We're not going to miss you

Seriously? You're surprised that your TV stopped working?

Where have you been?

Even if you've been getting your HD over the air for years, there's a few tips here you may want to check out.

Click through for some links and tips.

Ok, I'm sure most of you reading this have heard this before, but here's the deal. The analog transmission of TV signals ended today. End of an era, blah, blah, blah.

For the vast majority of people, this means nothing. If you have cable or satellite, your TV should be fine (unless your cable company took this moment to turn off their analog signals, in which case, call them and tell them they're jerks).

If you have a TV in your basement or den or something that didn't have a cable box, then you need a converter box. You can get them at any electronics retailer (here's a link to Best Buy's page).

The Gov'ment has $40 coupons you can get to go towards the purchase of said converter boxes. It will take a week or so to get the coupon, so you'll be TV-less for a week. You can sign up for that coupon and find out more info here.

Or you can buy a new TV. All current models have digital (ATSC) tuners built in. Sure this is more than the $50 or so for a converter, but the economy will thank you.

Lastly, your current antenna will probably work, but they may not. Go to Antennaweb.org to check out what kind of antenna you need, and where to point it.

Will you get signal?

There is one big difference between analog and digital that the mainstream media isn't really talking about. With analog TV transmissions, if you weren't getting a good signal (say from distance or from something in the way), you could still watch TV. Sure there'd be snow and such, but you could still make it out. With digital, it's either perfect, or you've got nothing (and yes, I'm counting breakups as "nothing").

Here's what it looks like on a neat-o graph I created:

As you can see. If your house is on the outer edge of getting the analog transmission from a certain station, you will still get something to watch.

With digital, there are more people that get a perfect signal, but once you get past that certain point, you'll get nothing, or a signal that breaks up so badly that it is unwatchable.

Most people will be able to just get a better antenna, but some will be out-o-luck.

Two final points. Not every tuner is the same. Some are actually better than others. If you're not happy with the signal quality you're getting, try a different tuner, then try a different antenna.

Lastly, and this is the most important point. RE-SCAN YOUR CHANNELS!!!!!! Things are going to be shifting around, so even if you've been getting HD over the air for years, you may still need to rescan your HD channels. The best part is, you'll probably need to rescan several times in the coming weeks.

CONTACT:

DTV.Gov - Lots of information

Dtv.gov/dtv_resources.htm - Local station information, reception maps for your zip code, new channel numbers, and more. Really cool site.