never affected the old fashioned and "obsolete" analog broadcast signal.

Is it your set?  Probably not. Most digital tuners are great.

Is it your antenna?  Probably so.

Digital signal appears to be easily broken up in new ways- and just because you got a decent analog signal, doesn't mean you'll get a decent digital signal with the same set up.

You may even find that when the LEAVES appear on the TREES - this will wreck things.

SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Well, #1, if you are in a good location, you DON'T NEED A "DIGITAL" antenna. This is baloney, and manipulation of buyers. There is NO SUCH THING as a DIGITAL antenna. An antenna is just a piece of metal that picks up radio signals.

The same old rooftop antenna and rabbit ears you've always had will work with your new digital TV set or converter box.

HOWEVER--  the signal may not be strong enough in your location- say a BASEMENT, or behind a tall neighbors house-- and your signal may not come in at all, or may be weak and break-up all the time- especially in weather.

And by the way, anybody who tells you weather does not affect a digital TV signal is LYING.

In the order of LEAST EXPENSIVE AND LEAST WORK

1) Put an antenna up on your roof if you don't have one.  I found one for free in the alley. Works perfect.  This is much better than rabbit ears.

If you can't have a roof top antenna, then try your old rabbit ears. This may work, but unless you have a direct line to Lookout Mountain Transmission antennas-- probably will not work all the time on all the stations-- one day you'll get a station, other days it will come in poorly.

2) Get AMPLIFIED rabbit ears.  You want the HIGHEST DECIBEL AMPLIFICATION RATING you can afford.  Don't buy according to price-- BUY ACCORDING TO DECIBEL AMPLIFICATION- LOOK ON THE BOX.  It will probably range from 10-20 db.  Higher is better.   SHOP AROUND.

If neither of these works-- like at my house, because my neighbors house is RIGHT BETWEEN ME and Lookout Mountain, you will need to

3) Get an INLINE ANTENNA High GAIN AMPLIFIER (at Radio Shack for example) $30-$60

This goes in between your antenna and your TV tuner.  You CAN  use this with Rabbit ears to supercharge plain  rabbit ears-- that's what we did for my friends basement digital TV and now he gets everything.

On the rooftop, this goes in your house as the wire enters the house, and before it goes to your set.

Again, the higher the db amplification the better. My reception is the worse, so I bought the super deluxe 30 db amplifier-- and now everything comes in great, despite my terrible antenna location.

Bear in mind, even with any or all of these fixes-- digital TV signals are not perfect--  you will get drop outs from time to time. The only cure around this is CABLE TV--- and as far as I am concerned, I'd rather go get DVDs for free and the Denver Public Library than pay even 25 cents for broadcast TV.

This is something that absolutely drives me crazy-- and has a bit to do with the topic above-

The Digital TV Secret...

TV is broadcast in an assortment of FORMATS-- that is to say, the picture shape will be more square, or more wide, or smaller or bigger -- depending on the program and the station.

You should get in the automatic habit of looking to see if the picture FILLS YOUR SCREEN while retaining the correct perspective of objects to reflect REAL LIFE.

I.e.

Look at the shape of objects, especially PEOPLE- their heads and their body while you are watching the show.

DO THEY LOOK REALISTIC or are the SQUASHED FLAT or STRETCHED THIN???

LOOK!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell you how many times I've seen people watching a DISTORTED IMAGE, and they accept it.

ARG!#)$(#())#()$

ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS FIND THE ZOOM  or WIDE  or ASPECT  button on your remote.

Press it until the picture looks correct--   Chances are, you can fill the screen, and get rid of the distorted image-- so people look like people, not squashed insects or aliens.

Get into the habit of doing this EVERY TIME you change stations until you begin to notice immediately when a picture is not correctly shown.

Of course, sometimes you will not be able to fill the screen with a proper image- depending on your own set and the program-- unless you have one of the few sets that lets you adjust for this no matter what the broadcast signal..  see  The DIGITAL TV SET SECRET Nobody is Talking About

Okay- happy viewing!

You just bought a new HIGH DEFINTION TV set.  It looked great in the store.

Just plug your set into an antenna, and scan for FREE BROADCAST OVER THE AIR-WAVES CHANNELS.

Right now, High Definition programs are being broadcast in all major U.S. cities-- and it's free.

Now, whether or not you think they're worth watching is another thing.

ALSO

Realize this---  Plain old DVDs look FANTASTIC and considerably better than VHS and what you are used to seeing on your older analog TV set.   From your couch, you will not be able to tell the difference between a new BLUE-RAY DVD and a regular DVD on 36" sets and smaller. 

Here's something people miss all the time.

You get your new WIDESCREEN LCD TV home and you plug in your DVD player.

You play a movie-- and damn--- IT LOOKS NO BETTER THAN IT DID ON YOUR OLD TV

ARG!!!!)@((#&(#&%Q^#%

Here's the problem.

You didn't reset the DVD player for 16:9 display.

Go into your DVD PLAYER SETUP MENU using the DVD player remote.

Find the ASPECT RATIO SETTING--- probably in a menu sub-catagory like DISPLAY.

There you will be able to select--- 16:9,  or 4:3, or WIDESCREEN, or something similar.

If you have a WIDESCREEN LCD TV make sure and select either 16:9 or Widescreen.

Otherwise, the player will not correctly show your movies in the best resolution and correct shape for you new TV.

When you set this correctly in your DVD player--   movies will look fantastic on your new set, and WAAAAAAAAAAY  better than they ever did on your old set.

Just plug your set into an antenna, and scan for FREE BROADCAST OVER THE AIR-WAVES CHANNELS.

Right now, High Definition programs are being broadcast in all major U.S. cities-- and it's free.

Now, whether or not you think they're worth watching is another thing.

ALSO

Realize this---  Plain old DVDs look FANTASTIC and considerably better than VHS and what you are used to seeing on your older analog TV set.   From your couch, you will not be able to tell the difference between a new BLUE-RAY DVD and a regular DVD on 36" sets and smaller.