DTV: 363 days to go

The impending disaster of the DTV transition is now 363 days away. The government is offering voucher coupons for the purchase of converter boxes www.dtv2009.gov. I just wonder how many people know about the program. I stand by my statement of two years ago, "DTV will cause an uproar," when people wonder why their TVs have suddenly stopped working. On the DTV site, you can locate a local retainer of converter boxes. I did that and found listings for Radio Shack and Best Buy. Best Buy at least shows two models online, one of which is listed as store only. Of course, just because these converter boxes are listed online doens’t mean you can get one.

As for me, I have cable so I expect to be immune from the transition problem. On the other hand, the thought of sticking it to Comast by going broadcast only has a certain appeal. I’ve tried to stick it to Comcast before by attempting to sign on with its local competitor, RCN. Although I have a RCN junction box in front of my house, the company says I must pay $500 to go the last 17 ft. from the box to my house. "Nonstandard installation" the call it.

What fools they are at RCN. I’ve tried to explain that they’ll recover the cost in the first year, but they remain steadfast, claiming that they can’t take the rist that I’ll drop them after a short time. If that’s the way they do business, they’ve got problems.

I recently inherited an analog TV. It’s a step forward for me because my current TV is 22 years old. The "new" TV  has component video and composite video input jacks. It also has a set on compoent video inputs on the side of the unit, which is nice for connecting my digital camera or anaolg video cassette recorder. I intend to connect a DVD/VCR unit to the TV. I’d like to use the component video inputs for the DVD and the composite video inputs  for the VCR and just use the TV’s RF input for the cable box. But, I see a problem already. To use the video inputs, you have to press a button on the TV’s remote to select the input. With RF, the DVD/VCR just sends its RF output to the TV. I have a feeling that better video quality will give way to fewer button pushings.

Now I need to get Comcast over to run another line to connect to the TV. Comcast is scheduled to arrive between 11:00 and 1:00 on Saturday. I expect the technican will be hours late or not show up at all and I’ll have lost another day waiting for cable service. I’ve already lost several days of my life on other cable issues.

Do you have cable horror stories? Post them here.