Eight Thirty Eyes

So tonight I just set up my living room TV to actually receive the digital channels over the air. I did this for two reasons, but found a third along the way -

1. I can now use my picture in picture function since now the “TV” option will actually have a signal. Now I can watch two lame shows at once if I so choose. Since my cable box goes through the HDMI cables I couldn’t figure out how to do the P&P function without it using the “TV” option and since I didn’t not have anything connected to that – well it has never worked.

2. This has been a topic at work for years and I never gave it to much personal thought because I have cable so I didn’t have to do anything. It’s pretty much just been a lot of hoopla about which markets are prepared and which ones aren’t, and how it’s going to affect the ratings, and oh we’re not going to have a February Nielsen book, but oh wait never mind, now we’re switching to June, so scratch that we’ll have February ratings, but not ratings for June, etc. etc. (sorry, I completely realize that is the ugliest sentence on the planet) Well anyways, earlier this week one of my stations told me that the actual over the air signals in HD are way better HD than going through the cable box, so I had to test this out…

OMG, he was totally right. I cannot believe the difference. I could tell just by watching but then I also did a very scientific test by watching the same channel through both signals using the P&P function. Granted some of my favorite HD channels – discovery, Nat Geo, etc are only available through cable so it’s a moot point for me. However, I am currently watching swimming from last years Olympics on WXIA’s 2nd or 3rd digital channel and it is pretty amazing.

I think I owe it to anyone who actually uses their TV to watch sports on the local stations to tell you that you should definitely consider switching over ot the digital signal instead of the cable box for game time. I mean if your TV is digital ready and your cable is all set up through HDMI like mine, all you have to do is switch to the “TV” option and run the “autoprogram” and it just puts them all there for you.

3. Finally,  I also just realized that this will help solve my issues with having too much to watch on TV at one time. I can now have my DVR record two things and then switch to the TV signal and watch a third option. I have not tested this out, but based on my limited knowledge of technology I think it should work.  I know a simpler solution would be to watch less TV, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice for your work…

There you have it, my input on the digital tv transition that occured last month. It’s all about timing really – I didn’t want to be the first to post something because I didn’t want to deal with millions of people clogging up my blog comments looking for real answers (ha) Anyways, if you have any real questions about it, there are about a million other web sites you can go to for info.