US Switches to DTV Today: Digital TV Replaces Rabbit Ears

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The US has made the switch to digital TV. For most viewers, the changeover was seamless, but for those with older televisions or no cable service, the DTV switchover will require additional hardware. Goodbye, rabbit ears. Televisions manufactured before 1998 are analog, while those built between 1998 and 2004 may already have digital converters buit-in.

Find out if your set is OK... or just switch it on and see if you can see Hogan's Heroes reruns or not.

For broadcasting companies, whose ad sales depend on as many people watching their shows as possible, this is a big issue: over 2 million Americans are not DTV-ready.  While the impending switch has been a factor in driving sales of newer televisions, lower-income families will not be making such purchases, and so will either buy a converter box for $40-70 (for which the US government is supplying vouchers), or at least temporarily stop watching TV.

At the time of this writing, the government DTV site is slammed.

Note that these converter boxes do not have multiple outputs, so, if you have two old television sets, you'll need two separate converter boxes.