[tabithahogue]

I have a Panasonic PT-42LC14 TV and according to this web site DTVTransition.org - A New Era in Television Broadcasting my TV is digital and should be able to work without a converter box but I don't know how to change it to digital.

[ITstudent2006]

Is it LCD/Palsma?
Do you have cable/dish?
Do you have the manual?

[Stratmando]

If you have satellite or cable you don't need it.
If picking up from antenna, then the converter will receive digital, and out put to TV

[ITstudent2006]

Yes but he deosn't need a converter box because his T.V is newer and has a built in digital tuner. (he states this)

Correct if he has some sort of signal from the outside ie: cable or dish then he won't need to worry about switching it over from analog to digital but if he uses an antenna then he still needs to switch his TV from analog to digital hence the question.

Let me know how you receive your TV. Ie: cable/dish/antenna

[ITstudent2006]

If your T.V. says ATSC built-in, or digital tuner built-in or if it's HDTV then you don't need to worry about it and as far as switching it over it should be an automatic configuration, youshouldn't have to do anything!

[Lowtax4eva]

Agreed, from what I have been reading for newer TV's such as HDTV's you don't need to do anything it will convert the signal.

But this bring up a better question... why would anyone with an HDTV have an antenna at all?

[Stratmando]

"why would anyone with an HDTV have an antenna at all?"
Could be in mountains/remote area where there is no Cable, or Satellite, or no extra Money for monthly payments.

[DanielF]

Tabatha,

As per the previous posts, I'm assuming you're concern is with free-to-air digital TV reception (and yes Lowtax4eva, in some countries we have [soon] dozens of free digital channels, so why pay money if you're not a couch potato?).

Have you 'scanned' for your digital channels? Somewhere will be some sort of 'Setup' menu that includes a selection to 'Auto scan' (or some such). This will cause your TV's tuner to scan all the available channels looking for any digital transmissions. When finished, you will be able to select any found channels with the channel up/down button (at the least).

You might end up with multiple copies of some channels (from different transmission towers), in which case you might want to then go into the 'Edit channels' menu and delete those with the weakest signal (there will be a signal-strength display somewhere, for each channel, possibly as you switch to each channel with the up/down buttons).

If this is not your problem, please give us some more specific details about what you are trying to achieve.

Daniel

[Stratmando]

Daniel, are you speaking of Satellite "Free to Air"?

[tabithahogue]

I have done the auto scan and I can only get 3 channels and they are the normal channel stations meaning they aren't some number like 11-14, they are the right station for the number that I have always got. I thought I would get more stations and now I only get 3. I didn't know if there was someway of changing a setting on my TV to switch to digital.

[Stratmando]

Tabitha, go to this site and enter your zip code, should tell channels, locations, and distance:
Address

[ITstudent2006]

Once you do an auto-scan for digital transmissions all of the channels you get will be saved so you don't have to SWITCH anything.
Inside your T.V menu should be an option to scan digital channels or analog channels. Scan for difital channels and them are the ones you will get, if your area of residence don't offer anymore then 3 digital over-air channels then you're out of luck.

[DanielF]

Stratmando, not satellite, but terrestrial UHF service (in Australia). (See Free-to-air TV set for a new digital age)

Tabatha, is it possible that your digital channels are broadcast from a different location than your analogue channels, requiring a change in your antenna's direction?

There may well be a menu item to switch from analogue to digital tuner, but without a user manual for your TV, I can't point you to it. Perhaps just search through every available menu until you find it?

Daniel

[KISS]

Strat:
TV Fool - Home is a LOT better than antennaweb by leaps and bounds.