Now that the digital is coming in, what do you do with your old tv

We are not worried either. We have HD and digital cable and for those who do not, our cable company is selling the conversion boxes for around $60. So we are all right. I guess the people who are worried are those who just wanted to watch local channels and had rabbit ears or the kind that just rents dvds and watches them on the tv screen. I wonder what the people in the mountains will do, they do not get that good a connection because the mountains are in the way.

They will offer conversion boxes. I remember when we had to switch to cable and they gave everyone a converter box. Then the tvs that had 99 channels came in. After that, that was not much, and they started to have more then 300 channels and they came in. It seems that something new is coming in and you cannot keep up.

If you needed an antenna to get a signal before, then you still need it even when you get a converter box. The converter box is only for changing the digital signal into analog so that your older TV can pick it up. The signal is still over-the-air, but will be in a digital format instead of an analog one.

I thought that once you got the conversion box, you could get rid of the antenna. I did not like the antennas when we had it. I felt sometimes I had to stand on a chair and attach a coat wire and hold it to the antenna to get a better reception. It was kind of frustrating.

If your television set is crap, I would say go ahead and buy a new one. If you buy the conversion unit and the Tv set is too old, the Tv set might run out. I guess if it lasted ten years, that you might not get parts. I guess you will have to wait and see.

What people do here is to give it to Value Village, that is Canada's nationwide second hand store that supports The Diabetic society and some other charities. But i see what you mean, I do not like giving away things for free, because we usually had to work hard to get it. You could buy a digital converter for it, until you decide if you need to get a new one. If all you use it is for watching the local news, or watching dvds, there is no sense in buying an expensive model.

It is very hard for me to decide. I rarely ever turn my television on at all. I would hate to spend money on something that I do not even use. Just today, there was a breaking news item that I wanted to watch on t.v. Rather than fuss with mine, I just ran up to watch my friend's television. Mine is not crap, it works just fine. There is just nothing on there that I want to watch. I wish there was a place to sale my old t.v. I do not want to just throw it out.

If you use an antenna to get your stations, you'll need to get a new one that picks up digital signals (there are ways to get one for free or really cheap from the government). You may also need a convertor box to interpret the signal for your TV (if the new antenna doesn't convert as well), although many TVs built in the last 8 years have a digital tuner in them already, you just need to choose it in the set-up. If you have regular cable, then you are probably fine with what you have, as most cable providers will convert the digital signal to analog for you before sending the signal to your house. Check your companies web site for information. And if you have satalite or digital cable already, then you are all set because you have been getting digital signals already. Hope this helps.

It is the ones who just use antenna Tv and do not have cable, that will have the problem, the ones that live out in the country or in the mountains and the ones that do not watch much Tv besides the news or documentaries. You know, the kind that when everyone else was getting cable tv, decided on keeping their old tv with the antenna and could fix the tv themselves. They will have to get a conversion box. You can go down to Shaw or Rogers and buy one there.

Yes, thank you for the help to undestand this. I have cable TV so I shouldn't have a problem with getting a signal.

I wasn't berating anyone and I totally include myself in the group that is spoiled. If you don't think you are spoiled then go ahead and just get rid of the tv, radio, computer, and electrical appliances. Have you ever mixed recipes by hand? Cooked on a wood stove? Played board games on a board instead of on the computer? Typed or handwritten a school report? I have done all those things. Our satellite TV and our cable have gone out from time to time, our internet, and our automobile, as well as our general household supply of electricity have all gone out frequently in my lifetime. It totally steams me when my husband and my kids complain because they can't watch tv or can't use the computer. I mean, GROW UP! We functioned for years without this stuff, we can do it for a few days or hours because of an outage. I know no one believes it, but I could go without tv or computer. I love to read and write (and I know how to use a pen). I love to cook and I seldom use electrical appliances like mixers or blenders except once in a great while. I know how to use a wire whisk and I think it does a great job. I can cook a full meal on a wood fire. I know how to thaw frozen food without a microwave. These are skills that many people don't have these days. I am as spoiled as anyone, but I know I am capable of living without. Maybe you can, too. I am sure anyone willing to try can do it. I never said I was better than anyone, and I know for sure that I am not, in fact. If you feel berated maybe the self esteem problem is not mine.

I always thought that television like radio was a tool, not a toy. I remember the antennas. I lived in Vancouver but we were lucky, by moving the antenna a certain way, we could get Seattle. I am of the opinion that if you regard the television as a toy for spoiled children, it should you that gets rid of it, not us and by the way, if you regard an electronic gadgets that also includes that mixmaster, and any thing in the house that runs on electricity, the washing machine and dryer, and the microwave, you should get rid of them as well. Oh that means no more computer and no more mylotting. Ah next time you start berating us, remember there is always a price to pay. The tv industry is warning the people who live in outlying areas and have antennas or the people who just wanted to watch local stations and had a vhs or dvd to watch movies. They think they will still be able to watch the local stations, but they will not be able to. I remember when we firsts out all those extra stations, and we had to use a cable box until we go those new TV sets (after our picture turned green.) Oh we do not have to worry, and we will not switch back to dial-up. So there!

