Are you ready????

Well it is coming...one way or another. February 17, 2009. That is the date when TV will switch...to digital. This is something you need to do. It seems like there are a lot of TV commericals about all this, but very few are looking into it...taking it serious.
So I thought I would try to help.

If you have cable or Satellite....your good. No worries, nothing will change for you come Feb. 17, 2009....unless you ever drop your subscription to cable or satellite. Then you will need a newer TV or DTV convert box.

The government is helping out by offering each house (street address), up to two coupons for a digital convert box. About half my family didn't need converter boxes...but I had them go ahead and sign up for the coupons....remember that TV out in the garage, or the TV in the kids play room...yep, if they are not hooked up to cable or satellite...come Feb. 17, 2009, they won't pick-up any channels. And let be real...if you have family or friends that need them...most people have more then 2 TVs...give them away to family, friends, or whomever. But they have to be used within a couple of months...so go get them...and then your good to go. It is very easy to sign up...here is a link. http://www.dtv2009.org/
It takes about 30 days to get them in the mail. They look like credit cards. Just take them to the store...when you go to pay, hand them the coupon. That $50 box...just became $10 bucks.

I signed up the beginning of July, an had my coupons by the end of the month. When I first hooked the box up...it was awful. I thought..."who is going to watch this?" After making a few calls...I finally got a tech support guy to tell me the truth. He said to unplug it...and hook it back up in October. Not all stations and areas where running at 100%. So I did. This past week I hooked up several...at different locations. It's true...better picture, sound and more stations. Everything is working great.

Tip: when you hook your convert box up...you will want to make sure you pick an aspect ratio that fills you screen...over time, if you have the black space above and below the picture...it could burn the image into your TV screen.

Here is website that has a ton of info to check out. http://www.dtvanswers.com/

Also, you may want to click this link to watch a demonstration video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GuckUtxWU8

Tip: rescan your box about once a month...new and sub channels are coming on all the time. Keep doing this even past the Feb. 17, 2009 switch date. I like to rescan on days when the weather is perfect or a night when it's clear and you see the stars...seemed to work better for me.

Sorry to say...this switch and buying a convert box does not mean TV will have better shows to watch...that's another issue that Hollywood needs to deal with.