Digital TV Facts: The Latest

DTV converter boxes may be in violation of FCC rules, low-power television (LPTV) broadcasters have charged in a complaint filed with the regulatory agency.

Digital-to-analog converter boxes are designed to smooth the transition to digital TV broadcasts in 2009. These devices, which allow over-the-air DTV signals to be viewed on old-technology televisions, violate the All-Channel Receiver Act (ACRA), an LPTV trade group argues. Read the rest of this entry »

If you expect to be shopping for a DTV converter box this winter, Best Buy may not be your best bet.

U.S. households can begin requesting $40-off coupons from the government in January 2008, and many owners of old analog TVs will be eager to redeem them. But Best Buy, the country’s largest consumer electronics retailer, may not be ready to accept the DTV coupons until “closer to April 1,” TV Technology reports.

A three-month delay from Best Buy is a major setback for the DTV transition.
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Giving Credit Where [Partial] Credit Is Due Dept.: Best Buy announced Wednesday that it will carry DTV converter boxes and participate in the U.S. government $40-off coupon program next year (as we predicted in August). If you watch local stations over the air on an analog TV, finding a life-extending digital-to-analog converter for it in 2008 should not be the chore that it is today.

But if you don’t already own an obsolescent TV (or five), turns out you can’t buy one at Best Buy. The consumer electronics behemoth announced—again!—that its days of selling old-technology television sets are over. Read the rest of this entry »

LG Electronics will sell DTV converter boxes under its Zenith brand, according to the Associated Press. Zenith, once the leading American TV manufacturer, was a pioneer in remote control and digital television technologies. Today, South Korea’s LG positions Zenith at the lower end of the U.S. consumer electronics market. With an estimated retail price of $60, a digital-to-analog converter box is a decidedly low-end (albeit useful) product, so perhaps the Zenith tag should not come as a surprise.

LG is one of several electronics firms that will offer converter boxes. These small devices will allow millions of traditional TV sets to continue displaying over-the-air broadcasts after the analog TV shutdown in 2009. Beginning in January 2008, any U.S. household can request up to two coupons from the federal government, each worth $40 off the price of a DTV converter.

Older Americans are expected to be a key segment of the converter-box market, and some late-adopters may still look to Zenith as a familiar and trusted name.

• Link: Houston Chronicle

Last week, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) called for a formalized public-private partnership to promote the digital TV transition. Add him to the list of lawmakers suggesting the federal government isn’t doing enough to ensure a successful DTV switchover in 2009. But even in the absence of the kind of task force Kohl’s bill would mandate, coordinated public and private efforts to inform Americans about digital TV are moving forward.
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RadioShack will sell converter boxes for analog TVs, and the 4,400-store electronics chain will accept government coupons intended to help American consumers pay for the devices. The commitment from a well-known national retailer, announced Tuesday by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is a boost for the federal DTV coupon program.

A DTV converter box will allow a conventional television set to continue receiving over-the-air broadcasts following the switchoff of analog TV signals on February 17, 2009. Beginning in January 2008, any U.S. household can request up to two $40-off coupons from NTIA, an agency of the Commerce Department.

I’m not surprised that RadioShack will carry the coupon-eligible digital-to-analog converters. The retailer’s small stores are known for the breadth of their product lines, and they have carried similar digital TV converter boxes in the past. The chain will also train its sales staff on the digital TV transition and the coupon program, and will inform consumers about the switchover.

• The first DTV converter boxes certified by NTIA are two $70 models from Digital Streams.

• Is enough help available for elderly Americans facing the digital TV transition?

• FCC chief Kevin Martin defends broadcasters’ commitment to the public interest. Oh, and he still wants must-carry status for DTV multicasts.

Although a handful of companies have publicly announced plans to market digital TV converter boxes to U.S. consumers, the actual size and competitiveness of that still-emerging segment of the consumer electronics market remains something of a mystery.

Chipmaker Microtune today offered some fresh evidence of activity among digital-to-analog converter manufacturers, indicating that “multiple customer converter box designs” will employ its three-in-one tuner, the MicroTuner MT2131. The company did not specify what brand name or names the DTV converter boxes will carry.

Microtune facilities in Plano, Texas, are being used to help its customers test converter box tuner performance against technical requirements established by the U.S. government. Read the rest of this entry »

• DTV converter boxes will be a “hot topic” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. But HDTV will remain the star of the show.

• U.S. consumers are still waiting for a low-priced digital-to-analog converter box. In Britain, meanwhile, a supermarket chain is offering a box for about $20.

• Philips tells the FCC the company’s prototype white-space device (WSD) works even better than initially thought. Big deal, say broadcasters, who remain alarmed about potential WSD interference blanking out digital TV reception.

A cable company scheme to make hay from the digital TV transition has entered a new phase. An Ohio cable operator, as you may recall, floated a plan to offer local channels for free via cable TV in lieu of government-discounted DTV converter boxes. Two other small cable companies are now on board, TWICE reports, and a web site has been launched under the banner of the “Save Our Sets Coalition” (SOS).

As I’ve said before, this is an innovative plan. But the air of disingenuousness about it is just getting thicker. Read the rest of this entry »

Four consumer electronics companies are fighting an FCC proposal to allow personal or portable “white space” devices to share digital TV spectrum. DTV reception is threatened by the wireless broadband devices, the manufacturers maintain.

LG, Samsung, Hitachi and Panasonic are registering their opposition with the FCC at the urging of the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV), according to TWICE.

The manufacturers’ statement said “digital television will be impaired if unlicensed devices fail to properly detect and protect a DTV station’s channel, or if they operate on a station’s first adjacent channel.”

MSTV lobbies on spectrum issues for television broadcasters.

Companies that market digital TVs and converter boxes are appropriately nervous. If white-space devices hinder television reception, they can expect to be on the receiving end of consumer complaints. Among the rival consumer electronics manufacturers not joining in the protest is Philips (selling television receivers under the Philips and Magnavox brands), which has developed a prototype white-space device.

At cnet, Marguerite Reardon examines the white-space debate. The Washington Post also weighs in with an editorial.

Earlier:
• DTV interference from ‘white space’ prototype
• DTV channels: Time to start over?
• What if broadcasters stopped broadcasting?

Reader Dan writes:

Where the HECK can I BUY one of these converter boxes? I’ve been trying to get one for several years…Tweeter, Best Buy, Circuit City, seem to have no idea what I’m talking about. I can’t find anything for sale on any website….

I see products for sale with stickers on them warning that converter boxes will be needed, but as nearly as I can tell those boxes are figments of somebody’s imagination.

Dan’s question is shared by other antenna-based viewers who are actually paying attention to the impending digital TV transition—and those five or six people want answers!
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