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Get your 40 dollar coupon for the digital tv transition.

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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.
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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.
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Yeah, i have an outdoor antennae already. I was just hoping that i wouldn't lose what i have now, or not much of it anyway. I can get stations from Erie Pa; Youngstowns, Akron, Cleveland Oh; & London Ont. on a regular basis now.






Originally posted by: Jhill
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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Some are broadcasting already. I know the NBC, CBS, & PBS affiliates out of Erie are broadcasting now.
 
Originally posted by: sdifox
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.
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Of course that is an option. Some dont want to buy a new card and had asked about it.
 
How long does it usually take to get the coupons?

hhgregg lists the Zenith for $49.99, would be nice to pick it up for $10.
 
I got the RCA box from walmart. I get a lot more channels with DTV and even with a crappier antenna than with analog. There is a considerable decoding lag though (~3-5 secs ) when I have 2 tvs on - 1 digital, the other analog tuned. For some reason it has poor selectivity between channels 8 and 11.


 
Last night I set up one of the OTA digital converter boxes for my 79 year-old uncle. I do not know why, but I was surprised to see that they also use the goofy digital channel numbering thing (114-10, 84-52, etc.). How in the hell are old people, who probably will be the most common users of these boxes, going to find their stations?

Set up, though a snap for me, was beyond the limited abilities of my uncle (If you were not familiar with "modern" TVs, the set-up diagram made it appear like you had to have both coax and RCA connections on your TV).

Also, the thing acts just like a cable box, so you get another remote (which needs to be programed to control the TV), you have to run a channel scan in order to find all your stations, and THEN, unless you want to have to flip through all Spanish, Asian and religious stations, you have to figure out how to remove stations from the list.

I would not want to have to work in tech support for these boxes.

MotionMan
 
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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Well...aren't you odd.
 
Originally posted by: GeekDrew
Originally posted by: ZOXXO
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: GeekDrew
I don't feel like debating the usefulness of television. FWIW, I don't watch all that much television. I quoted you because I found your LOS statement to be off base.
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Yeah, that whole atmosphere thing kind of gets in the way.

That's like saying you can't get AM or FM radio without site of the broadcasting tower. NOT.
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"Line of sight" does not mean you can literally see the transmission tower with your eyes.
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.... ok ?
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It means that there can be no obstructions between the tower and your TV. That's not true either. Digital TV is not like WiFi.
 
I got my two coupons a week ago. I am going to buy two Tivax STB-9 because they aren't very expensive, look half decent (besides being that nasty silver), have a serial port (which means they are likely to be hacked in some entertaining/possibly useful manner), and are metal-cased, possibly a good project box of my own if one dies.

When I get them I will hook up a digi antenna, and see if I get anything good. If I do, I will hook it to one of the inputs of my PVR and set up an IR channel change signaler so it can change the channels of it. If I don't get any good stuff, I'll keep em for the future.
 
I picked one up for my parents last weekend, their expiration date is coming up so I just took the only box I could find that day locally. Some Philco box, paid $10 for it AC.

Best $10 I've spent on electronics in a long time, they live in BFE & previously could only get one channel at a time (by carefully adjusting the antenna), if one was watchable the other 3-4 would be nothing but snow. Now they have 15 or so, and all perfect. The cable mess to have three devices strung off of their single RF input is miserable, but it all works quite well.

Viper GTS
 
OK - hypothetically - I watch TV with an antenna.

I get this box now what do I do? Does it magically plug into something and I get my signals?

I never understood this.

I also - haven't used rabbit ears in about 10 years, just curious.

edit -

or wait is this a conduit so u can use the antennas to pick up the broadcast?
 
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
OK - hypothetically - I watch TV with an antenna.

I get this box now what do I do? Does it magically plug into something and I get my signals?

I never understood this.

I also - haven't used rabbit ears in about 10 years, just curious.
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This box goes between your antenna and TV. It just decodes digital signals so they will work on your analog TV.

It is ONLY for people that use over the air TV. This does nothing for cable/sat TV people.
 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
you only need this if you watch tv on an antenna. If you have satellite/cable it doesn't matter.
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My questions is this.

With Time Warner Digital Cable, I get one converter box on my main TV that gets me hundreds of channels. The rest of my TVs I plug straight into the coax cable and they just get the normal 3-90 channels and don't need a box.

Will those other TVs still work or will they all need to get boxes now?
 
Cable is not effected by this particular blackout, this is for over the air transmissions only, so the bandwidth for radio transmissions can be reallocated to EMS and the like.
 
OMG people. :slaps forehead;

You only need these boxes if you only use an antenna for TV reception.

If you have cable or satellite, ignore this thread.

MotionMan
 
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