Digital vs Anolog T.V.

[JIM KELLER]

At this point I am not ready to tear out and re-do the T.V. Cabinets in our Bus. Can't decide on what look we want and which flat screen fits and looks the best.

My question is will I need two Converter Boxes, one for each T.V. or will one box at the switching center work both T.V.'s I realize cable and satellite will continue to operate but February will be here soon.

[dale farley]

Jim,

One box will work as long as you are watching the same thing on both TV's. The box works just like a Cable/Satellite box.

[dalej]

The remote for the converter box will have to be in sight of where you are watching the tv in order to change channels.

You can have the converter box at the point where the signal come in but will have to go close to that point to change channels.

[dale farley]

Jim,

I assume you know that you can go on line and order a coupon to get $40 off on each of two boxes. I got one for the bus and one for my workshop in case I need/want to use them. I got the two $40 coupons and bought the converters at WalMart for $49 each, so paid $10 each.

The main thing I've noticed is that the boxes bring in about 3 times the number of channels that I could pick up on an antenna. The number of channels will reduce significantly once they actually make the change to digital, since all the analog channels will be gone.

I use a set of rabbit ears on the box in the workshop, and it works just as good as any other antenna. Of course, I could just run my satellite wire to the workshop, but I don't use the TV there enough to justify cutting a trench across my driveway.

[jimshoen]

Jim,
I just installed the digital converter in my bus. One converter and three TV's no problem. Installed it in the AV cabinet near the switching unit. I am also using a Niles IR remote repeater (flasher) system. This allows me to use the Converter box remote at each TV. Works well. I do not see any reason to replace the original Sony Trinitron TV's.

[jelmore]

The remote for the converter box will have to be in sight of where you are watching the tv in order to change channels.

You can have the converter box at the point where the signal come in but will have to go close to that point to change channels.

Yikes! I guess I haven't checked into these boxes. I thought they just converted the signal and passed in on to the old tv. Didn't know they had remotes. In our coach, the antenna signal goes to a selector box and the selector box distributes that signal to all the tvs. I thought that's where the converter box would go and all would work as before.

Not so? This sounds like I'd need a converter box at each tv.

Maybe it's time to rip it all out and start over with all new components -- the cable/satellite switch, the source selector for three tvs, the old tvs, etc.

[Ray Davis]

Assuming we are talking over-the-air TV at this point, that would mean the batwing antennas on our coaches. When I've seen HiDef antenna's they look nothing like the old batwings.

Will the batwing antennas work now with the new hidef digital signals, or is there a better antenna option? In several years of running with the bus, I've only used the batwing once, so I'm not really concerned, just more interested than anything else.

Ray

[jelmore]

I've heard that these exiting antennas work fine for digital and that high definition is a separate thing, though digital. I guess there's regular definition and high definition, all digital. So little time to learn all this.

[dale farley]

Ray, I was experimenting with this for a while, and what I noticed was that virtually any antenna works very well with the box. I tried a HD antenna with a strong amplifier and it made very little difference when compared to any other antenna. I tried this at my house and at a campsite about 30 miles away, and the results were the same. There "may" have been 5% difference in a HD picture when using the HD antenna compared to a regular antenna, but it was very minimal to the naked eye. May be different for others, but I wouldn't spend any money on a HD antenna.

[Ray Davis]

Thanks guys. Dale, knowing you got a signal, I would expect zero difference in the picture. Being now a digital signal, you either get the correct picture, or it freezes and you don't get a picture.

We should never see "fuzzy" pictures, or other types of problems which were inherent in the analog world.

What I might expect is that the edge of where you are able to get the signal and not, would maybe be further on an antenna specifically designed/tuned? But, it's great to know that it "just works".

Ray