Now that we have all survived the digital television cut-over date mandated by the FCC, there are more than just a few of you watching television through your old TV and some kind of converter box.
Consider this Digital Television 101.
The first thing to know is that the computer geeks have just hi-jacked broadcast television and if you have a computer at home, you can attest to the following:
You’re constantly dealing with software bugs, viruses and updates
Hardware becomes obsolete almost as fast as your cell phone
Storage and memory space are constant issues
Once the old reliable and dumbest appliance in the home, your TV, is now subject to all of the above. Suggestion #1 is, before you go to the store, make sure that you have a broadband Ethernet connection near your new set because it needs to talk to the mother ship for software upgrades, bug fixes and other computer-like maladies.
It will also save you a few bucks and a lot of hassle if you decide to subscribe to a satellite television service.
Also, before you go to the store, assess the ambient light level of the location of your new TV. Is it a home theater space that is totally dark or do you have windows nearby? This will make a difference later on. Is there more than one location for future digital televisions? Also, determine how critical you are of picture quality and sound… before you go to the store. If you’re picky, admit it and have a few extra dollars in the digital TV budget.
If you are like me, you have purchased a home from a previous owner and that scenario needs a bit of research BEFORE YOU GO TO THE STORE! I’m sorry for yelling, but you need to pay attention. Previously owned homes often come with a blessing; splitters and splices hidden in attics, basements and walls. The new digital TVs and coaxial distributed Internet and telephone service bundled with your service doesn’t like anything but the best.
A “kluged” (pronounced Kloojed) home distribution system may work fine on day one, but is subject to outages and other problems later on. Most cable and satellite service providers will come out for no charge after they hook you up, but you might as well anticipate this so that your Internet connection does not go stupid at an inconvenient time.
One more thing before I close. Are you technically adept enough to hook up a reasonably complex audio and video system? Do you know what a HDMI connection is? Are you feeding a surround sound system? Do you have a DVD or Blu-Ray player to connect? If the answer is no, pay the store to do it, but beware of expensive cables with gold connections and purchasing more stuff than you need. I bet I paid $300 for special cables after I got home with the TV.
This prep work is important to do, ahem BYGTTS, because retail sales operations have one thing in mind; make sure that you leave the store with a big box. Just think of the huge opportunity for electronics manufacturers. The federal government mandated the change to digital television and millions of television sets will be replaced!
Isn’t it great to be alive?
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