Do you think digital TV will be better than analog TV?

There are advantages to each. Digital TV has the potential to provide a better looking, higher resolution picture. However, it's also too easy for the stations to downgrade the bandwidth of the signal and any rapid motion of the picture produces ugly and annoying artifacts.

Digital would be better but I really don't care since I don't like the programming enough to have a TV and it all costs too much anyway.

digital crap is still crap

Digital television is really good and yes have that already

I suspect you won't notice a difference. Unless you're someone who still uses an antenna and didn't get a convertor box. Then you will notice since your screen will be black.

Heard VCR's don't work the same either if you still use those.

Right. If you use your VCR to record signals directly from an antenna (not cable or a satellite box), then it won't work with digital TV signals just like an older, analog television won't.

It's all part of their plan......

How could it not be? Yes, adjusting an antennae constantly definitely makes for an outstanding picture.

Guys..it's 2009..

I built myself a better indoor antenna from coathangers & a piece of driftwood, and went digital a month ago. That took about 2 hrs. (could have taken 20 min.)

It's way better. I went from 15 fuzzy stations to 90+ crystal-clear stations.

I can't believe they delayed switching over. Anyone who watched TV had months of ads to see it coming.
As far as I know most stations won't be adding more DTV channels than they already have. They're just waiting to drop their higher power bill to keep analog going.

A set-top converter box on an old TV will only be as good as your VCR/DVD box is now.

I took it as an opportunity to combine my computer and TV into a single flat-screen with PIP, so I can watch shows or concerts in a corner of my computer. Alas, it looks like only the analog tuner (& probably the aux analog input) can be embedded, so I'll be limited to DVDs during computing after the change. (unless I want to switch between during commercials).

> Right. If you use your VCR to record signals
> directly from an antenna (not cable or a satellite
> box), then it won't work with digital TV signals
> just like an older, analog television won't.

Also, you can't record one channel while watching another anymore.

For me it was like switching to cable. I can still record DVDs onto VCR, and play that through my analog antenna input on my DTV TV, but I won't be able record concerts from air broadcasts anymore because my only DTV tuner is in the TV, and has no analog output.

To record shows now I'd have to get an external DTV tuner with either analog-out or that records DTV. I have my eye on a Magnavox tuner which records to CD/DVD, so I can record shows, and digitize my whole audio-cassette, video-cassette, and vinyl-records I just want a song from.

I have tons of antenna channels all way better than my DVD delivered. A couple low bandwidth channels like weather channels or physics shows freeze-frame on occasion, but hey, they're not critical like a concert or movie, and I wasn't getting them at all before.

My only disappointment in all this was that more channels didn't really expand my viewing options much. I can now watch cartoons, home-crafts education, anything in Spanish, Olympics locker room scenes, or road trips of other continents any time of day. Other than that, it's really just the same old network programming with a choice of resolutions.

- Hey, here's an idea for them, choice of commercials. Come to think of it doesn't even have to be like two choices per network. With new tuners, you could choose from 50 channels, and then choose from 30 channels of commercials to fill the commercial slots. You could choose commercial channels like 'lonely bachelor', 'busy parent', 'college grad', 'daydreaming couple', 'diet & fashion chick'... I'm guessing we'll have that in another dozen years if antenna is still around.

All it would take is channels agreeing to synchronize commercial slot times, and tuners which picked up a cue to switch to your commercial channel for n-seconds. Alas, it would reduce the motive to supply better programming,.. better commercials though. For it to really be effective with better programming, they would want internet feedback so content providers could bill commercial providers proportionally. Otherwise the signal cues might have a list of which commercial providers your tuner was allowed to flip to. If you're watching LOST, you may not get to watch toddler toy commercials who didn't pay ABC for that slot option.

Yeah, sort of. Previously, you could record one channel while watching another because both the television and the VCR had tuners in them. With the switch to digital signals, if you keep your old TV and VCR that only have analog tuners and you get only a single converter box, then you're effectively down to only that one tuner so you can only record or watch on the same channel. Get two converter boxes or get either a TV or VCR with a digital tuner and you're good to do both again.

Two digital tuners required (looks like you see that). and then one tuner either has to convert to analog (as a converter box would) for your existing VCR, or you'll have to get something which records digital.

