Re-scan. Re-scan. Re-scan...
Did I mention re-scanning.
It might behoove the media to redouble their efforts to tell people to re-scan their converter boxes for new channels, even if they did so Friday, when the plug was pulled on analog and some of the digital stations moved from temporary digital channels to differet, permanent ones. (Click here for complete DTV transition coverage.)
Why re-scan if you did yesterday? Because I have anecdotal evedence, including from the single most credible, authoritative, kind and wise source I know of–my mother-in-law–that there was some confusion about re-scanning channels.
Apparently, some stations were saying the transition would be complete by 12 p.m. when they meant midnight. That may have been why the FCC talked about the end of analog being 11:59:59 p.m., which is a lot harder to confuse with noon.
Anyone who re-scanned at, say, 3 p.m. Friday thinking they would be getting all the new channels could have been missing many that had not yet made the switch. And if it was happening in Washington, I can’t help but think others in other markets might have made the same mistake, on either the station or viewer side of the announcement.
Even if the stations got it right and people simply misunderstood it–not my mother-in-law, of course–it would behoove (I love that word) the media and the FCC to make a point of reiterating that the transition was not completed until midnight and anyone who scanned before then should, just to be on the safe side, re-scan this morning. Who knows what new digital wonders might appear.
So, re-scan, re-scan, re-scan. And did I mention re-scanning?
nikki commented:
Of course...rescanning. I never thought about that. No one ever told me that before. /sarcasm. This is ridiculous. People were told to "be sure to rescan after the june 12 transition."
Anyway, rescanning really doesn't help those of us who are only able to get three channels or so :/
greg28 commented:
The frequencies of channels 7 and 13 have indeed changed - twice each - as part of this transition. When channel 7 was on the air in analog, their digital signal was on channel 45 (which was electronically labled "7-1" or "7.1"). Once 7 turned off the analog transmitter, the digital signal on 45 was also turned off and a new digital signal appeared on 7. Tuning your digital set to "7" will NOT make the new channel 7 signal viewable, since the TV set will still remember to look for it on channel 45, which no longer exisits. You need to tell the tuner to scan and find all local channels it can pick up to get rid of that old memory.
By the same token, analog 13 was accompanied by digital 61 during the overlap period. Once analog 13 went off, digital 61 also went off and a new digital signal appeared on 13. Tuning to "13" will not bring in this signal since the tuner is still looking for it on chanel 61, which no longer exists.
Art Shifrin commented:
For some time I'd seen PSA's that purported to explain the snuffing of broadcast NTSC. In some form, they repeatedly stated that 'if you've already obtained an HD set, that nothing further will have to be done.....'
Two years ago we had a new appropriate antenna installed atop the chimney of our home (Fresh Meadows, Queens). Prior to Saturday evening
(June 13) we never had to rescan our HD sets.
We lost 7 & 13 & am wondering why channels in use and whose #s weren't changed were affected. What parameters of the signals were changed and why?
I wonder if comparable consumer confusion occurred when the BBC terminated its 405 line
service....