Digital TV Facts: The Latest

“What this country needs,” in the words of Thomas Riley Marshall, “is a really good five-cent cigar.” Those words were said in 1917, when Marshall was Woodrow Wilson’s vice president. But America’s longing for bargain-priced consumer products endures. Today we’re waiting for an affordably priced, cigar box-sized device—the digital TV converter.

A DTV converter box hooks up to an antenna-equipped analog TV, allowing it to display digital channels. Several electronics manufacturers have signaled plans to market low-priced converter boxes, which consumers can purchase using $40-off coupons from the U.S. government. The subsidy program begins in January 2008. Thomson announced plans for an RCA converter box, initially priced at $125, in 2005. Anticipated prices for digital TV adapters have now dropped to the $60 range.

The question is, where are they?
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Should you still buy an analog TV? Stores are marking them down and clearing them out, making way for more digital televisions. The DTV transition will wrap up on February 17, 2009, and if you want a “classic-style” TV, this may be your last chance.

Let me say this upfront: I’ll pass on this deal. The value proposition of an obsolete TV set just doesn’t move me.

Granted, an old-technology TV isn’t completely worthless. Read the rest of this entry »

Q. Will the government provide coupons worth $40 off the purchase of a cable box?

A. No, the coupons are not for cable boxes.

Two stories about set-top boxes have been in the news recently. Let’s untangle them, shall we?

The first story concerns over-the-air viewers, who are being introduced to digital TV converter boxes. These devices are for antenna-equipped viewers who own conventional, non-digital TV sets. A DTV converter box (or “digital TV adapter”) will allow an analog TV to continue receiving local stations after the termination of analog television broadcasts in 2009. The federal government can help you with the cost on that one: Any U.S. household may request up to two digital converter coupons, each worth 40 bucks, beginning in 2008.

The other story is for digital cable subscribers. As of July 1, new FCC regulations concerning digital cable boxes took effect. The rules are intended to give consumers the option of purchasing their own cable boxes. If you can find anybody to sell you one, though, the government won’t subsidize the purchase. Those $40 coupons are only good toward DTV converter boxes, not cable boxes.
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If you suspect violations of the FCC’s digital tuner mandate or analog TV labeling requirements, you can file a report with the commission.

The DTV tuner rule prohibits the manufacture, import, or interstate shipment of any device containing an analog television tuner, unless it also contains a digital tuner. The tuner mandate took final effect on March 1, 2007.

Though stocks are dwindling, analog-only TVs remain on the shelves of many stores. At retail outlets, in catalogs or online, sellers are required to display a consumer alert, warning of the shutdown of analog TV broadcasts on February 17, 2009.

Complaints may be filed via email sent to fccinfo@fcc.gov, or via phone (toll-free): 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322); TTY: 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322). To file online or by mail, see the FCC web site.

The list of citations on the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s DTV page has grown quite long. The only tuner-mandate enforcement actions shown are those from late May against Syntax-Brillian and Regent USA. But warnings about retail signage have gone out to many large retailers, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Toys ‘R’ Us and several others noted earlier. The enforcers are on the job, evidently, and they are to be commended.

At the bottom of the retail citation list is Nebraska Furniture Mart, a small chain of large-format home stores that may be familiar to readers of Berkshire Hathaway annual reports. The FCC, it seems, isn’t even afraid to go after generous billionaire Warren Buffett.

Elsewhere in Washington, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) decided earlier this year that it would not discriminate against the filthy rich. The federal agency made Bill Gates, Donald Trump and everyone else eligible for the federal DTV coupon program. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Buffett, a value investor with a reputation for frugality, writes in for his very own $40-off coupon.

The FCC cited Target last month for violations of analog TV signage requirements, both on the retailer’s web site and at several of its stores. Wouldn’t you expect Target, after such an embarrassment, to be extra careful about how they describe those outmoded television sets to their customers?

Yet if you shop the Target web site today, you might run across a category in its electronics section called “FCC Tuner Compliance.” Now, what would you expect to find in that category?
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As 2009 draws closer, beware of hucksters hawking “HDTV converter boxes.”

We usually talk about DTV converter boxes here at DTV Facts. These are digital-to-analog converter boxes that will allow you to watch over-the-air digital channels on an analog TV. Before analog broadcasts end on February 17, 2009, manufacturers expect to sell millions of them.

If you see something called an HDTV converter box, it’s probably the result of careless or imprecise labeling. But if you are told that such a box will magically provide an HD picture on that dusty old Philco in the laundry room, here’s my advice: Make a run for it.

To get HDTV on an analog television, I’m afraid your best option is to move to Japan of the 1990s. But to watch digital TV channels on your analog TV, or HD shows on an HDTV, several simpler options are available. You’ll find them in our new article.

Read:
• Beware of ‘HDTV Converter’ scams

Local television broadcasters will be hitting the streets in force, beginning this fall, to promote the digital TV transition. About 8,000 [excruciating] community appearances by on-air talent and other station employees are planned, according to PR Week. For this particular aspect of its DTV marketing project, the powerful Washington-based broadcasting lobby has budgeted millions.