There are so many frikking specs these days to figure out. The TV I got turned out not to have an analog video out which i was counting on for at least recording what I was watching. Now that I've switched to digital, I also find that the picture-in-picture used when I use the TV as my computer monitor - only works as analog. (Apparently the PC uses up it's digital tuner).

I noticed these new flat-screens are highly susceptable to burn-in. I created a simple screen-saver to remedy that. I took screen-shots of both my minimal desk-top and typical browser layout, brought them into Paint to inverse them, and point my Slideshow screensaver to a folder with my inverted screens.

> All it would take is channels
> agreeing to synchronize commercial
> slot times,

I think they already do this.

I believe so too. It would be preferrable being able to select one's channel of commercials. I sure have no interest in diapers, sports cars, or allergy medications, and they're wasting their money trying to sell me them. Musical instruments, tools, camping gear, art supplies, now those would be tempting. If they could charge advertisers much more for connecting the right audience to the right commercials, theoretically we shouldn't have to see nearly as many.

It just dawns on me that this whole DTV thing is a bridge to internet delivery anyhow. Perhaps in a few years it will all stream over the internet, and the cost will be filling out surveys on our exact product interests. The bandwidth isn't exactly there yet for spontaneous streaming, and yet it could be if we chose our shows a day in advance and let them buffer during off-peak hours.

I watch most of my TV online anyhow.... Everything that broadcast the night before is on the web by the next day.

I didn't have much luck with that. Maybe I had dial-up at the time. All I got was small crappy low-res jittery windows, with no option to buffer in advance and get something better.

I have a lot of luck with Roadrunner and the network channel players Abc.com, Nbc.com, etc.

I'll watch whatever they'll show me as long as I don't have to lay out any money for updated equipment/sets.

I have been installing DTV boxes and DTV Antennas for mostly Seniors/Retired folks for almost a year now. The biggest problem is if you're more than 5-8 miles from the transmitter the "jerky/freeze/sound loss" dure to loss of the digital signal is VERY evident unless you have an outside antenna. An DTV antenna atop the set won't work worth a crap if you not 5 miles or closer to the transmitter. Also I find Seniors are VERY confused over the DTV changover mostly since Cable and Dish providers have been bombarding them with predatory advertising that totally confuses the issue in favor of a sale. Bottom line is I think most people who use over-the-air DTV will NOT like the quirks and freeze-frame/loss of sound effect as the DTV signal is nowhere near as great a range as the older Analog signal. It's gonna be a partial disaster mostly for fixed/low income people.

Perhaps they've improved then. I recall the quality being smaler and worse than YouTube, which still doesn't compare to a full-screen TV and decent reception.

I'm 22 miles away and have great reception of some 90 channels.

I made my own indoor coathanger antenna of four pairs of 8" V's spread 8" apart.
I hear that's better than what the FCC called the gold standard for digital antennae, the Philips Silver-Sensor, which looks like a flying V of venetian blinds (it is smaller though). I hang mine from a hook on the ceiling.

It's all uhf here though. Some places use vhf. The other nice thing about LA is that all our stations come from the same mountain top, no need for remote control directional antennae here.

I've read that for some locations you can get a stronger signal aiming at a bounce off the hills than the direct source.

It dawned on me that it would be nice to have a volunteer org that helps seniors with DTV conversions. The dtv.gov tv ads should connect people to volunteers, or even request volunteers. It probably means a huge deal to a lot of seniors.

I just now absorbed your first sentence. How is it you're doing installations for seniors? Organization or business?

I noticed the predatory ads; the cable guys accuse the sattelite guys of 'charging for air'.

My TV is a 13-inch.... so a lot of times I'm better off on the PC.

I had a feeling that was the case.

Maybe I'll buy a bigger TV after I can afford a couch....

My living room is empty and unused.

The only conventional purchase I've made in years is this 32" tv/monitor (typing to you at the moment is like sitting in one of the front rows at the theater). It took me a week to really believe this thing was in my home, and not steam powered contraption with buzzing RGB vacuum tube pixels.

