What You Need To Know
Digital television (DTV) is a new broadcasting technology that will transform your television viewing experience. DTV offers movie-quality picture and sound. It also offers multiple programming choices. It is a more efficient, flexible technology that most countries already use.
What You Need To Do
Subscription Service Customers (Cable or Satellite)
Viewers who subscribe to a cable or satellite television service will automatically receive digital transmission as part of their service. If you are unsure about your current equipment or setup, call your provider to clarify your service/package and if you need to do anything further.
To ensure that you continue to receive West Virginia PBS as a public television option, viewers are encouraged to call their provider and specifically request West Virginia PBS as the local public television station in the channel lineup.
Over-the Air Viewers (Antenna or Rabbit Ears)
Viewers who receive their television signal through an antenna will need to make sure they have a digital tuner in their current set or purchase a digital converter box. The instructions with the set will walk you through the set up process for receiving digital signal. Most television stations are already broadcasting in digital as well as analog.
Every set in the house needs to be have either a built-in digital tuner or a converter box. Each box will need to be programmed to receive digital signal.
Where To Find WV PBS
Digital broadcasting allows West Virginia PBS to broadcast on three channels (also called program streams).
Here are the current channel assignments for over-the-air broadcast.
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Analog
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Digital
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WV
PBS
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WV
PBS.2
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WV
PBS HD
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WSWP-TV
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Grandview/Beckley
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9
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10-1
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10-2
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10-3
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WPBY-TV
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Huntington/Charleston
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33
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34-1
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34-2
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34-3
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Parkersburg – Wood County plus parts of Wirt, Jackson, Ritchie & Pleasants counties
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57
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53-1
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53-2
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53-3
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WNPB-TV
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Morgantown
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24
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33-1
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33-2
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33-3
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Wardensville – parts of Hardy & Hampshire counties
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15
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7-1
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7-2
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7-3
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Mathias – part of Hardy County
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17
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9-1
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9-2
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9-3
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Wheeling – parts of Marshall, Brooke & Ohio Counties
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41
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30-1
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30-2
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30-3
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Hampshire County – parts of Hampshire, Berkeley & Morgan Counties
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41
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38-1
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38-2
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38-3
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Keyser – Mineral County, parts of Grant, Hampshire & Hardy Counties
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48
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41-1
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41-2
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41-3
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Martinsburg
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50
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8-1
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8-2
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8-3
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Romney – central Hampshire County
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69
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27-1
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27-2
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27-3
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If you subscribe to a cable or satellite service, your provider may have different channel designations. Contact your provider to obtain the correct channel assignment for WV PBS, WV PBS.2 and WV PBSHD.
- WVPBS will carry a variety of programs beginning the day news and children’s programs. Evening program will feature viewer favorites such as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Antiques Roadshow, Masterpiece, NOVA, Nature, and more. The channel designation will be the channel number followed by a 1 (Example: 10-1 or 10.1)
- WVPBS.2 will feature how-to programs during the day and a variety of entertainment and documentary programs in the evening. The channel designation will be the channel number followed by a 2 (Example: 33-2 or 33.2)
- WVPBSHD will feature viewer favorites throughout the day presented in high definition which is essentially a higher-quality picture and sound than digital broadcast. The channel designation will be the channel number followed by a 3 (Example: 24-3 or 24.3)
The program schedules for each of these channels are available by clicking here.
TV Converter Box Coupon Program
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration does offer $40 coupons toward the purchase of a converter box. (Limit 2) These coupons are available through March 1, 2009. Retail outlets for converter boxes include: QVC, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Sears and Wal-Mart.
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There are several varieties -- LCD, plasma and rear-projection. Each type has its pros and cons. Consumer Reports recommends the following tips when researching which television is best for you:
- Look at the TV’s picture on the showroom floor and ask the salesman for the remote control so you can adjust the picture settings to your liking. Make sure the colors are bright, the image is clear and the blacks look black, not grayish or bluish (a more common problem with LCD TVs). Check the viewing angle on an LCD because the picture can fade as you move off angle, some worse than others. Check before you buy to make sure you can live with it.
- Whichever TV type you choose, make sure you have enough inputs to accommodate your DVD player and maybe video games.
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Analog TV: The technology that has been used for the past 50 years to transmit conventional TV signals to consumers. Analog signals vary continuously, creating fluctuations in color and brightness.
Digital Television (DTV): The umbrella term encompassing High Definition Television and several other applications, including Standard Definition Television, datacasting, multicasting and interactivity.
High-definition TV (HDTV or HD): The highest quality level of digital television, with clear, sharp, colorful images and surround sound in a wide screen (16 x 9) movie-like format. You need an HD TV set to see the full effect, but you can receive HD on an analog TV set with a converter box. With a digital TV, you can check your onscreen menu to tell what quality level you are receiving.
Standard Definition TV Format (SDTV): This is the lower quality level of digital broadcasting, though it still produces markedly better images than those of traditional analog TV. SDTV’s quality level is somewhat akin to current digital cable pictures, though its images are not nearly as sharp as those of HDTV. Transmission of SDTV may be in either the traditional (4 x 3) or widescreen (16 x 9) format.
Set-top Converter Box: This is a unit that connects to an analog TV, receives the Digital TV signal and converts it to an analog signal that the TV can display.
Multicasting: Digital technology allows each digital broadcast station to split its signal into 2, 3, 4 or more individual channels of programming and/or data services.
Find out more:
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