Digital television.

[Jongamer]

I like my Digital Cable. Even though I only watch like maybe a handful of channels on the Digital band of Channels.

Roadrunner Turbo awesome internet speed (although Upload speeds suck, I can get up past 1.5MB/s Download speed) and the Digital phones are just as good as phone lines. Caller ID on the TV FTW.

We have Comcast around here, but Comcast is too damn expensive from what I hear, so I use Time Warner.

[bicostp]

Comcast is too damn expensive

YES THEY ARE.

Sucks when they're the only choice. Hurry up and install your fiber-optic lines, Verizon!

[Black Six]

I watched the entire Super Bowl on an antenna on Digital TV and it looked amazing. But it definitely takes some adjustment and while some channels come in great, others don't fare so well. It's all about finding the right spot, and amplifiers can help too (my antenna has a built in one).

[jleemero]

Comcast is too damn expensive

YES THEY ARE.

Sucks when they're the only choice. Hurry up and install your fiber-optic lines, Verizon!

Same exact problem.
I do have Comcast, and I must say, they are FAST.
On a normal day I'll pull ~9mbit down, 1mbit up.

The BEST I've ever tested was right after an outage ended (less than 5 minutes after it ended), pulled 24mbit down, 12 up.
More than we even pay for
Shame I don't get that on a normal day...

I HATE how Comcast likes to slow down my torrents... Actually, downloading I usually pull *about* full speed.
But uploading, I rarely break 25kbits.


No Verizon FIOS here

[cowsgoquack101]

Well, at my house my over the air is just ass. I'm still pissed that our local fox station doesn't offer it after EVERY other station has had it for over at least a year. We used our 37" LCD to watch the superbowl and the audio went out for a little bit at a time (1-3 seconds) but when the game came on it was perfect. But I tried to watch it on the analog OTA broadcast and it looked terrible and sounded fuzzy. I say that the switch is an ok thing albeit the complete loss of analog broadcasts and the money needed to get a new converter box. Antiques Roadshow in high definition, yumm.

[themadhacker]

I can't stand digital at all. I mean we have been using alalog since the late 1940's. Nothing is wrong with analog, so why change it now?

The only good outcome from digital conversion I can see is the fact that since pocket TVs use alalog, they will be unusable, and people will be getting rid of them for really cheap. That means a bunch of inexpensive screens for portables.

[bicostp]

why change it now?

Because analog TV signals use a crapton of low frequency RF bandwidth, which takes less power to transmit further. Freeing up the VHF band will allow for better emergency communications and better wireless services (cell reception, 3G, etc). I read once that only half the number of cell towers would be needed to get the same coverage with a lower frequency when compared to the systems we have now.

[ghosstt]

Digital looks really nice when it's working absolutely perfectly, which is next to never. Analog was totally satisfactory to me.

Just give it a bit. They are probably working out a lot of things, and using a better antenna would help a lot.

[Triton]

dish network/direct TV for the win, or FTA satellite even. cable sucks ass in quality overall compared to satellite and satellite is usually CHEAPER than cable for more channels. only thing i could wish for is a switch to ala carte channel selection instead of packages, and lower prices on HD options (12$ more a month for 12 HD channels is crap)

[Jongamer]

Satellite does NOT have a better picture than Digital Cable. At least not on Standard Def TVs.

[Triton]

Satellite does NOT have a better picture than Digital Cable. At least not on Standard Def TVs.

i would beg to differ. in my area anyway cable channels look TERRIBLE, visible compression artifacts on some channels even. looks even worse on HDTVs whereas my dish network always comes in crystal clear and id say comparable to DVD quality video on my 32" sanyo SDTV. of course i would assume it has to do with the cable carrier and whatnot and im sure in ottumwa IA its far from the best cable quality

[Twilight Wolf]

Well, guys, since yesterday (nearly two days now) was the old official switchover date, how many channels in your area are still broadcasting in analog? For me, it's two: CBS and NBC. Every other one switched over either on or before the 17th.

[Negative_Creep]

Still running on analog till like 2010.. haha.

[bicostp]

We used to get:
2 (PBS)
4 (CBS)
5 (ABC)
6 (ABC)
7 (NBC)
10 (NBC)
12 (CBS)
25 (FOX)
36 (PBS)
38 (Independent, owned by CBS)
44 (PBS)
56 (CW)
64 (FOX)
68 (home shopping)

Now, all we get is:
7
38
64 (but they're running a half-hour PSA about the digital switch in infinite loop)

At least with the new digital system we get even more channels over the air.

Fun fact: Channels 10 and 12 were so strong they made watching them on cable impossible. A paper clip jammed in the cable jack on the TV brought them in perfectly.

EDIT: Another thing I found: my DVD recorder has a digital tuner, and we get the over-the-air digital channels over the cable. We also get a few other things. Re-scanning the DTV channels brought up Noggin, Comedy Central On Demand, Comcast channel 1, some movie, and porn.

[grossaffe]

I haven't noticed a lack of channels