Digital TV

17 years ago

Hi, all! Whats your take on dtv? I can't afford a new tv & did have the $40.00 coupons offered. my husband didn't want o buy a converter box as it's said those who have cable won't need a box.We gave our coupons to our son (he'd lost his ).But now I wonder..will cable prices jump to new heights next year? Will there be some other glitch leaving those of us without converters up the proverbial creek?

Whats your thoughts on the dtv thing?

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Comments (9)

western_pa_luann
17 years ago
We have been digital since it became available.

We really like it... especially the high def part!
alisande
17 years ago
My understanding is the converter box won't do a thing for you if you have cable. I can't predict anything about cable prices, though.

I'm buying two of the boxes because I get my signal from an antenna (mounted on a ham radio tower).
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Bummer. I suppose this means I'll need a 3rd converter box. I'm in the process of changing everything over. I've removed all the wires from TV, VCR, DVR. So far, the TV is doing its thing correctly from having the converter box. Nice clear pictures and a few more stations. I figured I should start out simply......with just the converter box and TV. Now I'm trying to get the VCR to work, but nothing is showing up. Since I unplugged everything, I might have to re-program the VCR being able to talk to the TV, but I have to go let the chickens out first. What caught me up for awhile was that I was used to having the TV and VCR set to channel 4, but for some reason, it needs to be channel 3 now. After I get the VCR working with everything else, then I'll move on to the DVR. I think I'm going to use a splitter so that I can get signals to my VCR and my DVR. Does that make any sense at all? You guys are so familiar with all this stuff, you must think I'm a real slow learner. haha But hey....ask me about chickens, watergardens, raising kids, vegetable gardening, or critical care medicine, and I could probably help some of you! One quick question.........Am I being redundant by using a coaxial connection here and there, AND RCA cables on the same machines?? Okay.........out to the chickens, but I'll be back. Don't go too far. :)
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We just bought a little portable digital HD TV and it gets at least 10 channels in Madison, Wisconsin with only its internal antenna (the antenna is not on the outside) and the picture is great, so you can get great digital TV reception without an antenna, but I am sure the number of channels you get depends upon your location. We get channels that I did not know were broadcast over the airwaves in our area. We got the portable digital HD TVs for $30 over Christmas (after all the sales and coupons) so you may want to borrow or purchase one of those to test it out before investing in upgrading your antenna.
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You might get a better signal once they do the switch-over in February. For now (at least in my area) they are broadcasting the digital signals UHF. I have contacted one of the engineers at the CBS affiliate in Des Moines, and his email explains a lot. This was written this past summer: It's actually not an issue with signal strength, but rather many stations are using *different* channels at this time for broadcasting digital, than they will be after 2/17/09. For instance, we are presently broadcasting our digital signal on UHF channel 31, because our VHF channel 8 is still tied up being an analog transmitter until next February. A digital receiver will already call our digital channels by their "virtual" names of "8-1" and "8-2", once the receiver initially discovers the signal on channel 31. But, our signal won't be on "real" channel 8 until next February. Channels 5, 11, and 13 in Des Moines are doing similarly with temporary UHF channels, and plans to move their digital signals down onto their traditional VHF channels next February. Other stations are going to stay on their present digital UHF channels, and are effectively already done with the digital transistion, except they still haven't shut off their analog transmitters. But even though our UHF channel is temporary, we are still broadcasting it at full strength. It's legally maxed-out at a level that is intended to replicate the coverage area of analog channel 8. BUT, receiving our digital signal just as well as analog depends on having home UHF reception that's just as good as VHF reception. Admittedly, for many homes, this is not the case. Some people have VHF-only TV antennas. Sometimes, the little "UHF loop" on their indoor rabbit ears don't pick up as well as the longer VHF aerials. In my opinion, the best kind of antenna is still the good-old-fashioned rooftop-style VHF/UHF antenna. But, even if you have one of those, old antenna wire or old signal splitters may be preventing the higher-frequency UHF channels from carrying down to the TV set as well as the VHF signals do. And, finally, UHF sometimes doesn't do as good of a job of holding up over long distances and penetrating natural or man-made obstructions as VHF signals do. Therefore, even though we are transmitting digital at "full power", there are a number of reasons that some viewers may not receive the digital as well as analog, most of them related to poor UHF reception. Some people may experience improved digital reception after 2/17/09, if they haven't already taken steps to improve UHF reception by that time.
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mary_c_gw
17 years ago
If you already have cable or satellite, you do not need a converter box. If you cancel cable or satellite TV service, you will need one - but only if you have an old, non-digital TV.

So there you go. Cable providers may raise rates, but don't they do that every year or so anyway?

I got my coupons, and bought two converter boxes. The third TV is already digital-ready, and doesn't need a converter. The boxes are for my elderly TV out in my garage studio, and for the TV in the guest bedroom. Cable and satellite are available here, but I don't want them.

It's not like the boxes are going to be taken off the market. You may have to pay full price if you lose or don't use your coupons, but they will still be available. Also, new TVs do not need the boxes at all.
glenda_al
17 years ago
My main tv is digital, and my two other tv's are all connected to cable, so no problem for me.
monica_pa Grieves
17 years ago
All our TVs are digital(and we have cable), except for the small 5" one that is battery powered (have it for power outage situations).
For that one, we're getting a converter box.
gillian_41
17 years ago
I have Directtv the price went up $9.00 month plus the new receiver cost $20.00 they had to switch out the dish outside.
azzalea
17 years ago
As most do, we have cable. But I did pick up a couple of converter boxes for the 'extra' tvs--all of which are old and not digital.

Well, went to hook up one converter box last weekend. I'm sure I must have done something wrong (but what?) because I couldn't get a thing once it was hooked up. Disassembled everything so I could get at least the fuzzy reception that's about all I get 'out in the country'.

I'm figuring I'll probably just buy a couple of digital TV's next year, once our house sells and we have a few extra $$$
mary_c_gw
17 years ago
Azzelea,

The hook-up on my very old TVs went flawlessly, and I instantly began to pick up the secondary TV stations - PBS has the Create channel, for example, and one other has an all weather channel which I now get.

Check through your installation procedure. You may also need to adjust or install the rabbit ears or external antenna on your TV. If you don't use an antenna, then the converter box won't be useful.
sue_va
17 years ago
I have cable, and no doubt the price will go up.

I have an old 13 inch TV that is what was called "cable ready" but only gets 13 channels. I haven't used it for about 5 years. I wonder if a converter box would work in any way on it? I was thinking maybe I could use it for recording programs if nothing else.

Sue

Digital TV

Comments (9)

western_pa_luann

alisande

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