"and 41 percent think that every TV in a house must have a new converter box, even those that are already connected to cable or satellite"

don't you need a converter box for every tv if you don't have cable or satellite? am i one of the 41%? i get that you won't need one at all if you have cable or satellite, but am i wrong that you need 2 if you have 2 tv's and neither cable nor satellite?

As part of my job, I have to repeat this to senior citizens at least 15 times a day. I can only imagine what its going to be like on Feb 19th when the switch finally happens. People blame us for it.

I feel like such a n00b for asking if this affects us hosers, but does it?

Up here in Canada, the only time I hear about this is when I watch American TV. They aren't giving out coupons here or anything.

But am I going to need a special antenna? In the old days I would have rabbit ears on top of my TV and I could get by with a fuzzy picture. My friend bought a new digital tuner TV with a similar antenna and rather than snow, the picture just freezes and stops for a few seconds.

I have cable TV and split my signal about 6 ways with quality splitters and premium cable. And by quality I mean professional grade I found on the web. I balanced the signal loss properly. Time Warner Cable has installed new coax from the box in the yard into my house. My analog tuners may have a slightly fuzzy picture at times, but my digital tuners will just freeze for a few seconds when the signal is not strong enough.

So while you may not NEED to get cable or satellite, you may need a big antenna on your roof.

I'm a Comcast subscriber here in NY and I can't believe how misleading some of the commercials that they're running here are. Messages like "Don't get left in the dark when the transition hits..."....the way they word it, there is no mention that they what they offer is optional, they seriously imply that you have to pay to watch tv after the switch.

I saw a commercial on TV last night for Time Warner cable. They said make sure that if you have any TVs not connected to cable to get them switched over by February 17th. They never mentioned the fact that you could get a converter box and made it said specifically to get cable boxes for them and to call Time Warner. This was definitively deceptive marketing as they made it sound like the only way the TVs would still work would be if you got their cable box.

@fjordtjie:

If you have a TV that gets its signal via antenna, it will need a converter box, unless it already has a digital tuner built in (unlikely unless it was bought post-2005). One box per TV.

@fjordtjie: They should make a flow chart:
1. Do you have cable: no goto 2
2. Do you have sattellite: no goto 3
3. Do you have FiOS: no goto 4
4. Do you have a digital TV: no goto 5
5. Get a converter box

I, for one, can't wait for The Great TV Riots of 2009.

@billbobbins: you dont NEED a special antenna, but it's advised because you'll need a better signal than before.

People should also know that they don't need a special HD/Digital antenna to get the new signal.

I actually thought that was the case because there are so many "Digital/HDTV" antennas being sold. I was going to buy one for for parents for Christmas but did a quick google search to find out that ANY antenna will work to get HDTV signal.

Keep in mind that while you may need a converter box, you most likely will NOT need a new antenna. If you don't get a strong signal right now, and you think you need a bigger / amplified antenna, I would advise waiting until after the transition to invest in one. The reason for this is that many (most?) stations will increase the power of their digital transmissions by 5-10x after the transition is complete.

@unobservant: Well... it only affects you if you pick-up american stations over the air across the border.

This article, in addition to the helpful video I saw, cleared this whole issue up for me.

I received a very misleading mailer from Comcast that, had I not known any better, would have led me to believe that I needed cable to watch TV after February...

@EricLecarde: Is it the 19th? I thought it was the 17th, which is my birthday. And our digital signals are terrible in my area, and I do NOT appreciate it as a quarter-century birthday present.

I have tried and tried to explain this to my parents who continually believe that I know nothing about technology! They went out and bought 2 converters for 2 televisions that are both connected to cable!
Come transition time there will be thousands of old people walking the streets with led pipes, chains and crow bars like a scene out of a 1970's gang fight movie when they find out they never needed the converters at all.

@snowburnt: Laugh it up, but that is an excellent teaching tool; clear as a bell and absolutely impossible to misunderstand.

This has been the biggest government PR/PSA campaign I've seen in my lifetime. Not a day has gone by in the last 18 months that I haven't heard something about it.

Seriously, at this point, not knowing the detail on this is like never having heard of 9/11 or something.

@jamesmusik: I think a lot of people have no idea what digital broadcast TV looks like either. I had no idea until a few months ago. I grew up with cable and I figured that digital TV was just different method of delivering a crappy picture. But it actually looks BETTER than cable since it's not compressed. As long as you have at least 40% signal strength, you'll get a crystal clear picture.

@snowburnt: I love that. I'm going to use that to explain it to my coworkers.

@se7a7n7: Just like those "digital-ready" headphones when CDs first came out!

@jamesmusik: They word it confusing on purpose. You'll not buy their service any other way right?

@se7a7n7: Any antenna that can receive current UHF channels will work.

The spot they run on TV with the guy walking in the cracked desert reminds me of an ED drug commercial.

