DTV

[regfootball]

so wisely i chose to suspend my direct tv last week. of course, until the other day, i didn't have any converter boxes either.

well, i have one of them hooked up now. should be interesting to see if i am a go.

does one need a whole new antennae also?

i have the plasma, which has the digital tuner. I think i just need an antennae for that.

i have 4 other TV's, of which 2 of them for now I will have converters for. I have an antennae hooked up to the first one which I believe is an HD antennae, but we'll see.

Big question, is the converter box still worthless without a proper antennae? That's what i don't get.

It's coming! Are you CONVERTED?

[Intrepidation]

I haven't watched TV in what seems like ages, so I don't really care. We have like cheapest cable package so we get none of the channels worth watching.

[regfootball]

well, getting channels at all now after today will have required some work.

i dont really watch tv either, but to be able to actually GET tv for weather and news etc. will apparently be a big plus now.

[Intrepidation]

All of my loal new stations have websites, plus there's all of the other news sources like Yahoo, and of course weather.com.

And little if any commercials.

[fightingbee]

The current ant. should be OK, unless you live where the current reception is poor. Channels that were viewable but snowy with analog TV will likely either experience picture freezing or just a "No Signal" on digital.

If you do have any reception problems, they may improve a bit once analog is shut off since TV stations brodcasting both are splitting their broadcast power limits right now. Once analog shuts down they will up the digital transmitter power. If you still have poor reception after that a larger and/or more UHF friendly antenna may be needed.

[Satty]

Been ready for a while, we've had digital cable for some time.

[Justin Bimmer]

If you have cable or satellite provider, it doesn't matter what you do. It is their responsibility to get the signal.

"Digital" Cable is just a way of them trying to up-sell a service. I have 3 analogue TVs at home all connected to cable = no problems.

[Robert Hall]

Been ready for a while, digital cable and 3 digital TVs. Should have no problems. As far as home theatre gadgets, been on the fence about Blu Ray--still have regular DVDs. But I am thinking about upgrading from my current Series 2 tiVo to an HD one.

[Satty]

High Def is the greatest thing ever in the history of television. Unless you're watching porn.

[David]

so wisely i chose to suspend my direct tv last week. of course, until the other day, i didn't have any converter boxes either.

well, i have one of them hooked up now. should be interesting to see if i am a go.

does one need a whole new antennae also?

i have the plasma, which has the digital tuner. I think i just need an antennae for that.

i have 4 other TV's, of which 2 of them for now I will have converters for. I have an antennae hooked up to the first one which I believe is an HD antennae, but we'll see.

Big question, is the converter box still worthless without a proper antennae? That's what i don't get.

It's coming! Are you CONVERTED?

YES, The converter box is Worthles without the HD Antennae. Let us know how it works, I have HD Dish Service. Love it.

I have been ready for the last 2+ years, it was stupid to delay it. There is no way around some people not feeling pain. After all, TV is a privilage you get by working to pay for a TV. One is not Promised it when you come to America or grow up to be an adult. It was stupid to worry about a few million people that might not have an HD set or converter box.

[David]

The current ant. should be OK, unless you live where the current reception is poor. Channels that were viewable but snowy with analog TV will likely either experience picture freezing or just a "No Signal" on digital.

If you do have any reception problems, they may improve a bit once analog is shut off since TV stations brodcasting both are splitting their broadcast power limits right now. Once analog shuts down they will up the digital transmitter power. If you still have poor reception after that a larger and/or more UHF friendly antenna may be needed.

Home Theater Mag did a complete review of the Converter box's and normal Antennae versus HD Antennae. They proved that one must have an HD Antennae and the converter box to get the signal. Traditional Antennae do not pick up the new Higher Bandwidth HD signal.

Everything I have read points to people who choose to not have a pay service will have to get a new Antennae and the Converter box to see anything on their Old Analog TV's.

[Robert Hall]

After all, TV is a privilage you get by working to pay for a TV. One is not Promised it when you come to America or grow up to be an adult. It was stupid to worry about a few million people that might not have an HD set or converter box.

Agreed, f*ck 'em if they have been living under a rock and haven't been paying attention. This who 'issue' has been blown out of proportion by the media and made into a big deal that it isn't.

