Unless the government steps in again to mess things up, by this time next Friday you will no longer be able to receive over the air analog broadcasts.

The long planned for DTV conversion was supposed to happen in February, but at the last minute the government decided too many people weren’t ready and postponed it until June 12, 2009.

Never mind the fact that the change didn’t force broadcasters to wait until next week to shut off their analog transmitters.  In fact many stations have already shut off their analog broadcasts.

The FCC has created what is actually a pretty useful tool to help you locate digital signals in your area.  Enter your zip code or street address and it will show you station signal strengths in your area and exactly where that broadcaster’s transmitter it located.

Today was supposed to be the big day.  The day we finally shut off the analog broadcasting transmitters and switched to all-digital broadcasting.

After about 10 years of planning, preparation and public awareness, the government decided too many people still weren’t ready and stepped in at the last minute to delay the change.

Now we get to go through this all over again in June.  As if an extra 4 months is going to substantially change the number of people who aren’t ready.

This delay is only going to add to the confusion since broadcasters are not “required” to delay the cutoff, they “may” delay it if they wish.  So instead of everyone switching at once and dealing with the problems and confusion one time, there will be at least two dates for switching and increased confusion as some stations switch and others don’t.

The government really should have stayed out of this.  One of their big concerns was the derth of coupons for converter boxes.  In their infinite wisdom, they delay the change, but make no provisions for extar coupons, more funding for the coupons or reissuing the expired coupons people already have.  So they step in add to the confusion and don’t do anything to help people.  Sounds like a typical government program.

Now we can reset our count down clocks for June 12, 2009.

Unless you’ve had your television turned off for the past 6 months, you have seen many, many spots reminding you that the conversion to digital broadcasting will occur two weeks from today on February 17.

There was a last minute push in Congress to delay the switch, but they didn’t garner enough support.

Studies show a large number of people have analog sets and do not have converter boxes.  I’m certain some number of people are going to be negatively affected by the switch, but you know what, no matter how long you delay it some people will be negatively affected by the switch.  If you wait until everyone is ready, you’ll never do it.  Actually making the switch is the fastest way to get the stragglers to do something.

There are far too many people with far too much money and power behind the change to allow it to be delayed.

So if you are one of those people who still has an analog TV, AND you get your television from over-the-air broadcasts (no cable or satellite), AND you don’t have a converter box, AND you want to keep watching “Deal Or No Deal” in two weeks, you need to do something.  The other 90+% of you can go back to watching TV.

If you are using Netflix’s “Watch Instatntly” streaming service, you may be interested to know some of the technical details about their encoding processes.

A reporter for IEEE Spectrum Radio details her experience switching from analog over-the-air broadcasts to digital over-the-air broadcasts.  She found it was “neither as easy or painless” as everyone promised.

It’s unknown if her experience is typical or not, but the reality is that most people do not need to do anything to prepare for the February 17, 2009 switch to digital television broadcasting.  You only need to be concerned if, like the reporter, you get your television only from a roof antenna or “rabbit ears” AND you have an older television without a digital tuner.   If you get your television from cable, satellite or some other provider, or if you have a newer set that has a digital tuner, you don’t need to do anything.

At today’s Apple event, Steve Jobs was asked about Apple’s OS support for Blu-Ray.  He replied:

“Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.”

So basically, we’re not going to see Blu-Ray support any time soon because Apple doesn’t want to pay the licensing fees.

As mentioned here previously, on Monday September 8, Wilmington, North Carolina became the first area in the country to shut off its analog broadcasting and go completely digital.  This was done as a test of the upcoming nationwide change next February.

Apparently things went pretty smoothly and there were very few problems.

There was even a nice photo op with an absurdly large switch to mark the event.

According to TG Daily:

A new DVD logo released by the DVD Forum has added to the speculation surrounding Toshiba’s HD-enabled DVD player that is expected to become available later this year. The organization chaired by Toshiba approved the “DVD Download/DL” logo during its most recent Steering Committee meeting.

Toshiba has publicly stated that they have no intention of supporting Blu-Ray, and with HD-DVD out of the picture this seems to point to some type of upscaling standard definition DVD player.  Perhaps it will be Internet connected for content updates and additional features.

If you need help setting up your home theater game console or other electronics check out Wirewize.

They have helpful guides for many consumer electronics that can show you which cables go where and how to connect it all together.

(Not that our readers would need any help, you’re all smart enough to figure it out )

The MPAA is at it again.  Now they want to prevent consumers from recording HD movies during the time period between when a movie is released in the theaters and it is available on disc.  They are petitioning the FCC to change the current restrictions on the use of technologies that restrict home recording.

In a very real sense, it is the studios’ content and they can do with it as they please.  As consumers we are also free to not purchase their product.  But in this case their ideas seem to do nothing except annoy people.  According to the article, they only want to block the recordings during the roughly 2 month period between when a program begins to be available in these other mediums and when it is available on disc.

This is a case where the MPAA is going to generate a huge amount of consumer ire for very little actual benefit.