When I look online people in the industry are saying this won't be like the analog to digital conversion, meaning those boxes would not allow you to set up OTA recordings because you had to change the channel on the box not on the DVR.
In this situation it is digital to digital and conversion. If true and you don't have to buy a new TV or lose DVR features.
"On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that the pain isn't expected to be as dramatic as it was in 2009.
"); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);">In his 2016 article discussing the technical elements of a switchover, Sinclair's Fred Baumgartner makes the case that a forced upgrade, if it ever happens, likely won't be as dramatic because we already did the hard part by upgrading to digital in the first place.
"In this case, the digital transition is history, we have flat screens and devices … and all that is missing is a means to connect broadcast TV to them," he writes, adding that dongles that hook up to HDMI ports will likely be the way many people upgrade their sets.
That said, dongles and set-top boxes won't be the only upgrade path. At last year's National Association of Broadcasters convention,
"); background-size: 1px 1px; background-position: 0px calc(1em + 1px);">the TV-maker LG showed off a unique kind of antenna that redistributes broadcast signals through a wireless router, which could help maximize the signal through devices that don't already have an existing way to parse an ATSC signal. The approach would make it so that smartphones, tablets, and television sets would be able to use the antenna without dedicated internals, removing a major pain point of past antenna technology."