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Are you ready for Feb. 17, 2009?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Drip, Nov 24, 2008.

  1. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    I have 4 TVs, got the 2 converter box coupons as soon as they were offered.

    I've spent the last six months trying to beg my (lazy) sister to apply for her two coupons so I could put boxes on my two other TVs, and she hasn't gotten around to it.

    Can't afford cable ... not on a teacher's salary, a part-time journalist's salary and with a 1-year old. Never home to watch it, either, so I do have to worry about 2/17/09.

    I've been trying to talk my wife into allowing me to buy a small HDTV, which would take care of one of the sets :).
     
  2. beanpole

    beanpole Member

    i have a portable TV for my screened-in back porch -- great place for watching the news while drinking coffee in the morning. I also take the TV outside to keep half an eye on football when I grill in the fall. Guess I'll be throwing that sucker out now. :(
     
  3. txsportsscribe

    txsportsscribe Active Member

    you'll still need the rabbit ears if you don't have cable/dish. the digital converter box doesn't act as an antenna. and watch out getting the converter boxes at walmart. got three of them there in june and two were kaput by october.
     
  4. Killick

    Killick Well-Known Member

    I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by digital. Whereas my reception was still snowy on almost all channels with the old rabbit ears, I was shocked that all the digital channels are crystal clear. I guess digital is just so much more efficient, less affected by power lines, hills and stuff?
     
  5. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    My neighbor on one side is 75 years old and mostly deaf. He's very nice. On the other side, my neighbor is blind. Don't know too many blind people who watch TV. Do you?
     
  6. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    So go help the deaf guy, instead of asking me about blind people.

    Incidentally, when did you get put in the home?
     
  7. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Excuse me, but I don't understand the question.
     
  8. Magic In The Night

    Magic In The Night Active Member

    Cool. My birthday is the 15th. We should all party together!
     
  9. zebracoy

    zebracoy Guest

    Even though I'm fully aware that this only affects people without cable or a satellite, the commercials that have been running around here have even put questions in my mind as to whether or not I need a box.

    Whoever is championing the converter boxes (the government, I assume) has commercials running that say something close to "Hurry! Get your box now or you'll lose TV on Feb. 17!" on all the broadcast networks. On all the cable channels, I get the message that says I'm safe.

    My question - why can't the cable company just replace the "Upgrade now!" message with the one that tells us we're OK? I would hate to be a 75-year-old woman watching this play out.
     
  10. Killick

    Killick Well-Known Member

    Hell, my parents are in their 70s, and I had to assure and reassure them that all was well. But they keep asking me if I'm sure because of those damned commercials.
     
  11. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member


    Ms. Slappy's dad asks me that at least once a week.
    He can't fathom why he can't watch a local station that touts itself as being on Digital 50, when some other station is there. I try to explain that he's not receiving the signal over the air, but through the cable line, but he doesn't understand.
     
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    My cable company (Cox, and Time Warner before that) both ran commercials saying exactly that -- "If you can see this commercial, you don't need to do anything. This is only for people without cable, etc."

    What type of commercials is your cable company running?
     
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