Help with transition to digital cable channels only

General Questions
#1

Hi,

I’m totally confused by Time Warner’s recent switch to digital channels only and could use some help.

I live in NYC and last summer Time Warner stopped broadcasting analog signals in favor of digital signals only. I don’t pay for cable and up until now I have simply plugged a coaxial cable from my TV into the line where my internet comes in and received 12-15 basic channels.

I was away when Time Warner made the switch and so wasn’t initially aware of it. When I finally did notice, many of the channels I used to have had a static image saying “if you want this channel back call Time Warner to get a digital adapter”. As far as I could tell, the only channels I had left were ABC and a smaller local network.

I don’t watch a ton of TV and pretty much ignored the problem until recently when I decided it would be nice to be able to watch the Olympics at home, but I didn’t have NBC. I decided not to rent a piece of equipment from Time Warner and instead ordered a digital antenna (the Amazon version of the Leaf).

On the day that my antenna was supposed to arrive I happened to turn on the TV to see the morning news. When I did this, my TV which had been set to ABC, flickered and seemed to reset, suddenly turning on to NBC. I clicked around a bit and it now seems like I have most of the major networks back (in digital format only, the analog channels still show the static screen).

So… I’m wondering:

  1. Why didn’t I have these channels before?

  2. Why do I have them now? Is this a mistake on Time Warner’s part or was I meant to have them all along, but just didn’t for some reason?

  3. Is there any benefit to trying to hook up the antenna or should I just return it?

  4. If I get these channels now, in theory, would I get them in another NYC apartment that’s wired for Time Warner? (If, say, I move at some point).

For the record, I have an HD TV from around 2010 which can evidently play digital channels.

Any thoughts or advice are much appreciated. I have a friend coming over tomorrow who could help me with the antenna, but I just don’t know if it makes sense.

Thanks!

#2

All you need is a set of rabbit ears and you should get all local channels in HD, you don’t even need to plug into the TWC coax outlet.

#3

it could be just a matter of time before you loose them.

your set may have done a scan for cable input.

go to

http://www.tvfool.com/

and ‘click on your address for free tv’

it will show you what stations you should be able to get over the air.

there is a difference between DTV and HDTV for both over the air and cable. over the air if a station has a single virtual channel it would likely be HDTV (you can see nose hairs). over the air if a station has multiple virtual channels then those would be DTV. on cable even digital is a decreased quality picture unless it is a specific HD channel (which might need to use their tuner to decode).

#4

I think if your TV is from 2010, it’s already a digital set and you don’t need a digital adapter. I think what happened is that you finally changed from the analog channels to the digital ones and are now getting a usable signal.

#5

This is true until the KableCo encrypts ALL digital channels. Then you will need a cable box of some sort.