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11 October 2011

Snow came early this year.... I used to get three and a half channels on my TV. Recently I realized I now get nothing but snow. I'm not going to get cable, but I am thinking of investing in a cable box. I know nothing of technological gadgets. Anyone got any advice for me?
Do you mean a cable box that keeps all your various cables from tangling, or a cable box for the cable you're not going to get?
posted by Ardiril 11 October | 14:02
Like a digital antenna you mean? We bought this one from Amazon, and have decent success with it- we get a handful of channels, a rotating number depending on where in the window the antenna is. I suspect we could have great success if we were allowed to install it outside the window, which we are not.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 October | 14:02
Is cable box not the right term? Several people have told me about them and called them just that. By cable box I mean "gadget that you make a one-time purchase of and hook up and it gives you about ten channels or so".
posted by Orange Swan 11 October | 14:20
I have always known those as "counterfeit boxes".
posted by Ardiril 11 October | 14:25
Apologies in advance if this is covering things you already know:

You're in Canada, where we fairly recently went through the transition from analog to digital TV. So if you have an analog TV, then there are no more analog channels for you to receive with it.

The USA went through the same transition a little while back, so any analog channels you might have received across the border (if you live close to it) are gone as well.

So the major things you need now to receive "over-the-air" free TV broadcasts are:

1. An antenna

2. Either:
i. A digital-to-analog TV converter box for your analog TV, or
ii. a new TV with a digital tuner in it (which all new TVs sold here will have).

Personally I would go with the antenna+new TV approach, just because most of these new digital channels are high-definition and look GREAT on a high-definition TV. But the digital-to-analog converter box is cheaper.
posted by FishBike 11 October | 14:28
Oh, a converter box!
/slaps head
posted by Ardiril 11 October | 14:34
I did know about the recent transition to what I thought of as "a different kind of signal".

My TV is a 21" 1997 model that I bought for $80 at Cash Converters in 2004. So unless I want to invest in the new TV, I will need a converter box. Really don't wanna spend money on a new set right now. Don't even want to spend money on the converter box. Maybe it can just wait awhile.

Can you even get a modest-sized TV these days? I don't want one of those monstrosities almost everyone has these days.
posted by Orange Swan 11 October | 14:46
Can you even get a modest-sized TV these days? I don't want one of those monstrosities almost everyone has these days.


Yep, you can still get TVs with the same screen size as your current one, and since they are LCD TVs the overall size of the box will be smaller. The 19" size is where the below-$150 TVs hang out these days. Probably plenty of used ones for sale cheap now, too. The magic phrase to look for (if you decided to go this route) is "ATSC Tuner".

The converter boxes are about $40 new. I would think those are probably available even cheaper used by now, too.
posted by FishBike 11 October | 15:04
I believe that you can get small flatscreens nowadays that can double as TV/computer monitor.
posted by Ardiril 11 October | 15:09
I just got a 27" TV, which was on the small end. But I was able to get rid of the digital converter box and the picture is MUCH better, and most of the local stations come in with HD, with just rabbit ears for an antenna. It was $319 at Costco, which seemed reasonable.
posted by danf 11 October | 15:10
When they went from analog to digital here, the US government offered coupons for converter boxes. Does the Canadian government have something similar?
posted by octothorpe 11 October | 15:14
Orange Swan, your sitch is a bit different, but here is the AskMe thread I had about this a few weeks ago.
posted by danf 11 October | 15:21
After the analog -> digital conversion, lots of people got new tvs, and there are a steady stream of nice tvs for free on freecycle.org. Pretty much any size you want.
posted by theora55 11 October | 18:37
I guess I'll wait until I have the spare cash to get another TV. Arghh. I hate spending money on electronics. As you may have gathered. Some months ago I posted a picture of Trilby sitting on top of my CRT monitor and someone made fun of it.
posted by Orange Swan 11 October | 20:52
MTV's Liquid Television archives || two fragrance related videos

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