Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. is poised to enter a brave new world of TV technology, and it plans to make sure viewers are along for the ride.

On Tuesday, May 21, MPBC will launch a statewide digital signal that is supposed to result in brighter, crisper pictures, theater- quality sound and more programming options – if viewers have the right equipment.

The analog system, which is what viewers have been watching for more than 50 years, depends on changes in wavelength frequency, or amplitude. But the digital system adopts the same binary structure as computers. It converts images into a stream of numbers with just two digits: ones and zeros.

Digital television is less affected by weather and “ghosting” than analog, and it yields five times the picture resolution and clarity. Plus, it can provide multiple channels in the same amount of space as analog’s one channel.

That’s why, beginning Tuesday, viewers in the Bangor, Presque Isle and Portland areas will be able to get four MPBC channels, through a process called multicasting.

MPBC will provide the digital signal via: WCBB DT in Augusta (channels 17.1, 17.2, 17.3 and 17.4); WMEB DT in Orono (channels 9.1 through 9.4); and WMEM DT in Presque Isle (channels 20.1 through 20.4). Available in the fall will be WMED DT in Calais (channels 10.1 through 10.4) and WMEA DT in Biddeford (channels 45.1 through 45.4). DT stands for digital television.

In the Bangor area, for example, while Channel 12 still will feature the regular Maine Public Broadcasting System programs via the analog system, viewers with digital equipment will be able to receive 9.1 to get Maine PBS; 9.2 to get Maine PBS Kids, a children’s channel; 9.3 to get Maine PBS YOU, an education channel with “how-to” programs; and 9.4 to get Maine PBS Plus, which carries national PBS programs all the time.

So that people can see what the new signal is all about, MPBC will hold a public question and answer session with technicians and staff from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at its Bangor studio, 65 Texas Ave. Information sessions also are planned at Tweeter in South Portland, Cambridge SoundWorks at the Maine Mall in South Portland, and Frank Pomerleau’s in Augusta.

Huge deal

The new digital signal is a huge deal, according to MPBC spokesperson Rhonda Morin. “This really is the biggest thing since the invention of color television,” she said.

Gil Maxwell, MPBC senior vice president for operations and technology, compares analog and digital to the difference between a phonograph record and a compact disc. A compact disc, which is digital, allows you to get a better copy.

Voters began hearing about digital signals in 1999 when they approved a $9.4 million bond to pay for public television’s infrastructure upgrade for the new transmission.

MPBC is spending $20.8 million on the digital conversion. Approximately half the money, obtained through the bond issue and a 1998 legislative appropriation, will be spent on infrastructure. The rest, which is being raised privately, will be used to purchase programming and cover related expenses such as camera equipment, Morin said.

As part of the 1996 Communications Act, which instructed the Federal Communications Commission to set up a digital transition timeline, the government decreed that by 2006 all analog systems will be shut off completely and only digital signals will run. The FCC plans to sell all analog broadcast frequencies to wireless telephone and other telecommunications providers, public television officials said.

But for the analog signal to be cut off, 85 percent of the households in a station’s market must be ready to receive the digital cable signal, Morin said. Some portions of the state could lose their analog signal before others, she pointed out. Nielsen television research data may be used to help determine how far along a particular region is.

The digital signal will be a work in progress over the next four years. Since MPBC will run both analog and digital systems simultaneously until 2006, viewers aren’t required to do anything but sit tight and wait for events to unfold.

The equipment

Some of the more adventurous souls can jump on the digital bandwagon in a variety of ways.

They can purchase a high-definition television with either a built-in digital receiver or a separate digital receiver.

Viewers also can buy a set-top converter box that can be used with their current analog sets. The set-top box plugs into the television and acts as a decoder that takes in the signal and translates it into something that’s readable on a screen. With a set-top box, the picture and sound will be better than what the current television gets, but it won’t be HDTV quality.

Cable subscribers can receive the Maine PBS digital signal by purchasing digital cable service.

Currently, set-top converter boxes start at $450, according to the MPBC Web site.

HDTV sets without a built-in receiver start at $1,700. HDTV sets with built-in receivers start at $2,000. Digital cable service is an additional $10-$20 for cable subscribers.

Prices for all of this equipment are expected to drop dramatically as consumer demand increases, public television officials said.

For now, Maxwell suggests that viewers either stick with their old analog sets and buy a set-top box, or purchase a wide screen HDTV with a separate receiver.

People should be aware that store clerks are using the terms high definition television and digital television interchangeably, Maxwell said. While they offer clearer pictures, high definition TVs will not provide access to digital stations without a digital tuner, he said.

A sales clerk at Sears in Bangor said this week that each day she typically sells two or three high-definition televisions even though the store doesn’t carry any with built-in receivers. Costing between $1,100 and $4,000, the high definition televisions offer the large screens and crisp pictures that viewers like, she said.

While Sears doesn’t sell separate digital receivers, Best Buy in Bangor stocks them for $500 to $600 each, a representative from that store said. Best Buy has in stock one high-definition television with a built-in receiver for $2,299, he said.

Cutting edge

MPBC is a year early. While commercial stations faced a May 2002 deadline set by the FCC to begin transmitting digital signals, public stations had until a year from now. Some of Maine’s commercial stations have started transmitting digital signals, while others have had to get FCC extensions.

“We believe our members expect us to be there because all the other commercial stations need to be up and running this year,” said Rhonda Morin. “We know once our members have access to digital technology they’ll demand that MPBC also be available.”

To wait would have been more expensive, Morin said. Public television is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by being at the forefront and developing partnerships early on with manufacturers and commercial stations so it can pay less for equipment and share towers, she said.

While the federal mandate for digital conversion doesn’t apply to cable companies, Morin said, the national Public Broadcasting System has an agreement with Time Warner Cable to carry the digital signal. This means Time Warner Cable of Maine will carry Maine PBS’ digital signal in southern Maine for now, and, this fall, for viewers in the Presque Isle area.

Maine PBS also is negotiating with Adelphia Cable, both locally and nationally, to offer public broadcasting’s digital service, Morin said.

Digital has one drawback. Since it provides either a better picture or no picture at all, viewers in mountainous areas or in valleys who get a snowy picture with the analog signal will get a blue screen with digital unless they have digital cable service or satellite service like DirectTV, Morin said.

Viewers without cable will get relief down the road when MPBC puts in translators – additional equipment that helps carry the digital signal into hard-to-reach areas, she said.

In the coming months, MPBC will integrate more local digital programming and will research other digital options, possibly including a channel where viewers can watch the Legislature in action, Morin said. At some point, viewers may even be able to surf their televisions the way they do on their computers.

But first things first. “Right now we’re in an education phase about what this is,” she said. “People will start seeing more and more little signs and signals that digital is here.”

For more information about the digital conversion, call MPBC audience services at (800) 884-1717, or log on to MPBC.org or Maine PBS.org.