What do we do with our TV's

[David Anderson]

Ok, when April 2009 comes and the analog signal ends and digital is the only game in town, what are we going to do with our TV's in the bus that we so neatly built the cabinet just to fit tightly around it?  What will we do with our batwing antenna that has worked so well all these years and the holes in the roof and ceiling that we so carefully sealed so the darn thing would never leak?

The change was supposed to take effect Jan 09 but the broadcasters said, "no, no", it will mess up the Super Bowl."  Then it was changed to March and again they said, "no, no, it will mess up NCAA basketball tournament."   April was the date I last heard about.   Seems like it would be after the May sweeps month.  It may be deferred again.  Who knows?

Can you imagine 200,000,000 obsolete tv sets being thrown out a truck at the nearest county road bar ditch since the garbage haulers are not allowed to take them to the local landfill?  Gee, isn't Congress brilliant?

David

[paulcjhastings]

The antenna you currently use will still work, and one can buy a astc tuner and connect your old TV to it. I have been receiving HD channels over the air for about three years in my local area and expect to do the same wherever I travel in my bus.

[Jerry Liebler]

Satellite and cable will still work the old TV,s.  Use it as a good excuse to get a dish for the bus (I am).
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120

[Dallas]

Hmmm, It looks like an ATSC tuner may run as much as a new TV in certain circumstances.

I see them listed for anywhere from $75 to over $1500

[DrivingMissLazy]

Well, I have cable to 8 TV's here. I sure hope the cable boxes take care of everything I need.
Richard

[WEC4104]

Of course given the current trends,  by 2009 a new 40" HD plasma flat panel will cost less than a tank of diesel fuel.   

[wvanative]

Finding a date to do the change over might be a little hard.
Lets see
1 Super Bowl & Daytona  Jan
2 PGA Golf starts  Feb
3 NCAA Tournament  March
4 The Masters  April
5 Ky Derby  May
6 US Open Golf & French open Tennis  June
7 Summer Nationals in LawnMower racing  July  A gotta see event  & British Open Golf
8 PGA golf & US Open Tennis  Aug
9 US Open Tennis continued & NFL Football starts Sept
10 MLB Playoffs and World Series Oct
11 Thanksgiving football  Nov
12 NFL Playoffs  Dec

Gee I just don't see anywhere in there for them to implement this change. And I haven't even listed all the Bus Bashes, lol what will everyone do if they can't watch that one eyed monster. I am sure you all could find a lot more events that I have missed.

WVaNative

                                   P.S. Lawnmower racing is a hoot  

[belfert]

Converters are expected to cost far less once production ramps up.  Also, the government is auctioning off the old radio spectrum and there supposedly is going to be either a $40 coupon or $40 tax credit to help pay for the converters.

The amount of electronic waste will be staggering as many people will just get new TVs instead of converters.  The good thing is a lot of states are starting to require recycling now.

Why not just fill in the old TV cabinet to make the front flat and then mount a flat panel TV on that?

[FloridaCliff]

If you have cable or satellite you have nothing to worry about.

If you are on an antenna you will need a DT receiver or DT ready TV.

I have had a DT receiver for a couple of years and there is a ton of programming to view and half of its not even active yet.

If you only want a basic service with a HD signal its the way to go.

Remember, broadcasters can transmit 5 or more channels now in the same 6 MHz bandwidth.

Cliff

[WEC4104]

If you have cable or satellite you have nothing to worry about.

I don't know that I agree with that 100%.   There are still cable systems out there distributing analog signals to analog TVs.  Even though the cable companies are trying to force everyone to switch to digital service (at an extra co$t), analog still exists.

I personally hate set top boxes and have so far avoided them. It is not so much the cost as it is the aggregation.  It ads unnecessary complexity to cabling and remote control use, especially if you tie into VCR/DVD recorders and  home stereo systems. Plus I don't really want another box to look at.

