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Get your 40 dollar coupon for the digital tv transition.

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Originally posted by: GeekDrew
The government actually relies on the majority of the people having televisions and watching the nightly news. I think that they really ought to stop that, but it's there nonetheless.
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Bingo. People need to be able to receive local television broadcasts, they're the primary method for distributing information in case of an emergency. If we're going to force everything to digital, then we need to make sure everyone can still receive their local television stations.
 
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
1. Finally they are going all digital, channels will be clear.

2. 30,000,000 x $80 = $2.4 Billion in coupons (the federal gov. will make $100 Billion selling the available space, so it's a win win for them)

3. National Wireless Broadband provided by Google?
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No, the spectrum isn't returned in this particular deal. The OTA stations get to keep it and reuse it for digital signals. A gift from you and me to them simply because. The spectrum that is being auctioned came from emergency services being required to switch to narrow band radio, at a cost of billions in new equipment. It's been a boon to the radio manufacturers, a pain in the butt for emergency responders, and a wash for the taxpayer.
 
So I was looking at getting a new DVD player and noticed that some did HD upconversion, is this the same thing as what these boxes will do?
 
Originally posted by: Nitemare
So I was looking at getting a new DVD player and noticed that some did HD upconversion, is this the same thing as what these boxes will do?
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No.

This allows you to get over the air, read NON-cable/Sat., TV when all the stations switch over to digital.
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
but you don't need that box for satellite, right?
who actually uses an antenna anymore anyway?
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i do. its the only way to get local channels in HD.
 
Originally posted by: ktehmok
I don't watch TV now because it sucks ass. Who cares if it is analog or digital? Digital only means it is a higher quality ass-sucking.

I reserved a coupon anyway. The way our personal rights are being eroded, having a TV in your house will probably be made compulsory at some point (Richard Bachman's Running Man anyone?)
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Dude, have a Coke and a smile.
 
bump
i just got my coupons in the mail

there's a lot of supported boxes..are there any comparisons or reviews of these boxes?
 
Shouldn't the cable companies or digital tuner/TV manufacturers be giving us rebates instead of the government? The former are the ones who'll be reaping the benefits of the transition.
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Shouldn't the cable companies or digital tuner/TV manufacturers be giving us rebates instead of the government? The former are the ones who'll be reaping the benefits of the transition.
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I guess it's the government forcing the stations to go digital.

I got my cards in the mail yesterday. Don't know if I'll go out and buy a tuner or whatever.
 
Originally posted by: ironwing
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
1. Finally they are going all digital, channels will be clear.

2. 30,000,000 x $80 = $2.4 Billion in coupons (the federal gov. will make $100 Billion selling the available space, so it's a win win for them)

3. National Wireless Broadband provided by Google?
Click to expand...

No, the spectrum isn't returned in this particular deal. The OTA stations get to keep it and reuse it for digital signals. A gift from you and me to them simply because. The spectrum that is being auctioned came from emergency services being required to switch to narrow band radio, at a cost of billions in new equipment. It's been a boon to the radio manufacturers, a pain in the butt for emergency responders, and a wash for the taxpayer.
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That's not true. The old analog space is being resold by the FCC.

you might see a modest dip in the federal budget deficit when the government sells off 108 megahertz of the old analog broadcast spectrum for as much as US $50 billion, by some estimates.
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Originally posted by: puffpio
bump
i just got my coupons in the mail

there's a lot of supported boxes..are there any comparisons or reviews of these boxes?
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I just got my coupon yesterday as well. Initial opinions over at Avsforum seem to say that the Zenith DTT900/Insignia NS-DXA1 are the best of the few that have been released so far.
 
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Zenith DTT900/Insignia NS-DXA1 for $60 or wait for the echostar tr-40 for $40......hmmm
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Yeah, the Echostar box looks like it might be the one to get, at least based on price and features. I ended up getting the Zenith box because it's supposed to have LG's 6th gen tuner. Based on the very limited testing I did at home this morning, it was definitely more sensitive than the Dvico Fusion5 tuner card I have in my pc (5th gen tuner).
 
Does anyone know what the range of the new digital broadcast are? I heard a small blurb on the radio the other day, somebody saying that there needs to be more testing done because digitals range is less than 30 miles.
If that's so then i might not be able to receive a TV signal at all.
 
