Monk isn't shown on a broadcast network, right? Only on cable (USA?).

Feh. Not my grandparents.

They got themselves a 37" LCD TV, digital cable, and a DVD recorder last year. No confusion there.

They still don't have a computer, though. Good thing, I guess; I would be the first one they would call for assistance...

I thought about this the other day. There was one merchant I heard about that was giving away the DTV converter box for free--an online merchant. Don't know which one it was now though.

Monk's on USA. Usually before Psych. I love those shows.... *creeeeeeeak*

I think the is the video the FCC chairman watched at CES. Gizmodo had a post about it.

@BlackMage is doing the Time Warp agaaaaaaain!!!: My in-laws (in their early 70's) just got a nice LCD, blue ray player and DVR box. They have no idea how to use it though and now call me regularly to help them set the input when they want to watch a movie.

Oh my god it's the lady that played the piano for The Nightman Cometh! Troll toll!

As long as their robot insurance is paid up, they don't need to worry about tv.
[www.hulu.com]

Wait, so I have cable connected to all of my TVs, and all of them have cable boxes. Do I need to get a converter box like the old lady? She seemed confused. I'm confused. I can't afford a converter, and I love coupons. I bet the old lady does too. SAVE ME OBAMA!!!!

@ScottRose: no if you have cable you DON'T need a converter box.

I love Spike Feresten! Anybody here watch him?

To be fair, many things beffuddle senior citizens, even basic driving skills.

@ThickSkinned: You are my new favorite person I've never met. When it said, "And now, Sam Waterston for Old Glory Insurance", I thought it was going to be someone imitating him.

BUT THEN JACK MCCOY WARNED ME ABOUT ROBOTS!!! HAH! BEST!

@friendlynerd: "Are you chewing gum?" "Yeah."

Whats going to happen is it's going to be delayed, Feb 17th will roll around and everyone will think they have DTV. When the real switch comes people are going to wounder what the heck is going on becasue they thought were ready...

@techgoddess:

Yeah, his show is hilarious..though, basically unwatched. It's too bad.

@friendlynerd: I forgot to tell you, Calvin Coolidge was a good friend of mine.

If you watch TV then you know about the transition. There's a local news story about it seemingly every other day. If you don't watch TV then what's the problem? If you haven't really been paying attention then you probably won't notice when your TV starts showing snow. This is like Y2K fear-mongering all over again. I mean, what's going to happen? Civil unrest? Martial law? A run on milk and eggs?

Ah, seniors watch too much TV as it is. They need to turn the set off and go outside and play. Burn off all that pent up energy so they can be more focused to play bingo.

DTV should arrive on Dec. 21, 2012 I hear.

@ScottRose: I printed this flow chart out and it explained in 10 seconds what 5 minutes of me explaining couldn't. Thank you Meg!

I love how people dumb down seniors, while my 80+ year old grandparents aren't running around with iphones and ipods they are very aware of what is going on with the DTV transition.

The target should just be idiots who don't pay attention to anything outside their cave no matter what their age.

@Ash78: If it was, I might drop cable.

One could probably use this as an excuse to get their parents/grandparents into a senior citizen's home.

Look! They've got some of those newfangled digital tv gadgets!

My HTML skills are a bit off. I forgot the tags.

I'm paraphrasing from another thread, but someone was retelling a story where a coworker was complaining about how they hadn't given people enough time, that he's only heard about the transition a few months before. The poster retorted "I heard about it, oh, about 10 years ago".

I feel for grandma here, but at the same time, we can't let the least capable among us stop progress for the other 95%, "Harrison Bergeron"-style. Just make sure the converter boxes are readily available and easy to install (which, by most accounts, they are - plug antenna into converter, plug converter into TV's antenna jack, set TV to channel 3, and go).

I'm more concerned about the possibility of DTV to be completely unwatchable in areas that get a marginal, but watchable, signal today - not surprisingly, a lot of these areas are rural areas that don't have cable service. And there are still many, many people who simply can't get a dish due to lack of line-of-sight.

^^^ See, that's the problem. It removed the (sarcasm) tags.

