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Pending analog to digital TV changeover

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JeffVolp:

I'm looking for suggestions on how to deal with a pending analog to digital TV changeover.

We now have analog TV feed from the cable company.  We have no converter boxes, and all of our equipment is still analog, including three high-end DVRs that allow us to watch programs when convenient for us, not for the broadcasters.  Those are Panasonic DMR-E100H’s, (pre HD) which store programs to harddrive.  Aside from no monthly fee, one big advantage over TiVo is that we can edit down programs and save to DVDs or SD cards.  That is one feature I don't want to lose.  The primary reason for not going digital is because those DVRs would become obsolete.

The cable company said they would be doing away with the analog feed next year, so we will have to address the changeover.  Cable TV costs about $60 per month without any premium channels.  We do have access to most regular stations by direct transmission (which would require all new equipment or HDTV converters), but my wife likes several channels only available via cable.  I'm in sort of a quandary on how to proceed when cable does away with the analog transmission.  I am posting here to see how others have addressed this situation with minimum cost.

Jeff

William8:
I'm sure the cable company will offer converters to their customers that still have analog TV's. They hate to lose customers.

But you are paying $60 a month I assume you already have a cable box, doesn't it already receive digital signals, and output them over the coax output? Or are you paying $60 for internet and basic cable as I am?

Might be time to get an HDTV either way, I love mine.

JeffVolp:

Yes, the cable company would be happy to rent us converter boxes if we would switch to digital.  But that would prevent the DVRs from choosing which channel to record.  The E100H doesn't have any means to control what channel a cable box is tuned to.

Basically, the DVRs record everything for the week unattended, and we watch programs when convenient, usually weeks behind when it was recorded.  (We catch up in the summer when it is too hot to go outside.)

$27 for basic cable, $34 to include the "non-broadcast" channels (no premium), and $41 for Internet (8M).

Researching TiVo further, I see they now have a means to transfer recorded programs over to the PC, where they can be written to DVD.  However, that is $500 + $500 for the fee, and I would have to run more Ethernet links into outside walls.

Jeff

Dan Lawrence:
The  Pending analog to digital TV changeover now is a crock.   The changeover was four years ago.   Comcast in the Baltimore County had to send out small convertors of those who had analog "cable ready" sets that convert digital signals to analog.  In Baltimore city, (1984) the system required a box for every TV that had cable service.  My kitchen has a small TV that was only 3 years old (we were a Neison customer, and when we stopped, they blew up my old kitchen TV and gave us "brand new" one) so Ii got two "Government Cheese" coupons (actually 2 cards that looked like an ATM card) and $6.00 and got a digital converter (A Maganvox) that converts digital signals to analog (since that TV is on my outside antenna).

BTW the Government is not giving out those cards anymore, plus almost every TV station in the country already went digital in 2007.

JeffVolp:

--- Quote from: Dan Lawrence on November 05, 2011, 03:20:32 PM ---The Pending analog to digital TV changeover now is a crock.
--- End quote ---

Not for some of us on cable.  Maybe the world passed us by, but we have been using our analog equipment without a glitch except that our 4:3 screens cut off the sides of the picture.  That has been adequate for most of what is on TV today.  We have the HD projector in the media room for DVD & BD movies.

If you had read my original post, the "Pending" refers to our cable company will be cutting off the analog feed, forcing us holdouts to make the transition.

As you probably know, I'm a strong believer in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".  Well, my stuff ain't broke yet, and I'm looking for the most cost effective way to maintain the same capability we now have after they make the transition.

Jeff

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