News Ten's Chris Jones Goes Digital

It will be the biggest change in television since the switch from black and white to color. But are you ready for it? As of Tuesday, I am.

You may remember a report I did last month on the upcoming switch to digital TV. In it I talked about coupons the government offers to help with the cost of a converter box for those who need it. That day I sent away for my coupons and this weekend they arrived. So Tuesday I set out to upgrade my sets to digital.

They're calling it the future of television. And with a digital converter box the future is here.

"Digital provides a much better picture, crystal clear pictures and sound, more channels through what we call multi-casting, and it also provides the best high definition programming over the air. And you can get it for free. All you need is an antenna," says Jonathan Collegio, vice president of digital television transition for the National Association of Broadcasters.

Because my signal comes through old fashioned rabbit ears I needed to buy a converter box.

"They cost between $40 and $70 and the federal government, in order to help with the cost of the upgrade, is providing up to two $40 coupons to any household that applies," says Collegio.

My coupons came with a list of local retailers who sell the converters and accept the coupons. With the coupon, my nearly $50.00 box cost me $9.87 out of pocket.

The next step was installing it. Just as I had been told, it was pretty easy to hook it up.

"You can think of the converter box as something that fits in between your antenna and television set and takes that new signal and changes it into a signal your television set can understand," he says. "Plug it in and there you go. You're upgraded to digital at that point."

And the result? My TV instantly went from about six channels to twelve. And the picture really is clearer, although some stations still take a little tinkering with the antenna for the picture to come in. But that's a small price to pay to enjoy the TV of the future through my old rabbit ears. 

One tip Collegio gave me was to buy a converter with an analog pass-through feature. That's not a huge deal for those watching TV in Medford, but anyone outside of Medford who gets News10 on a station other than channel ten will need the analog pass through box for their local stations to work properly. That's because they're getting a low power signal through a translator station.

The official switch to digital is February 17, 2009. We have more information here.