Ohio TV Stations to conduct DTV test

[rhombics447 1]

I've seen similar things happen in other markets and states. I guess now it's our turn. According to the Ohio Media Watch blog, Ohio TV stations will conduct a five minute shutoff "soft test," December 17th at 7:30 PM.

[PelicanGuy 117]

The New Orleans market did the same test Wednesday night.

[CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI 87]

DC did the same, we had one at 5:28 on 12/2. Brian Bolter at FOX 5, made a mention that the message for non DTV people was on the monitors on the set. (That was too funny hearing it on air!)

 

But we have another 12/10 at 6:28 am. And two more, I dont know the dates, but the next one will be at 11:28 pm, and the last one will be at 10:28 am.

[PitCleTV 9]

The Pittsburgh stations have already conducted two, once around 6pm and the other around noon.

[William 0]

WXIA & WATL will be doing a test Monday morning at 6:58am, not sure about the other stations.

[bostonmediaguy 124]

Boston will be doing a market-wide DTV Day Tuesday. All stations will have tests at 5:15am, 6:15am, and 5:15pm. In addition, viewers can tune to WGBH's analog signal (the primary PBS station in Boston) all day where a DTV primer program will air on a loop.

 

(Release: http://wbztv.com/press/DTV.WBZ.Boston.2.879208.html)

(News Story: http://wbztv.com/local/digital.television.test.2.878098.html)

[TexasFury 0]

What does this "test" accomplish, the ability to turn off a transmitter?

[Ntropolis 599]

What does this "test" accomplish, the ability to turn off a transmitter?

 

The station doesn't actually turn off the transmitter. I think on most of the DTV tests, they just display a slide with something along the lines of "this television is not ready for the DTV switch, log onto (station website) or DTVanswers.com for details on how to switch"

 

Really, it's for the viewers that may be confused as to if they need to buy a converter box or not.

[TexasFury 0]

So it's basically a test to see how many OTA viewers freak out or call to complain?