Digital TV Coupons !

[WA3VJB]

Time to apply for NTIA's discount coupons toward the purchase of digital converter boxes so your analog television will continue to work on the new channels.

Better to apply early before they run out of subsidy. Congress only put aside so much.

https://www.dtv2009.gov/ApplyCoupon.aspx

[flintstone mop]

I was looking at local news and they were menitoning the coming of digital. It sounds like another put off from the TV/cable stations to go HD. The deadline now says everything will be in a "DIGITAL FORMAT" by 2009. Not HDTV as I thought!! I will admit that digitized NTSC does not look that bad. You can't beat the extra brightness and clarity to the HD pic. And the 5.1 or 7.1 sound
Fred

[Ralph W3GL]

Thanks Paul...

Put in a request for two coupons.  took all of 3 minutes...

Got to get another two for my daughters place but will give
the info to the grandson and he can exercise the IMAC over
there and do it himself.

Again, thanks for the heads-up...

[flintstone mop]

I'm sure that there are some TV engineers on this board. My understanding about HDTV is that when the broadcaster (over the air)switches to HD, it's going to be a lower power transmitter(electric savings) and no expensive side band filters(VSB) It's just one big digital stream of HD pic and 5.1 or 7.1 sound.
I think someone like USA (cable) just has a studio for generating programming from computer downloads and uplinks their content via sat. I don't think very many 'casters are using video tape any more. It's all from a server, from what I saw in a low budget UHF station in Youngstown Ohio.
Is it the studio equipment and cameras, switchers, etc that are the dollar side of this slow transisition?
Fred................Get those couipons while they last!!!!!!!!

[W2JBL]

so where does one find one of these mythical " digital converter boxes" for sale? i don't see them in places like Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City or (yuck!) Radio Crack. the sales staff at those places don't seem to know anything about them. there is NO WAY i'm going to buy and "HD" TV either, having bought new CRT sets in the last two years for White Plains and my Adirondack house. wanna bet if an LCD TV will survive 30 below 0 for two months a year up there? i'm looking for a few (converters) for myself, and one for Ma. i have not yet told her TV is going to be useless in a year or so. when she finds out there may be trouble...for the TV industry.

[Ed - N3LHB]

I was looking at local news and they were menitoning the coming of digital. It sounds like another put off from the TV/cable stations to go HD. The deadline now says everything will be in a "DIGITAL FORMAT" by 2009. Not HDTV as I thought!! I will admit that digitized NTSC does not look that bad. You can't beat the extra brightness and clarity to the HD pic. And the 5.1 or 7.1 sound
Fred

Don't forget, the only ones needing a converter are those who use a antenna. Cable and satellite users will not have to change or add anything for DTV (digital TV) in 2009. Of course, if you have a HDTV (hi def TV) and really want to get HDTV and are on cable or satellite, you'll need to pay your provider an extra 20 or 30 bux a month... We never get something for nothing, do we? 

[Mike/W8BAC]

so where does one find one of these mythical " digital converter boxes" for sale?

Have a look at the web site offering the coupons. You'll find at the top a link to "eligible converter boxes" (the ones the coupons will help to purchase). Pick one and do a web search. Find the one you want by comparison shopping than shop for it on the web. That's my method.

Regards,
Mike

[WA1GFZ]

I was looking at TV setsinsears a couple weeks ago. Prices coming down. Last one I bought was a 1991 RCA for about $550 and hope it lasts me another year or so.
New ones under a grand for normal sizes.

[WB3LEQ]

If you read the fine print you have to buy it from an approved retailer participating in their program.  If you check the website there aren't any yet.  The coupon is only good for three months from when it is issued.  So do you apply now and hope some retailers apply to sell them within the next three months or do you gamble and wait hoping to get one before they quit issuing them?

