$9 Digital TV Converter Box
After waiting two months, my $40 digital TV vouchers from the government arrived in the mail yesterday. For the 433,000 North Carolina households the digital conversion will affect, I have found a way to make the switch for only $9!
Starting February 17, 2009 all broadcast television stations (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, CW & PBS) must switch the way they transmit their signal. On that date, stations will stop transmitting their analog signal and start transmitting digital only. Right now, stations are transmitting both.
So, what do you need to do? Well, if you have cable, satellite or a newer TV, you don’t need to do anything. But, if you get your TV signal with rabbit ears or an antenna in the attic on an older TV, you WILL need to do something by next February.
How can you make the conversion for only $9? First, you need to register with the government to receive your two FREE $40 vouchers. You will use these vouchers to buy a converter(s) (each TV will need a converter) that will allow your TV with rabbit ears to receive the new signal. It takes 60 seconds to fill out the form, then two months later, your vouchers arrive.
Once you have your vouchers, you can go to one of the recommended retailers (Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City or Radio Shack) and use that toward the converter cost. (Click on each store to see their available boxes.)
But wait…the converters cost more than $40! The cheapest one I found was at Walmart for $49 plus tax. Now, these converters are just like cars, you can get power windows, seat heaters and a navigation system or you can just get the bare bones. When it comes to converters…you only NEED the bare bones and that’s what this is.
So, after using your $40 voucher, you are out the door at Walmart for only $9 plus tax and you are safe for the transition February 17, 2009. But, are you ready for Y3K ?!?!
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Comments
Well, I don’t know if I have the real answer…but the government wants the analog space to use for emergency services and to sell the leftover space. The only reason you have to register is to get your free vouchers…otherwise you can lay low and stay off the radar.
The government wants to privatize the public airwaves? After so many decades of making so very sure that broadcasters stay aware of the public nature of the airwaves, they all of a sudden are going to privatize them and sell them off? I’m not so sure I can buy that (no pun intended).
But if so, I guess the answer goes back to military and the cell phone companies. Or maybe corporations will buy in for video-conferencing, or educational institutions will broadcast classes and seminars. Maybe there are other possible customers I haven’t thought about. Seems like “reality TV” is going to get a very new meaning in the next few years (assuming we disconnect our DTV converters.)
This could get fun. You think there might be any broadcast dating services that want to buy in? Local home-based TV stations? Will there be ham TV operators like there are ham radio operators?
Wonder who else might want to buy analog space (when the whole existing analog audience has gone digital)?
One of the reasons is that the analog spectrum isn’t large enough to carry a high amount of content, not enough to fit the data needed for High Definition broadcasts. In a few years time, expect EVERY television channel to be broadcast in HD, which uses up ALOT of space. Not only that, as it stands now, a few channels actually downgrade the quality of their HD signals so that they dont use that much analog space. With digital, broadcasters can use much more space for their digital content.
Thats what I gather from the little bit of research that I’ve done.
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I still have one unanswered DTV question: Whose idea was it to make this switch a mandatory thing in the first place? And why? Does the military need the broadcast frequencies? The cell phone companies? Realizing the advantages of digital over analog, it’s still SO VERY uncharacteristic of the government to take such a high-handed (legally mandated) approach like this in the free marketplace. (Did they mandate the switch to Color a few decades ago?)
I’m just very suspicious of anything that requires everybody to “Register With The Government.” (To continue watching TV?!? Really now.) Nazi Germany did that to the Jews in WWII, and that did not end well AT ALL.
The main unanswered question: Why force it?