If you’ve been watching TV lately, you’ve seen them:  graphics and messages warning that full power analog television is going away next year, and that you’ll have to do something about it before next February.  So... what’s really going on, and what are your choices?  How do you make the switch to digital TV without converting your living room into NASA control, with wires and boxes everywhere, and without taking a second mortgage on the house?

That’s what Plugged In is about:  making sense of the new technology so you can make good decisions... and cutting through all the bad information that’s out there.  As the February 2009 DTV transition approaches, we’ll be looking at the equipment that’s out there, how to hook it up, and how to solve the glitches that come up.  It’s also a place where you can ask questions and get answers from someone who isn’t trying to sell you another gadget.

Most of our blogs come from the folks you see on the air – our reporters, Steve, Rick and Julie – so who’s behind this one?  I’ve been an engineer at WSYR for more than 25 years, and spend most of my time designing, installing, and maintaining new systems... and for the last few years, that’s mostly been DTV.  One reason you don’t see a photo of me (that’s your good fortune!) is that I’m generally well hidden behind cartons of parts, rolls of diagrams, technical manuals, and demos of new equipment.  A single glance at my office will tell you three things:  I love old maps of Central New York, I have a ridiculous number of projects going at any given moment, and I’m not Martha Stewart.

I’m also a Syracuse native... and like you, I’m coming to grips with changing over to a digital future at home.  As I write this, there’s a stack of four different DTV converter boxes on my dining room table waiting to be tested.  Next week we’ll start looking them over – and it’s going to be a real workout:  my part of the city has always been a real challenge for TV reception.

Catch you next week!

-- Jeff