TV, Phone & Internet all in one.
Has your cable or phone company offered you a deal? One bill. One company for all three? Or do you already have all your eggs in one basket? Have you seen what happened in San Jose? Saboteurs cut the fiber optic lines and knocked out more than 50,000 San Jose and local residents. No TV. No phone. No internet. No business for thousands of shops... and the cable providers are NOT liable for the losses. AT&T is offering $250,000 reward to catch whodunnit! It's that serious.
If you depend on one source for all your communications then you might reconsider. If your cable TV goes out are you ready to receive digital broadcasts for emergency messages? If your phone is out will you still have email? If your power is out will you have a phone? I've depended on my landline during many storms when the power grid was damaged even when the cell phone towers were offline. The caller ID for the landline was as much as the line itself. I dropped caller ID and added DSL.
Free Digital Television
Back in the 60's we subscribed to cable TV because the signal was a LOT better than our antenna. Today, digital over-the-air broadcasts are DVD quality and only restriced by your distance from the source and your antenna. My 19" and 25" analog TV's look like studio monitors. I know. I worked in studios for thirty years. If you have cable or satellite TV and think you don't need a digital tuner then read on. This page describes what to do if don't have a digital television.
All you need is a digital-to-analog converter box (an ATSC tuner).
Basic cable TV in my area was promoted for $9.99 a month. It does NOT provide the terrestial television sub-channels. If I sign up for basic cable I lose about 10 channels. No thanks. Free over-the-air broadcast television looks great. How much are you paying for cable TV?
Cancel your cable.
Digital broadcasting is so much better than analog transmission that the FCC has determined all television in the United States will switch to digital broadcasting. This will not only provide better reception to viewers but allow the television frequencies to be used more efficiently with little to no interference between channels. Channels 52 - 69 formerly used for television will be allocated to emergency, medical and other uses. The transition has already begun and February 17, 2009 all FULL POWER television stations will stop broadcasting analog signals.
Over 2000 television stations, however, will NOT make the switch to digital. These are Low Power stations such as municipal, public school and private television stations and translators that re-broadcast the signal from full power stations to local communities in areas where reception is poor. These will continue to broadcast analog tranmissions until some future date http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/DTVandLPTV.html.
One disadvantage of digital broadcasting is that the FCC has mandated a lower power threshold for broadcasters that means some must reduce power by as much as 80% to comply. Distant areas that now receive good analog signals will simply not be able to receive the new digital signal. Those that do may need a better antenna to continue good reception. To see your broadcast market visit Antenna Web for a listing of TV stations and the direction to their transmitters.
How to make any digital-to-analog converter box a "pass-through" box:
If your TV has direct video inputs then you're in business.
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First you need a cable splitter... just feed your antenna cable to the splitter then one cable from the splitter to the digital-to-analog converter box and the other to your TV or VCR.
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Then use the video output jacks on your digital-to-analog converter box to feed the signal to the video input jacks on your TV or VCR. You now have BOTH analog signals AND the digital conversion on your TV. Just change the channels on your TV normally to see the analog channels and go to the line input to see the digital channels. If you're connected to a VCR or other recording device you can record a digital channel while watching another analog channel on your TV. You can even set up your vcr to record one digital channel and multiple analog channels in a timer recording session. But still can't program your vcr to change digital channels that way.
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How about an antenna?
If you already have one you're good to go. The best is outdoors thirty above ground but any antenna will do if you're in a metropolitan area. Rabbit ears for VHF, bow ties or loops for UHF. You can make your own dipold bow-tie out of coat hangars. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw. It is really good for UHF but VHF might not come in as good as you'd like.
Something you don't need to know:
After February 2009 your favorite television stations may literally change channels. Because of the re-allocation of frequencies and transfer of channels to other uses many television broadcast channels will change. However, the digital signal carried by the station will also provide an identification code that will cause the channel to be displayed on the old number that the station was broadcast on previous to the digital transition. Confusing? Yes. That's why it is not part of the Digital Transition educational material. http://dtvfacts.com/latest/497/tv-channels-move/
Something you DO need to know:
With high lead content in CRTs, and the rapid diffusion of new, flat-panel display technologies, some of which (LCDs) use lamps containing mercury, there is growing concern about electronic waste from discarded televisions. Related occupational health concerns exist, as well, for disassemblers removing copper wiring and other materials from CRTs. Further environmental concerns related to television design and use relate to the devices' increasing electrical energy requirements. If you do get a new TV dispose of your old TV appropriately. Better yet, if it still works donate it to a local charity or thrift store. With a digital-to-analog converter box it can be used for years.
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