Coming into my home I have what Comcast calls analog service, although it also carries digital signals.  My primary TV has a built in digital tuner, so I am able to handle digital signals on the cable, including HD.  Other sets in the house are analog only, however.

Today, this is working out reasonable well for our family's needs. But as more of the analog content is replaced by digital HDTV, I will face equipment obsolescence.  The "just ad a set top box" solution, is not a particularly good one.  If I count up my TVs, VCRs, and DVD recorders, I'd be looking at 9 boxes.

I think HDTV is going to drive a lot of folks to replace their entire TVs.  I think there will be less people upgrading an SD set to receive digital signals than some people predict.  

[zimtok]

So what is going to happen to all of the analog broadcasting equipment? Couldn't someone buy it and start their own station broadcasting in analog? Will the analog signal interfere with the digital?

Sounds like a great opportunity for someone to start an underground TV station....

[belfert]

The spectrum used by analog TV is going to be auctioned off by the FCC for other uses.  The analog equipment is probably quite obsolete since stations probably have delayed upgrades since they knew digital is the the future.

[WEC4104]

In the past six months I purchased one new TV and helped two other people purchase theirs. I guess it helps to be a bit of a techo-geek, as I am sure a lot of people find today's TV shopping task pretty daunting. Lot's of competing technologies, multiple industry standards, and enough marketing buzz words and acronyms to last a lifetime.

I thought the TV industry was pretty messed up until I started looking at personal video recording devices.  That's my term I'll use for what we used to call a VCR.  Trying to shop for one of these devices was a major PITA.

Ten years ago, you went into a store, chose one of five VCRs they had on the shelf, and took it home. Recently I tried to assist someone else with a purchase of a VCR replacement and tried to put some effort into an intellegent DVD recorder decision.  I was rewarded by an industry with its head up its ...

First off, the VCR format is not totally dead, so there are lots of VCR/DVD combo units clogging up the store shelves.  Want to record to DVD? Well my friend isn't the most technical savy so I was looking to make sure that most of the DVD media was supported (R-, R+, RW-, RW+, etc).  Found that some do, but lots don't.   Personally, the units with internal hard disc units make a lot of sense to me.  But I would only pick a non-TiVo brand, as I am not going to pay TiVos monthly subscription fees. There aren't many with the internal HD, and most that do lack in other features.  I also found  lots of brands touting the "upconverting" for HDTVs, but I know from research that some do it well and others are a waste of money.  Oh, and watch out about tuners.  You would think they all should have digital (ATSC) tuners inside.  Nope.  Some are still analog, and on many there is no tuner AT ALL.  They rely on the cable or satellite box for its tuner.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the stores have row after row of black (or silver) units sitting there with a 3"x5" price tag.  Externally they all pretty much look the same, but you have to spend five minutes studying the fine print on each unit, only to find a key difficiency. Next!

I also spent significant time on-line trying to do some research.  If you look at the customer reviews for the DVD recorder units, they are some of the worst ratings for any electronics I have seen.  Everybody is thrilled with their TVs, but trash their DVD recorders.   Quality issues, can't get features to work, incompatibilities with other hardware, and just general disappointment.  Even major brands get mediocore ratings at best.

I tried my hardest to find a "winner" to buy, but the best I could find was a "settle for" unit.  

There. I am done venting.

   

[Kwajdiver]

Is this something I need to worry about now?  Can't I just wait till March 2009.  Nick, please remind me then.

My guess is the old equipment will be sold to third world countries.

Bill
Still in Phoenix for a few more weeks.

[Barn Owl]

You are going to see a lot of devices with the digital receiver built in, like DVD recorders etc. I think it will be unlikely that there will be a lot of people buying a stand alone tuner. I had to dig the old roof top antenna out of the woodshed to get a HDTV signal here where I am to far out to get cable. HDTV has been one of the only items that I have been an early adopter of, and it was mostly by accident. After watching digital TV I would think that most people would be more than happy to trash their old analogue sets. Yes, it's that much better.

BTW.....Keep your batwing antenna; you will need it for your new flat screen HDTV.