Quote:
Originally posted by heathkit tv
Shove come to push you could always run a VCR as the stereo source. This would also give you remote channel selection, just leave the set on ch. 3 of course. Seems to me that this will be the solution to when broadcasters switch to digital.
Anthony
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That is exactly how I plan to handle the changeover from analog to high-definition digital, if I still have my two 19" color sets then. I have Comcast digital cable, which uses Dolby digital cable boxes for analog sets (I have one on my RCA XL-100 in my living room). These are likely digital-to-analog converters, so the user's analog TV and VCR remain on channel 3 or 4 to receive the converter's output. The boxes all have remote control, so even if it's connected to a TV with a detented VHF selector, it will convert the set to remote and silent digital tuning/volume/on-off control just like that. Just put the old set's selector on channel 3 or 4 (as we did years ago with UHF converters on older VHF-only sets, only their output was on channel 5 or 6), and there you are. (Saves wear and tear on the old tuner as well.) Just like downtown, even with a 50-year-old set or even a small b&w portable.
The only thing I don't really like about the newest cable boxes, at least Motorola's latest ones (I just had mine replaced by a new model) is that the only way to control them is with the remote; there are no buttons, switches, etc. whatsoever on the box itself. This could put a set owner in a bad situation (no way to operate the cable box, leading to no reception) should the remote cease to function for any reason, including dead batteries. Why didn't Motorola think of that before putting this type of converter on the market? I can only wonder how many cable subscribers have complained to Comcast (and other cable companies using Motorola digital cable boxes) about this.
One way around the problem, however, would be to have a universal remote programmed to operate your brand of cable box, so if anything happens to the original remote the user would still have a method of operating the box. Comcast (and probably other cable companies as well) will allow its customers to use their own aftermarket remotes (or the one which came with their TV or VCR) to operate the cable box if the customer so desires, and if the remote is capable of being programmed to operate the box. I have several universal RCA remotes which will operate the cable box on my living-room TV just fine, though I prefer the original remote since it provides for master power control of a TV, VCR and the cable converter itself; one button turns on and off all three units at the same time.