Basics of what to know about the conversion to Digital/HDTV on 2/17/09

I wanted to put together a basic list of what you need to know and do to get ready or be ready for High Definition (or even basic digital TV)

Do you have an analog (old style) TV or digital TV

• If Analog, you can buy a digital/HDTV, buy a converter box, or make sure that your cable or satellite provider has taken the necessary steps to ensure you will still receive a TV signal after 2/17/09.
• You don’t necessarily have to go to full HD, you just need to go digital instead of analog.
• Do you want plain digital or full HD?
• If you have a digital TV, is it an HD TV or HD Ready?
  If it is an HD TV, meaning it has an HD Tuner, you are all set
  If it is just HD ready, you need an HD receiver box
• Do you subscribe to cable/satellite?
  
  I don’t have cable, just my HDTV and UHF/VHF antenna. If this is what you are going for, then you need and HDTV and and UHF/VHF antenna.
  
  Once you have this, you’ll need to consult the CEA website (see links on the main page) to see what digital broadcast towers are available in your area.
  
  If you want to continue to subscribe to cable/satellite, your HDTV won’t receive HD signals unless you pay them a lot of extra money. Don’t be fooled by cable or satellite advertisements that say you will get 70 or 100 High Definition channels. There are not 70 HD channels out there yet. There will be some day but not now.
  
• Keep in mind that even if you have an HDTV, and receive HD signals via an antenna or via cable/satellite, not all programming is produced in HD. In fact only a very small fraction of programming is in full HD. So what you will get most of the time is either black bars on the side of your picture, or a stretched out picture to fill the screen.
  
  As we get closer to 2/17/09 and beyond, more programming will be available in HD. Before spending a lot of money, I might be best to take the “wait and see” approach to see how things fall out.
  
• The 2/17/09 conversion date has already been extended to a yet unknown date because neither the FCC, the television industry, not consumers will be ready in what amounts to less than a year an a half to conversion time.
• 
  Please check this site for lots of additional information that might be helpful to you.