get your hdtv converter box coupons
 

As I mentioned in a previous thread, analog TV broadcast will cease in February 2009 (in the US). There are converter boxes available that will convert HDTV to the analog signal your old TV understands.

Converters run ~ $60 at bestbuy or circuit city. The federal government is providing coupons for $40 toward converter purchase.

The program is open now. You can apply here.

There is also a very good FAQ there on what's happening and what to do.

You do not need a converter if you have cable or a dish. Only those of us still getting their TV over-the-air need it.

Thanks dar512, I've been wondering about when they would finally become available. Still haven't seen any converter boxes advertised in the Sunday circulars though.

I have questions about this whole thing:

On TV, there are numerous commercials, half-hour "infomercials" and banners across the bottom telling people "GET YOUR CONVERTER BOX NOW." I mean ALL THE TIME.

I went online to look at coupons, and they have to be used within 90 days.
Why? Why the rush? I know time flies and it will be here before we know it, but now they are also saying "hurry before they're gone."

If the gubmint is giving coupons and the networks want us to keep watching network television, ad revenue and all, why the big push? The gubmint can print a few more "coupons." Hell, I might have cable before February.

Yeah, everyone thinks I have a conspiracy theory working in my head, and look at me like I'm crazy when I ask why the push, but it seems funny to me.

:tinfoil:

I'm not sure the stores even have many of the converter boxes in stock. Best Buy's website lists only one unit, which it won't sell over the web, and it gets mixed reviews. Apparently it doesn't work reliably.

Maybe this changeover will finally cure me of my TV addiction. If my choice is to spend $1200 to get a new tv and DVR to replace my perfectly functional TV and VCR, or spend $20-$30 after a coupon to get a box that doesn't work well, I might just read a book or surf the web instead.

I'm quite content with fuzzy CBS, and clear CW...but no TV at all? I read a lot anyway. No internet, so I play a lot of PC games that don't require net. However, all indications are after the switch there will be NO non-cable or non-satellite reception without the box. How will we know how well the box works until they actually switch to digital?

The whole thing reeks of reverse "economic stimulus." BUY. BUY NOW. IF YOU WAIT YOU WILL DIE A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH.

I still wonder if DirecTV will still work for me even tho I have an old Hughes HIRD E1 receiver, and no "HD" channels.

I also wonder if Mississippi's own Bailey Cable - which my Aunt has - is on track with HD.

'course, i also, wonder if this whole thing is like the Y2K scare.

It's nothing like the Y2K scare. They are turning off the analog broadcast signal. It's been planned for years now, and after being postponed a couple times, they are serious about it this time.

You have cable. You will be fine. Nothing changes for you.

Progris Riport
 

I got my coupons this week. They look like gift cards and the store slides em in the machine the same way.

I bought the Zenith converter at Circuit City. Consumer reports gave it a good review. They had a large stack of them at my local store.

The channels I do get look great - about like a good DVD. But, I don't get all the channels I hoped for through the rabbit ears I already had. ABC and CBS have always been bad here, but I was hoping the digital signal would be stronger.

Before laying out a bunch of money on a better antenna, I'm going to try making an antenna out of a bunch of clothes hangars. Reviews say it works pretty well. I'll let you know.

Oh, I gotta see the pictures of this project.

Yea...my comp. is HD compatible and came with a remote. That makes me feel funny on the inside.

Well, it works pretty well. Definitely better than the rabbit ears I had. I get 30 stations now where the rabbit ears only pulled in 22.

I still don't get CBS, but I think that's because it's temporarily at Frequency 3 which requires a larger outdoor antenna. According to this site CBS will be at 12 after the transition so I'll be ok then.

We don't watch that much TV anyway. So I think this'll do. I mainly wanted to have this in place for the summer olympics. And NBC is clear as a bell.

Pics next week sometime when I remember to take them.

My son's grandmother got one for mother's day. She said she gets 19 crystal clear channels now.


How do you manage 22 with rabbit ears? I think there is less than 10 here with rabbit ears...! wow that's amazing.

I live in a Chicago near suburb, so I'm close enough to the antennae. If you go here and enter your address and zip code, you can see where your local stations are and how far you are from them.

I just requested my two coupons. They will send them out next month. Then I have until around Christmas to buy a tuner. They turn off the broadcasts two months later.

Wheee!

They already did in Wilmington NC

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/08/d....ap/index.html

I got the Zenith dtt900 at Circuit City. It included both RCA and RF cables (some others don't). And it has worked well for us.

There were big stacks of them when I got mine in July.

Thanks. That's helpful.

They already did in Wilmington NC

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/08/d....ap/index.html

deja vu

I had heard from someone local that they too had more channels once getting the box. See, they never said that was a possibility in all the 50 million infomercials, news segments, and scrolly-across-the-bottom-of-the-TV-thingys I've seen.

So, I too ordered my coupons and expect them to be mailed to me on Oct 10th.

Now I'm almost excited. They can peep into my home life all they want if I get better TV. ;) In fact, I volunteer to BE better TV. What? You won't watch a show of a woman sitting on her couch dropping nacho cheese sauce all over her t-shirt?

I decided not to wait for the coupons, and last week we bought a new tv. Love it so far. 32 inches is plenty big enough.

The rooftop antenna we already had allows us to pick up the digital signals beautifully. I had no idea how many extra channels I was missing.

