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Our TV is 20 years old, so to see if we got the digital channels clearly over air we'd have to buy the digital converter box for old TVs ($60 minus the govt. $40 coupon) and try, I think. But then if it didn't work we'd have the stupid box to deal with. Just with bunny ears and traditional signal we get seriously nothing. One channel, very very snowy.
On reading the fine print, I think with Dish we can get 40 channels ("family plan") for 19.99 and then add local channels for 5.99. Unfortunately you can't just buy the local channels!
This page might give you some kind of idea about how well digital TV signal might come in.
mr. flea (technology geek) thinks that page is really cool.
Unfortunately even our digital channel reception is sucky; everything is at the bottom of red or in grey. It's kind of amazing; we live only 60-70 miles from Atlanta, after all!
It's an awesome page, but I'd trust them if they say you won't get reception -- I obsessed on them when we dropped the cable, and found them to be reliable (good digital signal with occasional dropouts @ 3-30 miles depending on the station).
I have a question I have not researched, yet.
Will the big honkin' mast antenna on top of our house be useful in the digital age?
Is an antenna an antenna, or will it have to be replaced?
Why is google maps different now than it used to be?
Is it just different for me because I'm suddenly hitting something different, or logged in differently somehow, or has it really changed? I don't like it. Make it go back!
Flea, cable and satellite companies are required to offer local broadcast channels.
My television watching is still more analog than digital, and I've been pondering my cable bill as part of a general belt tightening. It looks like I can get most of my non-broadcast shows online from the source or Hulu, except for one or two that I'd have to pay to download. I prefer watching television in my den on my television, but it looks like a Tivo on my wireless network could play those shows on my television. Is that right? Is there some other way? This whole thing makes me feel kind of stupid.
I could get minimal cable for $19 a month rather than the $53 I'm paying now for digital basic. I'd probably have to get an external antenna to cut cable entirely, because some channels are pretty fuzzy on rabbit ears. (I recognize that this is all a first-world problem. With my budget, I should really just watch fuzzy TV and like it.)
While I'm asking ignorant television questions, if I got a second monitor, something I'm thinking about anyway for work, could I watch internet television on one monitor and work on another?
Ginger, we got an AppleTV and watch stuff we downloaded from iTunes on our TV. Very cool. I think Cashmere has one too.
I have an Apple TV too. Cool box, but I don't know that I had an Apple TV-shaped hole in my life to fill.
