I can has DIGITAL???

You may have heard that the federal deadline for the digital television transition has been postponed until June 2009.  However, a lot of the local channels are still beginning their digital only transmissions in just a little less than a week from now.  So what does this mean to you?  Starting Feb. 17th, you may start seeing static on your favorite television channels if you don’t have the right equipment.  If you’re a bit worried about the digital conversion read on to see what you can do to save yourself from the the white fuzz.

Digital to Analog Converter Box

If you are currently watching your beloved shows through an old tube TV hooked up to antennae, you’ll definitely need to look into purchasing a digital converter box.  These boxes essentially take the incoming digital signals and converts it to an analog output so that your old TV can view it.  This is by far the most cost effective choice since these boxes are quite affordable and typically rang from $30-$60.  On top of that, the federal government is offering two $40 rebates towards the purchase of a digital converter box.  You have until March 31st to apply for these rebates, so do it soon.   If the struggling economy isn’t treating you very well, this is the way to go.

Cable/Satellite TV

Believe it or not, cable TV subscribers will be affected by this transition as well.  If you have a standard cable subscription without a digital cable box, you’ll need to pony up the extra cash and upgrade to the digital service.  Fear not though since this digital upgrade can enhance your TV watching pleasures if you tack on features like DVR and movies on demand.  The digital service is typically $10-$15 more than your standard cable service depending on your provider.  Satellite subscribers shouldn’t need to worry about upgrading anything since most, if not all satellite receivers accept digital signals anyway.

Buying a new TV

In the past few months, I’ve been running into a number of people who believes that they need to buy a brand new LCD/Plasma TV display to prepare for the digital transition.  I’m hear to tell you that this is completely FALSE.  It is true that LCD and Plasmas are immune to the digital conversion, but there are much more economical ways to deal with this transition as I mentioned above.  So before putting more debt onto that credit card, you should check out the cheaper options instead.  Although, if you are looking at upgrading to a used television set, make sure that it has a built in ATSC tuner.  Without an ATSC tuner, you’ll still need to end up buying a digital converter box or subscribe to cable/satellite.

Internet Streaming

Lately, I’ve been feeling rather foolish paying my $50 DirectTV bill every month.  With streaming services offered by hulu.com and other TV network sites (i.e. NBC, SciFi, ABC, etc.), there’s almost no reason to pay for TV anymore.  Although not all shows are available online, a lot of popular series including Lost, Heroes, 24, and, Battlestar are available in both SD and HD formats absolutely free.  Did you know that you can watch the entire Lost Seasons 1-5 episodes on ABC.com?  Or that you can watch the latest Battlestar Galactica shows without subscribing to cable?  The main drawback is that new episodes won’t be available for streaming until the day after.  But if you’re the type of person who just records shows and watches them later anyway, then Internet streaming should be a good fit.  So if you have a computer with a broadband Internet connection, stream away!

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