Solve : problem with our public digital TV?

1.	Solve : problem with our public digital TV?
Answer» We have a CRT television and we have a digital - analogue converter box. Anyone living in the US knows by now, about the the recent switch-over from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting, by television networks. We get a large black box on our screen with some gobbly-gook coding in the box. This happens on every single channel we get. We have to turn the converter box off, and then back on to get to back to normal. But it always comes back... See picture.. Anyone else have this problem ? We don't actually have the greatest antenna though. It's a rabbit ears antenna. That might have something to do with it. It's not optimized for for digital reception like other ANTENNAS... [recovering disk space - old attachment deleted by admin]My best guess is that you got a bad converter box. I don't think the problem has ANYTHING to do with your rabbit ears antenna, although if you can I would get a better antenna. I KNOW if your in a apartment or condo, that's not always possible. Usually a digital signal either works, or it doesn't work. When it is on the edge of not working usually you will see the picture pixelize, or break up, before it goes blank. I've never seen a black box like that pop up.maybe the converter needs a firmware update I don't know. Yes we do live in an apartment complex I kinda liked the analogue signaling better. If it didn't come in well, at least yo could still watch it.. It would just be a little fuzzy It has only been about 1 year though, the technology will probably get better...Quote from: EEVIAC on April 18, 2010, 12:21:56 AM maybe the converter needs a firmware update Maybe, but most of the over the air digital to analog converters I've seen don't look like they were meant for upgrading. You just need to check with the manufacture.actually, it was just a joke... Maybe they do have firmware... I don't know Wouldn't hurt in checking into I guess..Quote from: EEVIAC on April 18, 2010, 12:59:12 AM actually, it was just a joke... Maybe they do have firmware... I don't know Wouldn't hurt in checking into I guess.. Here in the UK (Great Britain) the switchover is happening in stages; my area switched over 2 weeks ago. The boxes do have firmware, and the firmware gets updated "over the air". When an update is available for a particular model of box, an update signal is included in the transmitted data stream. Once the box has received, verified and stored the update code, it will reboot the next time it is in standby mode at 3 AM. Alternatively the update procedure can be triggered manually from the box's setup menu. I very much doubt that US boxes are very different in this regard. Two things that became widely known the day after analog was switched off: (1) There are some older boxes around that have obsolete firmware and cannot be updated. This came out when UK digital TV went over to a mode called "Split NIT". The NIT or Network Information Table was split in the original specification but not implemented by some converter box companies. These assumed a single NIT would always be used and owners of these boxes lost channels permanently as the system went over to DUAL NITs. (2) People who had been getting OK analog reception with indoor antennas were now getting zilch. The fact that power cycling the box restores proper working makes me wonder if a firmware upgrade has not completed properly. I suggest searching the setup options for manual upgrade and carrying it out. However: these boxes are so cheap that it may be worth getting a new one. Many people have done this here where the cheapest box I have seen cost 15 UK pounds (23 US dollars). Another thing: find out the maker and model number and do a Google search for discussion forums to see if anybody else is having this problem, although personally I think it is screwed. thx for that, Trout

Answer»

We have a CRT television and we have a digital - analogue converter box. Anyone living in the US knows by now, about the the recent switch-over from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting, by television networks.

We get a large black box on our screen with some gobbly-gook coding in the box. This happens on every single channel we get. We have to turn the converter box off, and then back on to get to back to normal. But it always comes back...

See picture..

Anyone else have this problem ? We don't actually have the greatest antenna though. It's a rabbit ears antenna. That might have something to do with it. It's not optimized for for digital reception like other ANTENNAS...

[recovering disk space - old attachment deleted by admin]My best guess is that you got a bad converter box. I don't think the problem has ANYTHING to do with your rabbit ears antenna, although if you can I would get a better antenna. I KNOW if your in a apartment or condo, that's not always possible.

Usually a digital signal either works, or it doesn't work. When it is on the edge of not working usually you will see the picture pixelize, or break up, before it goes blank.

I've never seen a black box like that pop up.maybe the converter needs a firmware update

I don't know. Yes we do live in an apartment complex

I kinda liked the analogue signaling better. If it didn't come in well, at least yo could still watch it.. It would just be a little fuzzy

It has only been about 1 year though, the technology will probably get better...Quote from: EEVIAC on April 18, 2010, 12:21:56 AM

maybe the converter needs a firmware update

Maybe, but most of the over the air digital to analog converters I've seen don't look like they were meant for upgrading. You just need to check with the manufacture.actually, it was just a joke... Maybe they do have firmware... I don't know

Wouldn't hurt in checking into I guess..Quote from: EEVIAC on April 18, 2010, 12:59:12 AM

actually, it was just a joke... Maybe they do have firmware... I don't know

Wouldn't hurt in checking into I guess..

Here in the UK (Great Britain) the switchover is happening in stages; my area switched over 2 weeks ago. The boxes do have firmware, and the firmware gets updated "over the air". When an update is available for a particular model of box, an update signal is included in the transmitted data stream. Once the box has received, verified and stored the update code, it will reboot the next time it is in standby mode at 3 AM. Alternatively the update procedure can be triggered manually from the box's setup menu. I very much doubt that US boxes are very different in this regard. Two things that became widely known the day after analog was switched off:

(1) There are some older boxes around that have obsolete firmware and cannot be updated. This came out when UK digital TV went over to a mode called "Split NIT". The NIT or Network Information Table was split in the original specification but not implemented by some converter box companies. These assumed a single NIT would always be used and owners of these boxes lost channels permanently as the system went over to DUAL NITs.

(2) People who had been getting OK analog reception with indoor antennas were now getting zilch.

The fact that power cycling the box restores proper working makes me wonder if a firmware upgrade has not completed properly. I suggest searching the setup options for manual upgrade and carrying it out. However: these boxes are so cheap that it may be worth getting a new one. Many people have done this here where the cheapest box I have seen cost 15 UK pounds (23 US dollars).

Another thing: find out the maker and model number and do a Google search for discussion forums to see if anybody else is having this problem, although personally I think it is screwed.
thx for that, Trout

Solve : problem with our public digital TV?

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