I received email from a viewer today that raised an excellent question.

She asked if she needed to match manufacturers of converter and television. In other words, if you have a "Brand A" TV, must you purchase a converter made by the same company?

The good news is no. These converters are meant to be universal devices. They will work with any television.

There are several ways of connecting it to your TV. One way is to use the "RF" output. This has the familiar threaded connector ("F connector") that you see on antenna and cable equipment. You just run a length of coaxial cable from the converter to your television and set it to an unused channel, typically channel 3. Another method would be to use the audio and video (or S video) connectors if your set has these. This should result in a better picture than the RF connection. Note: if you have a really old set, the kind with two screw terminals and the flat ("twin lead") cable connected to it, you will have to add a small transformer to adapt the coaxial cable to the terminals.

Either way, you'll quickly and easily be enjoying your favorite shows on your current non-HD set.