Making analog televisions feel useful

I received my digital TV converter box gov’t coupons over the weekend. In case you’ve not yet seen or heard any of the commercials, or flipped through the newspaper to find a advertisement for this program, there is a looming deadline for analog television. In February of 2009, all broadcast signals in the USA will switch over to digital and television sets that can receive only analog broadcasts will display only dancing salt and pepper from that moment forward.

All TVs since 2005 have been fitted with digital as well as analog tuners. (Televisions that don’t have tuners included in their manufacture are just called “monitors.” You’d be hard-pressed to buy one of these on accident.) So if your TV is less than 3 years old, you’re in the clear. If it’s not, you’ll need a converter box for it to pull in even your local broadcast channels – such as PBS – over the air.

The FCC has mandated that we all be sufficiently notified and that there be coupons available for citizens to use toward lessening the financial hardship of the switch. Each of us is allowed up to two coupons. You’ll need a converter for every TV you use after February 2009 that is analog-only. The official website to request these coupons is DTV2009.gov. There is additional information and tools at this website, including a tool for locating where to buy a converter, but it’s likely that any retailer who sells televisions will have converters available.

NOTE: Digital TV is not the same as HDTV (High Definition TV). Normal Digital TV converter boxes will not enable you to watch over-the-air HDTV programming. You have to buy a converter capable of HDTV as well as Standard Definition DTV to see this programming. Read this page at DTVFacts.com to learn more.

DTVFacts.com aims to better educate consumers and does an excellent job of it.

ConsumerReports.org has a terrific website dedicated to the transition.

From ElectronicHouse.com: “A new report by the consumer advocacy group MassPirg (Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group), finds many retailers are misleading consumers about the upcoming analog-to-digital television transition.”

Wikipedia’s page on the transition is available here.

DTVAnswers.com is another informational site, published by the National Association of Broadcasters.

If you have any specific problems or would like to learn more about individual converter boxes or other hardware, I highly recommend searching or posting a new message to the Audio Video Science Forum.

Newegg.com has converter boxes available in their “Set-top box” category, but I’m not sure if they can accept the coupon. I’ll provide an update when I find out.