After my mom freaked out and thought she needed to buy a new TV, I thought you should all know the real deal. This February, broadcast television is changing from an analog signal to a digital signal. You do not have to know what that means or even that it is happening in some cases. This is all you need to know:
1. If you have cable, do not do anything.
2. If you have a satellite dish, do not do anything.
3. If you have a TV with a digital tuner (most newish TVs), do not do anything.
For those of you that do not fall into the three categories above, you have to do something really simple. To expand on who has to do something for dummies: if you have an older TV that you watch using an antenna, you have to do something. It is, as I said, simple.
Go to the store and buy a digital converter. These are about $40 and are a one time purchase. The government is even subsidizing them. Once you have your box, unplug the antenna cable going in to the back of your TV. Plug that into the new converter box on the “in from antenna” side. On the “out to TV side”, plug a cable in that goes into your TV where the antenna plugged in before.
POOF. You are set. The world will not end, I promise. And, as I said, many people will be completely unaffected by all of this. If you are going to order a coupon from the government, visit the DTV website by December 31st.
P.S. Merry Christmas To Readers Celebrating Today
