Digital Tv Broadcasting Coming Soon

We all need to think about this change that will take place on February 17, 2009. All TV stations will stop broadcast in analog and only use digital system. You think no big deal, 85% of all TV sets in USA are analog only. Most all RV equipment have analog sets. TV sets we have were build into nice oak cabinets and to change it could be a problem. Try to find one that would fit into your cabinets.

You can add a digital to analog converter box to keep the old TV set. You will need room or space to add this equipment plus AC power. Next problem is your bat-wing style antenna on roof. If you have the silver wings you will need to change that also. If you have the painted wings you are OK. Winegard has the new wings and you only need to change that part, rest of Winegard gear is OK.

Our Congress mandated this change in 2006. Now I understand tons of people do not have the dollars to buy new TV's or buy converter box. Government is now talked they may pay cost on digital to analog equipment so people can see TV again. Our government at work!

We in RV life have around 14 months to think about the best way to get ready to fix this problem.
What will we do next?

 

Camping World has the tuners. I looked, one will fit (barely) in my space above the TV. I have another TV nook in the back bedroom, I bought a digital TV for that space.

But, yes, replacing the front TV, which is BOLTED into my cabinet on a slider, will be an issue!

JJ

 

I just found this website. It is not specifically about RV's, but it did seem to have some good information in general.

http://www.dtvanswers.com/

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Dec 15 2007, 09:32 AM) [snapback]9477[/snapback]

I just found this website. It is not specifically about RV's, but it did seem to have some good information in general.

http://www.dtvanswers.com/



Oh, how I long for the days when you just plugged it in and turned it on............ AND IT WORKED!

JJ

 

Yes, it should be interesting when all channels go digital. One thing you won't have to do is change your antenna. Any antenna (even old rabbit ears) will receive the digital signal.

 

QUOTE(Oakman @ Dec 15 2007, 07:59 PM) [snapback]9485[/snapback]

Yes, it should be interesting when all channels go digital. One thing you won't have to do is change your antenna. Any antenna (even old rabbit ears) will receive the digital signal.



That may or may not be true, depending on whether the stations you watch will be changing to different channels for their digital feed.
http://www.dtvanswers.com/dtv_antenna.html

 

I called Winegard over the bat wing antenna we all have on roof. The ones that are sliver in color are old type (model RV 2001) this will work but not very well. You will lose range. The new ones are model# 2005 and have painted wings. The new ones are set up for DTV. You can change out the wing only for around $70.00. Remove two pins and the cable will do the trick. Check Winegard web site or call 800-288-8094 for more information.

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Dec 15 2007, 12:32 PM) [snapback]9477[/snapback]

I just found this website. It is not specifically about RV's, but it did seem to have some good information in general.

http://www.dtvanswers.com/



I checked out the dtvanswers site and it indicated that, if you already have cable at home, you will not have to get a new TV for home. If true, that will save some bucks. I'm one of those cheap people who doesn't like to replace something if it still works. I'd hate to dump two perfectly good TVs just because of this change in technology. On the road, of course, may be a different story. I don't have satellite on board, but usually stay at parks with cable. If I understand the dtvanswers site correctly, an HDTV may not be needed in those parks that have cable. Anybody have any insight on this?

 

Counting our home and motor home we have seven TV's. The 2 newest are in the MH and are 3 years old. The home TV's are older with some of them being ancient. We subscribe to a cable service at home, and usually stay at RV parks that have cable/satellite service. Only rarely do we have to use the antenna when we're on the road. We were pretty sure our equipment would be far too old to handle the new technology when it switches over in 2009. And like Jerry we were not excited about having to change out seven TV's. Then I was listening to a news program, and they mentioned the dtvanswers website (which I posted earlier). After reading the info there we began to think we were not as bad off as we originally thought. If we read it correctly the only TV's that will be affected are those that still receive a signal with an antenna. If you receive your signal through a cable or satellite service apparently you will not need to do anything.

Now since you can never be sure if what you read on the internet is true we went to Best Buy and talked to one of their sales reps. He said the exact same thing as the website. Still being skeptical we went to a high end home technology store and when they said the same thing we started to believe it. So we think we'll be fine at home and also if we use the cable at a park, but we plan to check out the motor home situation a little more to see if we'll get a signal with just the antenna. If we can't it seems the solution will be to buy a converter box, and I'm assuming we will need one for each TV. At least the website tells how we can get a coupon for $40 off. I don't know how much the boxes cost, but $40 is a nice start.

I'm sure we'll do whatever it takes because we can't miss our favorite shows (if the writers ever win their strike and start writing again).

 

TexasRvers:

There's a writer's strike??? Really? Who would have thunk it.

Seriously, we have had almost no impact on our daily TV habits due to the writer's strike because the only thing we find worth watching are the reruns, anyway. Maybe we're just getting old but almost none of the new tv shows they've put on in the past few years appeal to us. I've had enough of the reality shows, the game shows, and the other shows that don't have anything interesting about them. About the only exception is American Idol which we find interesting and entertaining. Just my opinion, of course.

 

We have also wondered "What strike?" The shows just seem to be going on as usual. However, the information I've read says the first shows affected were the talk shows, and they have been in reruns from the beginning of the strike, but it's been kind of fun to watch them and see how it was "back then." I also read that the reality shows won't be affected because they are not scripted. I expected it to affect the soap operas before now, but I have recently heard most of them have filmed episodes that will take them through Feb. So that leaves the prime time shows, and I heard most of them had the first half of their season filmed which would take them through Dec. and some into Jan. After that they may be in trouble. Some articles have said the effects of the strike are yet to come, but like you, we also like the reruns. Most of them I can't remember seeing the first time around anyway so it's new to me. As you can see we do watch a lot of TV.

