U.S.A. Members: Digital Converter Box

I received the $40 coupon from the Govt. on Saturday for a digital converter box. Bought it today. With the coupon is was $24 including tax.

A cheaper one from Walmart is available. But I went with the Radio Shack model.

The "coupon" was actually a plastic credit card type thing. Not a piece of paper. The coupon made of plastic, had a hologram, raised letters on the front with the expiratin date, magnetic strip on back. I was going to bitch about how much the coupon probably cost the govt. to produce. But not now.

Now my tv is like BASIC basic cable. For free. I get 12 channels. Maybe two more if I figure out how to adjust the antenna. The channels come in clear like they are cable tv.

It came with a remote. The remote controls both the tv (to turn it on) and the digital box. The box does the channel changing. The tv actually stays on channel 3.

Like a cable tv, there is a button that gives me information like the name of the show on. What's on next. etc.

The govt. did me a solid this week. Both with the coupon and making the tv stations go digital. Amazing.

Note: I already had a digital ready antenna. (Rabbit Ears) Gave up cable back in September.

How did you go about getting the coupon? Do you have to apply for it? Fill out some forms, etc.?

I went to the website.

The website was down for a little while. When it came back up, the site said they were behind in sending the coupons. Then listed estimated time of arrival depending on when you had applied for it.

You can go to the website. You can call a number. Or get a form where they sell tv's. Best Buy had the form today.

You can get 2 coupons at a time. They are valid for 2 months.

Here is the link.

just a word of caution. You have to have a digital ready antenna and the converter box in order to pick up a signal. A digital ready antenna will pick up a signal, but will be unable to convert the signal to a usable source for your analog television. The converter box itself is not capable of picking up a signal, only converting the signal.

If you have a "digital ready" TV, you still have to buy the converter and the antenna. Chances are you don't if you haven't bought a TV in the last year or so. Be very, very cautious of "an awesome price on a really expensive TV" in the next few months. While all televisions that are currently being produced are digital only, stores may have had analog only televisions in stock, and the price is so damn good because it's not even digital ready. You'll still have to buy the converter and antenna on top of the cost of the TV.

An analog television without a converter box/antenna will be just short of a paperweight with out digital equipment.

If you have cable/satellite, your cable/satellite company will set you up with the proper equipment if any is necessary

Rudie.

God Bless retired people:

Where to get the Coupin

Ah OK. I'd need to get the antenna as well. I got rid of my cable back in December. And I guess my TV is definitely analog, because it's about 12 years old.

Here no cable = no channels. Doesn't do me any good

Digital signals compress, carry better and longer than analog signals.

I am not telling you to ditch your cable, but if you have someone who ends up getting a converter box and an antenna, it might not be a bad idea to see if they can bring it over to test it out.

Technically it's one of the reasons we are supposedly moving to it. It will bring the joys of television and entertainment to people that don't get it right now. lucky them.

Here is a good article from last week's New York TImes' Tech section.

A "digital ready" antenna is pretty much any pair of rabbit ears. Ideally you'll want one that has both VHF "ears" and a UHF "loop" so you can get the entire spectrum of HDTV programming. I got one from Radio Shack for $15, the cheapest they had, and I get perfect HD reception.

Over the air HDTV is the best quality you'll get, better than cable or satellite. Even if you have the latter two, you'll still want to use an antenna to get the best quality possible for network television.