Question for Gurus re: Feb. 2009 switch

Hi, I saw your show on Fios VOD, it was pretty good. I wish I could get an upgrade! :)

I have a question for the gurus. I've been hearing about this big switch that TV is going to do in Feb. of next year, over to all digital. I'm not sure what it all means though. Am I going to have to get a new TV then? I now have an old fashioned TV that's a few years old, but wasn't cheap. (By old fashioned I mean it's not plasma or anything.)

Thank you for the help.

Dave!

Thanks for checking out the show!
Right now I have a 24 inch old school Sony TV with Rabbit ears. (hey, I am an old school guy!) Due to the frequency switches, I am unable to pick up any of the channels on the VHF frequency, and the channels on the UHF frequency are sub-par at best. I was actually experimenting with a communication device, and noticed that interfered with the VHF 700MHz band; (whenever I would transmit, I could hear audio feed back on the VHF channels! Pretty cool.)

Well I received my lovely TV a couple years back when I worked in a Motorola test lab. This old beast served as a gateway to hundreds of FiOS boxes connected to it via a switch. Well if you have ever connected a high definition box to an old TV, you know that the picture is sharper, and may have the black bars around the image.

This will be the same experience you have when you get your DTV converter. The convert will essentially be a high definition box with the "basic" channels. All it means is that your picture will not have any more analog noise; you will either see the picture or if the signal is low, you will not see a picture at all. There are some DTV converter option available now that allow you to view the channels on the digital frequencies.

In conclusion, I think if you want the best picture then go ahead and get yourself a super awesome HDTV; but if you want to keep it real old-school style, then you won't have any problems with your current TV.

:D Great Question Dave!

Guru Lloyd, thanks for your response and the link to that DTV site, very helpful.

Sorry I should have clarified I don't have rabbit ears. I actually have cable but it's not digital cable (I get about 70 channels, I actually saw your show on VOD at a friend's house.) The cable just goes from the wall into my TV. So I guess by next Feb. they just probably won't be offering non digital cable anymore anyhow? So whatever box they give me should work ok with my old TV though, right?

Thanks again.

Does anyone else think it's odd that a Techno-Guru has a TV with rabbit ears? Lloyd, you should start putting a tip jar on your desk, man.

<p>There was a news release on the Verizon site today about this very subject:</p><a href="http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2008/verizon-makes-digital-televisi.html">http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2008/verizon-makes-digital-televisi.html</a> <p>They've also set up a dedicated website to answer common questions about the Feb. 2009 switch:</p> <a href="http://www.verizon.com/godigital">http://www.verizon.com/godigital</a>