I don’t get this argument that if the government passes a law which causes you to have to pay more money to enjoy something that previously cost less money/no money, then they have to compensate you.
I remember when auto insurance wasn’t mandatory. I remember when they passed the law. Now, should the government have paid my insurance premiums since previously I was able to drive without insurance, but now have to pay more than a thousand dollars per year to enjoy the same driving privilege?
Come to think of it, that was before open container and seat belt laws. So, I could enjoy the comforts of driving my uninsured car, unbelted while enjoying a cold, malt beverage. That lost luxury has to have some monetary value that I wasn’t compensated for.
Then I had to waste my valuable time driving 55mph while making sure my kids were buckled in. Where is the value for my time lost?
But, on point, I will ask again, because no one has been able to answer this: What if I am an 18 year old just starting out, and I don’t even have the money to buy a cheap old analog TV set. Will the government pay me to buy one? Why not?
If they will pay for converter boxes, why not my cheap old TV set so I can watch TV? What about my electric bill? A chair/couch to watch it from? An efficiency apartment to watch it in? Chips and beer to consume while watching it?
I’m about 20 miles as the crow files from the nearest TV transmitter. On analog I got one channel clearly, and 2 or 3 very snowy. With digital TV and an amplified antenna I now get about 20 channels crystal-clear. The neat thing about digital channels is you get subchannels as well, so what used to be channel 29 is now 29-1 (regular old channel 29 programming), 29-2 (weather 24/7), and 29-3 (CW network.)
I thought Tivos only worked with cable?? Or is it that you can only do the programming tricks with cable? Because I, too, am simply using over the air with a digital tv, and have been waffling over how to do time-shifting once my vcr becomes useless.
Also, can you tell me what model you have, please?
I have a Tivo HD, and also a Series 2. Tivo HD has two digital ATSC tuners. The video played back by the Tivo HD looks just as good as the HD video coming in over the antenna on my plasma TV, it’s beautiful. The Series 2 doesn’t support digital tuning, but they updated the software so it can control a converter box with the IR blaster. Still only get a SD picture though, but it’s fine for now.
Mostly only the Series 2 DT (dual tuner) did NOT work with antenna. This page will probably help.
Tivo HD would be an excellent VCR replacement as long as you can live with the $12 monthly fee. It’s vastly easier than dealing with tapes.
Thanks for your answer, I’m aware that you can get digital if you are near a transmitter, I guess my question is what is the range? I am probably 70 to 120 miles from the nearest one. (I have no idea if there are any closer Then Edmonton, Red Deer or Camrose.)
It’s hard to say. It partly depends on the power the station will transmit and the terrain between you and there. You might need a heavy-duty outdoor antenna if you’re really 70+ miles away, as the crow flies.
Basically I’d say if you get a good constant signal on analog TV channel, then with digital that channel should be perfect. If the analog channel picture fades in and out, goes fuzzy and then clearer, then that might not be enough strength for digital TV. Digital TV seems to need a fairly constant 50%+ signal to keep from getting all blocky.
I just checked, I’m about 40 miles from one set of stations and I receive them just fine with an indoor amplified antenna. There aren’t any mountains or anything between here and there though.
I live in a smallish town in a mountainous area in the US. I also get two analog channels over the air, NBC and PBS. PBS comes in pretty well, NBC is sometimes very snowy but usually okay. I’ve been content with this for the nearly two years I’ve lived here. FWIW, these broadcasts are coming to me from a town 25 miles away and another about 40 miles away.
I went out recently to get a digital converter box. I paid for it entirely myself since the coupon waiting list is so backed up and I didn’t want to lose my ability to watch any TV at all. I hooked the box up, and…nothing. I get ZERO digital channels.
I called the manufacturer and established that the box was working properly, it just wasn’t picking anything up. I was told that I probably needed a more powerful antenna. So I went out and bought one of those too, an indoor antenna labeled as being very powerful. (I rent the basement apartment in an old house and can’t just stick up an outdoor antenna.) By the time I had that hooked up I was out about $80, and guess what? I still didn’t get any digital channels. My two analog stations did come in much better with the new antenna, but I got nothing but blackness digitally.
At this point I said screw it, I’m getting cable. I’m really ticked off about it, but at least I can get the most limited cable package (just the regular broadcast channels over cable) for $10 a month for the first 6 months. I already took the antenna back to the store, so that’s my first few months of cable paid for. I’m going to hang onto the converter box for a while to see if it can pick anything up after Feb. 17 (the local stations are apparently sticking with that switchover date), but I don’t have high hopes.
