Some still not ready for DTV switch

Published 5:00 am Thursday, June 11, 2009

While many Brookhavenites have the gear necessary to continuewatching TV after Friday’s nationwide switch to digitaltransmission, a large number of people continue to scramble to getready for the switch, a local electronics merchant said.

Harvey Electronics/Radio Shack Manager Kevin Harvey said hisstore on Brookway Boulevard is still neck-deep in TV business,repeatedly selling out of the conversion boxes that enable analogTVs to receive the new digital signals and daily helping customersfind new antennas and signal strength amplifiers.

“We still sell every converter box within two days of gettingthem in,” he said. “Some new people are just now putting upantennas, just to get the digital signal.”

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The federal government-mandated switch to digital TVtransmission was originally scheduled for Feb. 17, but federallawmakers postponed the changeover until June 12. The transitionwas mandated by the Federal Communications Commission’s DigitalTelevision Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, a law designedto designate the TV broadcast spectrum for use by emergencyofficials and allow TV-watchers use of high definition digitalsignals.

Brookhavenites subscribing to cable or satellite TV will not beaffected by the changeover, which is expected to occur just aftermidnight Friday morning.

For more than one year, the government has issued $40 coupons tohelp people purchase the necessary digital conversion boxes.

The program was shored up with more funding from the stimuluspackage earlier this year. More information on the coupons – whichare accepted at most retail outlets – may be found online atwww.dtv2009.org.

Harvey said the demand for converter boxes is so high thatwarehouses around the nation are having trouble meeting the demandsof retail outlets. He said his store is receiving shipments of theitem constantly, and he plans to be stocked up for Friday andSaturday, when he expects many analog TV owners who have notprepared for the digital changeover will get the message – but notthe signal.

“It’s just now beginning I believe,” Harvey said of the run onconverter boxes. “Come Saturday, we may not have a single customer- but from what we’re seeing right now, we plan to be prettyswamped.”

As converter boxes continue to sell out, Harvey said cityresidents are also addressing another problem – weak antennas. Hesaid his store is selling new antennas and signal amplifiers tomake old ones stronger.

“A lot of the antennas people have up are not strong enough forthe digital signals,” he said. “With analog, you can live withgrainy pictures, but with digital you have to carry a certainpercentage of the signal to carry the picture.”

Analog TV owners could skip the conversion box and buy a new TV.Sears owner Sid Sasser said all new high definition televisions canreceive digital signals.

“That’s all we are selling anymore is high definitiontelevision,” he said. “They are set up to take the digitalsignal.”

Sasser said Sears stopped selling digital conversion boxesearlier this spring. When they were sold from his store, Sassersaid they sold out almost immediately after every shipment.