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Digital TV

18 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
18 years ago
We have been digital since it became available.

We really like it... especially the high def part!
alisande
18 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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Yikes! That's a scary thought. We have a rooftop antenna, and so far the converter boxes work fine to bring in the digital signal just as regularly as the analog signal. But we don't use the converter box most of the time yet, simply because channels like Fox and our PBS station haven't switched to digital yet. I've always had a rooftop antenna though - without it, we wouldn't be able to get Fox, ABC or PBS, even on analog. They aren't that expensive...might be something to consider. Mine was $50, I think...but that was 8 years ago (when I bought my first house). Pretty easy to install too, really. We won't be buying a digital TV anytime soon...our analog sets work just fine, and the new TV's are way overpriced. I'd go without first, I think...and hubby agrees. Head over to the Fox web site - you should be able to catch the last few minutes of House there (I know it's not the same, but still - it was a good last few minutes!).
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I have cable, and so have no experience with a digital converter, but I have enough experience with the rest of it that I should be able to help you through it. If this was regular cable TV, you could run the cable into the splitter, run those signals into the LR and BR televisions converters, and it would work. I'm IMAGINING that you could do that with a digital converter as well. You certainly won't harm anything, so it's worth a shot. The only reason it may not work is if the frequency that the signal travels on is outside the frequency range printed on the splitter. I don't know the frequency range that the digital box uses, so I can't answer that question. What's happening in your case now is that the digital tuner can only tune in one channel at a time, and THAT is the signal you're splitting -- just that one channel. Your ONLY choice is to split it before the boxes. Hope this helps.
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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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The experience of many others, including mine, is quite different. I am glad that it worked so well for you. Wish it was so for everyone.
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mary_c_gw
18 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
18 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
18 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
18 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
18 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
18 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
18 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

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