TV Dinners Make Digital Comeback

In 1953, the Swanson Company introduced Americans to the TV Dinner. Since that time millions of little aluminum foil trays of chicken, peas and mashed potatoes the consistency of Play-Doh™ have been baked in ovens all over this country. This not only has contributed to landfill problems with all that aluminum going into the garbage, it has wasted energy, since traditional ovens are used to cook these dinners.

Well, the TV dinner has gone digital and the environment will be better for it.There is a new high tech start up company in the Silicon Valley that will introduce a line of TV dinners this week. They promise that the dinners will be both nutritious and environmentally friendly.

The company, DigiEaT Systems (http://www.dietsyst.com/com) is partnering with several TV makers to take advantage of a little known byproduct of the new digital over-the-air broadcasting.Most people don’t realize that over-the-air broadcasting makes use of high frequency radio waves. These microwaves are the same waves that are concentrated in the microwave oven in your kitchen. Concentrating these waves on your popcorn or your TV dinner makes them heat up and cook very efficiently.

DIgiEaT has contracted with LG, the world’s largest Digital TV manufacturer, to develop a TV set that has a special slot into which you can insert the new TV dinners. Gone is the aluminum foil packaging since this would disrupt the flow of microwaves. Instead, all packaging is made of the recycled paper from "TV Guide Magazines" making them very environmentally friendly. Once inserted into the TV, the user will select the cooking time by changing the channel number on the tuner. The higher the channel number selected the faster the dinner will cook. Since it takes more power to transmit video on Channel 48 than it does for Channel 9, these dinners will certainly be popular with Public TV viewers and may even attract new ones to CET/PBS.

DigiEaT and LG plan to have dinners and compatible TVs in stores on April 1st.

TV Dinners Make Digital Comeback

In 1953, the Swanson Company introduced Americans to the TV Dinner. Since that time millions of little aluminum foil trays of chicken, peas and mashed potatoes the consistency of Play-Doh™ have been baked in ovens all over this country. This not only has contributed to landfill problems with all that aluminum going into the garbage, it has wasted energy, since traditional ovens are used to cook these dinners.

Well, the TV dinner has gone digital and the environment will be better for it.There is a new high tech start up company in the Silicon Valley that will introduce a line of TV dinners this week. They promise that the dinners will be both nutritious and environmentally friendly.

The company, DigiEaT Systems (http://www.dietsyst.com/com) is partnering with several TV makers to take advantage of a little known byproduct of the new digital over-the-air broadcasting.Most people don’t realize that over-the-air broadcasting makes use of high frequency radio waves. These microwaves are the same waves that are concentrated in the microwave oven in your kitchen. Concentrating these waves on your popcorn or your TV dinner makes them heat up and cook very efficiently.

DIgiEaT has contracted with LG, the world’s largest Digital TV manufacturer, to develop a TV set that has a special slot into which you can insert the new TV dinners. Gone is the aluminum foil packaging since this would disrupt the flow of microwaves. Instead, all packaging is made of the recycled paper from "TV Guide Magazines" making them very environmentally friendly. Once inserted into the TV, the user will select the cooking time by changing the channel number on the tuner. The higher the channel number selected the faster the dinner will cook. Since it takes more power to transmit video on Channel 48 than it does for Channel 9, these dinners will certainly be popular with Public TV viewers and may even attract new ones to CET/PBS.

DigiEaT and LG plan to have dinners and compatible TVs in stores on April 1st.

Why Does CET Not Have Backup Power?

With the spate of recent power outages you may have wondered why CET does not have back up power. The main reason is lack of funds. Unlike a radio and analog VHF TV stations, a UHF TV station like CET Channel 48, requires a tremendous amount of electrical power. When we last looked at it, a generator capable of powering our UHF analog transmitter and all the attendant air conditioning and cooling equipment at the Chickasaw Street location would cost in excess of $250,000. Since our transmitter is in Clifton and our studios are in the West End, we would need a generator at the studio as well. Again unlike radio, the equipment at the studio required to stay on the air also consumes significant electrical power … much more than we can afford.
The good news is that once we sign off the analog transmitter in February 2009 and switch to the digital transmitter, backup power may be possible. It seems that the digital transmitter requires only a fraction of the power than is needed for the analog system.
For those missing CET tonight I know this does not really help.
jack

Why Does CET Not Have Backup Power?

With the spate of recent power outages you may have wondered why CET does not have back up power. The main reason is lack of funds. Unlike a radio and analog VHF TV stations, a UHF TV station like CET Channel 48, requires a tremendous amount of electrical power. When we last looked at it, a generator capable of powering our UHF analog transmitter and all the attendant air conditioning and cooling equipment at the Chickasaw Street location would cost in excess of $250,000. Since our transmitter is in Clifton and our studios are in the West End, we would need a generator at the studio as well. Again unlike radio, the equipment at the studio required to stay on the air also consumes significant electrical power … much more than we can afford.
The good news is that once we sign off the analog transmitter in February 2009 and switch to the digital transmitter, backup power may be possible. It seems that the digital transmitter requires only a fraction of the power than is needed for the analog system.
For those missing CET tonight I know this does not really help.
jack

The Problem Is Not In Your Set!

