Linked by weildish on Tue 6th Jan 2009 17:28 UTC
If you live in the United States, then it's almost certain you've heard about this big digital switch that public television is making due to a new US law. If you live outside of the US, I bet you've heard of it anyway since we like to let people know what we're up to. The big day that's coming up -- February 17th, 2009 -- that magical date when all television stations will historically abandon the infamous analog broadcasting for greener, digital pastures -- didn't strike fear into the hearts at my household. We rarely utilize the antenna, and then only two to four times a year for a special program. Nonetheless, we got our hands on one of those nifty coupons anyway and went out to purchase a digital converter for the sake of those few intrinsic public broadcats. Read on for the whole story.
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Member since:
2006-07-06
I've been watching over-the-air digital TV for over a year. Some of it is great. I get four channels of KET (Kentucky Educational Television), three of PBS, and much more. Even one station has started broadcasting their own "Weather Channel" like service.
Forget the digital converter box, get a DVD recorder with an ATSC tuner built in. I have the Magnavox DVD recorder at home and at $90, it's cheaper than buying them separate.
Also, what TV doesn't tell you is that their digital signal is much lower powered. The picture is either there or not at all. At least with analog's snowy background I can still make out the picture.
If you look at the fine print on some of the "Digital Switch" commercials, you will notice low powered stations do not have to switch. So what does that mean when other services start using that specturm? Law suits.