 

We bought a new tv for the bedroom in our rv a couple of months ago. We were in Nevada last month and when I set the tv for programming I discovered the digital program button. I tried it, the reception and clarity was better that any cable and perhaps satellite. We were impressed. While in Vegas we watched digital over the offered cable at the park! WOW

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Dec 22 2007, 09:07 AM) [snapback]9588[/snapback]

We have also wondered "What strike?" The shows just seem to be going on as usual. However, the information I've read says the first shows affected were the talk shows, and they have been in reruns from the beginning of the strike, but it's been kind of fun to watch them and see how it was "back then." I also read that the reality shows won't be affected because they are not scripted. I expected it to affect the soap operas before now, but I have recently heard most of them have filmed episodes that will take them through Feb. So that leaves the prime time shows, and I heard most of them had the first half of their season filmed which would take them through Dec. and some into Jan. After that they may be in trouble. Some articles have said the effects of the strike are yet to come, but like you, we also like the reruns. Most of them I can't remember seeing the first time around anyway so it's new to me. As you can see we do watch a lot of TV.



One show that I KNOW has been affected is "24." Season 7 isn't going to air, even though they have done, like, 6 episodes or something. This show usually starts in January and they run it all the way to June without any pre-emptions. The show is done in "real time" so it cannot be aired at all!

JJ

 

I can see how "24" would be affected because of its format. I've also heard that the strike will start to affect the movie industry if it goes on much longer. Because movies are filmed quite some time before they are released, new ones are still coming out right now. I read that most of the summer 2008 blockbusters got filmed, but are experiencing a little trouble if some scenes needed to be rewritten, and if the director or actors are members of the writers guild(which some of them are) even they can't do the rewrite. Well, that's ok. There are a LOT of movies out on DVD that we haven't seen.

 

On the subject of the writers strike, maybe they all should be fired and a new group of writers hired. We find the movies and tv shows of today to be pure junk on most all points. They fail to entertain, enlighten, or provoke the observer to think differently on a given subject. There are a few good ones but they are few in number. We do not go to movies, but do purchase DVDs on a few movies per year, but most are older releases when actors were the actors and the directors were directors, not actors who think they can direct. There are exceptions to this statement, Redford, and Newman being examples. The entertainment industry surely does not make much money on us. Sorry to have gotten off the original posted subject.

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Dec 23 2007, 12:34 PM) [snapback]9597[/snapback]

I've also heard that the strike will start to affect the movie industry if it goes on much longer. Because movies are filmed quite some time before they are released, new ones are still coming out right now. I read that most of the summer 2008 blockbusters got filmed, but are experiencing a little trouble if some scenes needed to be rewritten, and if the director or actors are members of the writers guild(which some of them are) even they can't do the rewrite. Well, that's ok. There are a LOT of movies out on DVD that we haven't seen.



Well, my understanding is that directors prefer movies to be released at Christmastime anyway, because those have a better chance of getting nominated for Oscars. So we don't have any summer blockbusters........

JJ

 

An engineer friend of mine, who "claims" to be an "expert" in electronics, told me that the reason it won't be a problem if you have cable is because you will receive your cable, but it will be "pushed through" as analog if you don't have an HD ready TV. That kind of doesn't make sense to me. Who knows.

But if you are getting your TV via an antena, you will need a converter. I'm wondering where I will have room for the converter box on my front TV, which pretty much takes up a lot of space in it's specially made TV nook. My front TV is bolted to a slide out stand, centered in the nook, and there is only 3 inches of clearance on the top and sides.

JJ :unsure:

 

You guys are making to big a deal out of the digital thing. It is a great excuss to buy a new MH.

 

QUOTE(Big Ben @ Dec 26 2007, 05:18 PM) [snapback]9646[/snapback]

You guys are making to big a deal out of the digital thing. It is a great excuss to buy a new MH.




Thanks Big Ben, now we have a reason to justify our looking at new motor homes !!!!!

 

[SIZE=14pt]WalMart is selling Digital to NTSC converters... somewhere around $90.00. The gov't in their infinite "wisdom" is going to give everyone a $40.00 coupon... this ought to be real interesting on how that project/program is going to run....

An antenna is an antenna, it does not give two hoots if it is pulling in a digital signal or an analog signal, the antenna just does not care. The ONLY reason why the MARGINAL AT BEST (Piece Of Stuff) bat wing antenna is or may be a problem is only because the digital TV broadcasts are "way up" the TV band. This may change, as analog transmitters die off and the band empties, it will soon fill up with digital signals, so the maginal at best POS batwing will be back in its element. EXCEPT on 700MHz, this bands fate has already been predetermined. Many of the old analog broadcast bands may meet the similar fate as public service users decide they need more spectrum.

The whole idea to kill off analog bandeating broadcasts was inevitable. It is only that it took the congress to mandate the move since if it were left up to the industry, the move would never have happened.

As a TV watcher, I would not be in a tizzy over this. The DBS systems will still be both "HD" and NTSC, same with cable. As long as camp grounds offer cable TV, our old TVs will still work, and if you subscribe to a DBS service, there is no huge hurry to switch. The only user that needs to upgrade to digital are those that only use off the air signals, the only reason to replace the antenna is for one with higher gain on the higher frequencies. But, as I said, as things settle down, and the bands are either repopulated or refarmed, then the existing antenna will be fine.

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