Help with TV questions please

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Me neither, my stuff doesn't break though. 2001 Sony Trinitron 27" still going strong. 2004 Toshiba laptop still going strong. 2006 IPOD still going strong. I probably saved a couple hundo for negating the service plan on those three purchases.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by kuan

Coupla questions: I've asked at the Best Buy and apparently I cannot get a straight answer.

1) I have an old analog TV. Will I be able to get TV without a box when the time comes? According to the dtv2009.gov website if I have cable service I should be able to receive television as normal.

2) If I get a HDTV set all should be fine, but only one that receives digital so I can't just buy a new HDTV unit. I have to have a special one. True or False?

3) If I get a transmitter box I still have to get a HDTV set because some channels will only be transmitted in HDTV and I will miss out on some channels.

1. Only if you do not have satellite or cable will you for sure need to buy a set-top box. If you have cable service, nothing should change. If you have satellite service, nothing should change, though if you do not subscribe to your local channels and your satellite receiver does not have a digital off-the-air tuner, than you would need a set-top box.

2. As far as I know, the current HDTV units can receive digital off-the-air signals because they are required to by the FCC. In fact, I think all TVs 13" and up, whether high definition or not, have digital (ATSC) off-the-air tuners.

3. What's a "transmitter box"? If you're thinking of a set-top box (the kind you can get a government coupon for), no, your analog TV will be fine for all channels. The set-top box "downconverts" the widescreen HDTV signal to a lower-resolution signal suitable for your TV.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Slig

Me neither, my stuff doesn't break though. 2001 Sony Trinitron 27" still going strong. 2004 Toshiba laptop still going strong. 2006 IPOD still going strong. I probably saved a couple hundo for negating the service plan on those three purchases.

I wouldn't have paid for a plan on the TV or the Ipod anyway. Now, the laptop I might have depending on how much it was. With desktop PCs I don't bother, but I also tend to buy used systems on eBay or elsewhere on the web.

[chilaili]

I've had good and bad service at Best Buy. My local one actually seems to be staffed by knowledgeable people in the computer dept but I haven't checked out the TV area yet. I want to get a new TV with a bigger screen which will, I assume, automatically be HD if not digital, along with a new DVD player, but I can wait till the January sales. Right now I have a 5-year old TV with DirecTV so I'm not worrying about it yet.