We went from having around a dozen channels to having over 30. Now I'll admit that many of those are digital duplicates of what we already had, but I'd guess that 10 of them are brand new content. For example, our local PBS station has the regular old analog channel and a digital version of it as well, but it also has a channel devoted to HD only content, and one devoted to DIY/cooking shows, and one devoted to kids shows. 26, 26-1, 26-2, 26-3, and 26-4.

I got my coupons in the mail, with a list of participating retailers.

I've heard people say they are getting better reception, but my boss reports worse.

I guess I'll see once I get the box. If it doesn't work out, I guess there's always cable (except Time Warner is the antichrist.)

Screw it...I'm going to go get an HD compatable projector. My movie marathons will be awesome! One thing at a time...I'll be needing the job first. :)

I'm soooo going to get back into my movie obsessions, once I get back on my feet! I can't wait!

Shawnee,

Go here and click on Choose An Antenna.
Just put in your street address and zip code. You don't need to enter your email. Uncheck the send-me-stuff boxes. Look over the other stuff. After you click submit you'll see a list of stations in your area. Click on Show Digital Stations Only.

Look at the list. In order of goodness:

Yellow,
Dark green
Light green
Red
Dark blue
Light blue

If you've got all yellow you might be able to get away with rabbit ears. Otherwise you'll need a better antenna. If you're handy with tools, you can make the one I made (see the earlier link).

If you've got a rooftop or attic antenna, you should be good to go already.

Wow...I've got mostly red, then a few blue and violet.

I do only have rabbit ears. I'm starting to think it would be easier to get cable, though TW is the antichrist. edit: I am pretty handy with tools, though, and that looks like fun. My dad would be so impressed!

I'm going to check out your antenna. No double entendre intended.

Now you've done it. You'll replace UG on his shit list.

heehee...Time Warner! (I kinda like the t-dub!) :bolt:

I really want to make that antenna. Are there written instructions anywhere? One person said they used 10 gauge copper wire with better results?

Any more hints, dar?

Shawnee - You must be pretty far from your stations. I suspect you're going to need a roof antenna if you go this route.

On the other hand, it doesn't cost much to try the hanger antenna.

I just used the hangers because we had them to spare (and it has a certain cache to say you made your HD antenna out of hangers).

I just wrote down the dimensions from the video and used that. I bought a 1 by 3 and the screws and washers from Home Depot and I got the converter thingy from radio shack. Make sure you sand the varnish off the hangers so they make good contact. It took me about an hour once I had the materials.

We have cable, but the TV in our bedroom isn't hooked up to it. Plus we want to use the little TV in our camper, so we bought a converter. It was next to useless till we bought a roof antenna. Why bother? Just for the hell of it, I guess. Kind of neat; we get stations that aren't offered by Time Warner.

Well, the antenna you buy just once. Cable you pay for every month.

how interesting, dar. thanks.

30 yellow stations, 9 in other colors.

Damn, my area sucks!

I've got all dark blue and violet, all 14.8 to 15 miles, all except one at 49 to 51 degrees compass heading. That tells me it's a conspiracy. :tinfoil:

a-HA...I've been trying to tell you all that!

Finally got around to doing this. Here's a picture of one of my hanger antennas.

I do not recommend these around little kids. Too much chance of poking an eye out or something on the sharp ends of the hanger pieces.

It usually hides behind the cabinet, so the looks are not important.
.

Got my converter box!

I can't find CW and ABC (I think) but CBS and Fox are crystal clear. I need to play around with it to see if I can find more channels; I used the auto-scan.

I'll be bummed if I can't get CW because I love those silly sitcoms like King of Queens. Maybe I'll look into a better antenna.

My TV is actually fairly new, but I bought it when I had very little cash and my other TV died...so I disregarded the "going to digital and this ain't it" notice and it's not a very big tv...but the picture now is WOW.

Not having had cable for so long, and getting fuzzy everything, when the wind was blowing the station would go in and out: This is like a whole new world!

Doesn't take much to make me happy.

The government program for converter boxes has run out of money. There are about 350,000 coupons are due to expire next week, so that may free up some coupons. And they are looking at further funding.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...010600089.html

We never used our coupons. So they will get $80 back from us.

I used one of my two allotted. Not sure when it expires but they can have mine.

Today's the day. Don't forget to rescan the channels periodically as they will be moving throughout the day - each station gets to decide what time they want to switch over.

The signals should settle down by midnight, so if you don't get a channel tomorrow and you've rescanned, you might have to put out the money for a better antenna.

Oh NOES...it'll be all over the news "WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? No one ever told me this was going to happen. It's just wrong! They should bring the converter box to my door, install it, and watch me lay on the couch eating because it's just so unfair!"

Sorry, but it happened the first go 'round. People people people.

Watch them all call 911 cuz someone surely must have stole something to make their tv's not work. :haha:

Already happening, S. Go to google news and look at some of the hdtv articles.

I'm surprised it's actually happening. I half expect some federal court order to stop it at the last second.

Try to check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVXbh2X1U_s this might save you a lot of effort trying to find something that might work well and also to save money as well:)

Now that the frequencies have settled down, we get all the major channels and lots more with the hanger antenna. However, we're only ~15 miles from downtown chicago.

I recently lost a few more channels. Like one day they were gone.



I've called out back and looked under the bed.... They just aren't anywhere.

I have one local station that I get perfectly some days and not at all on others. I thought with digital channels, when the signal went a little bad, it would get kind of "pixely" before disappearing. But this station is all or nothing.