oh very much so. I have been running dtv/ota hd for about three years now get stations 2-13 just fine. I can see the empire state building from my kitchen window just across the river. so all is good in dtv land

i was but i didn't see a difference in my TV quality...

What switch?

Sure, I wish 5 years ago. I just wish the govenment didn't spend my tax dollars to give out coupons to others. Since when is TV an essential survival tool that the government needs to hand out to people? WTF. No wonder the economy is crap, our lawmakers don't have a clue and spend money on the dumbest things.

I don't even remember the last time I watched broadcast television. It has been > 15 years.

is this one of those jokes threads you guys were talking about last week?

hahaha noob americans ) TV coupons loool ...

Anyway i still have analog in my old apartment but digital in the house. Cant see any difference in quality tough. Same bullwack. Why cutoff something that worked perfectly for tens of years. Digital is not trustworthy.

There are lots of reasons for switching from analog to digital broadcast. The government can sell the freed up broadcast spectrum, digit broadcast allows for higher quality picture and sound, broadcasters can multicast several programs instead of one, ...

There are legitimate good reasons for switching to digital... but the market should have decided when that time was to come, not the government. We spent what $25 billion making this switch when we could have just waited about five more years and the market would have switched on its own, for free. Government can't do anything right.

I was still a little baby when they switched over (ok maybe not baby, but I was in elementary school) so it was such as smooth transaction (for my home) that I didn't notice it. Heck, I didn't even know 1% of the tech stuff I know today back then lol. I thought a computer was completely cramped on the inside, and the case/circuits were one part. Gosh, I was reaaaaally stupid back in the days but I'll always be ready for technology transactions now that I spend like 2 hours reading tech sites daily

Switched past digital to hulu & tv.com.

I chose not to switch to digital until the price of the converter boxes comes down to a reasonable price. I refuse to spend government money on an over priced box of parts since it is my neighbor's money that the government took to give to me. Screw that. The converter boxes should only be about $20, not the $60-80 they have been running.

Till prices come down, hulu and redbox for me. In all honesty, I don't miss it. I stopped watching mainstream news after 9/11 was crammed down my throat for stuff that had nothing to do with it.

Years ago!

Years ago.

BTW... what people are seeing... perhaps for days or weeks, is a roll-over video that says "no longer broadcasting" with people telling you that DTV is only available and you need a converter box or configure it.

At least its not fuzz. The boxes are $30~40 at Walmart. Anyone can buy them or if they are "broke" get the coupon.

Gee what are they going to with all of the extra UHF/VHF bandwidth?
Have they sold it all? How much of it remains in the hands of Federal Government and for what purpose?

The only TV I really watch is Hulu so I'd have to say yes...

This conversion should have happened YEARS ago. This has been delayed WAY more than the 4 or 6 months everyone is talking about. They were talking about this conversion at the end of the 1990's and early 2000's.

Now if only my local broadcasters could figure out what "HDTV" means. I'm tired of watching CBS in HD some nights, and not in HD other nights (even when watching the same TV show).

I've had cable or satellite for the past 15+ years. This transition has no impact on me whatsoever.

i have time warner analog, it sucks. and i dont use brodcast in my house, its too unreliable.

What is TV?

Yay, government spend 25 Billion on something that is going to die anyway... broadcast television. Only positive part of the digital transition is ability to put more channels on broadcast TV due to more efficient use of bandwidth, or someday be able to give some of that TV bandwidth to wireless devices.

DTV???

Hahaha, yeah I switched awhile back. What the heck is taking so long. People get off your lazy bums and get a converter box or a new tv. Yes it looks a lot better than Std. Def. (at least on an HD tv). I don't know about the rest of you but it's a huge improvement and even 5.1 surround sound for sporting events. I guess most people can't afford a converter box that's basically free if you get a coupon, much less a HDTV.

I couldn't have said it better myself. So long as there's people watching on analog, why not keep it rolling? At the same time, advertise new DTV's with built in ATSC/QAM tuners and converter boxes as a cool new way of watching TV, just better. Once market penetration has reached max and nobody uses analog anymore because they're all on convertor boxes, HDTV's or cable or satellite, just pull the plug then. Then sell off the spectrum without a hitch. Just like black and white to color!

Can we stream free HD porn now?

I think that the digital is a good thing. I am not sure why people are so resistant to change sometimes. In fact, in my case I get more channels and better reception on digital than I ever could have hoped to before. And I live in a place that is far from the nearest TV stations and in mountain terrain no less. It is so much better. I refuse to pay the exorbitant fees to the cable and satellite companies for TV I don't like anyway. Most of it is rubbish including over the air anyway. I watch a bit of news and I like PBS. So why would I throw away money on cable or satellite. Instead, I invest in good quality internet service which I use all the time.

There are still millions who use OTA TV. LOL Not everyone wants cable or satellite even if they can "afford it". Affording doesn't equal want or especially not need. Then again there are some people who really cannot afford cable so the converter box route is the only way assuming they want to keep their TV reception anyway.

I haven't used broadcast television since the 80's, so yeah, i've been ready for a while now.


@p05esto -

The main reason the gov't justified the coupons for the DTV boxes, from what i've seen, is for people that don't have access to or can't afford cable/satellite, so they're still able to recieve basic channels in the event of severe weather / natural disasters / other emergency television comminucations.


However, that being said, the government could've done a HELL OF A LOT BETTER JOB screening who recieved coupons, instead of handing them out to anyone and everyone that asks. I'd venture to say that

Thanks Tom's Forum for cutting the last half of my last post off.

I *was* going to say that probably less than 10% of the coupons handed out actually went to people that needed them, the rest probably went to people buying them to sell after the coupon program ends. The Gov't should've been a lot more strict on who got them.

They couldn't because the government sold off the public spectrum for private use so the money had to go back to the public. Sucks I know but that's the way it is.