[Grovenet] Digital Electronics

Wed Mar 26 14:35:10 PDT 2008

Katie

I have an HD-ready TV, but what I have come to understand is that I needed to buy an HD antenna, which I got at Radio Shack ($130 I believe) and then I also need to get an HD receiver, then my TV will work Feb 2009 when this change takes place.

The US government is giving away $40 coupons (2 per household) good towards a converter box, which you do not need if you have cable or satellite TV. The coupons expire May 23rd 2008

Be careful about HD enhancer receivers. I too am an ignoramus when it comes to all of this but from what I gather an HD enhancer just takes an analog signal and gives it an extra kick to simulate HD, but it will not help you after Feb 2009.

The website that came with the coupons is
www.DTV2009.gov/lowpower
www.DTV2009.gov
1-888-DTV-2009

IF you do decide to go cable or satellite, keep in mind that they will try to sell you the option of local stations (at least they did when I signed up before), anyway, I just told them that I was not willing to pay for local stations that I have always gotten for free and they did not charge me for them.

Good luck

Vickie

Katie Allnutt <allnutt at verizon.net> wrote: Thanks for the site Chuck.
What we need is a digital converter box that takes the soon to be  
digital incoming signal, converts all the channels (or multiple ones)  
into analog and then spits all the channels out the coaxial line all  
at once so the VCR/TV can work as it does now.
Everything I've seen takes in all the digital signals but only spits  
out one channel at a time. That is why they claim each TV needs its  
own box. Other wise people would just buy one box, plug it in next to  
their incoming antenna  and let their existing wiring do its thing.

I know they want us to switch to a paid service but I won't go to  
cable/satellite because it seems wasteful to pay every month for a  
signal that comes free over the air.

And I'm not totally in disagreement with why the switch is going to  
happen. After all there is only so much bandwidth for broadcasting  
and switching to digital does free up a lot of space for other uses  
(some of them necessary, the others merely commercial). I hope some  
good comes of it, but according to the site you gave 15% of us are  
still antenna only and there will be lots of people who are miffed if  
we have to convert to new TVs or extensive equipment purchases.

Katie
I  was grousing about the whole thing and my wonderful spouse did  
tell me that there is still a market for 8-track tapes among the few  
nostalgia buffs. So I guess the old technologies never really die  
they just shrink to the status of being an oddity.  If I ever have  
grandkids I guess the little ones can call me granny analog...

On Mar 25, 2008, at 5:18 PM, chuck wrote:

> Sounds like a real pickle Katie.  Unless you convert to Cable/ 
> Satellite
> - which of course is what they want.  I was at Blockbuster Sat night -
> and the place was packed - guess Comcast was out due to someone  
> stealing
> some copper line - glad I don't have Comcast.
>
> Verizon has also been pushing their packages on us.  Of course if you
> accept the digital telephone deal, you can no longer use the old
> fashioned analog phones (the ones that don't need an outlet) which
> really come in handy during a power outtage (as in they still work  
> just
> fine).
>
> I'm no expert - so I turned to google - and found this.  Hope it
> helps.........
>
> http://dtvfacts.com/digital-tv-converter-box/
>
> chuck
>
>
> Katie Allnutt wrote:
>> Has anybody come across this dilemma yet?
>> We are simpletons. Not that we are dumb, but we live a simple life.
>> We have an old fashioned antenna on the roof and get out TV for free.
>> But I do like to tape the Sunday morning news programs and watch them
>> at my leisure. (One is on channel 6, one is on channel 8 and
>> sometimes I'll record channel 2 or 12 also depending on  what time
>> they come on since I can only record one channel at a time.)
>>
>> Right now life is good. I can program the recorder to turn itself on,
>> change the channels at the appropriate time, record what I want and
>> turn itself off.  All of this can happen with me in a different city
>> if I wish.
>>
>> With all the new conversion to digital stuff coming out, we
>> understand that we will have to get a converter box and all that. But
>> we have talked to the young bucks at the electronics stores (they can
>> hardly fathom life with an antenna) and for the most part they have
>> no clue how to solve the dilemma without replacing all our  
>> electronics.
>> How in the world with a converter box do you get the different
>> signals to come out of the converter box? It appears that the digital
>> boxes will only send out the signal of one channel at a time. If I
>> want to record 2 or three shows on different channels, I have to
>> manually tell the converter box to change the channels.
>>
>> Analog pass through does not seem to be the answer because come Feb
>> '09 the signals that I want to send to the VCR will not be analog, so
>> they won't pass through. And the box seems to only convert one signal
>> at a time.
>>
>> Short from buying a recording device that has a built in digital
>> tuner (expensive!) does anybody have any a clue how to deal with
>> this?  Besides stop watching the talking heads of course....
>>
>>
>> Katie
>>
>>
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>
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