Thursday, December 4, 2008

switching to digital tv

We have been Directv satellite customers for 2 years, before that we had local cable and before that, we had Dish. When we lived in the country, we had a big antennae that was always needing adjusted when the wind blew.
We bought a new tv about a month ago and when Jeff was hooking it up, we looked at the channels we could receive just using the digital part that is in all new tvs. We were amazed at how good a picture we got.
Our Direct TV contract was for 2 years and we have been frustrated with not finding shows we want to watch and paying that big bill every month.
So, we canceled that contract on the 2 year anniversary.
Jeff spent part of Thanksgiving weekend switching over our tvs to digital.
The new tv was ready to go but our 2 older tvs needed converter boxes. They are small and easy to install. We bought ours at Walmart using the free digital coupons issued by the government (You all have seen the tv commercials on how to get them, right?) They cost about $48, so the OOP cost was about $10 each.
To get the best reception, we needed an antennae. Ours is small, about the size of a youth sized shoe box and cost about $30 at Walmart. These digital antennea also come in a rabbit-ear version if you don't want to install it on you roof.
Jeff mounted ours on the roof, and he used the bracket that that held the satellite.

Converter box on top of VCR unit
antenna box
that's our antennae, mounted on the tallest part of our roof

We get the major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, 2 PBS, several independent channels and several Christian channels.
For now, we are happy with this set-up. And one less monthly bill will be great!

3 comments:

  1. We have direct tv and have 4 receivers. Is that crazy or what? You are so smart to switch over to the converer boxes. That will save bunches of money!

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  3. I don't think you'll miss dtv too much. Hubby and I think our quality of life has actually improved! There's no longer any guilt about watching lots of tv since we're paying a lot of money for it. Besides, most of our favorite shows are online now anyway and we can watch on our time schedule.

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