Are you ready? Transition from analog to digital next month

In just a matter of weeks, older-model analog TVs will go blank unless their owners take steps to be ready for the transition to digital broadcasts.

The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all full-power television stations switch from analog to digital signals at midnight on Feb. 17.

The move to digital, according to the FCC’s Web site, is to free up air space for public safety communications — such as police, fire departments and rescue squads — as well as offering more wireless options for consumers.

Television manufacturers were ordered to have digital tuners installed in all TVs made after March 1, 2007, but a recent article by the Associated Press quoted TV analysts at Nielsen Co. who said 6.8 percent of the 114 million U.S. households are not ready for the transition, and another 10 percent have at least one set that is not ready.

There are several ways consumers can prepare for the transition:

• Replace sets with analog tuners with new models that have digital tuners.

• Subscribe to cable or satellite services.

• Purchase a digital converter box that hooks up between the TV and its antenna.

Anyone with a cable or satellite service doesn’t have to worry about losing their signal because their provider takes care of delivering it. Locally, Comcast can provide what they call “Limited Basic” service (channels 2 through 19) for $10 a month and Chatmoss Cablevision has a basic 21-channel plan for $12 a month.

Consumers who use a basic antenna — indoor or rooftop — with analog TVs will need to purchase a digital converter box that hooks up between the TV and the antenna.

Chris Gee, at Sounds Unlimited, said the converter should take care of delivering digital transmissions, though it could cause problems up to Feb. 17.

“It will only deliver digital signals,” Gee said, noting that some channels already have digital signals, while others have not yet made the switch. “Some channels you are used to getting won’t come through until the station converts to digital next month.”

Gee also said some people may have to switch the type of antenna they use.

“Every location is different, and some will get along OK with rabbit ears, while others need to put an antenna on the roof,” Gee said.

Raymond Haley, at Haley’s Television Sales & Service, said he expects a lot of confusion when the transition comes.

“The converter boxes are hard to set up,” he said. “You have to program in the channels, and since antennas are directional, they only pick up certain channels until you move them.”

He predicted that people with analog TVs, antennas and converter boxes will spend a lot of time reprogramming their channels because every time the antenna is adjusted to pick up another station, the channels would have to be reprogrammed.

“Even a mastermind can’t make that work,” Haley said. “I don’t know what they’ll do about that; it’s a wait-and-see situation.”

Haley said people had complained that they received fewer channels with the converter box, and not just because all stations have not made the conversion.

“Some people got stations but had a ‘snowy’ picture, and they didn’t mind it,” he said. “But with digital, you either get it or you don’t. I’ve advised people not to hook up the converter until the change and then see what happens.”