DTV, the demise of my 1984 TV, and a remodeling need to reduce the cubic feet of monitor going on here all coincided nicely to coerce a sensible upgrade I'd have been too frugal to do if not for all three happening at once.

Couch, hmm theres a thought. I put my bed on top of a record cabinet to save space, and now it's too high to casually sit on.

Undecided. Digital of course is a clearer picture, more depth...but everyonce in a while during some freak digital storm scramble, sometimes the people in the tv will do this demonic face change like in that movie with the lawyer was the devil. The wife was seeing glimpses of demons in the other wives faces. It looks just like that. The first time I saw that, ironically on my analog tv, it freaked me out.
The cable company redid all the cable in town to digital. They were charging extra to get the digital service, but I was getting it anyway Did they know that?

I'm trying to imagine a bed on top of a record cabinet and having trouble

You are interested in saving space, so I'm thinking you may have a twin bed... which makes the most sense in my head. Can you still easily get to the record cabinet? Do you have to crawl under the bed? Is the bed frame directly on top of the cabinet, or did you put a flat board down first? How high up are you? Does it look cool?

I have a king sized bed, because Rod (my ex) was pretty fat. I'd like to downsize, but to no smaller than a queen. When I have a bed partner, I prefer to sleep pretty far away from them -- because I can't sleep when I'm hot.

Was it Time Warner? If so, I hope you ripped them off a little bit. That way, they can pay us a little of the profit they made when they outsourced tech support and made my life a living hell.

I refused to succumb to their promises and seductions of better clearer pictures and prime digital channel choices. My tv is from 1985, and I did notice the difference. The regular cable went out often, switching to digital made it a slightly different obnoxious disruption. I payed my usual minuimum, which ended up being rediculously high as ti was. It went from about $45 a month to $65ish within two years. I'm guessing they thought most people were too stupid to notice they were already getting the digital experience.

When Ben was here, I made a two year agreement to lock in my price for all my cable, dvr, phone, and Roadrunner for $120/mo.

Ben moved out with half our household income and took the TV.

I would never have made the agreement if I had ANY inkling he'd be leaving. Crap like that can make you a cynic.

Oooh...survey

It's just a 7'x4' plywood board resting on a 7' wide, 24" tall, 17" deep cabinet, with foam on top. There's space both in front of and behind the cabinet which runs down the center of the board. A 7' mattress is the best thing I ever did for my back. No more diagonal scrunching. It comes up nearly to my window sill, which looks cool, like one of those bay window beds (or like an Amsterdam prostitute).

Partner heat. That must be why I remember my feet used to be hot, not cold in bed. I always slept by the window for better thermal control.

So you're seeing demons on your TV and blaming digital?

Well, I already know that digital TV looks better than analog TV.

I think digital TV is better.........isnt this a no brainer, though? like asking which is better Dial-up or DSL?

My cousin here in Jamaica just got "flow" a new company here that is installing digital, she cant believe the picture quality!! ....on a different note, I went into a "Sony" store in the UK and was admiring the picture and then the salesman says THATS regulalar digital TV..............THIS is High DEF, I turned was looking at the same picture on a different TV and couldnt believe how MUCH of an improvemnet it was!! the picture seemed like it was jumping out at me

Thanks for the explanation I thought there might be plywood involved.

As soon as Ben moved out a few months ago, I covered and closed the heat vent in my room... and put the bed under the window, on top of the vent. It's nice and chilly in there now.

..and you wanted 'nice and chilly'?

I hate to sweat. When my sugar is off, it's one of the first signs.... and to me, it's one of the most uncomfortable things my body does.

So, yeah.... I like it nice and chilly.

I don't care.

Yes. I know those% aren't real.

I'm always dreaming of moving to the equator myself. Rarely ever sweat unless I'm more active than a speedy bike ride and it's 90º+ outside.

You sure? Is TimeWarner supplying your cable? Perhaps they are actually an early warning of things to come.

Switch now to GoldenSky Cable! No binding contracts, cheaper service, extra HDTV community service channels, and fewer demons! Don't let them take you in. Don't pay more just to have evil psychopath Barney raise your kids.

Probably. Hopefully. *shrug* I don't watch much TV anyway, so I probably wouldn't notice.

digital absolutely! better picture, better everything..Analog is so yesterday .