Morris Jones posted: > I listened to this podcast on "IT Conversations" last night: > http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3801.html Aaaargh, what frustration. Such utter cluelessness. Actually, I don't remember ever reading that the switch would be easy, even though it should be far easier than what the reporter described. I guess reporters all over have to go for the hype factor, which takes much priority over educating their readers. First of all, rather than dwell on how she sent her husband on the roof to install an antenna he may not even have done right, she should have been dwelling on the fact that her analog UHF reception was awful. And obviously, that should have told her right away that digital would probably not work. Secondly, if the second floor TV works fine but the first floor TV did not, clearly there's something wrong in the coax distribution system in the house. It seems inconceivable to me that she didn't know what that coax cable plant was, and didn't think to replace it just as a matter of course. Sounds like it was never done right to begin with, if her analog UHF was so bad. Hey, here's an idea. Why not try a temporary cable straight to the downstairs set, e.g. through a window, to see what reception is like? Doesn't that seem, like, obvious? Thirdly, the antenna she had before was apparently a VHF/UHF antenna, from her somewhat confused and defocused description of it. So my bet is, it's not true that all she needed was a better UHF antenna. My bet is that the old antenna per se was the least of her problems. Fourth, she never said why she didn't go to stores other than Radio Shack to get the box and/or to get information. Walmart? Best Buy? Nothing? Just try Radio Shack and complain about it? Fifth, she never did say what she did, when trying the new antenna indoors. Just in one location? Move it close to a window? No information. Sixth point, whoever she talked to that explained about ghost and DTV reception was also barking up the wrong tree. This was clearly a matter of bad SIGNAL, not huge ghost issues downstairs. Hey, bad analog UHF reception downstairs should have been enough to cut that conversation short. In fact, the whole 14 minute program could have been cut to 1 minute: you have to start with decent UHF reception in analog. Most importantly, though, since she was obiously not very savvy on these matters, instead of hyping up the problems she had, why didn't she go to Circuit City or Best Buy, and hire someone to do the installation? Isn't that far easier than getting stuck on monthly payments she didn't want? This is somewhat similar to the guy that complained he couldn't get DTV reception in our neighborhood. In his case, he didn't even know whether his outdoor antenna was even connected. Too bad he didn't bother mentioning this "minor" point. The moral of the story is, TV stations have to explain some of these seemingly obvious things. Don't expect the consumer to know anything. The first question should be: how is your analog UHF reception? Is it good? If so, you're probably fine. If not, and if you are clueless, then GET PROFESSIONAL HELP. And it would really help to give a list of stores that provide this service. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.