Lil Cheney

I have a question regarding the up and coming digital tv process. We have a big LCD in the main room. Rest of the rooms have the regular TV's which we also have a couple converter boxes for.

I also know that since I have Dish, I won't notice a thing on a couple of the TV's that are hooked up to it.

Now my question is the new signal will be sent out only in digital and these flats screens receive digital.

Here it comes----If I have a LCD that is not hooked up to Dish or Cable, How can I receive the signal? Will it automatically show up or do I need to plug in a set or rabbit ears to pull in the digital signal?

Big Kahuna

If your LCD television is NOT hooked up to cable or a satellite service, your next step will be to test and see if your LCD had a digital tuner built in (most newer LCD TVs have that tuner built in). You will probably still need an antenna hooked up to that LCD to assure you get a clear digital signal and a wide range of channels.

If it does not have a built in digital tuner, you will need one of those converter boxes and an antenna.

In our area (St. Louis), all local channels are already broadcasting both the standard analog signal AND digital signal. Try it now, your area may already have the digital signal available in your area as well.

I have a regular analog old TV in my garage and it is now hooked up to a converter box and antenna. It is picking up crystal clear digital channels.


If you have ANY analog TV or digital tuner TV hooked up to cable or satellite TV, you should NOT have to do anything. All cable and satellite companys will convert the signal before it gets to your home.

an08HHR

Many DTVs and digital television equipment will have labels or markings on them, or statements in the informational materials that came with them, to indicate that they contain digital tuners. These labels or markings may contain the words “Integrated Digital Tuner,” “Digital Tuner Built-In,” “Digital Receiver,” or “Digital Tuner,” “DTV,” “ATSC,” or “HDTV” (High Definition television). If your television equipment contains any of these labels or markings, you should be able to view digital over-the-air programming without the need for a digital-to-analog converter box. (Remember, you do not need an HDTV to view free over-the-air digital programming. As long as your television equipment contains a digital tuner, you can view over-the-air digital. An HDTV is only necessary if you want to view High Definition programming in full HD quality.)
Above copied from DTV.GOV

dandhcomputers

Hears the problem with dtv when thay switch us over to dtv and was have a natural disaster like hurricanes and there in no power and ever one is running generators and the stations digital converters are under water and there anlog transmiters are gone then what are we going to do ?One of your tv stations had a digital converter and it was under water they had to use there anlog ,Another way the government can take over.they are talking about doing raido the same way.I ask why?

esmarkey

I was wondering why the station s HAVE to discontinue broadcasting analog? I understand the desire to go digital but there must be a reason big brother is demanding shutting off the old analog stuff.

Seems like a lot of trouble for the people who can afford it the least... I know, they are offering $40 coupons (our tax dollar at work), but do you really think grandma knows how to install it?

Anyone know why?

twistrman

to my understanding the reason why they are switching from analog to digital is not just because of higher quality video. that is just half of it. The other half of the reason (which pertains to your question exactly) is so that they can make the analog channels into emergency channels, and make more room generally for emergency signals.

hhrcrafty

+1

Digital TV can be broadcast on higher frequencies that are better suited for local broadcasting. The old frequencies used for analog TV spectrum have already been auctioned off and will be distributed amongst commercial and public sector interests, including emergency management.

Dandhcomputers' post makes absolutely zero sense and I'd question his sanity if it wasn't so poorly typed on the internet. Digital TV is more efficient use of the limited radio spectrum resources available. The ability of the government to communicate with emergency management resources will be enhanced by the availability of new spectrum in the demise of analog TV.

In addition, only a SMALL percentage of the analog-only installed base of TVs will even require a converter box. This is because the majority of the country is already covered by cable and satellite services.

Doc brown

Umm...

How are their anolog transmitters protected from flood or other natural disasters currently? If their digial equipement is under water, why wouldn't thier analog equipment be under water?

Jeff®

$$$$$$$

The 700Mhz band is huge, and the Gov't has been auctioning off frequencies for mucho-mega-bucks. A lot is going to first responders, but Verizon & co. have thier purchases too.

Straight from the horse's mouth: http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/def...=auctions_home
and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_MHz...ectrum_auction

Lil Cheney

After I started this I found they make an HD antenna that is "apparently" suppose to be plugged in to any LCD (not on cable or Dish)to bring in the reception for the local channels. Sound a bout right?