A life long friend of mine WO3V recently bought a HDTV with the digital tuner.  The TV stations are already broadcasting in the digital UHF portion of the new allocations.  Compared to where I am located he is in a higher elevation and always had better reception towards Pittsburgh PA.  He raised his antenna height and installed a new antenna, amp, coax etc.  If there is rain between here and the TV transmitter he has the usual "digital interruptus" with the voice going intermittent and blocks freezing on the video.  I did a location quality check on http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx and it said I can look forward to viewing one PBS TV station in Morgantown with full quality.  Nothing towards Pittsburgh due to the 100 ft high ridge that runs 200 yards behind the house.  Just as a matter of hard headed principals I refuse to pay for free to air broadcasting from cable or satellite.

The other thing I like (according to that website where you apply for the coupons) is the old TV spectrum appears to donated for emergency services.  Yea right, the FCC is going to just give it away, haha! So what kind of interference issues can we look forward to if we fire up a kilowatt on 2 or 6 meters?

I also predict the end of free to air TV broadcasting in the near future due to the encoding capability of the digital stream.  Then we can start this process all over again with digital decoding set top converters.

[WA3VJB]

So do you apply now and hope some retailers apply to sell them within the next three months or do you gamble and wait hoping to get one before they quit issuing them?

Methinks it will be easier to extend the expiration date than to find more money for the coupons.

[k4kyv]

According to the polls, 60+% of Americans are still totally unaware of the coming change and as much as 20+% are still watching TV via direct over the air reception.

The faeces will hit the fan when all the grenola bars and joe sixpacks living in trailers out in the country suddenly won't be able to get their TV to work any more while they run their meth labs.

[K3ZS]

They will have to go back to 3892 for entertainment.

[Bill, KD0HG]

The coupons are worth $40 and good for 90 days, and the DTV converter boxes are supposed to cost $50 to $70, so they're not going to be free. The approved converter boxes aren't even in stores yet!
They better show up within 90 days of when they start mailing out the coupons!

[W3LSN]

My understanding about HDTV is that when the broadcaster (over the air)switches to HD, it's going to be a lower power transmitter(electric savings) and no expensive side band filters(VSB) It's just one big digital stream of HD pic and 5.1 or 7.1 sound.

The digital power levels were selected to replacate the analog coverage area. The digital transmitter runs a lower TPO, but there is no noise on the video as the signal level weakens in fringe areas. With digital carriers it's generally an all or nothing proposition due to the cliff edge effect.  This is why you will see freeze frames and macroblocking when the signal falls below threshold, but no increase in noise.

DTV has also been called the UHF broadcasters revenge as many former VHF stations now are learning to deal with finicky persnickity IOTs and UHF style power bills.

Also, the vast majority of DTV is not HDTV...yet.  It's upconverted SD material or network pass through of HD on certain programs. Some stations have elected to forgo HDTV and multicast two or more channels of SD content instead which has raised some hackles in Congress.

Yes most stations now air commercials from servers, but tape still rules for program length material in smaller and medium markets though that is changing as storage gets larger and cheaper each year. The larger market stations with deeper pockets and the networks have pretty much all gone over to a model using video servers and data tape based nearline storage. The program may arrive on tape from the producer, but it is screened and ingested once to the server and generally never sees tape again. Even repackagings are now done from files in non-linear editors without having to go back to tape.

[ab3al]

Well I actually cary the things..    Decent ones retail for about $150..    wholesale in quantities of 50 cost me about $125..
And yeah some folks actually buy them.  I gotta look into the coupon again.. from the retailer side it equates to filing an incometax return. 

i tell people this 100 times a day so here it is

If you allready have directv or dishnet you already have the converter no matter what service you have with them..

If you tell me you are on cable i feel sorry for you because your about to get a $30 price increase and another 12 bucks per tv

If you have an antenna only with good reception...   Ill sell one

[Pete, WA2CWA]

If you tell me you are on cable i feel sorry for you because your about to get a $30 price increase and another 12 bucks per tv

I guess I don't understand this statement. We already receive these digital channels on our cable box for almost a year. There was no increase in cost.

