Save money with free Digital TV

June 11, 10:43 AMGadgets ExaminerDan Appleman

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The RCA ANT1500 DTV antenna could save you hundreds
of dollars a year in cable or satellite fees.
 

For many years TV viewers have adopted cable and satellite TV for two reasons: the number of available channels and the quality of the video. Let’s face it, even with a good antenna, image quality often left a lot to be desired.

But this month things are changing. As of midnight June 12th, most of those analog signals will vanish, replaced by digital broadcast TV.

With traditional analog TV, the quality of a TV signal varied enormously based on signal strength, with snow and noise being the annoying evidence of a weak signal. But with digital broad cast TV, it’s largely an all or nothing proposition. Once a signal is strong enough to receive a channel, the image and sound will be Excellent. How good? remember, it’s not just digital – it’s high definition digital, so it will look as good or better than anything you see on your cable or satellite set.

In urban areas, you might be surprised how many digital channels you get. Here in the San Jose area, I was able to use the RCA ANT1500 indoor antenna to pull in 29 digital channels just by setting it on a shelf behind a picture. Once my friend saw the results, she faced an interesting dilemma, as the only cable channel she actually watched was CNN. For that she was paying over $60/month on Comcast.

It didn’t take much calculation to realize that network news is good enough if it means saving $720 a year. CNN is good – but it’s not that good.

When we called to cancel, the cable company was kind enough to offer a local only package for a mere $15/month (plus tax of course). Or put another way, they were offering us the opportunity to pay over $180/year for something we were getting for free that was just as good (and probably more reliable).

Of course, giving up your favorite cable channels is not something to do lightly. Just be aware of how much they are really costing you. Also, you might check their web sites – many cable channels are now offering full episodes of popular shows online.

Indoor antennas are inexpensive and work surprisingly well in major metropolitan areas (depending on your location). I was very pleasantly surprised by the passive RCA ANT1500 antenna (passive meaning it requires no power and provides no additional amplification). You may also want to try the RCA ANT1450M amplified antenna to draw in weaker stations.