Use of Digital TV Converter Boxes

To receive over-the-air digital TV broadcasts, your television set should have an ATSC tuner.

If your TV set is one of the millions of analog sets still in use in many households, then you would need to buy a small digital TV converter box.

The DTV set-top box converts the digital TV signals into signals that an analog TV understands.

You would need one set-top box per TV since this is serving as the digital TV tuner for your analog television.

Hooking up a Digital TV Converter Box

Installing your DTV converter box is a relatively simple process. It is somewhat similar to connecting an old VCR to your TV.

These boxes have all the connections you need to feed your old analog TV with the new digital TV signals. These include:

An antenna input which connects to an indoor or outdoor antenna, an RF out for use with TVs which do not support a composite video input, and the standard yellow, red and white composite video/stereo audio outputs. Some digital TV converter boxes also support an S-video connection for a higher quality video feed to your TV.

These DTV set-top boxes come with all the required connection cables and an installation manual which will guide you through the setup process; the latter covers both the hook-up and the automatic tuning process.

A handy easy-to-follow digital TV converter box installation and set-up guide (in PDF format), has also been prepared by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). You can download this handy guide from here.

A few points about Digital TV Converter Boxes

DTV converters will help extend the lifetime of your analog TV beyond the analog TV cut-off date,  but there are a few implications worth taking note of:

DTV Coupons: A way to get hold of your almost 'FREE' Digital TV Converter Box

DTV converter boxes are relatively inexpensive. At present, these boxes are selling at anything between $40 and $60.

Still, in order to minimize the burden of the DTV transition on the consumer, the FCC has come up with a subsidization scheme whereby each household is entitled for two coupons. Each of these coupons is worth $40 towards the purchase of approved digital TV converter boxes from a number of retailers. A list of such approved boxes is mailed together with the digital TV converter box coupons. Major retailers include Best Buy, Circuit City, RadioShack, and Wal-Mart. But there are many others. A full list of approved retailers is available in PDF format here.

But can you still get hold of your DTV Coupons now that the DTV transition is over? As already stated in our introduction to Digital TV, despite that the DTV transition is history, yet the government is still offering two $40 coupons per household for converter boxes. But you have to act fast because the DTV coupon program is coming to an end by July 31. Further more, supplies are limited and if funds are not available, you may be put on a waiting list. For more information, we suggest to contact the FCC hotline on 888-CALL-FCC, or go to www.dtv.gov. While getting onto the digital TV bandwagon so late in the day is far from ideal, yet unlike early adopters who got their DTV converter box for around $60 and more, present pricing of digital TV converter boxes has reached a level that thanks to the $40 coupon, you can now get your digital TV box literally for free.

Coupon Stats: As stated, supplies are limited - meaning that the government has set aside a fixed number of coupons for the purpose of making this DTV transition less of a burden on those still using analogue TV sets. The original allowed budget for the purpose covered 33.5 million coupons; eventually, this was almost doubled. In fact, by June 24, the total number of coupons mailed exceeded 61 million. Out of these, 32 million were redeemed, while more than 4.6 million coupons were still active awaiting redemption.

Which Digital TV Converter Box to Buy?

Your DTV coupon will have to be used against one of the 70 or so approved boxes. As stated earlier on, quite a number of these boxes are not available yet, so if you want a specific model, it may be that you will have to wait.

Still, there are already a couple of interesting boxes at a number of approved retail stores like Best Buy, Crutchfield, Circuit City and Wal-Mart. Remember, if you want to redeem your DTV coupon, in most cases, you will need to present it in person at one of the approved outlets. Only a few on-line retailers will accept to redeem your DTV coupons on-line in exchange for an approved DTV converter box; these include FreeDTVshop and amazon.

Note: Most of the digital TV converter boxes we originally featured here below on our site in April/May 2008, are currently unavailable. Our best advice at this point is that if you plan to get your digital TV box online, is to use the amazon search box at the end of this page. There, you can get access not only to the latest available converter boxes on the market but equally important, to customer feedback with respect to the relevant DTV boxes.

Featured DTV Converter Boxes:

	The Insignia NS-DXA1, presently available for purchase 'in-store' at Best Buy for $59.99 and on-line through FreeDTVShop for $69.99 before the coupon discount, has one of the best video quality and good tuner sensitivity.
It is also characterized by a signal level indicator, quick easy setup, big button remote, volume control on box, and digital close caption controls. On the negative side, it do lack a few of the features found on other boxes like no factory reset button, no S-Video and no analog pass-through. There is also a delay of about 5 seconds for the image to appear on power up.

The Zenith DTT901 digital TV converter box is essentially the same product as the Insignia but under a different brand name. In fact, both models share the same tuner and application chips inside a different cover, and have the same features and characteristics.

The DTT901 is presently available for in-store purchase at Circuit City for $59.99, HHGregg for $49.97, and RadioShack for $59.99 and online at amazon for $59.95

The RCA DTA800B is surely one of the best digital TV converter boxes. It is available for in-store purchase at Wal-Mart and also online at amazon for $59.99.

It delivers excellent video quality. It also has an excellent remote with large-size buttons, a basic electronic program guide, digital close caption controls, and is one of the few digital TV converter boxes that come with smart antenna support.

On the other hand, the DTA800B receiver sensitivity is not as good as the Insignia or the Zenith referred to earlier on. It also lacks a few features such as manual channel change controls and analog pass-through.

Another DTV converter box that includes Smart Antenna support is the TIVAX STB-T9. In addition, it includes an auto set-up function, a basic EPG, parental control support, closed caption controls, and Dolby Digital audio out.

The STB-T9 is not available from any national retailer but instead is available from a number of on-line stores including the Consumer Electronics Group for $49.99 and amazon for $59.99.

And What about your 'FREE' Digital TV Converter Box?

DTV converter boxes are relatively inexpensive, yet it is possible to get your digital TV converter box for free (after the DTV coupon discount).

All you have to do is to wait till the EchoStar TR-40 is released. As expressed earlier on, the TR-40 is expected to sell at just $40 and should feature a signal strength meter, VCR timer, full EPG with eight days of program guide data, and double conversion tuning. However, it will lack close caption controls. The real problem with the TR-40 is that no release date has been announced so far by EchoStar.

The EchoStar TR-40 and DISH Network DTVPal Confusion Story!

Well, the EchoStar TR-40 was originally announced at CES 2008. Then, it appears to have been renamed as DTVPal, and now the latest story is that Dish Network DTVPal and EchoStar TR-40 are actually separate products.

The Dish Network DTVPal digital-to-analog converter is available from the official website at $59.99; the EchoStar TR-40 is coming in the future, but there aren't any additional details.

However, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen hinted on his TV show 'Charlie Chat' that the TR-40 will have an MSRP of $40 despite that at this price tag, DISH Network will be selling it below cost. It should not be surprising if the EchoStar TR-40 will feature some sort of advertising to compensate for this lower price-tag.

But... why selling it at a loss? It appears that the EchoStar aim with the TR-40 is to get onboard new customers for its satellite TV services while pushing away more customers from cable TV companies.