[ab3al]

nationaly   if you have standard cable ( no box ) and are forced to upgrade to digital cable ( needs a box)  the main three cable co charge an extra $20 for digital programming and an extra 8-15 a month box rental..  this year several areas in central pa went digital only   and im not gettin home till 10 pm now hookin up their sat service

73

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Our cable company, because of all their additional features, went to the "box" several years ago. Two boxes are available. One for TV's that are not HD and one for TV's that are. Our cable company has already informed us by mail and TV ads, that, come the date of changeover, the entire process will be transparent to the customer. No additional fees are involved.

[W2JBL]

OK- reality check time folks. the 20 percent of viewers receiving over the air is an average. in some areas like my Adirondack Mountains location there is NO cable, and likely never will be , and also (in my case) no landline phone service, which is required if you have the "dish" system. that leaves me with an antenna. even in NewYork City an awful lot of folks in apartment buildings do not, and are not liekly to have cable service ant time soon. for retired people, and others on a fixed income 150$ for a converter is a major expense, and cable rates (as high as 150$ amonth here) out of the question. sounds like i'm gong to have to buy new TV sets for various family members and friends. thanks FCC!

[ab3al]

actually dish boxes dont need a phone line unless you want to order pay per view..  dish network swears they do because if you have it plugged in neilson pays them for ratings reports (more revenue) here cell phones are cheaper than landlines no one has phone service

[WA3VJB]

actually dish boxes dont need a phone line unless you want to order pay per view.

Correct, according to my experience with Directv the past 10 years.  They don't really like to acknowledge this, because they use the phone to check on the location of the box. Can't have you taking one box among your various homes at the lake, in the mountains, or on the yacht.

Nonetheless we never did have a phone line plugged in, right through when we dumped Directv for HD fiber optic.

[k4kyv]

actually dish boxes dont need a phone line unless you want to order pay per view..  dish network swears they do because if you have it plugged in neilson pays them for ratings reports (more revenue) here cell phones are cheaper than landlines no one has phone service

Cellular phone service has become price competitive with landline service.  More and more people are dropping landline.  Both my kids opt for cellular service only.

Since you are paying for the service, why should the satellite company care where you take your box and hook it up, and why should it be any of their business anyway?

We get the cheapest basic cable TV service here with no box.  The only reason we went to cable in the first place was for high speed internet.  If the cable co. uses the digital TV changeover as an excuse to jack up prices, we might just say to hell with the TV and change to DSL, which wasn't available here when we first subscribed to cable.  But from what I hear about it, cable speed is superior to the DSL offered here.

[WA3VJB]

Since you are paying for the service, why should the satellite company care where you take your box and hook it up, and why should it be any of their business anyway?

Once Upon a Time they were keen to peddle a box for every room, each at extra cost.  Same for portability -- they want to peddle service to multiple locations, not have you moving the one box around. That's their business.

Lately Directv has implemented a shaped coverage pattern, fascinating stuff, where if you travel too far out of your registered area, at least some of the service disappears !  No kidding. Probably some sort of phase cancellation strategy or triangulation discriminator in the box using the three or more DBS signals and LNBs.

This accomplishes two things -- addresses the program licensing matter among local over-the-air stations (including regional televised sports), and encourages customers to pay for multiple reception points. I don't think the national channels are affected.

[KF1Z]

Was at WallyWorld yesterdat (eeeaakkk)....

They are selling digital-ready tv sets 20"... for $140....

Doesn't seem like much incentive to buy a converter box....

[WA3VJB]

Yeah, it's true.
I got a circuit city deal for the exercise room for $129.
Made in China and the universal remote doesn't speak Chinese apparently, but hey.
But the converter boxes also work on your VHS/DVD/CD recorder.
(which have yet to come in cheaply with HD tuners)