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What Kind of Problems Might Occur?
The switch to DTV is unlikely to come off without a hitch. In fact, viewers already watching digital broadcasts from their local stations report a few common problems—which may or may not be worked out by the official transition date.
First, it's important to know that digital broadcast technology differs from analog technology. Things that worked fine in the analog world might not always work as well with digital transmission. (Conversely, some things that worked poorly with analog will work much better with digital.) So just because you received a near-perfect analog TV signal via your antenna doesn't mean you'll do the same with digital broadcasts.
One possible problem area is receiving a clear digital signal in urban areas, particularly inside large buildings. This potential reception problem is due to something called multipath interference, which results from signals bouncing off multiple obstructions. With analog transmission, this often manifests itself in ghosting and fading, which is annoying but still watchable. With digital transmission, you instead get momentary signal dropouts or the total loss of the television signal. This is a much bigger problem than ghost images onscreen.
You see, digital broadcasts exhibit what is called the digital cliff effect. Instead of a signal gradually getting worse, as with analog broadcasts, a digital signal is either on or off—with nothing in-between. There's no gradual change, just a sudden drop off from a perfect signal to no signal at all, with no middle ground. So if you have a poor or weak signal, you may see nothing onscreen at all!
It's also important to note that digital television signals are transmitted at a significantly lower power than are analog signals. This is because you need more power to push an analog signal over long distances; digital signals are more efficient and therefore don't need the power. That said, if you're somewhat distant from the antenna broadcasting the digital signal, you might find yourself outside the transmission range—even though you previously were able to receive the higher-power analog broadcasts. Some experts estimate that 1.8 million households will lose at least one local station as a result of this side-effect of the digital transition.
Even if you can still receive the new, weaker DTV signals, you might have to reposition your antenna for best reception—or for any reception at all. In some areas, you may need to switch from your existing indoor antenna to a new one optimized for digital reception, or add a power amplifier to boost the incoming signal. It's even possible you might need to move from an indoor antenna to an outdoor one to receive more-distant stations. In any event, if you receive your television programming via antenna, be prepared to make some changes come February 17.