Digital TV Converter Box - DTV

Photo of Digital Converter Box or DTV converter box - it looks like a black monolith orbiting the planet Jupiter

WARNING: ON JUNE 12, 2009, FEDERAL LAW REQUIRES THAT ALL FULL-POWERED TELEVISION BROADCAST STATIONS STOP BROADCASTING IN ANALOG FORMAT AND BROADCAST ONLY IN DIGITAL FORMAT.

What is Digital TV Converter Box
If you look at the photo on the right you will see a black monolith (reminds me of Space Odyssey 2001). Well, that black monolith is a special box they call a Digital TV Converter Box and you will be required by February 2009 to either have a DTV converter box or a TV with a built-in DTV tuner. What is Digital TV? Digital TV or DTV is just a fancy computerized way to get television programs into your TV set. The advantage is that you get crystal clear TV reception and you typically get more TV stations to choose from. The first thing you will notice is that you will no longer get "snowy" reception typical of an analog transmission. However, if you have a weak signal you will get freeze frames and choppy audio. In my local area I noticed that I now had about 22 stations verses about 10 analog stations. There's even a new weather channel. I predict that they will probably feature premium channels sometime in 2009. I say this because DTV is a very high quality medium for video content. I think it looks as good as satellite television.

How much does it cost?
A typical price for a DTV Converter Box is about $60 minus your $40 coupon sets you back about $20. I have found some DTV Converter Boxes listed on the Internet for about $45. Please note that the government (DTV.gov) will issue 2 DTV coupons per household.

The purpose of this website is to provide good solid information and nice high resolution photos on the subject of Digital Television or DTV with a focus on the DTV Converter Box. Coming soon will be a section of "how to" videos that will help non-technical people find, purchase, install, and configure a DTV Converter Box. In addition there will soon be an interactive comment section where anyone can ask questions or add their own knowledge to this DTV information site.

Now let's take a closer look

Ok, here's what you get with a typical Digital Converter Box

With a typical digital converter box, you get a box of some type, a remote control, battery for remote control, video cable, audio cable, and an RF cable.

When the converter box is "off" the red light is displayed

And when the converter box is "on" the blue light is displayed

Front Control Panel

Here's a shot of the front control panel, which most people will rarely ever use unless they misplace their remote control or the battery runs out. The front control panel is very simple. It consists of 3 buttons. The Power Button and the Channel Selector buttons.

The back panel of the DTV converter box

Standard Coaxial Cable Input and Output jacks

Standard RCA jacks for output to TV

Video and Audio cables plugged into jacks

Digital Television News:

June 12, 2009 is fast approaching! What you going to do without your television?

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2008 Rj55.com - Coupon for Digital Converter Box - Learn how to receive a $40 coupon to apply towards the purchase of a DTV converter box.

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