Comments on: Good-bye, rabbit ears? Not so fast

Digital broadcasts haven't quite killed off the need--or allure--of the frustrating TV accessory. Antennas, for hobbyists, represent American history.

[hassan_bin_sober]

TV??? ...TV has become chewing gum for the eyes! I have around 300 satellite channels of crap!

OK Lucy, You ga sum splainin ta do!

[nextcube]

I'm not where this idea that you need a new antenna to receive digital television broadcasts came from. The digital broadcasts are going out over the same range of channels they went over before (with the exception of VHF2-4 and the higher UHF channels; this narrower range of frequencies actually means an antenna is MORE likely to work than before). Yeah, the waveforms are different but the frequencies are the same...and all the antenna cares about is the frequency. It reminds me of the late 80's, when companies sold headphones for use with CD players as 'digital-ready' headphones, as though the audio from a CD was somehow magically different from LP or cassette...

[masonx]

Whose kidding who here. First of all analog TV has never held digital development down, so not much is going to change now regarding improvements. Secondly - "This is the best time ever for television." No this is the best time for television advertising sales people. If you watch TV you know that we are rapidly approaching the point where there will be less feature programing than advertisement programing. Commercials breaks will actually be longer than the feature programing you are watching.

Hell, we are almost there now. More and more people in my circles are saying they don't need TV for entertainment. If they want uninterrupted entertainment they rent or download a movie. If they want real news they get it off the NET. Technology isn't limiting television - television programing and advertising greed is. We get hundreds of channels yes - we almost never get content that isn't a rerun or totally commercially biased information. Frankly, I can't ever remember when the television watching experience had less appeal than it does today - regardless of the technology behind it. Television will neither improve nor survive if programmers can't come up with fresher, more informative, more accurate and more interesting content - in a format such that commercial messages don't totally destroy it's entertainment value. There is a significant growing TV audience frustration with the amount and frequency of commercials on TV programing and with the 20 year old movie programing offered by HBO. Unless their are some major changes in current TV programing, this is the last TV of any kind, I will ever buy or own. Is it just me or do most of you experience this kind or TV programming frustration?

[celticbrewer]

I'm sure many agree with you; and I'm envious of those who don't watch TV at all. But I disagree.

Yes, there's a lot of junk out there. A LOT. And it's mostly on network TV. Like the OP, I have hundreds of channels but I only watch about 30, and usually just 10 regularly. I can usually find something I want to watch at any time of the day/night. 0.5% of the time that there's nothing on, I could rely on my DVR.

Is there a lot of advertising? Sure. Even entire channels, no- BLOCKS of channels, that do nothing but sell you junk. But there's a diamond in the rough. That's one thing I love about my sattelite box- you can remove channels that just do not interest you at all like the shopping channels, religious, MTV, CNN, etc... that pollute the TV. The big revolution in TV will come when companies are forced to offer a la cart programming (I'm not holding my breath). Or if Hulu ever really takes off.

Advertising won't go away, though. You just need to get used to ignoring it. Oh wait- I best click on that "sponsored link" right there before reading the next comment.

[jlt0x]

Keep the old analog antenna hooked up OK if you don't want to see all the newer digital stations that are available...for free. In many metro areas, the digital switch also meant that your favorite local station may have been adding 1-3 additional channels to watch.

I"m sure there are people out there eeking out a few digital stations while using the analog antenna, but they're missing a clearer picture and more channel options, but not switching to the digital equipment. It'll take for them to miss something really big for them to realize a need to switch at all.

[ddesy]

There really isn't such a thing as an "analog antenna" or a "digital antenna." There are antennas optimized for different frequency ranges. The "digital antenna" is generally pretty much a UHF optimized antenna.

[martin1212]

What ddesy said. An old "analog" antenna is working fine for me to see the new digital stations in HD, picture very clear. If someone sold you a "digital antenna" you've been misled.

[Seaspray0]

quote from the FCC: You do not need to purchase a "DTV antenna" or an ?HDTV antenna? to receive DTV or HDTV signals; however, your antenna must be able to receive both VHF and UHF signals as indicated above.

source: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/dtvantennas.html

So YES, keep the old analog antenna hooked up.

[philosfool]

Antennas: More Free HD channels than anywhere else! As cable companies are among the most hated by American consumers, I expect the high-quality of digital signals to undermine some of their market share. Many Americans who don't really watch TV but want to be able to tune in for big events or one network show a week will find their lives entertainment lives improved.

I should qualify that expectation: my wife had a mild argument with he best friend over whether broadcast TV is HD. It is. But, as the argument illustrates, people don't know that. The advent of cable and the poor quality of analog signals pretty much made most Americans conclude that cable (or recent alternatives) are the only potential source of a quality signal and many don't even know that digital TV signals are HD.

[CassandraSoo]

Very interesting article. The digital transition is a very relevant topic. TiVo's actually pushing their message about how you can get free over the air signals with OTA. They have a YouTube video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65wdXjKsgQc?

[ikramerica--2008]

The antennas may be fine, but some of the older amplifiers may not work correctly. Or the cabling to the antenna may be old and corroded, without a lot of shielding. Analog signals would still come through, just degraded. But digital signals degrade by dropping out, not by going fuzzy.

So many people have work to do.