Please add that you do not need a special antenna to pick up digital transmissions. Whatever antenna you use for analog will work now and after the switch for digital. Just like with analog, a larger antenna or an antenna placed on a roof, in an attic, or somewhere where it can better receive the signal works better than an antenna with a larger price tag or a fancy name.

@NHTOB_GitEmSteveDave loves->★: Very nice.

As one who's been assigned getting my 89 year-old grandfather up and running, I got a kick out of this.

My 77-year-old mother , displeased with yet another rise in her cable rates, called her cable company to negotiate a better deal. She threatened to cancel her service.

The CSR actually TOLD her that with the digital transition she would absolutely HAVE to have cable. Mom told the CSR that she'd buy a radio.

Mom got that rate lowered, but is it any wonder people are confused?

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: I disagree. Yes, there have been plenty of posters up, but they're the most unhelpful things EVER. Here in DC, this is the poster we get: [flickr.com]

What average person understands "Full-power analog broadcasting"? Why didn't they just say "Your TV will stop working if the following conditions are true"? Oh, right, because it's the government and they don't know how to communicate with ordinary people.

In Texas, Time Warner Cable is pushing a heavy rotation of advertisements letting people know that they don't have to buy new TVs, get a special antenna, or get a converter box for the transition. "Time Warner Cable is all you need."

It looks like the various interests out there are putting out commercials that explain things from their point of view, or the specific solutions that they have, but end up making the big picture muddy for most people.

@billbobbins: That's because if there is loss in the digital signal, there is no data to show; with analog, you get fuzzies and snow in place of the missing data.

@rkaufman: I'm talking mainly about the local network affiliates, including even CW. At least twice every half hour during the afternoon broadcasts. The local news teams do the best job at it--all of them come on for 30-second spots and explain it very clearly ("if you have cable or satellite, you're fine"). I assume that's not the case everywhere, though. Your poster is a good example of ambiguity for the average joe.

So as usual, the government fails and the private companies do a pretty good job.

@chrisjames: unless you're on the wrong side of the "digital cliff" - since analog signals travel farther than digital signals, some people may need a bigger/more well-placed antenna.

My local ABC and Fox stations ran a DTV test last week. Nice to see they're making efforts to let people test their sets to see if they need a converter box or not.

@kamel5547: With an antenna I presume. :P

Around here they've had a multiple special TV spots in which all the broadcast stations cease broadcasting regular analog programming. If your TV is not digital, it comes up with a screen that tells you it's not digital and that you need to buy a converter box for your antenna. If your TV is digital, there's scrolling text that says your TV is fine.

Am the only person here who thinks this whole digital transition thing has been blown WAY out of proportion.

There's all this "the sky is falling and your life will be miserable if you don't act now to save your precious TV" kind of stuff everywhere and it bothers me.

I really don't think there's going to be a bunch of chaos come Feb. 17.

@spazztastic: I added an antenna to my roof that was neither large or specialized. Cost about 50 bucks for the whole project and now I get lots of free tv!

@jurijuri: Did I not say that? Chances are that if you have a clear analog picture now, you won't experience the cliff. Plus, after the transition, it's possible the digital channels will be getting a little boost, but that's all relative.

@snowburnt: Yes! I love flow charts! I think this is a great idea.

@billbobbins: Big antenna? No. Newer one? More powerful one? Possibly, depending on where you live.

Can someone answer this for me??

I have regular analog TVs hooked up directly to cable TV. No set top boxes. And I only pay for the over-the-air channels.

Would I need to pay for set top boxes if they are sending digital-only signals through the cable connection?

@snowburnt: You have inspired me. Thanks.

@billbobbins:

I have a big antenna on my roof that was there when I bought the house. When my DTV went out, I plugged it into my (analog) TV and was able to watch the 4 regular channels we get here.

But if my DTV goes out, I don't think it will hook up to my new TV. The cord isn't long enough. I'll just have to watch TV online. LOST will be back by then.

Hopefully the LOST picture will look better after the 19th. On my new TV it looks like crap!!!!

@snowburnt: Agreed. Considering how moronic people can get despite the facts are staring them right in the face.

@billbobbins:

I currently use rabbit ears to receive over the air HD. Or rather the UHF loops part of the antenna.

When television goes all digital in February they will also be boosting the signal strength as there will not be any analog channels to interfere with.

Depending on your distance from the antenna you may or may not need a better antenna.

@msthe8r:

Your mom rocks.

I saw a commercial over the weekend from Knology, our local cable provider. It was telling people that you needed cable TV or your TV would not work after the switch. It was blatantly untrue. What was odd is that it was one of those commercials that was served up via the cable system between regular broadcast commercials so only cable subscribers would see it.

@billbobbins: We have one of the big 8 foot Winegard's that gives up a ratty image on analog. I put one of the RCA units bought at the local WallyWorld and (NEO moment) whoa. Crystal clear and 4 channels that have two sub channels, one for SD and HD. HD looked good on the standard "Motel duty" RCA TVs we have. Signal strength is 17, so we'll probably head out with the meter beeping away when things warm up a bit and tweak the antenna around.