The point of my blog it to write about what is going good in my life and what is on my mind. Last night I got very frustrated so I decided that I would blog about it today. Let me just say that TV is not the most important thing in my life but I do enjoy a lot of shows. There are a few in particular that I don’t like missing. One being Grey’s Anatomy. It is probably my favorite show on TV and I look forward to Thursday nights at 8! plan to blog more on last nights show at a later time! Stay tuned! Well last night was no different. We told Jordan goodnight (8 is his normal bedtime) and turned on ABC. The Digital Tuner wouldn’t receive ABC’s signal strong enough to see or hear the show. I was not a happy camper!! After a few choice words and yelling at my husband for no reason I had given up on being able to see the show. Most people would just watch it the next day on the web, but I don’t have that luxury. We use a Linux computer and ABC is to far behind in the technology world to have compatibility for that. I would have to have a windows or mac to be able to view their videos. So, I’m not sure who I am really mad at. The government for making us switch to Digital or ABC for having a poor signal and for being old school in their technology department. All I know is I wish ABC would get a clue. They are the ONLY main station has this problem. Main meaning of the (three evil sisters, NBC, ABC, and CBS) I have no problems watching shows on CBS or NBC because all you need is Flash Player. Everyone has or can get flash player. NBC has the best setup because they use HULU. This is a great resource to find many shows on different networks as well as movies and various video clips.
What are we being told about the switch from analog to digital? We are told on the news and hundreds of commercials that we will need a converter box in order to receive a digital signal. This is true. If you have an older TV you will need a converter box. The government gives out coupons to help cover the cost. I will discuss this more later. Anyway, we requested our coupons and after several weeks we got them in the mail. We went ahead and bought our converter box and hooked it up, all seemed great. The picture is nice and clear and we have a lot more channels than we had on analog. We now have weather channels and even a Christian music video channel. Everything is perfect right?
Wrong! The thing with digital TV is you either have a signal or you don’t. If the signal is to low you will lose your picture and sound and miss important parts of you show. It always seems to happen to us when our favorite show comes on or they are soling the case on Law and Order. This can get very annoying! What we are not told is that more than likely you will need a digital antenna in addition to your converter box. The government sends you a coupon for $40 off the price of the converter box. Typically they run about $60 dollars to make your out of pocket amount around $20. But, they don’t send a coupon for the antenna. We have seen a few in the stores and they typically run about the same price as the converter boxes. The people in the store may or may not tell you that you need it. And depending on where you live, you may not need it. We thought since we live in DFW metropolitan area, smack dab between Dallas and Fort Worth that we wouldn’t have a problem but even here we get very little of the signal. I would recommend that you get the converter box and see how it works for you. If you are still having problems you will need the digital antenna. If that doesn’t work you will probably have to break down and get cable or satellite.
It seems very wrong to me that in order to get TV, which has always been free, we now may have no choice but to find a TV provider. If you live in a small rural town you are going to have a hard time getting any TV. We need to stand up to our government and tell them to stop taking over our lives. We need to make our voices heard. I worry about those people who live out in the “country” if they can’t get a TV signal then they can’t get the news and weather they need to keep them safe. i want to know what is going to be done to ensure their safety from such things as Tornadoes. Being from Arkansas and living in Texas I know how important the news can be in times of Severe storms. Having the ability to turn on the news and follow the track of the storms has saved countless lives. At the same time I realize that some people may live so far out of town that they already have to pay for service. There may be some places in the country where that can’t be avoided. But I’m talking about the people who are receiving analog now and won’t be able to receive the digital after the switch. When this switch happens how many people will lose that ability? There are people in this country that can’t afford to pay for cable or satellite TV and they should have a free alternative. Maybe the answer is requiring the main news stations to put up repeaters to spread their signal over a larger area. I don’t know what the answer is, but I expect the FCC to find it before the switch.
We have about 75 days (if I did my math right) so not only does the FCC need to be prepared but you do as well. For more information you can visit the DTV Answers website.