Apr 7th, 2009
The Digital Future (looking very retro)
After my rant about the slow take up of digital TV, I feel obliged to tell you that I just took delivery of two DTV boxes. We don’t need them immediately as we have basic cable running to both of our TVs (which are both old and would need the DTV boxes). In fact, until about 2 months ago I had no intention of getting any coupons or boxes.
It was only until I thought about just how little TV we watch did the DTV idea get into my head. If really cheap cable goes away which it probably will, I have zero appetite to pay a lot for full cable or satellite. We have no plans to upgrade TVs. Broadcast will serve us just fine if need be. So I went to the DTV.gov site, applied for and received my coupons, and then bought two converters on Amazon.
Today the wonderfully retro, Bulgarian made “Channel Master” showed up. It complements the rabbit ears well. I set up our spare TV to try out the box and I must say, I’m impressed. The setup was a cinch, the picture is good, and some of the extra local channels are a nice addition (like a constant local news/weather loop).
So my recommendation is that if you have an older TV running on cable, it’s probably worth getting a coupon while they’re available and picking up a box just in case.
2 Responses to “The Digital Future (looking very retro)”
Glad they worked for you. I tried the boxes and they didn’t work on either of my tvs. Guess I am either getting new tv or basic cable.
[...] I wrote about the Digital TV converters I bought, I figured I was buying them as a backup if we chose to abandoned cable. After proving [...]