Hurry! Hurry! Step right up folks for your $40.00 government coupon. Get your red hot digital converter box for $19.95. You must have it all together by February 17, 2009 or you will not receive a television signal on your analog television set unless you have cable or an HDTV.
No wait!! Now the government says we have until June 2009.
What country do we live in? We are being forced to buy additional equipment to receive a television signal? How much did our government spend for those millions of $40 coupons?
The converter box and a respectable antenna is over $50 for each television in your home. The only alternative is to buy an HDTV for an average of $320 for a 19-inch up to $695 to replace the 36-inch I felt at one time lucky to have, or to get a subscription to cable, satellite, or direct TV. For basic, those are approximately $29.99 plus tax, or for the premium 'all bells and whistles and stations 'service up to $150 a month.
I for one am boycotting cable because of the exorbitant price! If you pay that much for television and advertisers pay a hefty sum, where does the money for all those commercials go these days? Millions of dollars paid for commercials during the Super Bowl for each commercial? Something is rotten in Denmark, when our economy is so bad and these companies spend that much money for 60 seconds of air time. Where does that money go? The cable bill sure doesn't go down.
If you really need 150 channels....well, I say, there is something wrong with the way you live your life! In the 80's I went to the island of Ibiza, in Spain, and they only had one channel. I felt sorry for them even then but at least they had one channel. If you can not get converted, you will have no signal and you better break out the old AM/FM radio to hear the news, be informed of inclement weather, or be warned of an impending national disaster. Or are the radio stations all going digital soon too?
I did what they warned me I should do. I went out and got my converter box and antenna and hooked it up to my analog TV and I now get 16 channels....sort of. The signal fades in and out and the picture will stop mid-stream and freeze! So then I broke down and bought a brand new 1080 pixel 32 inch HDTV thinking it had to be better, but alas, the same thing happens and it is very frustrating to say the least. Now on the new TV when the digital signal pauses I literally see all 1080 pixels in slow motion -- a kind of moving abstract art.
I have cornered every "cable guy" that I run into and they tell me that the reason cable is so expensive is because of the high prices channels charge to allow them to broadcast their station. Of course the highest priced channels are the premium sports channels the cable guys tell me. Why should I have to pay for everyone else to watch sports?
Maybe we should all buy stock in cable companies because it's has to go up due to the digital boom. You're doomed if you don't have cable or the like from what I can see by the lousy reception I am getting without it, but I for one sure don't need another monthly bill, so I will put up with what our government is making us watch! Progress? What choice do we have?
In rural areas we have gotten used to the snowy TV signals, but with a converter box we get absolutely nothing. The farm that I rent, would need at HUGH antenna (if my landlord would allow it- liability issues).Weather forecasts and emergency warning are especially important to small, rural farmers, so we will be gathered around the "ole tyme radio" again like in the 1950's. Too bad- so sad... progress, right?
And for those who tell farmers, like me, to move to the big city...try not to talk with your mouth full.
"Effective January 22, 1999, renters may install antennas within their leasehold, which means inside the dwelling or on outdoor areas that are part of the tenant's leased space and which are under the exclusive use or control of the tenant... For rented single family homes or manufactured homes which sit on rented property, these areas include the home itself and patios, yards, gardens or other similar areas... Renters are not required to obtain the consent of the landlord prior to installing an antenna in these areas."
Know your rights! That passage refers to any antenna up to a 12' mast, I think, but there are also passages that protect your right to install a taller mast if your location requires it. It falls upon your landlord to demonstrate to the local permitting agency why a tall antenna would be unsafe, but if your live as far out as you say, I imagine you could locate the antenna far enough from any building that there would be no risk of it falling over and causing any damage to physical property.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html
HDTV really is progress. The picture is better and uses the airwaves more efficiently. It's true that signal reception varies by location, but that's true of analog transmission as well, just not quite as bad (analog isn't as picky about transmission errors). Cable companies are required by law to offer a limited basic subscription, just the over-the-air channels (plus whatever else they want to throw in), for a much smaller fee. I pay $15/month. Senior citizens get an even deeper discount. Cable companies aren't eager to advertise this, so you might have to call and ask and be insistent. You don't have to subsidize ESPN.
