Anyone affected by the analog to digital tv broadcast switch?

[therotman]

I waited until this week to order my coupon........too bad they are all gone!


they some people multiple coupons but don't even have enough to go around to everyone who needs one

[Tim Hancock]

Damn, I was hoping to recoup a tiny portion of my taxes with the coupons. Now you guys tell me it is not funded with tax money. I guess my taxes are still mainly going to pay welfare for those who choose to live off of the govt teat.

[gr8fl4porsche]

I may have some extra coupons, I'll check. Not sure what I did with them.

The digital converters are awesome. I have a couple of 'shop' TV's set up in the garage. Have to be close to 25 years old each. Picture quality in the past with rabbit ears was barely watchable. Pic quality now is fantastic.

I got rid of pay TV due to the digital conversion, I am full HD Tivo OTA on the tv's that matter.

This program is a $ 60/month savings for me (minus what I spent on the tivo boxes and a sweet antenna setup.

[VaSteve]

They must have switched over the local stations last night (after I posted) on my cable system. (We get our "cable" as a byproduct of the community's master Dish Network plan (when the storms come, the picture goes out....terrible plan).

Anyhow, the must be having some problem. Tons of that pixelation stuff, sound dropping out, etc. I think they need to tweak something. Regular cable, CNN, Fox NEws is fine. Just the network stations here in the DC burbs.

So I guess, I am affected.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by ruf-porsche

TV make money from advertising dollars same as any other media. The more people watch, the more they can charge for advertising. Take the super bowl. The cost to advertise on the super bowl is huge because they have a large audience.

I'd all but guarantee that cable stations do better than any free station. There's a reason that free stations are dying off, and cable stations are expanding like mad.

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

A US-govt mandated change requiring a device that the US govt is paying for? Should have put a stipulation of "Made in the USA" on that there bubba.

They wanted that. They also declared a $40 cost cut on the boxes for the coupons. They told the compnaies that they could either make them for $40 and get lots of sales, or make them for $80, which means the consumer would pay in themselves, and get no sales. The companies whined and complained and ultimately couldn't pull it off (they had gotten used to their $2000 TV sales). So, they went to China, who gladly built lots of boxes for $40. Blame it on the American companies, blame it on the American consumer, but it's how it worked out.

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

We don't have any newer LCD TV's... so all our sets are in the 4:3 aspect ratio... largest screen is a 27" G.E. After the changeover, is the digital signal gonna show up on these screens in 16:9 with the black bar at the top and bottom?

The converters are all SD, 480 resolution. You're still get plain jane 4:3 images like before. You need an HD capable TV with an HD tuner to be able to get the 16:9 widescreen of anything.

Originally Posted by therotman

they some people multiple coupons but don't even have enough to go around to everyone who needs one

It was a mess, for sure. I expect that they will come out with a second wave of coupons (possible real paper ones) soon, once they (the bureaucracy) gets past the backlog of checking which coupons got used or not.

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Damn, I was hoping to recoup a tiny portion of my taxes with the coupons. Now you guys tell me it is not funded with tax money. I guess my taxes are still mainly going to pay welfare for those who choose to live off of the govt teat.

Yeah, damned those government teat sucking, lazy, drug addicted, thief criminal non-WASP people for watching their free TV. Real Americans spend lots of money on cable and satellite, none of this free local news crap for them!

[ruf-porsche]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

I'd all but guarantee that cable stations do better than any free station. There's a reason that free stations are dying off, and cable stations are expanding like mad.

The death of free TV is overly exaggerated.

If free TV was to die how would local people get their local news? Cable TV offer local broadcast TV as part of their package. Cable along with satellite TV pay a fee to the local stations in order to offer local broadcasting in their package.

Let's compare a station that is offer only on cable to a free tv stations. Does ESPN sport have a larger audience than ABC Network? I kinda doubt it.

If you are comparing say comcast to ABC network it is not a comparison because one offer programing that they develop and the other offer programing that they buy from other groups.

I would think that if people who don't need 200 channels are happy with just the major channels, free DTV will still be there no.1 choice. There are a lot of people that don't get cable because the cable company feels that it is no worth bringing their cable to those areas.

[jwasbury]

I've been getting over the air digital/HDTV for over two years now. My problem is that they keep building hi-rise apartment towers around my little 4 story rowhouse so they are killing my signal. I've been pay TV free for nearly my entire life, but I may be forced to get pay TV soon as I'm down to only 2 or 3 channels.

If anyone has any tips for a good roof antenna, I am all ears. Currently I have a medium sized directional and a signal amp, but its not cutting it now that the NJ Trump tower has blocked my line of sight to the transmitter.

[red-beard]

Sounds like it is time for a lawsuit against Trump!!!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Yeah, damned those government teat sucking, lazy, drug addicted, thief criminal non-WASP people for watching their free TV. Real Americans spend lots of money on cable and satellite, none of this free local news crap for them!

You must not have read my earlier post where I mentioned I watch my TV using an antenna. I hate the idea of paying a monthly fee for TV. My comment was aimed at someone who was stating that using the coupons was equivalent to the above mentioned welfare abusers. I have no problem using a coupon to allow me to still pick up the same television broadcasts that I have been watching for all my 42 years. Everything I own from house to cars is paid for.... I have no desire to have to start paying for something like TV just so the picture is a little better when the local stations are still broadcasting a signal.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

You must not have read my earlier post where I mentioned I watch my TV using an antenna. I hate the idea of paying a monthly fee for TV. My comment was aimed at someone who was stating that using the coupons was equivalent to the above mentioned welfare abusers. I have no problem using a coupon to allow me to still pick up the same television broadcasts that I have been watching for all my 42 years. Everything I own from house to cars is paid for.... I have no desire to have to start paying for something like TV just so the picture is a little better when the local stations are still broadcasting a signal.

I halfway new what you were saying, and halfway think that you might still think that people asking for coupons to watch TV are government teat suckers. One way or the other, you'd decided that taking a thread about digital TV coupons and contributed a few times about paying tax for other people.

I did not get coupons, because I can afford to pay $40 to keep watching TV. Just because a charity is handing out food at the soup kitchen, doesn't mean that everyone and their brother should run over there and eat for free.