Now, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has not yet outlined their program to me. But if it all works out as I imagine, you and the neighbors will have the opportunity to gather down at the local gymnasium or firehall to enjoy a wacky-yet-educational skit about DTV converter boxes, featuring those all-around good sports from the Eyewitness News team.

I can hardly wait.

The whole cutover to digital TV is costing a fortune, remember. Do you realize that for just pennies more, we could switch the entire country to the metric system? In fact, I’m recommending we do just that. Here at DTV Facts, from now until midnight on February 18, 2009 (or at least until my next post), I’m going to call it metric TV.

• Link: PR Week

DTV set-top boxes and other accessories may become easier to set up, thanks to enhanced on-screen controls. Two new digital TV receiver standards, introduced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), will add to the immense joy of the 2009 DTV transition. (Or at least dull some of the pain.)

Discounts on HDTVs will be available to consumers who sign up for HD digital cable packages, under a promotion involving major cable companies and a television manufacturer. (Another option: Pay for your new HDTV without any help from Comcast—but get your HD programming for free, over the air.)

DTV converter box prices are already plunging—and the product hasn’t even reached stores yet. Thomson dangled a hefty $200 introductory price for its RCA digital TV adapter in March. But that was before rival manufacturer LG announced that its converter box is expected to cost about $60. Today a Thomson spokesman confirmed to me what everyone, I imagine, has expected: RCA will drop its price to be in line with LG’s.
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A small cable operator wants the federal DTV coupon program to change—in a big way. Under the proposal,

a broadcast-only home that obtained a $40 coupon to buy a digital-to-analog converter box under the federal subsidy program would receive free analog-basic cable for seven years on every TV set in the home, with free installation.

Providing free cable, instead of inexpensive DTV converter boxes, would constitute a radical overhaul of the coupon program. The plan, from Massillon Cable TV of Massillon, Ohio, is utterly thought-provoking. It merits serious discussion, I would argue, ignoring for the moment the small fact that it is doomed.

If you just want to participate in the coupon program, it almost certainly won’t change because of this proposal. Have a look at our DTV coupon section instead:

• DTV converter box coupons

But if you care to reimagine the future of local television, read on. Read the rest of this entry »

Tell your viewers about the digital TV transition, or lose your license.

That’s the choice broadcasters might face, under an FCC proposal linking DTV consumer education responsibilities to license renewals. (While FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is hauling out the regulatory big guns—rhetorically, at least—I would note that it’s pretty darn difficult these days to actually lose a broadcasting license. I wish the FCC would also require broadcasters to inform citizens about what is happening in their own communities.)

Martin described the plan in a written response to inquiries from Democratic Reps. John Dingell and Ed Markey. Proposed requirements on station owners, as well as cable companies and retailers, include

mandatory reporting on consumer education efforts; periodic public service announcements and rolling scrolls by broadcasters; cable bill stuffers with information on the transition; mandatory transition information included with receiver sales; [and] mandatory retailer reporting of training for employees selling converter boxes.

Martin defended the commission’s efforts on the conversion to digital TV, saying its efforts would intensify if Congress would cough up the $1.5 million requested by the FCC for its consumer-information campaign.

He also said it would look to place stories in major media outlets about the transition, including perhaps even video news releases. Martin said the commission wanted to “develop a contract with a news feature service for developing and distributing periodic articles and TV and radio features regarding the transition to digital.”

Video news releases? Why can’t the FCC simply make its officials and staff experts available to the news media and conduct outreach efforts—they, after all, have knowledge and expertise about this subject. The last thing we need is for the federal government to borrow more money to hire more contractors to create more fake news.

Earlier:
• Government’s fake news targeted by telecom bill

• Link: Broadcasting & Cable

The long-awaited RCA digital TV adapter, designed for over-the air viewers with old-style TVs, has yet to reach stores. For a hint of what we might expect, have a look at that brand’s combination DVD/VCR recorder with built-in DTV tuner, model DRC8335. Jonathan Takiff was especially impressed by the digital tuner:

When connected to a rooftop antenna (recommended), the on-board tuner pulled in an extremely stable picture from every digital TV station in town, including some channels I hadn’t been able to receive on much pricier high-def TVs!

At one major retailer, the price for the DRC8335 is about $220.

I have no idea, as of yet, whether DTV converter boxes from RCA will use the same tuner found in the DVD/VCR combo. Let’s hope for DTV converter performance that’s comparable to this early report.

Consumers who want a digital TV converter today may find recorder/DTV-tuner combos appealing. If you don’t mind waiting until next year, $40-off coupons from the federal government become available in January.

• Link: Philly Daily News

Related:
• DTV Converter Box Alternatives
• DTV Converter Box Coupons
• Converter Boxes
• Converter-box performance: Reports raise concerns