Thanks for your answer control-z. I don’t really know where the transmission towers are, but I am in the middle of Nowhere Alberta. There is no mountains between me and the towers though, a couple of hills maybe, but mainly just grain fields and cows out here.
I do have a 40 ft tower I could put an outdoor antenna on, that’s where my satellite internet dish is, there is no cable out here, it’s satellite or nothing.
So, now my next question is, are all these outdoor antenna basically the same? Or is there something I should be looking for specifically?
Thanks again for your answer control-z.
Lamia, I hear you, when we first moved back to the farm, we made the decision to just pay for the internet and stick with our 2 little TV stations. I don’t watch much TV, I am more of a movie person. Still, I do need to watch the news on occasion. I guess it’s just the price we pay for living in the beautiful places we do! I know I would never want to move.
Someone else might have a better answer for you, but you might want to check out AntennaWeb.org. I’m not certain if it works for Canadian locations, but if it does, they’ll tell you what stations you might be able to receive and what type of antenna should work best for you. Hopefully, you’ll be able to get transmissions. I’m about 40 miles from the closest transmitter in *very *hilly country (northern Ozark area) and I went from 4 analog channels to 12 digital channels. And that’s using an old indoor rabbit-ears-style UHF loop thumbtacked to the wall and hooked up to the TV with a length of dipole and some adapters to put it all together.
Most American homes don’t have fixed aerials. Americans who want to watch over-the-air broadcast TV use what we call “rabbit ears” over here- the two-pronged antenna that sits on top of the TV.
I’m sure your 40 ft tower would help, IF you use a high-quality low-loss coax cable that won’t lose the signal due to it’s length. I don’t have much experience with outdoor antennas so I’m not sure what to look for, but you basically need a high-gain antenna to make the most out of what signal you get.
This web site categorizes some outdoor antennas by the mileage range they work well at. An antenna that works “50-70+ Miles” would probably do so even mounted on your house, as long as it’s pointed the right direction and there are no obstructions.
Whatever antenna you get, the way I tune them is have one person watch a signal strength meter on the TV (most digital tuners have one somewhere in the menus) and have the other person turn the antenna until the picture is good. Then have them step away to make sure it stays good, as the human body can make the signal better as many people know from rabbit ear antenna days. Lather, rinse, repeat until you get the best overall signal on various channels.
A completely irrelevant and unconvincing point no less.
On topic: Most of the people who need the boxes are poor. So $60 may seem like nothing to you, but to someone living in poverty it’s something they’d have to budget for.
TV is the default communication tool of our society. We don’t have town criers anymore. TV serves that purpose as a communication tool of last resort. Anyone who thinks the poor should “suck it up” and do without isn’t thinking very hard. How do civil defense warnings go out?
We’ve gone over and over and over this on this board; in this thread and in others. Frankly, it’s not compelling to me. There are plenty of things that I want, but would have to budget to procure. How I allocate funds to such budgets is determined on how I prioritize the item(s).
They can budget for it as they need to. They did not need a box by mid February. The boxes will still be sold after the conversion, and when they can afford one, they can buy one.
TV is a luxury item. I personally know of at least 3 households today that don’t even have a TV – two because they don’t need one, one because they can’t afford one. Yet, somehow, they survive. They find out about dangerous weather, emergency alerts, etc.
IMO, come June, we’re not going to see a huge change in the number of households who aren’t ready. What to do, then? Delay again so that society’s slowest can catch up, or finally say “fuck it, go without TV”?
TV is a luxury item in the sense that a phone is a luxury. Electricity is a luxury too. Fuck, so is more than one set of clothes. We’re the wealthiest and most powerful country on Earth, if our poor are well off it’s a good thing.
The glut of requests for the coupons is the reason they pushed it back. It’s because of people doing the right thing.
Family and neighbors aren’t dependable. And by it’s nature TV is a great way to reach people because they use it for entertainment. Culturally we aren’t a radio listening group of people any more.
Would it kill people to not have TV? No. But it’s one of the few luxuries that people in poverty can be expected to have. If you want the poorest of the poor to be without the one luxury in their lives I guess you’re just a cockhole.
I think television is a public need. The Emergency Alert System needs to be able to reach citizens in an emergency. Radio and TV are the two primary avenues for that. You might have cable TV, but that can easily go out, as can satellite during bad weather. As long as you have electricity you should be able to receive a signal broadcast over the air.