I have been getting calls and emails recently from several people all with the same question. It seems that they have either purchased a new DTV set or have connected a DTV converter to their old analog set and have experienced a strange phenomenon. They are getting great digital reception from all the local stations except Channel 9, WCPO DT.

Now let’s be clear. These are people who do not subscribe to cable or a satellite service. Instead, they rely on over-the-air reception to watch TV.

There is a very simple answer to this conundrum. The problem is not in their TV set. The problem is on top of the TV set or on the roof. It is very likely the antenna.

Back in the 1990s the FCC assigned new channels for DTV to all existing full-power broadcasters. In most cases these new channels were in the UHF band, i.e. Channel 14 – 68. For example CET received DTV Channel 34, WLW got Channel 35. Both are in the UHF band. WCPO got VHF Channel 10. Therein is the problem.

While you may not know it, there are significant differences in the design of antennas used for picking up UHF channels from those designed to pick up VHF channels. I won’t go into the physics. Take my word for it. So if you have a UHF antenna, either set top or roof top, and it is a “UHF only” model, it will not pick up the VHF signal from Channel 10, WCPO.

By the way, don’t let these numbers confuse you. In order to keep it simple, all digital TVs and converter boxes display the old channel analog numbers so the consumers don’t have to get used to a new numbering system. When you watch CET’s digital channel, which as I said above is really channel 34, the TV channel indicator will display good old Channel 48.

OK back to the problem at hand. I did an experiment. I live on a very high ridge just north of Harrison. On a clear day I can see some of the TV towers in downtown Cincinnati from my front window. I connected a UHF/VHF antenna to a DTV receiver and got a good picture from Channel 9 DT. I switched to a “UHF only” antenna. I got nothing.

You might ask why now? You may be using the same antenna that you used for getting analog Channel 9. The UHF antenna worked OK.

Digital signals are different in that they are either perfect or non existent. It is called the “cliff effect.” With analog signals we all have experienced a TV signal that is snowy. We put up with it until it is no longer viewable. A digital signal will never be snowy. If the TV set’s circuitry determines that it can not provide a perfect picture, it will just go to black. I think that is what is happening with our callers’ sets.

The solution is to get an antenna that is designed for both UHF and VHF. That should fix the problem. Some set top antennas have amplifiers. This can help as well. Be sure that the amplifier can be switched off. There are some instances when too much signal can cause problems as well. That’s another column.

The Problem Is Not In Your Set!

I have been getting calls and emails recently from several people all with the same question. It seems that they have either purchased a new DTV set or have connected a DTV converter to their old analog set and have experienced a strange phenomenon. They are getting great digital reception from all the local stations except Channel 9, WCPO DT.

Now let’s be clear. These are people who do not subscribe to cable or a satellite service. Instead, they rely on over-the-air reception to watch TV.

There is a very simple answer to this conundrum. The problem is not in their TV set. The problem is on top of the TV set or on the roof. It is very likely the antenna.

Back in the 1990s the FCC assigned new channels for DTV to all existing full-power broadcasters. In most cases these new channels were in the UHF band, i.e. Channel 14 – 68. For example CET received DTV Channel 34, WLW got Channel 35. Both are in the UHF band. WCPO got VHF Channel 10. Therein is the problem.

While you may not know it, there are significant differences in the design of antennas used for picking up UHF channels from those designed to pick up VHF channels. I won’t go into the physics. Take my word for it. So if you have a UHF antenna, either set top or roof top, and it is a “UHF only” model, it will not pick up the VHF signal from Channel 10, WCPO.

By the way, don’t let these numbers confuse you. In order to keep it simple, all digital TVs and converter boxes display the old channel analog numbers so the consumers don’t have to get used to a new numbering system. When you watch CET’s digital channel, which as I said above is really channel 34, the TV channel indicator will display good old Channel 48.

OK back to the problem at hand. I did an experiment. I live on a very high ridge just north of Harrison. On a clear day I can see some of the TV towers in downtown Cincinnati from my front window. I connected a UHF/VHF antenna to a DTV receiver and got a good picture from Channel 9 DT. I switched to a “UHF only” antenna. I got nothing.

You might ask why now? You may be using the same antenna that you used for getting analog Channel 9. The UHF antenna worked OK.

Digital signals are different in that they are either perfect or non existent. It is called the “cliff effect.” With analog signals we all have experienced a TV signal that is snowy. We put up with it until it is no longer viewable. A digital signal will never be snowy. If the TV set’s circuitry determines that it can not provide a perfect picture, it will just go to black. I think that is what is happening with our callers’ sets.

The solution is to get an antenna that is designed for both UHF and VHF. That should fix the problem. Some set top antennas have amplifiers. This can help as well. Be sure that the amplifier can be switched off. There are some instances when too much signal can cause problems as well. That’s another column.