A repost from the Peanut Whistle:
Wow! I love the new technological age we live in now—especially High Definition TV. What I like about it is, digital TV returns free television—truly no cost—back to all of us with just old fashioned “rabbit ears”.
With digital the signal is delivered with astounding picture and sound quality never experienced in analog.
One thing Washington got right for a change was mandating the Switch to DTV last year.
Living in the Metro Atlanta area we can receive over 30 channels of free over-the-air TV—most of them in HD. This is all without a cable bill. I said, “Goodbye and good riddance” to Comcast months ago when I discovered this secret cable companies don’t want us knowing. Plus, suppose I install an honest to goodness roof-top setup—I believe many more channels would come in. You see, each TV station has the ability to transmit one or more additional channels along with their primary signal. There is one local station that has 10 or so extra “virtual” channels. For example our WSB-TV transmits their primary signal on virtual channel 2.1 in HD along with “Retro TV” on channel 2.2 in standard definition. Your new digital set “sees” WSB (now actually reassigned on channel 39) as 2.1 and 2.2 respectively. Through the magic of digital technology, “Channel 2” (their name since 1950) WSB retains its identity although their frequency flipped.
Digital TV has a few minor quirks; signal strength is important. Make sure your antenna is pointed correctly. Go to the FCC’s website for exact compass directions of local TV stations from your address. The site includes very helpful information. This aiming process is fairly easy, though. In addition, search YouTube for more information under, “Homemade HDTV antenna,” as well. I opted for Walmart™ and a less than $50 price point. For other programming such as sports and movies we have opted for the Internet and Netflix (more on that in a future post.)
Before I go, here is one more thing about cable you should know. You’re not getting real High Definition TV on any of your channels, when you subscribe to basic service; true HD costs extra with an additional cable box. Simple rabbit ears feed genuine HD to that new plasma or LCD screen when the stations’ signal allows, 100% of the time. Put some extra cash in your wallet this holiday season, cut the cable cord.
Stay tuned
©2010 Neal Rhoden, Aircheck blog. All rights reserved.
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