Oh it wasn't hard to figure out how to hook up the converter box at all... and I don't think anyone should really have to call an electronic store to hook it up but the reception is lousy for anyone I know that has the converter box! I know people close to the city high on a hill,,,,channels fade in and out! Maybe it's trees? Maybe it's buildings? but we are in a city that is already broadcasting in HD and the reception is weak at best!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009; Page D01
By Peter Whoriskey and Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writers
"Nielsen Co. has estimated that 6.5 million over-the-air households are unprepared for the "digital transition." Elderly, Latino and low-income households are believed to be most affected."
I hope they all got their coupons already because if they have not that means 6.5 million times $40.00 or $260,000,000.00. That is $260 million more the government will have to hand out!
NO WAIT... EVERYONE GETS TWO! So that would mean $520 million?????
I've tried to researh how much this cost the government (tax payers) and found $650 million (which seems low) to $1.5 billion!! Anyone know for sure? Who approved this spending? Did I miss this on a ballot?
Tonight we are supposed to have severe thunderstorms with high winds and in the pamphlet it states " unplug your converter box in severe lightening" Well, gee, it's a good thing analog is still operating today!
If you have cable it may be hard to understand but .... it is going to cause problems for many people who must use the converter box to get reception! It is NOT GOOD!
I say let it go digital. If not now, when? They'll never do it? Increase broadband and free web tv, and digital signal.
First off, most televisions sold in the US since 2004 already have the digital tuner built in.
Second, a regular antenna will pick up the digital signal, but for best results the antenna should be mounted outdoors. Use this site to find your location's best orientation.
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Welcome.aspx
If you don't want to use an antenna to get digital signals for free (and at best resolution - cable and satellite signals are compressed and not as clear as the free broadcast), then you will need a subscription service. Check with your local provider, most have a basic-basic option. I pay $7.99 a month from Comcast.
The reason you have to buy new equipment is because TV will soon be transmitted digitally. Of course, when it was transmitted via analogue, you still had to buy the equipment to recieve it, so that's a silly argument. Digital transmission will save electricity, as well as increase the number of channels available due to the ability to broadcast channels on frequencies that are much closer together.
The frequency spectrum which was formerly used for analogue transmission will be used for new communication services. Police, Emergency Services, and broadband internet access are a few of the potential uses.
Or, you could just watch TV streamed over the Internet, but that's a whole different conversation...
Seems to me maybe the government should have given all that money spent on vouchers to the cable/satelite providers to lower the price or regulate the price some how to make it affordable to everyone, since the converter boxes are so lousy and it's the only way to get reception!
This transition was justified as a way to release parts of the spectrum for other uses (cell phones primarily.)
It was supported by manufacturers of HD TV as a way to enhance the value of their products. Even better for the HD TV people, the HD technology is so complicated that people are going to be buying new HD TV sets over and over again, attempting to get things to work around a morass of pixels, scanning, and DRM (Digital Rights Management.)
The cable companies are delighted with it too, as it tightens the lock they currently have on people since without analog broadcasts, the bottom end of their customer base won't opt out. They're also delighted by it because it gives them a chance to sell a new service (Digital TV) and escape any remaining regulations they might be under, as well as make general rate hikes.
This is the death of broadcast TV.
Digital transmission takes advantage of the narrower bandwith by allowing a broadcaster to offer multiple channels within the space previously allotted for a single channel. My parents went from receiving one PBS program, to getting four (from the same station). This capability will allow multiple simultaneous broadcasts (such English, Spanish variants) or entirely alternate programming. "Multicasting" will also allow broadcast stations to increase the amount of advertising time they can sell.
Lastly, I don't feel the need to have a huge HD TV dominating my living room - and it doesn't matter to me how many programs the local Fox affiliate broadcasts, but that's just me.