@Ash78: NBC has aired a few episodes. I dropped cable a few months ago and am definitely missing USA...

@Ash78: I heard Psych was being replayed on NBC or something. Monk too?

There's gonna be hell to pay if the government messes up their "stories" and "wheel"!

Why is it that the old people who have been around like 80 years are supposed to be wise old owls and a wealth of knowledge, yet they cant even do something as simple as program a VCR. Also they always fall for scams that any rational person could see from a mile away. If it has more than 2 buttons my Grandma may as well not even look at it.

@prag: I watch TV, and I only saw something on TV about this this week. I think it's been the broadcast networks, including the local news, that have been carrying those stories, and I don't watch them. I suspect I'm not alone.

I'm just glad my in-laws already have digital cable. They have to get a new telephone/answering machine every year because once the thing fills up with messages, they can't figure out how to delete them.

My husband has tried and tried to no avail to help with it too. they just don't get it. Or else they have THE worst luck in the universe with answering machines.

My Father-In-Law is no kid, and while he's not tech savy, he DOES have an MP3 player, and rips his own MP3s.

OK - when he has questions (and a lot are simple) he asks me - but he uses email to do it.

He had no trouble with "we use cable so we don't need a converter"

@dreamsneverend: I agree. My dad is 73 and has a 50" LCD TV, DVD player, computer, cell phone and GPS. Of those items, I have a computer, DVD player and just got a cell phone about 6 months ago. My dad is more hi-tech than I am!!!

On the other end of the spectrum, I almost got into a fist fight with my best friend arguing about the digital switch. He's convinced that after the switch all channels will magically appear as hi-def on his non-HD TV! No matter what, I could not convince him that digital does NOT mean HD.

@Ash78:

I believe they rebroadcast old episodes on NBC, or some other station.

@ScottRose: The cold metal ones will come for YOU!

@pb5000:

Get them one of the low-end logitech harmony remotes and then set it up for them. Then all they have to do is press once button to watch a movie, or one button to watch tv. One remote, easy as can be.

@pb5000: How did they know they wanted it in the first place if they have no idea how to use it? I figure you're savvy enough to know what DVR does, you might be savvy enough to push the record button. Then again, my dad still has no idea why his DVR records random shows. He'll get home and find a three hour block of "Hanging with Mr. Cooper" on his TV.

So this was pretty hilarious: whatever day that was in December when the OTA stations were going to play the audio (was it audio & video?) track that let antenna users know that they needed the converter box, I was at my sister's house, and they have digital cable. Supposedly, those with cable weren't going to get the warning message, but there it was, loud and clear coming over my sister's cable box attached TV. For those with cable who didn't know better, I can see where that might have thrown them off.

@Maglet: Did it look like it had the complete Judging Amy series on DVD too?

@Gorphlog: So the Jitterbug phon, with it's giagantor buttons, would be a lost cause?

@everfade: And expiration dates for coupons

@Writer, TheNinjaReport: My Father in Law "needs to have the best" regardless of if he even knows why it's the best. They also only have a handful of HD stations but watch the standard def version since they don't realize it's not HD. Plus, they both have such thick glasses I doubt they'd be able to tell the difference. Don't get me started though, I could write a book on the quirks of these people.

@friendlynerd: Yes, hell yes! I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw her.

By the time the DTV switch actually rolls around, I'm going to be too old to understand it.

@Gorphlog: The elderly that fall into that category were likely idiots in their younger heydays. The "wise old owls" are the few that were actually intelligent in their younger days.

@pb5000: I know the sentiment. My in-laws seem to avoid HD, I think, because they'd rather watch "channel 12" than "channel 92-1" (the latter is harder to type into the remote and its location in the lineups means it's harder to find while surfing).

@floraposte: It's not the stories, it's the constant "PSA's" that have been getting on everyone's nerves. I've seen many cable stations showing them as well. If you haven't seen them, it might just be because you're pretty good at tuning out commercials.

@EdnaLegume: When my grandparents got a digital camera, they'd get a new flash card each time the previous one filled up, just like film.