what does ’digital only’ mean for us?

February 17, 2009, what is going to happen to all of us who enjoy catching the news on our way to work in the morning? Or watching the game while stuck in traffic? The TV tuner will no longer work as everything is going to be broadcast in digital. It's a pretty sweet luxury to lose. Anyone know of any digital receivers in the works for the car TV?

What if you were to get one of those converter boxes and install it in the car. Should take car of it no?

You may have to modify the DTV converter box to run from 12VDC power, but in theory, that's all you should need.

From what I have seen of over-the-air DTV, there are going to be some serious problems with the switchover, particularly in fringe reception areas or where reception conditions are constantly changing (like a vehicle TV setup).

With standard analog NTSC TV, if the signal level fades, you get a snowy picture, or some noise in the sound. But the picture remains at least somewhat usable even down to very low signal levels. There are even some people who make a hobby of long distance TV reception (TV-DXing), and trade screenshots of their recent catches.

But with digital, once the signal drops below a certain level, you get NOTHING. The picture freezes (or goes bluescreen), and the audio just stops. There are going to be a LOT of complaints next february when the plug gets pulled on analog TV, and some people find that they are going to be FORCED to get cable, satellite, or put up big $$$ for tower-mounted antennas and amplifiers to get their "free" TV.

im currently working on putting a dtv converter box in my truck. I have it mounted and connected (just used my inverter for now), and it works great when sitting still but as soon as i start moving the signal cuts out. I am in the process of finding a better antenna that may work.

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Kenny
Owner / Technician
KKD Garage LLC
Albany, NY 12205

Companies will be offering digital tuners to replace the current analog one but you won't see a release till the broadcasters start after the feb date and then probably a small delay before the units hit the dealers.