DTV Transition questions

[RyDogg66]

I live in Oshkosh and currently have an old 27" Sharp television set with a cheap antenna. I get Green Bay channels Fox 11, NBC 26, PBS and channel 32 which must be some sort of WB or some other second rate station. I am generally fine with this as I dont watch much TV and Fox and NBC provide enough news and entertainment from 8-1030 pm to get me by. ABC and CBS from Green Bay do not come in at all.

 

My question is this. It sounds like after February 17, 2009 I will NOT be able to get these channels over the air anymore without some sort of converter box. Is that correct? So my options are to buy the converter box for the old tv or buy a new fancy television with a built in digital antenna?

 

Questions 2: If I were to buy a fancy new television with a built in digital antenna and with no cable subscription, what stations would I be able to get? Would I be able to get Fox and NBC still? ABC and CBS? PBS?

 

I have had no television, expanded basic, satellite, over-the-air broadcast channels only, I have had it all and I have found that I dont really miss it when I dont have it and I dont watch more when I do, so I would rather save the $50-100 a month if I can and just take what I can get over the air.

 

Will I still be able to do this (with a fancy TV) after 2/17?

[temke]

you are correct...you need a converter. i think the government coupons are available to make them about $10 for a basic one.

 

i would think that you can get nearly all channels that you could previously pull in with an antenna with the converter...but not totally sure about this one.

 

the biggest misconception out there is that people with only basic cable will have to get digital cable. not true...any cable service is good.

[trwi7]

For question 1. You either have to buy the converter box or a new TV with a digital antenna or you won't be able to get ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS etc.

 

Question 2. If you buy a new TV with a digital antenna, you would get all the channels you get now.

 

From the sounds of it (you not a big TV watcher and not having cable) buying the converter box seems like the way to go. Much cheaper for you.

[trwi7]

If you want to apply for a coupon to get the converter box you can go here.

[RyDogg66]

I have thought about upgrading (some day) to a flat screen TV, but with this digital TV switch, if I can pull ABC and CBS as well as FOX and NBC "over the air" with a digital tuner I might pull the trigger now since I would have to do something else with my current TV anyway. Anyone know if the digital tuner is stronger?

 

Anyone know what I cant get ABC or CBS but NBC and Fox come in clear as day?

[1992casey]

I don't know if you necessarily need a "digital" antenna. I think it just has to be UHF. My TV techie says that the antenna he installed on my house in the early 1990s should be just fine.

 

As far as new sets, all of them sold within the past three or four years are equipped to receive digital signals. They don't have to be fancy. "Fancy" only applies to sets that receive HD, and even those aren't necessarily fancy anymore.

[bork]

There shouldn't be much difference between the converter box and the digital tuner in a new TV. With either one, you may actually get more channels than you do now. For example, CBS 58 in Milwaukee has subchannels 58.1, 58.2, 58.3. A few other stations have subchannels as well (PBS has a bunch).

 

A useful website is http://www.tvfool.com/. Use the TV Signal Locator. It will tell you which stations you should be able to pick up from your address. It will also show the direction that the signal comes from. Some antennas are very picky about being aimed in the right direction to pick up a station.

[nate82]

The antennas on houses should be fine it is the rabbit ear ones that may need to be upgraded. The newest ones cost about $11 at radio shack and they are very good. I just got 2 converter boxes for my grandmother in Milwaukee she now gets 23 stations and the picture quality is as good as cable.

 

The ones I got had a controller in them and were $19.99 more than what the coupon you get for them. So it was about $46 after tax that came out of my pocket to get the converter boxes. The rabbit ears that my grandmother have are about 10 years old and they work perfectly fine. I got this one for my grandmother since it can be programmed with her TV. So the controller can turn the TV off and on.

[whizkid]

According to bork's link, WLUK will be moving to VHF(channel 11) after the transition. This will make it a little problematic to pick it up as is channel 10 in Milwaukee. The coverage areas for digital don't exactly match the coverage areas for analog in general but you should be able to work through it. If you do spring for an HD TV you will get the best HD there is, totally uncompressed. It's not the antenna that's digital or analog but the tuner. I live 23-25 miles from the Milwaukee transmitters and with an indoor antenna some stations come in great, others not so much but analog is worse. With digital you don't get snow with a poor signal, you either get the station or not. But with an iffy station, the signal can go away, then come back, get pixilated etc. Oshkosh is 35-40 miles from the Green Bay transmitters.

[MJLiverock]

As whizkid stated, it is not the antenna but the tuner you need to worry about. Rabbit ears will continue to work if hooked to a digital tuner, I have pair hooked up to my plasma right now just so I can get the weather channel on 15-2 in Madison. If you are wondering about getting the HD channels over the air check out antennaweb.org for a lot of info on the subject and I know they used to have a system telling you what kinds of antennas will be necessary to pull in a signal based on how far you are from the local TV towers, i.e. rabbit ears, powered antenna, etc. They also give you the compass headings for the best line of sight for the signals. For instance, my rabbit ears in my house in Waunakee pick up all the HD or digital signals from Madison in one position except for Fox 47, I have to angle them differently to get 47 and then lose all the other channels. It does't bother me since I watch all the locals in HD over DirecTV but just have the rabbit ears for backup and the local weather.

[whizkid]

This should help.