"Dogotal conversion" question

[draggar]

With digital conversion coming next year I am worried, as should all people in areas that get disasters that can cut power for long periods of time (hurricanes, earthquakes etc..).

Will out portable / battery powered TVs still work?

(Edit: Can't edit the external subject line. It should say "digital conversion", not "dogotal", but maybe that is a good typo?)

Mods - please edit so I only look like an idiot for a few minutes?

 

[HarveyJ]

Damn, I thought dogotal conversions was something to do with combining the Abo and that new landmate quadruped mecha to make new highly realistic android synthetica pets...

You let me down, draggar! :'(

j/k

Seriously though, your battery powered devices will still work (except in the event of a hurricane/tornado that has picked up a lot of metal tailings) on their own, but whether or not you'll be able to get a signal to them is a different matter.
Provided the broadcast infrastructure is ok, you'll be fine, but if they go down, then you'll be getting nothing.

My advice is to stock up on some good movies, and make copies of them for your portable devices. No spinning disc or lasers in the DVD drive means less power consumption.

 

[Theo]

Dogotal, great typo

I don't watch tv so ....

 

[draggar]

Seriously though, your battery powered devices will still work (except in the event of a hurricane/tornado that has picked up a lot of metal tailings) on their own, but whether or not you'll be able to get a signal to them is a different matter.
Provided the broadcast infrastructure is ok, you'll be fine, but if they go down, then you'll be getting nothing.

My advice is to stock up on some good movies, and make copies of them for your portable devices. No spinning disc or lasers in the DVD drive means less power consumption.

True, we have a portable DVD player (and a laptop) that the generator can charge / power.

So it sounds like if they are broadcasting then we should be able to watch TV to get news, etc..

It was bad enough just listening to the reports during Wilma. They gave us a street by street analysis where the bands were and how long we'd be in them. (Very interesting to listen to, but scary when you know a band of Cat3 winds are headed your way ...).

Wait, I just noticed you're in Australia. The thing is that here in the US they are going to stop broadcasting in analog (towers) and I doubt my little portable TV will pick up satellite. It is allegedly going to be digital only.

Dogotal, great typo

I know and I guess the mods like it when I look like a dummy. :smilewinkgrin: :lol:

I guess this answers my question:

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html#faq18

What about my portable, battery-powered analog TV? Will I be able to use it to watch broadcast TV after February 17, 2009? Portable, battery-powered analog TVs may be able to receive over-the-air programming after February 17, 2009 if they have the necessary plugs to allow them to be connected to a digital-to-analog converter box. Because it is not anticipated that battery powered digital-to-analog converter boxes will be produced, an external power source would also be required.

Looks like I wasted my money last Spring.

 

[HarveyJ]

Draggar: We have digital TV here as well. Have had it since 2001 in fact. But they're also going to be shutting off analogue in June next year here.
The basic principal behind analogue and digital broadcast is the same. A modulated signal is sent along a certain wavelengths, and decoded by your receiving device. It's just a matter of the device being able to decode the signal correctly.
When you asked the question, I kind of assumed you had a portable that was able to decode digital signals. If your portable is an analogue device, you may as well toss it away anyway, because I doubt you'll find a set top box small enough to be worthwhile for it.
In any case, if they're cranking as much power into the digital broadcast as they did for the analogue one (which they might not... After all, provided people can get about 70% signal strength, digital comes on in perfect quality. Less than that and it's just 'off') then there should be no problem. If the aerial isn't strong enough to pickup a signal, try getting a signal amplifier, and plugging that in to the aerial socket.