On Aug 20, 7:38 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
wrote:

it was the Democrat morons. The whole enchilada was approved by the
FCC in December 1966.

When the FCC is run by Republicans, they tend to let the market sort things
out, rather than edict and fiat from Washington.



Yeah, it amazes me how somebody so ignorant of everything about HDTV
immediately tries to blame this on Republicans. The move to digital
broadcasting was begun years ago, was fully vetted before many
Congresses and the actual standards we're using today were put in
place in 1995, when Clinton was in office.

To address the issues raised:

"I heard that in another year or so we will all be forced to either
buy
a HDTV or buy a converter. "

The deadline for turn off of over the air NTSC broadcasting is now set
for 2/09. It's been pushed out before and could be pushed out again.



" Having all standard tv sets, and I am
neither able to afford a HDTV, nor am I impressed by their picture, I
am not at all happy about this. I live in the country where the only
means to get tv channels is to either spend half my paycheck on
satellite, or use an antenna on the roof. I chose the antenna, and
most of the time I get fairly good reception on a few local channels.
"

You don't need an HDTV. All you need is an ATSC digital tuner which
will deliver a signal compatible with your existing TV. The govt has
approved a plan to give consumers two $40 coupons that can be used
toward the purchase of two converter boxes. These tuners are already
available for under $100, and will likely be $50-75 by the time you
need them.



"I suppose I will have no choice but to buy a convertor, but I surely
will make a big fuss about it with whatever governmental agency is
behind this conspiracy to promote the sales of HDTVs and the crappy
broken up and spotty pictures they produce. I sure hope that the
convertor will produce a better picture on a standard tv than that on
the actual hdtvs. "

So, you expect your current TV, which displays at NTSC resolution,
which is a max of 480 lines, to display a better picture than a new
HDTV set that displays at 1080 lines? I doubt you have even seen an
HDTV set, with a true HDTV source or you wouldn't think it looks like
crap. There are tens of millions of then out there and the look
great,




"Anyhow, my question is whether I will also have to buy a new rooftop
antenna. "

Probably not. If you have a decent VHF/UHF antenna, it should work
fine. Just about all digital is now on UHF, so that is the most
important part.




" My present antenna broke during a windstorm and I
temporarily fixed it with some tubing and ducttape. I was planning
to
buy a new antenna when a friend told me that he thinks I will need a
HDTV antenna too, but was not sure if an old antenna would also work.
Does anyone know? Will I be able to use the same rotor or does that
need to be changed too?"

Rotor has nothing to do with ATSC or NTSC, it just points the
antenna. Check out antennaweb.org, where you can put in your zipcode
and find out where the transmitters are located.


"If anyone knows what government agency to file a complaint about
this
HDTV conspiracy, please let me know. Tv channels have been the same
since the beginning of television, and now we got these republican
morons forcing us to change just so the HDTV companies can rob people
charging them ten or more times the price of a regular tv and giving
them a lousy picture. Just the same story as always these days, pay
more, and get less..... I wonder how much money the republicans are
getting to shove this HDTV **** on us? "


If you want to bitch, I suggest calling your Congressman and
Senators. But only if their Democrats. LOL