True..We made the switch from vinyl to cassette to CD..and Vinyl still hasn't gone away..Also VHS to DVD and into the HD DVD clash..they got us eating out of their hands with their product upgrades and go faster stripes.. We have made improvements,but the improvements have come with their own niggles-my satellite dish vibrates and goes slightly off track when it's windy,and the signal is lost momentarily..I was looking at the big Flatscreen TV in a Bar tonight,and could see where the screen had "Burned" from whatever programming they used on it..

I dont think so! and thats a heck of a place to put it after hooking it back up

We just have one Tv, unless you are counting that one our younger son left behind. My husband attached it to the cable and put it in the closet in the spare bedroom that already has a bed plus the mattresses from our old bed as if I am going to watch it when I can sit in the living room and watch the show on wide screen and in High definition at that.

I think that is his Mennonite Low German background kicking in. He is what is called penny wise and pound foolish. Well no one is going to watch it anyway, and why should we when there is a perfectly nice high definition screen in the front room. And if we want an extra one, the smaller high definition tvs are coming down in price, so maybe at Christmas when we get our new blu-ray player, I might buy one.

That's the thing, I don't watch a lot of TV, so the channels on the regular cable package are more than enough for me. I'm hoping that, after the three years are up, they will still offer the differnt channel packages for different costs, even though they are all digital. That way I can still get one of the cheaper packages. I just can't justify paying what they currently charge for the digital package now. I'd sooner go buy a digital antenna and go without the specialty channels (though I would terribly miss SciFi, and HGTV).

We do not get Sci Fi here in Canada unless we go back to our big dish. And then I have no idea whether the evil mean CRTC will allow us to get any stations. It was in analogue, and I have no idea whether that can be changed to digital. The only way is it only shows the same stations we have here. We do find that there are some programs that cost, now being put on the regular basic package - I guess because the cable companies got paid for those extra cables they put in.

I guess that will work, because where we live, the best programs are usually on the third tiers. We get basic cable, digital cable, and the speciality channels and then the high definition. You can get a converter box, but I gather in three years, you will have to get digital and you can better programs then.

Our old Tv sets had that strange green glow and everyone looked as if they came from Mars and we went through so many. Then we got a large screen Tv and a few years later, the HD tVS came out, so as soon as they went down in price we got one, but we have digital cable so we do not have to get those converters.

He has cable tv, so it is all right. I do have friends though who just have the Tv with the antenna and when they want to watch a movie, they rent it from Blockbuster. And some of their Tvs are so old, it is a wonder they work.

I would say for those who hardly watch tv, a conversion box is best. Even if the prices of Tvs come down, $800 might seem a bit steep for those who only watch the news and CBC. And some of the programs are so bad that I would not watch them. In fact, we got the whole tiers because when you do that, you get the really good programs.

We watch a lot of American Tv. We got a new Hd TV a couple of years ago, and now we can see everyone scars and pimples at all. Our old large screen Tv is down in the basement, and we still have the stuff for the big dish in the living room. We got digital a few years ago, and it was fine. Except we really had to beg for the cable company to put TCM because when we first got digital, we did not get that and we had it on our big dish. So I do not have to worry about those conversion boxes.

Glad to head that you are well prepared. We got digital cable so we have no problem and we have only one tv that we use. The other large screen tv is down in the basement and we plan to give it to one of our sons and the small one belongs to our yonunger one and it is an analogue tv, So we are waiting for him to pick it up.

Where I live our cable company Shaw has those digital boxes for sale for those who just have the analogue Tv, so I guess the same thing would happen where you live. It would save making your old analogue tv into an acquarium. 2009 seems rather close and here in Canada, they say 2011, so I guess between 2009 and 2011, those Canadians who only have analogue Tv will only be able to watch Canadian programs. No more CSI.

When we go out, we have to turn off the converter, and then the tv screen, and then we have it hooked up to Boise for sound, and we have to turn that off as well.

So hard to see that small screen anyway. I love our HDTV. I wish that they were the same size that they were in the movie theaters, but they could not think of anything. Why don't they think of expandable and contractible tv screens that increase or decrease from all sides so you do not have that black screen around?

That sounds like Shaw up here in Canada. We have the whole three, cable, internet, and digital phone. And we also have digital Tv so we do not have to worry about anything. Too bad we cannot afford to watch all the channels they offer. Maybe they will put some more on for free.