Okay, if you were thinking you were going to get a philosophical novel based on this title, you are wrong. This is a story about television. Television in two different cities.
In Ames, we had free DirecTV with our rent. We paid the extra $5.95 a month for DVR. It was fabulous - we could record any channel we wanted at any time of day or night, and then we could watch it whenever we wanted. And the picture was crystal clear. We had more channels than I could count. We even had BYU-TV, so we could watch general conference at home. I loveditloveditlovedit. It also made us tv-aholics (living above a crabby person who complained every time my kids took a step made the tv even more tempting).
Moving to Cedar, we decided to be budget-conscious and just use plain ol' rabbit ears. Seven channels, about 40% picture and 60% static. No DVR. We have definitely watched less tv in the last two months than we have ever watched.
I have been hearing about the federally mandated digital broadcast tv transition, and I finally looked it up online and ordered a coupon for $40 off a converter box. We finally got the coupon in yesterday's mail, and we went to Wal-Mart and purchased it (the box cost $49.00, so with the coupon it cost us $9.00)
Oh. My. Word.
We now have 17 channels, they are all crystal clear, and the box even has a menu that tells us what show is on each channel right now and what show is on next. Can you hear the angels singing? It's like our lives are complete now. Free tv, AND we can actually see the picture.
There is only one bummer - the CW isn't digital yet, so it's not one of the 17 channels. Christian made it so we can turn the box off and watch that analog channel. Whew! Now I don't have to miss any episodes of America's Next Top Model. And it should become a digital channel by the February 17 deadline.
If you are using rabbit ears, and haven't ordered your coupon for the converter box, DO IT NOW. If you are on cable or satellite, well, are you glad you just wasted your time reading this post? :)
Friday, September 26
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I completely relate.
When my husband was working on his doctorate, we also had free cable with our student housing. We became TV addicts.
Now that we are paying of loans, I'm not willing to pay for TV, so rabbit ears it is. I had no idea you could get the digital boxes already! I am so happy to know this! Thank you Thank you Thank you.
Although, I must say, I haven't cared much about TV the last year or so. I got used to not really having it. But it is definitely nice to have sometimes. Especially so we don't have to watch General Conference in static. :)
Interesting. Do you happen to know if our old fashioned VCRs will be able to record dititally?
Yes, as a matter of fact, I recorded NCIS Tuesday night and it was AWESOME!
OK, first, I had no idea people still used bunny ears!!! This makes me weep for my fellow man.
And second NO DVR?!?!?!?! I think that's almost worse than bunny ears. Seriously, our DVR is our third family member. I love her.
Welcome to the Digital Age...
Well, I guess I can't really welcome you to a place that we are not at yet, but congratulations all the same.
We love it too, but it's kind of stinky because we can't get all 15 of our channels with the antenna in the same place. AND we cannot get channel 13 anymore:(. Very sad. I've been loving your blog--sorry for lack of posts, just not having time to do that lately!
Hope you are doing well!
We have always used bunnyears, and it is good to hear that you get more channels with the converter box! And that it is clear! I have ordered my coupons a few weeks ago, and still haven't received them. How long did it take? I would really like to get mine soon! Thanks for the info, and on where to purchase them for pretty cheap!
Sounds cool, digital recording, I could record all my fav shows!!
It took almost 3 weeks to receive the coupons. Totally worth it to save 40 bucks!
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