DTV switch hasn’t been simple for some

DTV switch not simple for some John Roberts of Richmond made the switch to digital TV using a converter box but said getting things to work properly has been a major headache.

For starters, no one could tell him how to get the box to work with his VCR properly so he could record TV programs while away from home. The converter box shuts itself off after a while.

Second, the TV sound quality fluctuates a lot.

Third, on certain channels at night, the picture suddenly changes to a bunch of lines with no sound and stays frozen like that for minutes.

That can happen 10 to 15 times an hour, he said.

Converting to digital hasn't been a good experience for Yao Morris of Powhatan County either, even after he bought a compatible antenna.

"Every time I change the channel, I have to move the antenna," he said. "It gets no signal, or it's blurry or hesitates and you miss part of the conversation on the screen. Each channel seems to be coming from a different place. It's annoying."

While watching programs, he gets up numerous times to adjust the antenna. "The signal is not constant," he said.

Roberts and Morris are two of millions of consumers who decided to keep their old analog television and switch to digital TV by using a converter box.

The federal government helped defray the cost of the boxes by mailing out more than 64 million of the $40 coupons.

But, like some of the 900,000 consumers who flooded the Federal Communications Commission with phone calls in the days after the June 12 switchover, Roberts and Morris have learned that DTV conversion isn't as simple as it was touted to be.

While digital picture and sound quality are superior when you can get them, digital television is temperamental and demanding, they found.

Mike Richardson, manager of Regency TV & Stereo on Quioccasin Road in Henrico County, agrees. If a digital TV doesn't receive the proper signal, "it just goes out like a spazz attack," he said.

Here are five things that consumers who are still struggling to make the switch -- or who puzzle over the performance of their newly converted TVs -- should know and do:

• The sound and picture quality will fluctuate. "It's the nature of the beast," Richardson said. "With a converter box, you're dealing with digital signals. Digital signals are weaker than analog signals." A weak signal may require an antenna with a built-in booster.

• Station towers may be in opposite directions from your home. You may live between where the station towers are, the FCC said. Consider buying an omnidirectional antenna.

• Get help setting up. If you've chunked the converter box back into the package because you can't hook it up properly, or can't get the TV to perform, call the FCC's DTV hotline at (888) 225-5322. Or access its interactive trouble shooting guide.

• If you want to record programs while not at home, buy a box with a programmable VCR timer. If the converter box shuts itself off, as Roberts' did, disable the four-hour default setting.

You may need two converter boxes. With one box, you cannot watch a show on one channel and record on another.

Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or . Follow her on Twitter @RTDIrisTaylor.