Are you ready for the digital transition? Ready or not, the groundhog at engadget says we’ll have 4 more months of those repetitious commercials. They linked to a local ABC station as a source. [UPDATE: Apparently I was notified too early. It didn’t pass all the way. Read next blog for those details.]
[UPDATE2: Ignore the next entry, as it’s been mauled by the entry following IT! We’ll continue to get analog through June 12th, although some areas might choose to go ahead with the Feb 17th date anyway.]

I’m happy to say that I’ve been ready for the transition since mid-2008. We have 2 converter boxes and horrible reception on all stations. PBS has near-perfect reception, and I really like their new Create channel. On Sunday, I tried the stations again and got perfect reception on all stations, but today, only the analog stations busted through the sleet, and PBS.

For my first reaction to DTV, here’s what I recorded on July 29th…

(link)

Okay, so my source jumped the gun on the news that the bill had passed. It passed the SENATE, but not the House of Representatives. It got a majority vote, but 2/3 vote is required for that kind of  thing. To add to the confusion, that’s not the end of the story. This is what PC Magazine has to say: “The bill is not dead, however. The House can still bring the bill up for a vote the typical way, which allows for lengthier debate, the addition of amendments, and a majority rules vote, but that has not yet been scheduled.”

So, let’s just say it’s still on for February 17th, even if there’s still a chance for passing. Both ways have their benefits, but Feb 17th was the promised end to all these “ARE YOU READY????” commercials. Our local news has run it into the ground so much that I’m convinced they’re just playing the same video every day.

(EDIT: *sigh* read next entry, it passed)

Just read this article saying that the delay is finally official. June 12th WILL be the new deadline for the digital tv transition. Nuts, I was hoping it would be overturned. Sure, plenty of people are still waiting for their coupons, and you can’t use the coupon AFTER you’ve bought the converter box, but I was also eager to stop hearing about the transition. I guess we’ll just have to weather 4 more months of the constant “are you ready” questions on tv. I’ve been ready since last summer. Let’s go! I hope the ditching of analog will provide more power to the digital broadcast, because we get horrible digital reception.