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Pocono News Section
Preparing For Digital TV Transition
Preparing For Digital TV Transition - Monday, November 10, 2008 at 6:39PM EST
Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Monday, Nov 10, 2008 @ 06:39pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- In 99 days, TV in America will see its biggest change in decades. That's when television stations will turn off their analog signal and only broadcast digital.
If you have a digital TV or subscribe to cable or satellite services, you don't have to do anything. But if you still have a TV that uses an antenna or rabbit ears, you have several ways to go digital.
If I can do it, I guess anyone can do it." Joe Kasper of Wilkes-Barre has seen every change in television --from his first set in the fifties to color and now digital. "You can't compare it."
Since his dining room TV is hooked to rabbit ears, it would have stopped working after February 17th. So the 86-year-old called the government to get a $40 coupon to buy a digital converter. "When I opened the box there were five cables. And I thought it's going to be a nightmare. But it's easy," he said.
Hook your antenna plug into where it says antenna. He ran another cable from the converter to the back of his TV.
Joe had two other ways he could have gotten ready for the conversion: connect to cable or satellite service or get a new TV. Jim Barry of the Consumer Electronics Association says, You can go into a store now and get a digital TV for less than $150."
Barry says the cheapest way is to get a converter box. "Hook it up. Don't wait until February 17th because you may find you don't get the channels you thought you'd get," he said.
To make sure everyone's prepared, TV stations across the country have been doing tests by temporarily turning off analog signals. Our area will do that test run next Monday. If your TV isn't ready, it may show a message telling you so.
Joe's ahead of the game. In fact, with the digital converter box, the images on his set are cleaner and crisper than ever. "I'm very pleased. How can you beat a picture like that?"
The phone number to order a coupon is 1-888-DTV 2009 or click on DTV Answers here on PaHomePage. com.
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