Hold off on buying that digital converter box

July 13, 2008|By Kevin Hunt, SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

Here's my energy-saving tip of the week: Stop wasting valuable brainpower worrying about the conversion to digital television.

It's seven months away!

Starting Feb. 17, United States television stations will broadcast only digital signals, effectively ending the analog era. And you're frantic now about getting a $40 coupon for a set-top box that converts the new digital signals into an analog language your old TV understands?

Let's assume you've already finished your kids' back-to-school shopping, stocked up on Halloween candy, bought (and wrapped) all your holiday gifts, made New Year's Eve reservations and begun preliminary calculations on your 2008 federal taxes.

Doesn't matter. It's still better to wait before buying a converter box. They're in short supply, the technology remains imperfect and the $40 coupons underwritten by the federal government expire 90 days after they're issued. So hold off on the coupon request until early September or October.

Until then, here's a Doomsday guide to the digital conversion:

Who needs a converter?

*Owners of the 30 million analog televisions in this country who depend solely on an antenna now for programming and the 40 million more sets that occasionally use one to receive over-the-air broadcasts will need a converter box next year.

*Cable (and satellite) subscribers don't have to do anything. The cable industry must carry analog signals until 2012. Satellite subscribers, don't get confused by the Dish Network's DTVPal digital-to-analog converter. This is for people with analog sets who use an antenna to tune in local broadcasts.

*If you own an "HDTV-ready" television and don't subscribe to cable or satellite service, you'll need a different type of set-top box because "HDTV-ready" really means "it doesn't have a digital tuner." With a digital tuner, such as Samsung's $170 DTB-H260F, you'll get local channels in high-definition using an antenna. (Note: These tuners are not eligible for the $40 coupon.)

*If you're unsure if an HDTV has a digital tuner, consult the manual to see if it has ATSC (digital) and NTSC (analog) tuners. Also check the TV's on-screen menu for a separate search function for digital channels. If you see one, that means the set has a digital tuner.

How to get a converter

To get a $40 coupon -- two per household -- visit or call 888-388-2009. Once the coupons have been mailed, the three-month expiration clock starts ticking.

Most converters cost about $60, so figure $20 out-of-pocket expense. You'll find them at major retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears and Target.

How to connect it

Follow these basic steps:

1. Unplug the antenna from the "Antenna In" port on the back of your TV.

2. Plug in that same coaxial wire from your antenna into the "Antenna In" port on the converter box.

3. Connect another coaxial wire (usually supplied with the converter) from the converter's "Out" port to the TV's "Antenna In" port.

4. Plug in the converter box, turn the TV to Channel 3 or 4, then follow the converter's on-screen guide.

Using these instructions, I hooked up the Digital Stream DTX9950 converter box, ran through the set-up guide, and executed a channel search that pulled in a dozen digital channels -- all within five minutes.

You should know ...

On a smaller analog set such as my 27-inch Sony Wega, picture quality through the "Antenna In" port should be acceptable with virtually any converter box. You might detect a slight improvement using a converter's alternate connections -- the DTX9950 also has composite video.

Some converters, such as the DTX9950, have an analog pass-through feature that allows it to receive both analog and digital signals. It could expand the number of channels you receive now and, after Feb. 17, it might pull in one of the community-access stations still allowed to broadcast in analog.

VCRs, which have analog tuners, need a converter box to record an over-the-air broadcast. You can connect both a VCR and a TV to a single converter box, but if you want to watch one show while recording another, you'll need a second box.

For more information, see (federal); dtv (National Association of Broadcasters); and (what type of antenna you'll need).

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What: Digital Stream DTX9950 digital-to-analog TV converter box

Price: $60 (before $40 coupon)

Hot: Adapts digital channels for analog TV, analog pass-through function, universal remote

Not: No apparent setting for analog set's 4:3 aspect ratio

Alternative: Similarly priced models from RCA, Magnavox and Best Buy's Insignia