I have been arguing with a guy for the last three or four years, when he was first urged to spend $2500.00 on an LCD panel or else he would not be able to watch TV after New Years 2005, that he was being conned and there was no big change where all of a sudden you had no picture and there was a 1 yr waiting list to get back online again.
The problem is still an infrastructure that cannot support it and FCC/CRTC mandates on viewer capacity.
In Canada, the CRTC requires digital to hit at least 90% of the providers demographic before they can mandate a switch, which will take forever given Canada’s vast area and so many towns in the boonies that only just got rid of party lines (not kidding there either). Even the other 10% MUST have access ot non cable viewin gfor emergency purposes.
I’m not sure what the FCC figures are but I know they are similar.
So for the last 3 years, video stores have beem urging/warning consumers to only buy flat panels, which were rather expensive and using what is now outdated technology, when they have no proof, no confirmation of a change at all, secondly ANY CRTV that you buy today or in the last few years, is completely capable of receiving digital signals.
Many people think that Digital means a needing a new TV, but really unless you are using rabbit ears for an antenna (no cable converter at all, circa 1978), you will be fine after the change over. even your old clunkce riwll get a better picture, though not to the same calibre of 1080i HD.
So sit back, enjoy your TV, whatever it is, and relax, you can wait for that expensive flat panel if you wish, your old TV still has time left and ou are not left in the dark when the change does occur.
Even though LG has decided that flat panels are at the ir lowest cost, and they will not go lower (never heard THAT before, nooooo)yuo can wait.
As I said, I know someone who was conned into buying a digital flat panel years ago, it is now out of date, using old LCD technology, has poor contrast (compared to today’s machines) and if you were to look for one such as his, it would be at a bargain basement price, if you could even find one.
A few years back, my mom was looking for a CRTV (flat panels were still in the 10K range)and was talked into buying a Digital Ready CRT, VERY nice and good quality but way overpriced. The same TV in non-digital was only $350.00 compared to nearly $800.00 for the digital one. she was unsure of what she was told, she felt as if she had done the right thing and was quite upset to hear that she was conned. My time to get really pi$$ed at some unsuspecting sales rep.
I talked her into letting me return it, which I did but not without taking a piece out of the baystard that tried to con my mother into spending more on something she didn’t need, I nearly had teh guy in tears as he personally pohoned my mother and apologized that she felt mislead and that he had not been clear (she’s 70, c’mon you pr1ck, get a life!).
I picked up the exact same TV from a different store (after screaming at the manager of the first store long enough to get mum’s money back), non digital for a fraction of the price and it still looks fantastic today, even WITH her now using digital cable (not Digital HD though). He even offered her a guaranteed trade in of $200.00 when the time came to get a flat panel (I get them wholesale now anyway).
Nowadays, that TV she would have paid nearly $800.00 would sell for less than $400.00 IF you could even find one still.
Don’t let the technology leeches suck you in, its all a game.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/digital_tv_delay/
Enjoy what you have, it is still going to work, even after the change!
