K
K-McD
Guest
Make that five. There’s more of us than you know. We should form a club and make our voices heard. Why?
I don’t know, just because.
- Status
I don’t know, just because.
B
BradW
Guest
Yes you will.
Yes it will, but it won’t be able to change channels. You’ll have to manually set the digital converter tuner to the channel you want to record, then be sure to leave it untouched until the recording is over. That’s the downside. Connect the VCR to the tuner via S-video, composite video/audio, or antenna (in descending order of preference), and set the VCR (name removed by moderator)ut accordingly (S-video, Line-In, channel 3).
Remember that once you switch to a digital converter box, ALL your channel changing is done on that box. You set your TV and VCR channel once and leave it there.
B
BradW
Guest
I have the digital stall on the more distant stations when the antenna isn’t positioned quite right. It’s a symptom of a weak signal. The tuner misses part of the digital stream, so it keeps displaying what it can until it starts getting the current info again. I don’t think the everything-goes-digital date will make a difference, unless at that time stations will be able to boost their power. What SHOULD make a difference is getting that rooftop antenna hooked up.
B
BradW
Guest
I can get stations from a city 75 miles away. That’s with a rooftop beam antenna on a 10’ tower, antenna preamplifier, and distribution box with amplifier. Without all those advantages, I don’t know what the reception would be, but I doubt that the amplifiers are so good they’d make up for a doubling in distance. If I can remember, I’ll try bypassing the amplifiers and see if there’s a difference.
K
K-McD
Guest
Hooked mine up yesterday. (I had the coupons for awhile, but after reading the posts here I didn’t want to let them expire.) Now, I can’t get a signal for PBS, no matter how many times I adjust the antenna. Here its Ch 12.
B
BradW
Guest
Are you sure they’ve started digital broadcasts yet? Here’s one list of stations, are they on it?
nab.org/AM/ASPCode/DTVStations/DTVStations.asp
B
BradW
Guest
Also, translators and low-power stations are not required to convert to digital. Are you watching a translator station of the PBS channel?
Best bet is to call the station and ask what’s up.
Best bet is to call the station and ask what’s up.
K
K-McD
Guest
- I checked the list and PBS is listed for my area.
- I didn’t know about the translators and low-power stations. Thanks, I’ll have to call them and ask, “What’s up?”
K
KittyKat
Guest
Yay, my parents and my family aren’t the only ones! I have been loving retro tv.
M
marytk
Guest
With my rabbits ears and my new little tv…What I don’t like is that channels that don’t come in well become unwatchable at all. With the old way it would be fuzzy now I get pixels all over the place and no sound. I also often get a lag between the picture and the sound. If it is too bad I turn off the tv and turn it back on. I don’t know why but it works.
The reception can vary so I don’t always get the same channels in well. Sometimes it just won’t come in.
I gues I will have to get a converter for the VCR or up grade that too.
The reception can vary so I don’t always get the same channels in well. Sometimes it just won’t come in.
I gues I will have to get a converter for the VCR or up grade that too.
B
BradW
Guest
Well I tried…and in the process of disconnecting the current antenna cables, broke the connector to the antenna. At that point, I became focused on fixing it. That particular cable is hard to work with, as it started out a pre-made 100’ antenna cable and is some odd, not quite standard size, so the usual standard connectors don’t quite work right, and once it’s connected and working it’s best to just leave it be.
So I hope you’ll understand that I don’t really want to experiment any further.
I did discover on my trip to the store to get parts that a new 4-way house distribution box with amplifier is $25. So if an amplifier is needed, they aren’t horribly expensive.
C
CarolAnnSFO
Guest
Question: My TV is pre-2007, and I do have cable TV service (expanded basic), but I don’t have a converter box (currently, the converter box is only needed for the digital cable service, or for premium channels, but not for expanded basic cable service). Will I need to get a converter box?
