Wilmington, NC is now 100% DIGITAL!
Analog TV is a thing of the past for the major stations in Wilmington, unless you want to sit and watch a slide displaying a constant crawl with information on the switch for the next 30 days. So, maybe more like 89.3% digital with the LP stations still analog, but the major Wilmington stations are only programming their DTV signals now.
The world did not come to an end!
But guess what the biggest problem viewers are reporting. Anyone? Bueller? That’s right; reception issues. I called my friend Dan Ullmer, Director of Engineering at WECT-TV this afternoon, and he said the phones had been ringing pretty steadily with viewer’s calling about reception issues and general DTV questions. Almost everyone knew the switch was coming with educational efforts by the media. But people had the analog fall-back when the digital signals faded out before, and now that option is gone.
I hate the term “transition to digital”, because NBC 17 transitioned to digital on May 17, 2000. The transition is over. This is the switch from analog to all digital, or analog cutoff that is coming up. DTV has been on the air in Wilmington for a while now as well.
When I picked up my CECB, I knew I had to have analog pass-through for Mom. If all else fails, turn it off and change channels as usual. I knew she HAD to have a fallback for a little while at least! Here’s an excerpt from my phone call with her last week:
Excellent Son: Hey Mom. Have you been using that converter box and how is it working out?
Mom: I must be doing something wrong. When I turn it on I lose all the channels.
Excellent Son: Did you change the TV to channel 3?
Mom: OH! That’s what was wrong. I forgot.
Well, at least she tried! I’m impressed she got that far in her first week. She will get it after a while. The folks on the Crystal Coast will iron things out too. We just want you to deal with this now and not wait until there’s no fall-back analog to go with.
It’s going to be a little bumpy with over the air reception and portable TV’s. Check out http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-09-08-0015.html
I’m still shopping for my second converter box, and it has not gone as well as I had hoped. I’ll be posting about that as soon as my quest is finished, but in the meantime, keep reading and explore the links on the left side of this page to learn more about DTV and the analog cutoff, as well as use keyword DTV on our website at www.nbc17.com. You can always email me directly or post a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
Our warmest wishes and best of luck to the fine people in and around Wilmington, NC for blazing the trail into the future and showing the world; it’s not the end, but the beginning!
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