Goodbye to Analog TV - Comments Page 2

The TVs will go into America's basements or the side of the road or the lakes and rivers. My city along with others no longer takes anything electronic because of lead cadmium etc. I do not own any HDTV's, there is nothing on worth paying $1,000 each TV.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The switch from analog to digital broadcasting really has nothing to do with when or how your TV gets recycled. You CAN continue to use your existing television, but you will need an A/D converter.

Why is everybody saying that cable subscribers will not be affected? It is true that the FCC mandate does not apply to cable, but eventually cable systems will discontinue analog cable service and go digital only. Those of us who currently subscribe to analog cable will be required to rent converters from the cable company or buy digital tv's with QAM tuners (the QAM tuner option will not work if you subscribe to expanded basic and your cable company decides to scramble all channels above the limited basic tier). I subscribe to analog expanded basic and have a strong preference to use cable-ready tv's and not converter boxes. I have one HDTV, which can receive a few digital cable channels including 4 in high definition. The overwhelming majority of my cable system's digital channels are scrambled, including the digital simulcasts of channels available on analog such as USA and ESPN. I hope that when the cable system goes all digital that they leave all tiers of basic unscrambled. I would then go buy a few more digital tv's, but that would be a waste if I am going to have to use stupid converter boxes anyway because they insist on scrambling all channels above the limited basic tier!

Okay, right now we watch very little TV. The news, stuff like 60 Minutes, and sometimes PBS offerings. I don't mind paying whatever I need to pay for a more powerful outdoor antenna and I wouldn't mind paying for a converter of some kind. But I absolutely refuse to subscribe to either cable or satellite. I think a lot of the confusion is that most of us have been told, (or have read), that there will be no more "free" TV. It will all be by subscription to cable or satellite. Can you absolutely confirm that that won't be a necessity?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes. Free over-the-air broadcasting will continue. The only change is that the signal will be digital, and some older TVs will need a converter box.

Since there are 13" digital TV sets at Wal-Mart now for $95 (Not HDTV but with the same tuner as the boxes probably will have) I see no reason for the converter boxes to cost more than $40 in December of 2008 if the manufacturer has an almost certain market of $1.5 billion.

Question by "RWRABINOWITZ 10 May 2007": where does one apply for the two $40.00 vouchers per household.

Answer:
"Between January 1. 2008. and March 31, 2009, all U.S. households will be eligible to request up to two coupons. worth $40 each, to be used toward the purchase of digital-to-analog converter boxes. As described above, these converter boxes are designed to make over-the-air digital television signals viewable on analog-only TVs. and thus are not intended for analog-only TVs hooked up to cable or satellite service. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is running the coupon program. For more information, visit the NTIA website at http://www. ntia.doc.gov" from http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/dtvlabels.pdf

I have a digi box to view digital TV on my analogue TV, here in the UK, via a freeview VCR with Video Plus.However except for the five terrestial analogue channels for which Video Plus works OK, the digital channels having Video Plus numbers indicate 'Invalid Channel' when setting up although the date,time and length of programme are all correct. So it is still useful but why does this anomaly occur - any ideas?

How do I know what type of tv I have as one is 13yrs. old and the other 5, plus my mothers is less than a year. How do I know which ones will work and what type of tv should I go buy,are all tv's on sale now able to handle the switch in 2/09>

EDITOR'S NOTE: You only need to be concerned if you are currently getting your signal via antenna. As mentioned above, NOBODY NEEDS TO GET A NEW TV. If you have an older TV with an analog tuner, and you get your signal from the antenna, you will simply need to add the A/D converter box. Older TV's with cable or satellite service will NOT need to change anything. It's safe to say that any TV set purchased in the last couple years has a digital tuner.

I have six older(non-digital) TV sets connected to an outside antenna which receives analog broadcasts from stations no closer than 80 miles away. I find it down right communistic that the U.S. government will reqire that I subsidize makers of converter boxes in order to continue using these sets! NO THANKS!

I also mentioned this in your HDTV via PC article you also need a GOOD antenna. Most of my local VHF's are actually transmitting on UHF. My channel 6 is broadcasting it's "Chanel 6" programming on Channel 25.

Those old rabbit ears may not cut the muster. visit www.antennaweb.org to see what antenna that you may need.

Also, supposedly the FCC is getting manufactures on board to offer cheap ATSC converter boxes, where you may only have to put $20 with your converter "coupon."

Since they will be changing transmission frequencies, my antennas for the present frequencies of transmission will not be suitable for the new frequencies. The stations I receive are over 50 miles and 110 miles away and my antennas are on a 70 ft. tower. So I will require more than just a analog to digital converter, I presume.Won't I need new antennas as well?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The FCC says "A special antenna generally is not needed to receive digital signals. You may have antenna issues, however, if your current antenna does not receive UHF signals (channels 14 and above) well, because most DTV stations are on UHF channels." See http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html