NEW YORK — It's official: The United States is now a digital TV nation.

The switch to digital TV, or DTV, on Friday went off without any major hitches, the Federal Communications Commission reported.

More than 900 full-power TV stations shut down their analog signals on Friday. Going forward, they will broadcast exclusively digital signals, which offer better pictures and audio. The shift also frees up airwave capacity, allowing for a lot more programming over time.

Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps hailed the handling of the transition as a major success for the government, which has been planning the switch for more than a decade.

"For TV broadcasting, it was a final farewell to the Dinosaur Age and the dawn of the Digital Age," Copps said in a prepared statement.

By Saturday afternoon, the FCC said it had received 315,000 calls from consumers — about three times the volume from a day earlier. By yesterday, calls had dribbled off to about 60,000.

While minor problems including reception and converter box issues were reported, "there were no dramatic moments," said FCC spokesman Rick Kaplan.