Digital TV and March Madness – the dynamic duo

Typically, Christmas and the Superbowl are thought of as the strongest TV buying seasons. I had been seriously thinking about moving up to HDTV for the last six months or so seeing that the sets have dropped into my target price area. I skipped the hype and sales of the aforementioned TV buying events and finally made my purchase in February. I thought it would be good to have for the NCAA tournament and the timing worked out but I never realized just how great it would be.

I’m currently using an antenna to pick up the digital signals which works pretty well since I am close to a “city”. My local CBS affiliate is broadcasting four distinct signals (the standard analog, one digital HD and two more, usually grainy, digital SD channels). Admittedly, the same game is often being broadcast on two or more of these (especially when a close game gets down to the final minutes) but at one point last night there were four different games on! Also, when my local went to the 6 o’clock news, I could still watch a game on one of the other channels while everyone else was stuck watching the news. Now, that’s cool and really shows the benefits of digital TV!

I don’t think the NCAA tournament is used as a strong selling point for new TVs as it could be. The reason to move up is not just picture quality but the additional content that becomes available. Also, if you have one of these sets with a tuner, check out what you can get with an antenna. Some, but not all, cable systems in my area are carrying these additional channels. Your area might be the same.