Skip to main content

digital converter boxes

It's now official...both of our TVs are plugged into their soon to be required digital converter boxes. We did the tiny tv in our bedroom a long time ago. We suddenly had double the stations, but the reception was delayed about 2-3 seconds. We discovered that when Bobby would have the tv on in the living room, then would move to the bedroom to start getting things ready for the next day. Being the sweet man that he is, he'd leave the tv on for me while I finished up in the living room or kitchen. If I'd go to the laundry room, I could hear both tvs at the same time, and they were NOT in sync.
I like having more stations to choose from, though we're puzzled how to figure out what comes on when. I also like the increased clarity that usually comes with the picture. What I don't like about the boxes is that it's not uncommon for the signal to come in distorted and we get pixel boxes instead of a picture. Another disappointment is the volume. It's not uncommon for the volume to become blaringly loud when a commercial comes on, and then the second commercial is extremely soft. When the program returns, it's at the volume we originally set. Strange.
One very cool feature of the boxes, is that the channels program themselves into the remote during setup. Once I turn the tv and the box on, I can use the box remote to switch stations, though we have to use the tv remote to handle volume. The box remote does have a volume control, but the changes are so minute it's not worth fooling with. But I do think it beats paying for cable or satellite, especially as we don't watch a huge amount of tv.

Comments

Jennifer said…
Ours changes volume on different channels. One may be very loud and the other you can't hear. We also have problems with reception. Your right in the middle of something and then it starts to scramble. Overall though it works great, and I love watching Leave it To Beaver on RTN (oh and simon and simon)
Monica said…
I laid down on the couch last night and we lost signal! Bobby told me to sit up. I did and it came back on! How insane is that?! I'm thinking this transition isn't really all it's cracked up to be.

Popular posts from this blog

things we do for love

Saturday we had a baby shower for Bobby's niece. As I was making the mints, Bobby asked what else was on the menu. After I recited off the litany of items, he responded with "No peanut butter?! This shower is for Hannah! What's she going to eat?" (Hannah has had stomach problems over the years and has been unable to tolerate many foods, but peanut butter has been her staple.) Despite my assurances that she would enjoy the foods we were having, he was adamant that I needed to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the shower. Even though I protested that NOBODY took that to a shower, he persisted, and informed me I could make them dainty with my little cutter. And so I did. To my surprise all but 3 were eaten. Who'd a thunk it?

get your house in order

My grandmothers were very clean people. My mother thoroughly enjoys cleaning, though she doesn't quite hit the same level my grandmothers were on. I don't enjoy cleaning, but I do like things to be clean. I've almost given up on neatness. One thing that they all instilled in me is the crazy concept that your house must be in order before you go somewhere big - like a vacation or something. After all, you could die in a car crash or have to go to the hospital, and then people would go into your house and find it in a terrible mess. Who wants to be remembered by that? So up until this past year, I would sometimes be up almost all night not only trying to get things packed up, but also trying to totally clean house as well. Or should I say, make the house presentable? The Chinese had a horrible superstition that my mother and grandparents would have enjoyed. Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year based on the lunar calendar) required EVERYTHING to be cleaned top to

Wait...it's almost March?!?

 10 more months 'til Christmas. This last month has been an absolute blur. Cleaning at Mrs. Bryan's house, cleaning at our house, lots of thinking and brainstorming and rearranging, appointments upon appointments, sinus infection/allergies, Bobby's surgery, meeting with surgeon and finally agreeing to future outpatient surgery for me, ongoing updates from my parents, garden tilled and snow peas, potatoes and beets planted (and yes I left several rows empty between the potatoes and beets for something else to go later as a buffer), chickens are laying, we may have a broody hen..in FEBRUARY!!!, we have two roosters that need to disappear, lots of family have been in from out of town to assist with the sorting and cleaning at Mrs. Bryan's house, and somewhere in the midst of it all I've found time to pay bills and catch up on a few emails. While I no longer feel like our house is a disaster zone, it is still overwhelming. Years ago a friend posted a quote by Martin Lut