Digital TV Signals for Dummies

Digital converter box hookup for analog TV

If you've been in a second-hand store in the past few years, you've probably noticed the large number of big ol' television sets that are available. Not everyone has bought a flatscreen, after all, and those who have often think "I know, I'll donate it to Goodwill!" Of course, a lot of charities no longer accept those huge rear-projection models like everyone used to have in the basement. But if you're wondering whether one of those is a great bargain, you have to take the 2009 Analog to Digital switch into consideration. In other words, you might ask, "Can Analog TV Receive Digital Cable Signals?"¹ With any luck, you won't find the answer Mandi Titus posted at eHow.com.

Oh, Titus got the basics right, informing her readers that,

"As of July 12, 2009, all television stations have transitioned to fully digital television, eliminating all analog signals. However, analog televisions are not obsolete, as they may still receive digital signals."

Which is Mandi's bastardization of the actual facts: even a television manufactured in the 1950s can receive digital signals once the signals have been converted to analog, but no, they cannot receive digital signals directly. The tuners just don't work that way.

Titus babbles on in a manner that makes it obvious that she has no idea why there's a difference between digital and analog signals, and -- for that matter -- what "Cable Signals" are. Here's more of her halfwit blather:

"Receiving digital cable services on any television requires having a cable subscription package. Owners of an analog television may also need a special converter box to view certain channels, depending on the local cable company requirements,"

Well, no, Mandi, that's not what the FCC said, What the FCC said is that as of July 12, 2009, no full-power US station can broadcast an analog system any more, so anyone who wants to receive over-the-air signals needs a "special converter box." But the OQ wasn't about that, the OQ was about "digital cable signals." Mandi's final paragraph sort of addresses that question: "Cable companies must offer services for analog television subscribers, though they may require the use of a digital converter box... "

...which borders on utter bull; first because by 2009 only the local channels were broadcasting analog and second because the "digital converter box" Titus cites is a different animal altogether from the set-top box provided by a cable company.

Titus could have easily answered the question by stating that the way an analog television can receive digital cable signals is the same way it was on July 11, 2009: only if the television has been connected to a set-top box. But that's not what Mandi said, and that's why she's our Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was ehow.com/facts_7634266_can-receive-digital-cable-signals.html

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