Look, television gods. All I'm trying to do is catch a little post-Golden Globes action on "Extra" while I wait for "Jeopardy" to come on. I don't need you to suddenly take over ALL MY CHANNELS for five minutes with a rainbow screen and the following message:
"If you are seeing this message, you have FAILED the DTV transition test, and you will not be able to watch TV on this set after Feb. 17. .... blah blah"
Okay, I get it. I am poor and have gotten away with using rabbit ears for the past nine years, but someone has now decreed that TV broadcasting has to be all fancy-like. Fine. I already sent away for the stupid coupon and now need to buy the stupid converter box. Great. I'm still crossing my fingers that come Feb. 17 I will still have free access to the splendid programming on the networks, PBS, and Telemundo. But apparently that is not to be.
I read the other day that once this conversion occurs, us cheapos will have reduced service because the converter boxes will only latch onto channels with full signals. No more "Oh, it's fine, I can kind of see it." No, it's all or nothing. PLUS, we'll have to make the box thingamajig scan for new channels every so often.
Pain in the petutie, if you ask me. Guess it's back to good ol' book readin'.
7 comments:
Wow. You need to buy a tv. It is 2009. When I buy a new one I will give you my old 32" Samsung LCD bedroom tv. It is a generation behind already. Also, buy a decent digital antenna. You will need it. You can get a good one for less than $40 and then you can have HD and digital channels for free.
http://tv.about.com/od/hdtv/a/hdantenna.htm
http://www.solidsignal.com/manu/antennasdirect/choose_antenna.asp
"4. Determine whether you need a uni-directional or multi-directional antenna?
In some cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, all stations are broadcast from one central area, the Empire State and GE Buildings in New York, the Sears Tower or Hancock Building in downtown Chicago, and Mt. Wilson in Los Angeles. In other cities like St. Louis, the transmitters are scattered around the city."
Wow, I'm impressed you've gotten along this long without upgrading. That's just blowing my mind! (Of course, this is from someone that does a TV review blog.) Congrats! But sorry you have to lose some of your channels. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think! I'll keep my fingers crossed for PBS.
Whatevs. I can pretty much watch all the shows I want for free online, anyway, using the wireless signal we're stealing from a neighbor. :)
We have four different over the air digital PBS stations here already.
It is a pain, but reception on the digital signals will so much better, it'll be worth it. Plus, NYTV has a great channel where you can watch feeds from CC cameras over major roads all over the city. It's as close as you can get to visual white noise.
I've got that channel now, too, Matt! The first time I saw it, I thought, "Now what the hell is this? I can pick up traffic cameras but not ESPN?"
Carolyn, for antennas you can try www.antennaweb.org. They have a feature that recommends the best digital antenna based on your specific street and whether or not there are high buildings, steeples, airports, or towers nearby that would interfere with the signal.
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