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Wassup! Today – Over the past 10 years or so, I was subscribing to cable TV that was not the greatest as far as the picture quality goes. The lower channels from 6 – 2 would always be grainy and the rest would get worse over time. Every 6 to 8 months, I would have to bleed the cable line to eliminate the static build up. The first time I ran into poor quality, I called the cable company and that was all the repair person did. Attach a fancy device to the incoming cable line and remove the static built up in the cabling. Over the years, I would resort to bleeding the cable line myself by attaching a self made cable adapter that would connect to the radiator piping. after about 5 minutes, I would reconnect the cable to the TV and the picture quality would be better.

Switching Over to Digital TV

Wassup! Today – Yesterday was the first official change over day in the United States for terrestrial TV from analog to digital. Complete change over is scheduled for mid June. I am still not 100% comfortable as to what should be changed when dealing with an older setup and what can be kept? I am located in Canada and the switchover is not until 2011 but I am located close enough to the United States that any good programming will come from US based stations. This means I need to change too.

The Bill to Delay the Digital TV Transition Has Been Defeated in the House

According to the article HERE by the Globe and Mail, the bill was defeated in the HOUSE. The States will still go ahead with the transition to full digital TV on February 17th, 2009. I still feel that the general consumer in the States are not ready and a huge push by the new administration would have made a difference in getting more people to switch by June.

Like my father says, “I do not need the better picture quality. . . what I get now is fine”. My father has been retired for over 10 years and does not see the point in paying extra on top of the basic cable fees to get HDTV channels of existing channels. Also many of the programs he wants to watch are educational and since he uses a computer that is online, he can watch many of these shows later online via the original source like pbs.org, cbs.com, nationalgeographics.com etc. . . Having the ability to connect a computer also to the larger LCD tv makes no sense because his computer is an iMac which has the 19 inch LCD with the computer built in.

Another Video Screen. . .

Wassup! Today – I am really frustrated with my local cable provider which is Rogers Cable. I enjoy watching the Toronto Raptors on TSN which is a PAY TV Sports Channel. PAY TV means the channel is not part of the basic cable service and is charged extra as an upgrade package. Rates and channels available HERE.

Another Video Screen. . .

Wassup! Today – I am still struggling with this analog to digital conversion of TV channels. I understand that all TV broadcasters must discontinue the analog broadcast and provide digital broadcast only by February 17, 2009 in the states. If you currently watch TV using a simple indoor or outdoor antenna, the selection of available channels will drastically decrease after this date. To avoid this issue, you must get a digital antenna and a digital TV or at least a digital antenna plus a digital to analog converter to be used on your existing analog TV.

TV Screen Choices For 2009

Wassup! Today – Here is a dilemma that many of you will be facing in the coming months if not at least before the end of 2009. Analog television is to be phased out in the United States on February 17, 2009. This means, anyone not with a digital or compatible TV will not be able to receive their local and specialty channels next year. In Canada, the deadline to switch over is not until August 31, 2011 but a good percentage of channels we get in Canada are from the United States.