Originally posted by: IGBT
..we may be the last (US) to transition. europe,japan and others are a few years into it.
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well not quite.
this is for the full transition.
hdtv transition began long ago and we are ahead in hdtv. bbc only began hdtv this year i believe for instance. many primetime tv shows in the us have been filmed and transmitted in hd for years now. hdtv reruns means they won't look totally garbage in a few years. while shows from the uk like to gear were sadly not filmed in hd until recently..and thats sad since that show totally coulda used it.
but yea we still have analog as well.

i think the problem was the fcc didn't mandate that they use all the bandwidth for hd.
so they might use it for multiple sd channels which would be annoying.


as for it being a waste of money..i don't think so. more channels is hardly a bad thing.
pbs has had several channels going for quite a while now.
 
Originally posted by: Spacehead
Does anyone know what the range of the new digital broadcast are? I heard a small blurb on the radio the other day, somebody saying that there needs to be more testing done because digitals range is less than 30 miles.
If that's so then i might not be able to receive a TV signal at all.
Click to expand...

Many stations that are on their final digital broadcast frequencies are already broadcasting digitally at full power. The current ATSC models call for the digital channels to approximate the same coverage area as their analog counterparts. With a proper antenna setup, getting a reliable signal out to 60 miles or so is quite common (depending on the area, of course). I get all my local digital channels with my outdoor antenna/pre-amp setup at 36 miles away from the transmitters. The person you heard talking about a 30 mile limit may have been talking about trying to receive digital tv with an indoor antenna, which can be quite difficult at that distance. With analog, you can often get a watchable signal (albeit with snow, ghosting, etc) with an indoor antenna, but with digital its really all or nothing. At 30+ miles, unless you are in a prime location for reception, it's best to go with an attic or outdoor antenna setup.
 
I am amazed at so many confused people on a tech forum.

Analog cable will still be available. Cable companies are trying to get rid of it themselves, but it is not mandated that they do so.

The boxes will do the tuning, not your TV or PC. A work around on the PC would be to get an IR blaster, so the PC can send the remote command to the box to change the channel.

We get ATSC about 55 miles away, so distance from the source shouldnt be an issue. (although that is a roof antenna)
 
Originally posted by: IGBT
..unless your line of sight from a hd xmit tower you won't see much.
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que? how the hell do you think people watched tv all over before the existence of cable companies?
 
Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
I am amazed at so many confused people on a tech forum.

Analog cable will still be available. Cable companies are trying to get rid of it themselves, but it is not mandated that they do so.

The boxes will do the tuning, not your TV or PC. A work around on the PC would be to get an IR blaster, so the PC can send the remote command to the box to change the channel.

We get ATSC about 55 miles away, so distance from the source shouldnt be an issue. (although that is a roof antenna)
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why not just get a pci atsc tuner for your computer if you want to do that? I have one.
 
Does this also mean that everyone with illegal cable hookups (without a box) will be shut of also overnight? It's analog because they don't have boxes. I predict Dish/Direct tc and the cable companies getting a lot of calls saying (uhhh uhhhh I want to order cable the next day)

Edit: Also are the tv stations broadcasting digital now or only some of them? In other words could comeone get the box now and start using it and get all the stations?
 
Originally posted by: Jhill
Does this also mean that everyone with illegal cable hookups (without a box) will be shut of also overnight? It's analog because they don't have boxes. I predict Dish/Direct tc and the cable companies getting a lot of calls saying (uhhh uhhhh I want to order cable the next day)

Edit: Also are the tv stations broadcasting digital now or only some of them? In other words could comeone get the box now and start using it and get all the stations?
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Analog cable is not going away. Only analog broadcast OTA.
 
Originally posted by: Mloot
Originally posted by: Spacehead
Does anyone know what the range of the new digital broadcast are? I heard a small blurb on the radio the other day, somebody saying that there needs to be more testing done because digitals range is less than 30 miles.
If that's so then i might not be able to receive a TV signal at all.
Click to expand...

Many stations that are on their final digital broadcast frequencies are already broadcasting digitally at full power. The current ATSC models call for the digital channels to approximate the same coverage area as their analog counterparts. With a proper antenna setup, getting a reliable signal out to 60 miles or so is quite common (depending on the area, of course). I get all my local digital channels with my outdoor antenna/pre-amp setup at 36 miles away from the transmitters. The person you heard talking about a 30 mile limit may have been talking about trying to receive digital tv with an indoor antenna, which can be quite difficult at that distance. With analog, you can often get a watchable signal (albeit with snow, ghosting, etc) with an indoor antenna, but with digital its really all or nothing. At 30+ miles, unless you are in a prime location for reception, it's best to go with an attic or outdoor antenna setup.
Click to expand...

Which sucks for people who live in apartment complexes. 🙁
 
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