The Arrival of D-day
By J. Allen Leinberger

D-day arrives on Feb. 17, 2009. That is the day that, after many decades, broadcast television switches from analog to digital broadcasts. Now, if you don’t understand the difference, don’t worry. It would take a full freshman semester of broadcast technology classes to explain. Suffice it to say, you’ll get a better picture.
Or, perhaps, no picture at all.
You see, old style analog TVs, like the one you watched as a kid, won’t receive the new signals. Of course, if you have cable TV or a dish, you’re OK. If you got a new flat screen TV for Christmas, you’re OK. But, if you’ve been watching the same tabletop set with rabbit ears for the last decade or two, you are going to be disappointed.
Many people who think they are OK may not be. Sure, they have a 50-inch HD set in the entertainment room, but what do they have out in the garage? What do they watch in the bedroom or the home office? What do their kids have in their room or their college dorm?
And let’s not forget those handheld sets by Sony Watchman and Casio. None of them are going to work anymore.
You can fix all of that with a converter box. In fact, there is a government discount program to save you money. Check the Website at www.dtv.gov for more information. What it won’t tell you is who will wire the new box up for you. The answer is simple. Ask your kids. Or ask your grandkids. Ask the kid down the block. You may not understand it all, but there is an entire new digital generation out there that gets it.
You might want a new antenna as well, since the new digital picture will be better than you used to get, but remember this—there is no such thing as an HD antenna. Any antenna that gets you VHF and UHF channels works just as well for HD pictures.
Your antenna, along with your converter box will now give you a better picture, free from lightning interference and other “snow” conditions. The sound will be better also. What I can’t tell you is how reception will be in notoriously “bad” areas of the Inland Empire. (No doubt you’ve seen all of those tall TV antennas along the 215 in the north end on San Bernardino.)
Of course, except for the converter box, over-the-air programming remains free.
There is yet another alternative. It’s called EyeTV. This is a simple little device that looks for all the world like a flash stick. It plugs into a USB socket and, with its programming added to your computer, turns the desktop into a TV.
In fact, the EyeTV hybrid allows you to not only watch and record, it helps you edit as well. It will set up on-screen menus and program guides.
But wait! There’s more. Although the version that I have been playing with, EyeTV 3, is designed for the Mac, it does some wondrous things. You can share your recordings with other Macs on your network. It can capture recordings for video iPods. And it provides even better editing and Wi-Fi access. You can even take a snapshot of one particular frame from a video.
Why, you might ask, do you want to convert your computer to a TV set? One answer is that college student I mentioned earlier. In a dorm you may have room for a computer or a TV, but not both. The same may be true of the home office. The same may be true where you work, if the boss doesn’t come around that often. Besides, you used to wonder why you needed Internet access on your computer—or MapQuest.
Video editing equipment has been expensive, but it’s getting less so all the time, just like the flat screens and the DVD players. The EyeTV device is less complicated than a larger editor or editing program. Truly, what used to take up a block of floor space in Hollywood can now exist on your computer desk.
EyeTV may not be the answer you need for the digital change on Feb. 17, but now is as good a time as any to consider it.
For more info go to www.elgato.com.