Digital TV Transition

The transition to all-digital transmissions for over-the-air television might be put off until June if Congress has its way, but this is one of those things that just needs to be done and get it over with.

The pros and cons of the switch have been reported enough already, so I want to talk about something I think will be a big deal to almost everyone that gets their TV over an antenna.

The way a digital converter box works is to take the place of the analog tuner in your TV or VCR. In a way, it’s helpful to think of it sort of like a VCR. When you play a tape, you tune your TV to channel 3, then do everything on the VCR. The converter box works the same way. It comes with its own remote and you tune the TV channel on the box, not the TV. So, first annoyance: new remote.

Here’s the worst part, though: taping shows. I think the people most likely to be affected by the transition are the people who still record shows using timed recordings on an old VCR. This won’t work any more. The VCR can’t tune the channel because it has an analog tuner inside it. That means it needs a converter box, but the VCR can’t tell the converter box to change the channel. You’d need to do that, by hand, before walking away. Forget taping two shows on the same night, back-to-back, on different channels. The original TiVo had a little IR transmitter you hung in front of your cable or satellite box to solve this problem (it transmitted the remote codes to change the channel), but no VCR I know of has one.

Want to watch one show while taping another (assuming you can live with the above problem)? Get two converter boxes: the VCR needs one for the show it’s taping and you’ll need a second one for the channel you want to watch on your TV. They better be different brands, too, or else you need a way to tell converter box #1 to ignore the remote for box #2.

My mom recently bought a Panasonic VCR/DVD-R combo unit with a digital tuner, but it refuses to record digital channels on the VCR side, so it’s not a great solution for people used to tapes.

February or June? I’m not sure it matters. The full impact of the transition won’t be known until people are forced to live in a digital-only world and they discover what doesn’t work anymore.