Reminder: No More Analog TV on Friday

[modeps]

http://evavhost.com/i/news/rabbit-ears.jpg

Hey, rabbit ears users! You still haven't gotten your upgrades done? That's pretty stupid of you. This Friday, June 12th 2009, Analog over the air broadcasts will cease to be in the United States! Therefore, you won't be able to get your soap operas, news programs, and wheels of fortune. So, get out there and fix your TV.

For more information, head over to DTV Answers (http://www.dtvanswers.com/).

Well, Friday will be the day, unless for some reason they decide to postpone at zero hour again.

[Strider]

Please mind adding which country this refers to, it would make me happier since the internet is very international :)

[modeps]

Please mind adding which country this refers to, it would make me happier since the internet is very international :)

BULLSHIT!

(ok I updated the news post)

[Flatulus]

Hey, rabbit ears users! You still haven't gotten your upgrades done? That's pretty stupid of you.

I'm sorry, but when I was living in NYC I was using rabbit ears antenna and was able to get 5-6 HD channels over the air on my 42" LCD TV.
So don't dismiss rabbit ears yet!

[Demo_Boy]

My 9 stations will go down to 4.

Internet streaming FTW

[Pluvious]

Why is the government spending the billion or so it is on vouchers when the people will want to go out and spend money on the new converters or better yet, a new TV set?? Aren't we trying to cut costs and boost the economy??

[Valkyrist]

I spent $40 on 2 converters right around xmas. But because they postponed this whole shenanigans, never got around to opening the boxes to hook them up.

Since then, we finally bought an HD TV, which doesn't need any of the converters (the feature is built in, you just hook a regular antenna to it).

WTS [Digital Converter Box] x2 >> PST!

[Metal Jesus]

Where I live in West Seattle, there really isn't great HD reception and frankly I just can't justify a monthly subscription to Comcast unless they allowed you to pick ala carte your channels. Looks like my TV viewing will have to go 100% to the internet!

[Dag-Sabot]

Conventional television is becoming less and less relevant.

[Gedd]

*sigh*

I remember when I was a kid, my dad ordered cable tv so we could watch TV and movies WITHOUT commercials. That sure didn't last very long.. now we (at least those in the USA) have to pay anywhere from $30-$100/mo for even shittier programming and more commercials than ever.

[gzsfrk]

TigerDirect.com had a special last week where they would send you the Apex converter box for $0.01 shipped if you used your $40 voucher coupon with them. Suffice to say, I used the coupon that's been sitting idly in my wallet waiting for just such an opportunity, and the converter arrived 3 days later.

Went and picked up a cheap set of $10 rabbit ears and Wal-Mart, hooked them up, and was immediately impressed at how many channels I picked up OTA--around 25 or so, all in excellent quality and several of them hi-def. Unfortunately, the converter box only supports coax and composite (no component or HDMI), so no hi-def signal output even though it picks up all 5 local HD stations in perfect quality. Still... can't beat it for free. (not counting the $10 I paid for the antenna)

If it wasn't for Mythbusters and Total Drama Action, I'd probably be willing to just kick Comcast's cable to the curb and just watch the free OTA stuff along with whatever I have available over Netflix on my 360.

[pwnophobia]

What are "rabbit ears" ?






















Kidding. Don't stone me.

[HALO 32]

Doesn’t really affect me anyway.

1. The five channels here already went digital.
2. Usually playing games, working, internet to play anyway.
3. Oh and 2 rooms have satellite. XD

This is still a good reminder though, since I even forgot it was this Friday.

[HALO 32]

I meant (in #2) That I’m usually playing games, working, or on the internet to WATCH anyway.

[Rhaze]

This might actually affect me if I watched enough actual television to care.

Hulu ftw!

[Apushmataha]

I am hoping they finally kill analog. I hear in my area they are going to increase the broadcast power a bit after the analog broadcasts are gone. Maybe it'll help me in getting more than the channels I get right now, which are CW and five variations of the Trinity Broadcast Network.:o

[Agnostic]

Comcast will still suck after this. Has satellite TV gotten any better in the last 6 years? I used to have it but I got tired of losing a signal if a fucking cloud decided to get in the way.

[LilAbner]

I, for one, am looking forward to The Great TV Riots of 2009.

[modeps]

Comcast will still suck after this. Has satellite TV gotten any better in the last 6 years? I used to have it but I got tired of losing a signal if a fucking cloud decided to get in the way.

In the past six months that I've used DirecTV, I've had one signal interruption due to weather.

[BaronOfHell]

Comcast and some other tv providers are going all digital. What this means is you will have to buy a box from them to watch cable tv past channel 29. The signal they are using itis encrypted so just having a TV that can handle the new format will not be enough.

In addition if you are using tivo you are screwed because your tv will hook to the box using channel 3. Your tivo will not be able to switch channels to record your shows.

My prediction is there will be a massive increase watching tv on the net legally and illegally and a increase in watching tv via dvd. Netflix will make a killing from this mess.

[Goodguy2034]

Why watch T.V when you can torrent an episode in under 5 minutes and without ads. Don't even need to program a TiVO. No need to even own a tv...

[LilAbner]

Why is the government spending the billion or so it is on vouchers when the people will want to go out and spend money on the new converters or better yet, a new TV set?? Aren't we trying to cut costs and boost the economy??

From CNET:

The switch to broadcasting in digital instead of in analog was mandated to free up wireless spectrum so that it could be used for other purposes. Digital signals use up far less spectrum than analog signals. The FCC has already auctioned off the spare spectrum in its 700MHz auction, which raised $19.6 billion for the government.

The extra bandwidth will be auctioned and will make the $40 million spent on converters look like chump change.

[Pluvious]

Ahhh.. good point.