Transition to digital: courses for 400 volunteers have started in Kazan

They will learn how to set up TVs, DVB-T2 consoles, and connect external and indoor antennas.

(KZN.RU, March 13, Ksenia Shvetsova). Today, courses for volunteers have started in one of the pavilions of the exhibition center “Kazanskaya Yarmarka”. They will help Kazan citizens to switch to digital television. In the morning, the first group of 40 volunteers began the training. During the two-hour lesson, they received all the necessary theoretical and practical skills that will allow them to help Kazan citizens understand all the difficulties of the transition to digital broadcasting.

In total, about 400 volunteers will be trained. They are students of higher and vocational educational institutions of Kazan, activists of public centers of civil and patriotic education of student youth “Victory Volunteers”. As part of the training, they will learn how to set up TVs, DVB-T2 formatted boxes, and if necessary, connect external and indoor antennas. “First of all, assistance will be provided to socially unprotected categories of the population. These are the poor, large families, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the elderly, single citizens, and others”, says Elena Goreva, the head of the Communications Department of the Information Technology and Communications Directorate of the Executive Committee. “After training, all volunteers will receive special certificates signed by both the Executive Committee and the head of the volunteer movement”.

Sergey Romanov, the leading engineer of the Kazan television center, held a lesson for the volunteers. He began the lesson by explaining why the whole country is switching to digital broadcasting. “This program has been running since 2008. It is necessary for all subscribers to have many channels, this will allow eliminating the digital divide once and for all. In many regions away fr om major cities, people have only 2-3 channels”, said Sergey Romanov. “A network has been built for broadcasting 20 TV channels, which each citizen will have”. Another great advantage of digital broadcasting is picture quality. The picture is much better in digital broadcasting.

“The work has been done a lot to switch to the digital. Russia has built a huge network, new television broadcasters. There are 87 of them in our republic only”, added S. Romanov.

“I'm just learning at the department of information technology, so it’s close to my future profession. It is always necessary to help everyone whenever possible, not everyone can understand some technical issues. If we know, we will be happy to help”, said Ekaterina Bugrova, a 16-year-old volunteer girl, a student at Kazan College of Technology and Design.

“I have been volunteering for many years, and I especially like to help older people and people with disabilities. Therefore, when they told that there is an opportunity to provide assistance, I immediately volunteer”, said Anton Mikhailovsky, a student at Kazan State Energy University. |I understand electronics very well, I am interested in this. It seems to me it will be quite difficult for a non-specialist to understand how to switch fr om analog to digital television. Especially older people. It is harder for them to cope with the technology of the new generation.

From April, a regional contact center will start operating in Kazan. Citizens will be able to get help by calling there. The work of the contact center, which is still being formed today, will be monitored by the Ministry of Information and Communication of the RT.

Right after receiving the application, the operator who took the call will try to help remotely and explain how to set up the console. If the person who asked for help fails, then a volunteer will be sent to him.

Note that if the house has a system of collective television reception, then it is served by the contracting organization. In this case, applications received by the contact center will be sent to Open Kazan and processed during the day. Today there are 3253 houses with a system of collective television reception in Kazan. If the house is not served by any contracting organization, the application will be sent to the volunteers, and the curator will send a volunteer to the caller within three days.

Anyone can find out wh ere the points of sales of equipment for the transition to digital broadcasting are located in the same contact center. Some citizens will need to purchase consoles to receive a digital signal. However, this will not be necessary in most cases. TVs released after 2014 are often already equipped with the necessary set-top console, and additional equipment is not needed for them.

When buying a console, citizens should be certain that it can receive DVB-T2 channels of terrestrial digital television. “Satellite consoles do not receive this signal. It is written on any box what it is intended for; you just have to be more careful. All channels are transmitted in standard resolution. This is done in order to fully cover all segments of the population, who have both old and new TVs with digital broadcasting. If you buy a console, there will be no monthly payment for television”, explained the leading engineer of the Kazan television center.

Today, the issue of subsidies for the purchase of consoles is being addressed in Tatarstan. E. Goreva explained that for today, only one subsidy has been confirmed in the country so far: reimbursement for the purchase of satellite equipment. However, such equipment is required only in those regions wh ere there is no digital television. Kazan is covered with a digital signal at 100%, so there is no need to purchase satellite equipment. The state also provides compensation for the purchase of consoles. The exact categories of citizens in Tatarstan who are eligible for subsidies are still being approved. According to the Ministry of Informatization and Communication, unprotected categories of the population will soon be identified and will be able to count on reimbursement of the cost of consoles purchased for the transition to digital broadcasting.

The RT is included in the third stage of the transition to digital television broadcasting, which is scheduled for June 3, 2019. Earlier, Kazan residents could watch for free from 3 to 10 channels in analog format. Now as part of the transition to digital broadcasting, residents will have the opportunity to watch two multiplexes, which consist of 20 public TV channels in digital quality, for free.

Photo report

Courses for volunteers that will help Kazan citizens to switch to digital TV have started in Kazan