Are your televisions prepared for 2009?

[JVL1018]

It does make a lot of difference. As long as you have that digital cable box sitting next to your television, these changes don't affect that television one-little-bit.

Fabulous! In that case, I just went and voted that Yes I am ready. We have digital cable boxes for all our TVs.

 

[1rockinmamato2]

Is this one of President Bush's doings? And if so, did he name it "No TV Left Behind?"

From what I understand, our broadcasts and TVs won't be affected because we have satellite?

 

[Chuck S]

Let's also not forget that if we change TVs so there is no analog inputs, all our old family video tapes...baby's first step, your weddings, etc. will be useless, along with your current DVD and VCR player, camera adapters, etc. Anything that shows on channel "3 or 4" will be instantly obsolete. New TVs may even make obsolete anything with direct audio/video inputs, as the NTSC 525 scanning line system will be gone.

 

[bicker]

It appears that 2009 may be the final extension.

Almost without a doubt. The last extension was made part of a budget bill, and it was almost made extension-proof. (Industry refused to get the ball rolling getting prepared for the changes until it was clear that they wouldn't be stuck, having invested billions of dollars, with no pay-off at the end, and a be reward for those who dragged their feet.) The over-the-air changes are tied to an auction (of radio bandwidth frequencies UHF channel 57 and up), which will pour billions of dollars into the national treasury. Once that auction happens, they cannot back-pedal as they'd have commitments to the new holders of those frequencies.

The cable side of things is a lot murkier. The digital-only push only started getting approvals this past Spring. By the same token, the changes are coming fast: Comcast in the City of Chicago is digital-only, as of last month.

Last year my TV went out, and I purchased a very inexpensive analog model, knowing I would probably have to replace it in the fairly near future, or get a converter box for cable.

I think it is still a major concern, though, that a lot of folks are still buying these sets, without knowing what you know, even though they have this warning posted where they're sold. I think people either aren't reading the warnings, don't understand them, or simply don't believe that they could mean what they appear to mean. And of course, the warnings don't warn about the possibility that similar changes will occur with regard to cable as well.

The problem with a converter box, is that it makes the actual TV remote useless for changing channels, and another remote is needed...so I will most likely by a new set.

Check into Harmony remotes.

Hopefully, the digital broadcast channels will be available in our area, and we can then discontinue cable.

I don't know where in Seguin you live, but the center of town is 26 miles from the transmission towers for ABC, Univision, Telmundo, NBC, TBN, and Fox, and 27 miles from the transmission towers for CBS. Assuming they all stay on UHF (some channels will move their digital signals from the UHF channels they've been broadcasting them on to their old VHF channels, come February 2009, but most won't -- UHF is better than VHF), then you're pretty much on the border between "everything will be great" and "everything will be mostly great", with the right directional antenna, pointed in the right direction (i.e., 216 degrees). PBS might be more problematic, since it is and will probably stay on VHF channel 8. You'll almost surely need an outdoor antenna to get that channel.

What's interesting is that we live only 13 miles from the transmission towers, and we get much worse reception than you will. Presumably that's because Central Texas is much flatter than Eastern Massachusetts.

Like most digital electronics, broadcast areas will be an "all or nohing" thing, from what I understand.

In the abstract, that is correct. However, it's not exactly the case. For example, our PBS station, WGBH, has two full "channels". On VHF 19, they have their flagship HD channel and a SD version of their current flagship analog channel -- they actually have different stuff running on the two channels, simply to avoid presenting programs on the HD channel that aren't in HD. Anyway, that wasn't my point -- On VHF 43, they have four SD channels, with demographic-specific programming: One for kids, one for the arts, one for how-to, and one for history/society I think. Anyway, because of the way they've divided this signal so badly, our reception is very poor. However, it's not "all or nothing." It's like every minute or two we lose sound for a second; and maybe every five minutes the picture freezes for a few seconds and then comes back.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

Let's also not forget that if we change TVs so there is no analog inputs, all our old family video tapes...baby's first step, your weddings, etc. will be useless, along with your current DVD and VCR player, camera adapters, etc. Anything that shows on channel "3 or 4" will be instantly obsolete. New TVs may even make obsolete anything with direct audio/video inputs, as the NTSC 525 scanning line system will be gone.

Woah, that's a little much! All the video game systems, VCRs, DVD players...

I'm just absolutely boggled at that.

 

[bicker]

Don't you think though, it may end up pushing more and more people to Satellite?

There is that risk, but the cable companies need to weight that up against how much they could make from the customers they retain, selling them additional services on the bandwidth the reclaim from going all-digital. Really, I had suspected that the cable companies would do it gradually, so that customers would be barely notice. From 70 analog channels down to 50, then down to 30, and then perhaps down to 20, spread over the course of eight or nine years. However, as we see in Chicago, some places it may make sense to do it in one fell swoop! (Of course, it helps that in Chicago there are a lot of places where satellite simply won't work.)

Honestly I've been trying to avoid it for years now, but I'll tell you if I end up having to pay an extra 30 dollars a month for two more digital cable boxes I may end up switching myself.

Keep in mind that you would also have a choice to pay $30-$80?? for a converter box -- pay once not monthly -- and they might even qualify as ASTC converter boxes so you can use one of your $40 off coupons.

