Remember when HD TV and Digital TV started? Remember the excitement? Now it is all so blase about it all. With Smart TV’s and the dawn of Streaming will TV Channels last? All good questions, we shall see. Written back in 2009
So I finally broke down this weekend and rented an HD terminal box from Rogers, just to see what it all looked like, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the picture is quite good and I did enjoy seeing Hockey and Football games in High Definition format.
I did not buy the terminal box, I will rent it for a month or two, and hopefully the PVR or terminal itself will go on sale (again) and I may purchase it at that time, because having an HD television which doesn’t receive the signals does seem a little silly (albeit frugal).
The interesting tricks in getting this new service is:
- My bill goes up $12.95 a month (plus taxes) so that is the know kick in the teeth.
- I then received a note about my account and I also get hit with a $2.99 Digital Services fee.
The second fee is what has me scratching my head, because, I already have two digital terminals in my house (both for regular TV, but they are digital none the less). Does this mean I pay this fee on each of them? This is not a “rental” fee, because I own those boxes, so I am paying over $10 for the right to have a digital terminal?
What Next With Digital TV?
Here is another interesting question to answer, when Canada finally follows the US and stops broadcasting on the Analog frequencies for TV, what happens to the Cable signals? If I connect an “aerial” I can receive digital (and HD) signals right now in the Ottawa area (very limited channels, but it is still possible), but what happens when digital takes over?
- Will we need “Digital Terminal” set top boxes? You’d think the answer would be “no”, but I am pretty sure the real answer is “Yes”, at least for now. These boxes allow your Cable provider to monitor your usage and control your access very easily.
- Will HD signals be “free”, or will I be paying a fee to receive those as well (i.e. either buy a Set top box, rent one or what)?
My Cable bill is now about $90 a month again, I am not happy with that, and am thinking, this may have to change very soon.
You can get HDTV for free without HD cable subscription and other superfluous fee fro boxes etc. I had blog post on topic at http://www.mewithoutdebt.com/2009/08/why-i-you-dont-need-my-your-cable.html
The digital conversion only effects your signal if you receive your TV signals over the air and not through satellite or cable. You will need a box that converts the OTA signal from it’s digital form in to an analogue signal, much like your cable box does, but it won’t be the same thing as a cable box. They will not be controlled by a central source, much like if you had rabbit ears today.
I’ve been premium TV-less for a little over two years now and things are going well. No bill in the mail every month rocks.