[regfootball]

High Def is the greatest thing ever in the history of television. Unless you're watching porn.

perhaps someone will allow you to do a 'split screen' in the future. one that divides the big HD screen up into 4 or hey even 9 separate scenes all at one time.

multi tasking porn.

or at a minimum, they could show the same scene from multiple camera angles at one time.

gotta take the glass half full approach.

glass half full........hmm, that even applies to porn too.........

[regfootball]

YES, The converter box is Worthles without the HD Antennae. Let us know how it works, I have HD Dish Service. Love it.

I have been ready for the last 2+ years, it was stupid to delay it. There is no way around some people not feeling pain. After all, TV is a privilage you get by working to pay for a TV. One is not Promised it when you come to America or grow up to be an adult. It was stupid to worry about a few million people that might not have an HD set or converter box.

it was stupid to delay it.

i cancelled my direct tv due to cost a couple weeks ago. after 6 mo of unemployment its hard to keep paying 100/mo. then i had the cable guys come out but they did not tell me i would not get all the channels i was paying for unless i got 4 more cable boxes which was 30 bucks a month more than originally thought, so i opted not to. now, i am just waiting for the direct tv folks to call me back with an 'offer i can't refuse'. the cable with the promo rate was going to cost me even more than the direct tv. if i wait this out a little bit or go through my phone provider and reactivate the direct tv, i'll prob save 30-40 bucks a month for the next year. just gonna take some time out from having to pay for it for awhile. I don't really want to have 4 converter boxes in my house. I have 2 and the plasma which is already digital.

the next thing that may go soon. landline and cell phones may become magic jack and prepaid tracfones.

[Robert Hall]

The split screen would be great...I'd like to be able to watch 4 channels at once--- Speed for F1 in one corner, CNN or BBC for news in another, my current tiVo item in another, a DVD in the 4th panel, for example, and cycle through the audio.

My biggest irritant with current HD TVs, though, is why isn't the aspect ratio of a widescreen TV the same as a widescreen movie? I hate the darn top and bottom black bars when watching a DVD..even on a larger TV it's annoying.

[David]

perhaps someone will allow you to do a 'split screen' in the future. one that divides the big HD screen up into 4 or hey even 9 separate scenes all at one time.

multi tasking porn.

or at a minimum, they could show the same scene from multiple camera angles at one time.

gotta take the glass half full approach.

glass half full........hmm, that even applies to porn too.........

You can do this if you run it all through a computer, you can with the proper High End Video Card have split screen of multiple shows on a big screen. Very Cool.

Also, having friends in the xbox group, I have seen some of their alpha test product of having streamed TV shows via FIOS onto your big screen. Just like they do with video games and you end up with 4 play sections you can also do that with TV. I really hope MSFT XBox goes forward with offering TV service via the XBox on FIOS.

[David]

The split screen would be great...I'd like to be able to watch 4 channels at once--- Speed for F1 in one corner, CNN or BBC for news in another, my current tiVo item in another, a DVD in the 4th panel, for example, and cycle through the audio.

My biggest irritant with current HD TVs, though, is why isn't the aspect ratio of a widescreen TV the same as a widescreen movie? I hate the darn top and bottom black bars when watching a DVD..even on a larger TV it's annoying.

This is normal and a accepted practice. TV fills the screen due to all shows being shot and transmitted in a 16 x 9 format. Movies, depending on the Director are shot in various widescreen formats. 1.35 to 1 to 2.85 to 1 So you will always have black bars top and bottom depending on the DVD/ BlueRay movie as Hollywood and Bollywood leave the final format up to the directors depending on how they want the viewing to be done.

Movie theaters have top / bottom and side currtains that are adjustable so they can properly frame the movie when it is showed.

Ciao,

[Satty]

I've seen big-screens that allow you to split the screen and use 2 inputs, like satellite and a dvd player.

[fightingbee]

Home Theater Mag did a complete review of the Converter box's and normal Antennae versus HD Antennae. They proved that one must have an HD Antennae and the converter box to get the signal. Traditional Antennae do not pick up the new Higher Bandwidth HD signal.

Everything I have read points to people who choose to not have a pay service will have to get a new Antennae and the Converter box to see anything on their Old Analog TV's.

Apparenty the one antenna connected TV I have hasn't heard that yet. :AH-HA_wink: It works fine with the same set-top VHF rabbit ear/UHF loop type ant. it's always had.

The cheap rabbit ear only ant. like what came free with new sets in the past may not work well though, as it made a crappy antenna in the UHF range.

[regfootball]

i guess we'll find out this evening.........