Well, it's done. Analog TV is (nearly) no more in the Twin Cities.
Most metro channels, including KARE, channel 11, and KMSP, channel 9, have gone to static. WCCO, channel 4, and KSTP, channel 5, are keeping their analog signals alive for a while to provide DTV-education content for analog-TV laggards.
KSTP, though, had a bit of trouble tonight: The DTV-info visuals kicked in, but "According to Jim" remained audible for several minutes. The audio went dead momentarily, then the DTV-info audio finally, fully kicked in.
I’ll post video of this in a while.
Now I have to go do channel rescans on all the devices I use for digital reception (including an old tube TV with a converter box, and a couple of Macs with Elgato EyeTV tuners) since a bunch of local channels have changed frequencies.
Update: As expected, a number of local digital channels have disappeared when I try to access them with a converter box attached to an old analog TV. Stations that have changed digital frequencies include KSTP, KMSP, KARE and WFTC.
So I had my converter do a full channel rescan and (drum roll) all the channels are back. KARE reception is terrible, though; the others look fine.
Update: I just attempted a digital-channel rescan with an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid plugged into an Apple MacBook and had better luck. It pulled in all major local stations, including KARE. I’m very impressed, @eyetvevangelist.
Update: I shot this video as the digital transition happened in the Twin Cities, focused on on WCCO (channel 4), KSTP (channel 5) and KARE (channel 11).
Channels 4 and 5 were supposed to switch from normal analog broadcasts to DTV-education content, but KSTP had those audio issues while WCCO was a teeny bit late in making the switch. KARE went to static as planned.