 

[bicker]

Is this one of President Bush's doings?

It's hard to peg this on any President. The original law was the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Clinton). However, it was pretty-much a bipartisan piece of legislation, and has a lot of pro-business (Republican) and pro-consumer (Democrat) tenets.

From what I understand, our broadcasts and TVs won't be affected because we have satellite?

As long as all your televisions are hooked up to the satellite, that's my understanding as well.

 

[BillSears]

My problem is I hate the boxes. It's clutter I don't want or need plus I like my normal remote control. When Comcast switched to requiring the boxes if you wanted the movie channels I canceled the movie channels. I'm still not sure what I'll do when they require boxes just to get normal channels...I might just cancel cable.

 

[bicker]

Let's also not forget that if we change TVs so there is no analog inputs, all our old family video tapes...baby's first step, your weddings, etc. will be useless, along with your current DVD and VCR player, camera adapters, etc.

That's also been discussed a lot. It's essentially not true. While there will be less need for analog inputs, that technology is so old that CE manufacturers are very unlikely to remove them from televisions until the 2010 model-year, anyway. Furthermore, most DVD players and VCRs produced in the last decade have composite, S-video and/or component outputs (not to mention DVI and HDMI in the most recent models), and you really should be using one of those to connect these devices to your televisions anyway (coax connections are the worst quality of the choices). Finally, I just myself purchased a modulator for $18 which bridged the gap between coax and S-video -- that will always be an option.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

Furthermore, most DVD players and VCRs produced in the last decade have composite, S-video and/or component outputs (not to mention DVI and HDMI in the most recent models), and you really should be using one of those to connect these devices to your televisions anyway (coax connections are the worst quality of the choices). Finally, I just myself purchased a modulator for $18 which bridged the gap between coax and S-video -- that will always be an option.

Hahah my TV's so old I don't even have an S-video or component outputs... just the coax. It's probably why when I turn on my DVD player the picture fades in and out. It may just be time to upgrade my major TV!

 

[Claire L]

Same thing being phased in over here in the UK. By 2010 I think it is we will no longer have the analogue aka terrestrial signals and any tv that is older then a few years will need a 'digi box' to receive the new digital signals. Trouble is the transmitter in my area is not even a digital one yet, but a transmitter a few mile away has been for quite a few years, although we cannot pick it up due to the way the land shapes. Mind you it doesn't really matter to us as we have digital satellite tv in the lounge and bedroom, soon to be HD as well, but I can see it effecting alot of lower income or elderly households.

Claire

 

[1rockinmamato2]

It's hard to peg this on any President. The original law was the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Clinton). However, it was pretty-much a bipartisan piece of legislation, and has a lot of pro-business (Republican) and pro-consumer (Democrat) tenets.

I was joking. I'm a teacher and we've had "No Child Left Behind" (which sounded good on paper, but implementation has been a nightmare) crammed down our throats for years now. Basically, Bush said my Bachelor of Science in Education degree, state certification, and 10 years of teaching experience wasn't enough in order for me to continue teaching so I get to spend more money and more time making myself look better on paper than spending that time and energy actually teaching.

Now, my perfectly good TV's not good enough.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Our familyroom TV is but the one in our bedroom is not. We never watch the one in the bedroom, so we will probably just dispose of it then.

 

[Disney Doll]

I do not watch any significant amount of TV.
DH does.

I would imagine that he will be well prepared for the advent of the changes in TV viewing, reception etc.

I have heard talk of us getting a new HDTV for the den and putting our old TV (not HDTV) in our bedroom with some sort of additional hardware which would make it acceptable.

 

[blanq]

Yes, I have heard about it. Wow, the federal government is giving two (not one) $40 vouchers to each household for converter boxes. The same legislation that passed this voucher program (The 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, signed into law in 2/06) significantly cut funding for student loans, Medicare, and the child support program. I am so reassured to know that my government has its priorites in order. (Just in case you didn't catch it, yes, that last sentence is dripping with sarcasm).

 

[CourtasanSatine]

In spite of satellite I smell an excuse to upgrade the tv size wise(the main tv's are 21 inches and mine's an 14)

 

[WDWVillain]

oh ya, I am all set. I took care of this when I heard that this was going to happen. a while back. It was an excuse for me to get new LCD'S! I am still waiting on one for my living room thou...not susre how I want to go, and I want a really big one. so I will have it by fall!

 

[Metro West]

It does make a lot of difference. As long as you have that digital cable box sitting next to your television, these changes don't affect that television one-little-bit.

Good..that's what I have now.

 

[petchie]

OK, technology idiot here. We have DSL.

The line comes into the house that has the phone, TV and internet. It goes to a box that splits it between the places it needs to go. We have to use special remotes (not the one that came with teh TV) and leave the TV on a certain channel. You control the TV's with these remotes.

what will I need?


(If you steal the remote to the TV that hubby is watching downstairs, you can change the channel from any room in the house where he cannot see you! LOL)

 

[Desnik]

We knew about it, DH is really into this stuff. We have sat tv so we are all set. Either way we would be fine because all our tv's are new, high def, digital ready type. What boggles my mind is that people still have VCR's!LOL DH won't even let me buy DVD's anymore, only Blueray disc now!