(1) After February 2009, you're not going to need analog passthru, because virtually all stations are changing to digital. (Example: Grand Rapids' MyNetTV is doing a flashover to DTV at midnight Feb 17.) So the problem will eventually disappear as the analog stations turn off.



(2) For those few persons (about 0.1% of the populace) who are unlucky enough to live in an empty region..... served in 2009 by only a low-power analog transmitter..... there is a VERY simple solution:

--- (a) Unscrew the antenna from the converter box
--- (b) Rescrew the antenna into your TV.
--- (c) Done!

Or just use an A/B switch or antenna splitter.

And that's it.

:-)

Could you just use 2 diplexers and bipass the converterbox them recombine the signal. Would their be to much interfernce?

No idea what diplexers are. Here's what someone suggested at the High Def Forum. If the TV has composite-video inputs, a single 2-way splitter can be used. First, connect the antenna to the splitter. Then connect one of the outputs of the splitter to the RF input of the TV.

Second, connect the other output from the splitter to the digital converter box, and then connect the digital converter to the TV using a composite-video cables.

To watch the digital channels simply switch over to the a/v input.

To watch analog channels, type in the channel number like normal.

never mind

You want analog pass-thru?

Buy a splitter.

Easy.

Being low-powered to begin with, and depending on your geographic position, you may need a powered distribution amp rather than a splitter. Maybe the A/B switch would be better in that case.

I have one, pretty popular CA station here that has no plans to go digital until forced to where even one split would just about put it over the watchability threshold (I'm 40 miles out).

Well.... what do you think one of these Analog Pass-Thru boxes is going to use? (That's right; a splitter.)



It's true that splitters cause loss. I stayed in a seedy hotel one time that, due to cheapness of the owner, had split a single CATV signal across ~10 rooms. It was just one splitter after another.

My room was at the end of the chain, and as the frequency went higher, the channels gradually disintegrated into static. Since the splitter was just laying there on the floor, I disconnected the room next door, and plugged directly into the line. Ahhh. Watcheable television.

Never thought I'd have to "tune" a cable tv! ;-)

So you want me to buy a $2 splitter and a $40 A/B Switch (remote) Since my aunt can't walk up to tv everytime she wants to watch a analog station

I will try a passthrough box. The philco must stay on for it to work and keep strong signal. Must be a power splitter huh?

PLUS I played a trick on her TV. I told it the Antenna was a cable tv. She got 7 more stations on the higher channels. 68 and higher. I can't find those stations on the TV lists. So they are either NJ or somewhere else

So you want me to buy a $2 splitter and a $40 A/B Switch (remote) Both only cost $2, and you only need one of them, not both. (I'd use the splitter for your aunt.)

I hardly think $2 is going to break your bank. ;-) I told it the Antenna was a cable tv. She got 7 more stations on the higher channels. 68 and higher. I can't find those stations on the TV lists. So they are either NJ or somewhere else No. Cable channels 68 and up are equivalent to Off-the-air channels 15, 16, 17, et cetera. You did not discover anything new; you just incorrectly setup her television and now it's displaying the wrong numbers. Put it back to "antenna" so it will work in the proper fashion.

BTW you said NJ. Where does your aunt live (zipcode)? Possibly close to where I am, and watching the same set of channels.