Mighty Favog Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 I just had DirectTV installed a week ago and things are fine for now. I have an analog CRT TV that, while it's not stellar, it works fine. Now initially I was thinking I had to get a new TV with a digital tuner and if I do it wil be in 16:9 screen format, HD tuner, yadda, yadda.... Now that I have the sattelite receiver(s) will it be imparitive to get a digital tunered TV when the grand conversion happens in 09' or can I still use mu old analog 4:3 TV. Thus putting off the buying of a new TV for a while longer as I still need to get this year 1.) a new home computer 2.) new tires for the lil' hot rod 3.) new McIntosh and related gear and 4.) still go on vacation.[*-)] BTW- No, I have no plans to get an open air antenna for any of this. Tanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardP Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 No, only people who get their TV service via over-the-air antennas will need to have a digital tuner or a converter box. DirecTV, Dish, and all cable customers will continue to get their television service just as before. Those companies transform any channel feeds they receive into their own transmission format, then send it to your house into the DTV receiver or cable box. In other words, they are doing the transforming of the digital signal into the signal your TV receives. Now, of course cable and satellite providers can send you high-def channels, which you pay extra for, but receiving them does not use your TV's tuner; you do need a high-def TV for those HD channels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 Thanks Richard! That gives me a real good excuse not to particpate in the frenzy of people buying new TV's nearing the magical conversion date.[] I'll wait till it's over when store stock gets replenished and there will probably be a better model I can afford anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Meanwhile, I may be seeing a more than usual selling (CL) of all types of TV's,(HD's)which may be more than the typical after Christmas sell-off. Between now and the end of the year I expect to do a flat screen wider format upgrade for a second watching space. Lots of SonyTrinitrons out there, some at give-a-way prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtkinney Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Depending on which Satellite converter box you have (at least for Dish Network) you can still pick up HD broadcasts off the air and have them converted and sent to your analog TV. I have the Motorola HD box and antennas in the attic to get all of the local analog and digital programming. Most, but not all of the digital channels are HD. The few times each year when it rains too hard to get a satellite signal, I can still watch the locals off the air. Digital also works when all I see is snow on the analog channel. I feed the RGB HD signal to my 5-6yo Toshiba RPTV, which has no HD tuner, and distribute the line level video to the other TV's and VCR's in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 ... Digital also works when all I see is snow on the analog channel. .... Does this mean that a digital turner can lock onto a much weaker signal than an analog tuner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtkinney Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 In my case this is correct. On Channel 2 from Daytona, all I can see is ghosting (antenna is pointed toward Orlando), but I do get audio. On the digital channel (can't remember the number), I get HD video and 5.1 audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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