This will be a moot point if I switch to digital cable service before the deadline – quite possible, considering the cable company has already started moving channels off the expanded basic lineup and onto the digital-only lineup (channel numbers higher than what I can tune in with my current service).
This will be a moot point if I switch to digital cable service before the deadline – quite possible, considering the cable company has already started moving channels off the expanded basic lineup and onto the digital-only lineup (channel numbers higher than what I can tune in with my current service).
J
Joe_5859
Guest
I don’t think you will need one. If you’re getting your TV stations via a cable service, then they take care of the conversion before they send the signal to you. You only need the convertor box if you are trying to receive the digital signals that are broadcast in the air (via an antenna).
I have the most basic, basic cable package (network channels and not much else), and in small print on the back of my last statement, they let me know I did not need a convertor box.
D
davy39
Guest
I have heard that the tv stations aren’t really doing all of this just so we can get a clearer picture, etc. There are bidders lining up to buy the soon to be usused frequencies, and the fed stands to make billions of dollars from the sale. We had a very nice picture before this all started. The picture quality isn’t the problem, it’s the content of the channels. Most of them is pure trash, especially the major networks.
M
maize
Guest
i dont understand why this is so hard to understand.
P
Pug
Guest
The box is a disaster for us. I hope we can figure out how to fix it. On analog we receive about 12 channels. We got the rebate card and got the box and plugged it in and maybe we get two channels well enough to watch. We thought it was the box, since other people reported positive increases in what they could receive, so we returned it for another and it is the same. I went to some website that lists if your channels have gone digital, and yes, our channels have gone digital. We don’t currently ever watch the two that now come in.
Do any of you have any (name removed by moderator)ut?
I know, we can switch to cable, but that is $$ for a couple of fuddies that don’t really watch the tv much. It’s not like we have any big shows we watch. Rather, we usually watch a news show here and there or a concert thing on PBS or a nature show, or a late night rerun of some old thing. I guess the most annoying thing about it is that I don’t get the PBS station anymore (either PBS station, actually, there are/were two).
Do any of you have any (name removed by moderator)ut?
I know, we can switch to cable, but that is $$ for a couple of fuddies that don’t really watch the tv much. It’s not like we have any big shows we watch. Rather, we usually watch a news show here and there or a concert thing on PBS or a nature show, or a late night rerun of some old thing. I guess the most annoying thing about it is that I don’t get the PBS station anymore (either PBS station, actually, there are/were two).
N
nice2000
Guest
Thank you for the info.I posted this in another thread, but thought it deserved it’s own. I thought it might be helpful because I know I was confused about the whole convertor box thing until someone straightened me out. So I looked into it a bit more and thought I’d share my findings.
I know it’s not clear from the TV ads, but you only need a convertor box if you only use an antenna to watch TV. In other words, if you have any sort of cable / dish whatsover, you do not need a convertor box. If your TV (or VCR or DVR) was made after March 2007, even if you only use an antenna, you will not need a convertor box as these new machines are equipped to receive the digital signal.
From the official FCC DTV website:
Many of the ads make it seem like everyone needs to go buy this convertor box. In fact, most people probably will not need to buy one.
This ends this public service announcement. We now return to our regularly scheduled Catholic Answers Forums.
So in other words, if we do not have any kind of cable, we will need to purchase a converter box…right?
J
Joe_5859
Guest
Right. Unless you have a TV, VCR, or DVR that was made in March 2007 or later. Those should already be equipped to receive the digital signal.
Although, I believe only certain stations are required to go digital with the switch. Some may still be broadcasting in analog after next February. I’d have to dig around to know for sure, though…
B
BradW
Guest
Low-power stations (different class of license) and repeater stations do not have to convert. But one of our local low-power stations is planning to anyway. I bet most will if they can afford it at all. I’m not sure how easy new TVs make it to switch between analog and digital, but my converter box does NOT pass thru analog, so switching is difficult. And if it’s difficult, they’ll lose viewership if they don’t go digital.
- Status