shutoff

The 404 358: Where Jeff has connectile dysfunction

Natali Del Conte makes her triumphant return from E3 and joins us on today's show. After suffering through two years with an HTC Mogul, Jeff finally upgraded to the Palm Pre this weekend. Tune in for Jeff's personal review as well as some unfortunate news that has us all reeling...with laughter.

All right, first thing's first: NATALI DEL CONTE. That should be enough to get you guys to listen to today's show. She's finally back from her Tour de California. She was actually at E3 this past week and she gives us the scoop on her first impressions of the event. Actually, it turns out that Natali's been taking some gulps of Jeff's unique brand of Haterade! It's always a pleasure to welcome Natali back to the show, even though she's crossed over the dark side. Welcome home, girl!

We've been talking about the Palm Pre ad nauseam for weeks now leading up to Saturday's release, and Jeff actually woke himself up before the crack of dawn and picked one up. Be sure to listen to the whole episode to hear about the fiasco that happened in line, it's unbelievable, and kind of funny. Pix or it didn't happen, Bakalar! After all that happened, Jeff successfully picked up a Palm Pre, and he loves it! All his contacts from Facebook, Gmail, etc...are now consolidated; music transfers are easy thanks to iTunes (fingers crossed that Apple shows mercy); and the keyboard is surprisingly easy for Jeff's ham shank fingers. Sadly, though, there's one very significant, deal-breaking, horrendous manufacturer's error that needs to be correctly immediately before Jeff turns back into a pumpkin and we lose him forever. Tune in to hear more about this awful glitch and how you can fix the problem!

Episode 358 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Nielsen: 3.1 percent of U.S. unprepared for DTV

With under 40 days remaining until the June 12 switch-off of analog TV stations across the United States, Nielsen Media Research reports that 3.1 percent of TV homes in the U.S. are still not prepared for the DTV transition.

That number amounts to 3.5 million households being caught by surprise when their analog-only over-the-air TV broadcasts go to snow next month. That's an improvement of about 1.5 million homes since a February 18 Nielsen survey, which is significant because the original switchover date was scheduled for February 17 before being delayed.

There's no sign … Read more

Analog shut off test darkens New York TV stations for 2 minutes

New York City over-the-air analog TV stations went dark for two minutes today. The prescheduled test gave a temporary taste of what's planned when the stations permanently pull the analog plug on February 17, 2009.

The two minute test occurred between 5:58 and 6:00 p.m. ET, and--in the case of WCBS, at least--was accompanied by a countdown timer and an explanation narrated by the onscreen newscaster. (The test was in the middle of the local news.)

We monitored the over-the-air digital (HD) and analog feeds, and the analog one cut-off right on schedule, dumping to a &… Read more

CEA launches YouTube contest on DTV transition

The Consumer Electronics Association has teamed up with Google's YouTube to sponsor a contest encouraging homemade public-education videos on the DTV transition.

The contest, entitled "Digital TV: Convert Now!", will award a tricked-out home entertainment center to the producer of the best video that "educates the public on how to prepare friends and family for the digital television (DTV) transition," according to the Web site. To get the ball rolling, the Association enlisted the country act Whiskey Falls, whose call-out video is available on the site now.

3 million analog viewers will let TVs go dark

According to a new survey by ABI Research, 20 percent of TV viewers--3 million Americans--who rely on analog over-the-air reception will let their sets go "dark" after the DTV transition on February 17, 2009.

The firm's Web-based survey of 1002 U.S. consumers found that 70 percent will purchase a DTV converter box, 10 percent will switch to cable, and 20 percent will do nothing, causing their old analog TVs, which are incapable of receiving the new broadcasts without additional equipment, to go dark or display only snow. Currently, 15 percent of Americans get their TV from … Read more

A modest proposal for a smoother digital TV switchover

Wilmington, N.C., was a testing ground for the DTV switchover, and the results weren't encouraging. It looks as if a lot of people were left in the dark--literally--when the town's TV stations shut off their analog signals at noon on September 5. Apparently, they didn't get the word, despite a high-visibility public information campaign.

"So what?" you might say. "They'll miss a few Everybody Loves Raymond reruns while they sort things out." Sure, TV is largely an entertainment medium, but--for better or worse--it's also a primary source of information for many people in an emergency. Right now, there may well be hundreds (if not thousands) of households in Wilmington that can't use their primary information source for news on approaching hurricanes, for instance.

So how do we do a better job of informing people of the analog TV shutdown? CNET's doing its part with our Quick Guide to DTV Transition, but because the analog shutoff only affects those with over-the-air reception (not cable or satellite TV households), these tend to be poorer or older folks who are less likely to have easy access to alternate information sources such as the Web.

Clearly, the main source of information has to be the TV itself. But more importantly, it needs to be targeted at those who are only watching TV over the air. So here's my fairly simple three-point plan to do just that: … Read more