Library will host free session about digital TV

KENT — Western Reserve PBS (formerly PBS 45/49) will hold a free digital-television open house from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Austintown Library, 600 S. Raccoon Road, Austintown.

Attendees can get information about digital TVs, see demonstrations on converter box hookups, get help ordering converter box coupons, ask questions about antennas, and more. Refreshments will be served.

For the station’s Youngstown-area WNEO viewers, the event is particularly timely because WNEO’s conversion from analog to digital will take place Nov. 21 — three months ahead of the national DTV conversion. In preparation for the conversion, WNEO’s digital channels, 45.1 and 45.2, will be off air from Wednesday to Nov. 21, when they will return with an improved, stronger signal. The WNEO analog signal will stay on the air until Nov. 19, at which time it will go off the air permanently.

Therefore, for a two-day period during the transition — Nov. 19 to 21 — all WNEO channels will be off air. To watch WNEO after Nov. 21, viewers will need to have digital TV capabilities. Viewers with an analog set will either need to acquire a digital converter box or subscribe to a pay-TV service such as cable or satellite. To watch all other full-power TV stations, viewers will need to make the digital conversion by Feb. 17.

For more information about the DTV conversion or the open house, call the Western Reserve PBS DTV Help Desk at 1 (877) DTV-4PBS, or 1 (877) 388-4727, or go to WesternReservePBS.org/dtv4pbs.