In article >,
Chemiker > wrote:

> As many of you know, here in the US of A there is a mandatory
> conversion from analog to digital TV transmissions. Well, all
> the TV's in MY house are analog.

Your only option is to get rid of all your tvs and buy 17 new ones, at
an average cost of about US$2000 each. Call the total US$35000,
including a new antenna for your roof. Might as well upgrade that one,
too. You DO have an antenna on your roof, right? To receive those OTA
signals from your local TV station?

> One of my options is to
> abandon my current provider and subscribe with his
> main competitor. These are, of course, Direct TV and
> Dish Network.

The new cutover only applies to OTA (over the air) tv. Anyone who has a
dish or cable is unaffected by this US cutover.

If you are happy with what you have now, you don't need to do a thing.
If you want to switch to HD, I doubt that now is a good time here in the
US. In fact, maybe now would be a good time to pick up a top of the
line used analog tv that someone is getting rid of to get an HD.

> Question: Which of the two offers the best programming
> for foodies?

We have Dish Network, and have had it forever, maybe longer. I doubt
that there is much difference between the two. There are web sites for
both that explain what is offered on what plan. If you decide to go
with HD, either one offers it.

NOTE - for those who have read this far, and have OTA with analog tvs,
my first paragraph above was a friendly lie. You can buy a box for
about US$50 that will convert the new signals to work on your old tv.
The US government was almost completely subsidizing these, although at
this late date they may have run out of the coupons.

My prediction for the future, is that as more and more analog tvs die
and don't get fixed because it isn't worth it, and more and more people
have digital tvs, that the market base will make it economically
desirable for cable and satellite providers to drop analog channels. I
believe that currently, some channels are offered as both. There will
be no government mandate, and I suspect that it will happen piecemeal,
but don't be surprised if at some time, your favorite channel will no
longer be available in analog. That's just my guess, based on no solid
knowledge. Whether that will start happening in two years, five years
or ten years I couldn't say. I know that when my present monster analog
CRT tv dies, I will look real hard at a large flat screen with HD.
Whether I actually get HD reception will depend on price and
availability.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA