The federal government continues to bungle the transition to digital television, this time by making it difficult for consumers to redeem subsidy coupons for DTV converter boxes.
Consumers can request the $40 coupons now, but they expire after 90 days even though converter boxes are still not widely available. Mouse Print broke down all the known caveats:
1. You cannot combine the coupons toward the purchase of a single box (each will cost between $50 and $70 approximately).2. The coupons expire 90 days from their mailing to you, and expired coupons will not be replaced.
3. There are only 22.5 million coupons unless Congress authorizes 11.25 million more.
4. While some boxes have already been approved, more are expected.
5. Many if not most retailers do not have the boxes in stock yet.
If you or your grandparents still rely on bunny ears to receive your television signal, ask your local electronics store when they expect to stock the digital converter boxes before requesting your subsidy coupon.
Mouseprint rightly argues that the coupons should not expire. The federal government shouldn’t worry that throngs of coupon-wielding seniors will bankrupt the treasury by simultaneously redeeming their DTV coupons. This is the sort of problem the government might be able to tackle if a single official was overseeing the DTV transition.
DTV Coupons: The Consumer Catch-22 [Mouse Print]
(Photo: anomalous4)
More From Consumerist
-
I'm Tired Of Sending My Laptop To Samsung's Anti-Repair Depot
-
Having Separate Credit Card Accounts From Your Spouse Can Keep You From Being Stranded Abroad
-
Chase Does Us All A Favor, Nixes Overdraft Fees For Purchases Under $5
-
Not Even Verizon Knows Exactly Why It Charges $5/Month To Keep Your Number Unpublished
-
Your Shiny New iPhone 5 Might Take A While To Ship Due To Its Easily Scratched Case
@swalve:
Why should digital reception improve greatly once analog signals are turned off? Intuitively, that might sound right but — I cannot find the source of this truthiness.
@parad0x360: Why on earth should I be forced to get rid of a perfectly good television in order to receive a signal upgrade that I’m not particularly interested in to use a technology that I mostly use for Simpsons reruns and tornado warnings?
Is there not enough chromium in your air and water already? You really want to ACCELERATE the rate of technological disposal?
Personally, I prefer not to live in a disposable society. Nor one driven by planned obsolescence.
(Plus I’m still pissed about the absolute FUBAR-y way this transition was handled by the gov’t.)
@TheDude06: “Ive got standing bets to friends that the analog signals will not be shut off for another 10 years”
It’s already BEEN 10 years — and billions of wasted dollars in spectrum allocation. The box coupons ARE the solution to keep grandpa from hitting the street with his shotgun. Analog is going dark.
(The theory was that TV makers would change to digital and people would buy digital starting almost a decade ago so there’d be few people still using analog, but TV makers kept stalling … and stalling … and stalling, and TV stations kept stalling changing their broadcast signals, so we’re all jammed up on a far-too-tiny cell phone spectrum and digital TVs don’t have nearly the penetration original estimates predicted and we’re stuck with coupons.)
@chunews: I believe the current digital signals are in the UHF spectrum, and when the analog signals are decommissioned, they’ll settle down into more favorable transmission territory (closer to VHF), possibly at higher powers? (not sure) and reception should improve.
@forgottenpassword: There’s only really a few OEMs for these things. You pay more for the name on the thing if you buy brand-name stuff. It’s OK to look at new brands, considering how decent they can be.
@humorbot: God forbid people still be able to get tornado warnings and other vital information.
But will the converter box work with the new Blu-Ray er Hi-Def err Blu, err, Hi,errrr whatever- DVD player….
I am waiting for the inevitable Media generated circus 1 to 2 weeks before the change over. You know, the time period which is only as far out the media reporters can process news stories.
And cue the indignant, pissed off senior citizen living on a fixed income who needs their tv to be able to live, who missed the coupons, and can’t afford a converter…
They need to advertise/send the coupons in media outlets that technologically lagging people use- newspapers, magazines, readers digest, etc
And I forgot to mention to advertise the coupon on books of USPS stamps too….
Whatever gvt officials were sitting around one day and said “Hey, why don’t we break everyone’s teevees” shouldn’t be re-elected. But they probably will be.. who’s responsible for this? Consumerist: normally when you report on a problem, you also say who’s responsible for it. Why don’t you do that here? I would like to know who is responsible for this idiotic move… then complaints can be sent to somewhere perhaps more useful than your very nifty comment page.
@vladthepaler:
Unfortunately technology marches onward, leaving some behind, as has happened for perpetuity. The spectrum being used by Analog is better suited for purposes other than television broadcasts. Luckily, for those who have older models, the government will be subsidizing the transition.
This is a painful but necessary transition.
@parad0x360: @mightypen: You’re both idiots. I hope your local gov’ts put a landfill right next door to your homes to accomodate all the trash generated from America’s conspicuous consumption.
@ancientsociety:
You seem like a friendly chap, I can send you my 40$ voucher if you need an extra, I don’t need mine.
@ancientsociety:
Oh, re: that landfill next to my house.
Hopefully people will choose to recycle the cardboard box that the converter comes in, so as to keep the landfill at a reasonable mass.
This was to be expected, our bloated govt trying to dole out discounts for a mandated switch over to digital tv…. Personally I think the free market should dictate the price of the items. If I have a family memeber who cannot affort the cost of the converter I would proabably pick one up and pay for it out of my pocket, it could be a tax write off
Govt hand outs are rarely worthwhile.
Gosh darn it, I still can’t get over the fact my telegraph doesn’t work anymore – and now this!
@mightypen, tekno-yanqui:
Did you notice the FAQ where it says that coupons can’t be transfered to other households?
Don’t apply for the coupons if you have an HDTV or ATSC tuner or you have cable/satellite service. You’re just hurting people who actually need them.
I agree with many here that the radio spectrum is owned by the people. And that the government has made too many mistakes with regard to it. But imagine a world where there is no FCC to split up the bands.
If everyone had free reign to transmit whatever they wanted anywhere, there would be no standards for TV receivers, broadcast receivers, etc. And, seeing as radio signals generally don’t respect government borders, if there were no agreements between bordering countries it would make for an even bigger mess.
The radio spectrum is limited… but it is well laid out. If you want to communicate for free, get a CB or FRS radios and use the frequencies alotted to them. If you want to communicate for free for long distances, get a ham radio license (as I have) and use the frequencies allowed to them. Want to transmit TV? Get a TV station license. Want to listen to the police? Buy a scanner. Want to listen to FM? Buy an FM radio. It is designed to tune in the frequencies that broadcasters use for FM radio.
Here is a great chart showing how the spectrum is laid out: [www.ntia.doc.gov]
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for less government interference. But some things you just have to leave to to feds. If you left it up to the people how they wanted to use the spectrum you’d have a real mess.
Oh, and going to digital TV opens up lots of available spectrum for other uses that are currently crowded out — mainly land mobile communication and some data services (at the higher ends)
@glorpy: I figure I’ll apply for my 2 vouchers, buy a couple of converters, and sell them on ebay later.
@spinachdip: Sorry, my bad. I got it mixed up.
@chunews: Two reasons- right now, there are (basically) twice as many channels broadcasting in the TV band, the legacy channel, and then it’s digital counterpart. You see, the digital channels use the same channel “map” as the analog ones, they just send a different type of signal. So when digital broadcasters went on the air, they were assigned a different temporary frequency to use. Here in Chicago, for example, channel 2 broadcasts it’s digital channel on channel 3. If you have a digital tuner, it tunes to whatever frequency channel 3 is on. Then there is then a mechanism called PSIP that tells the digital tuner to pick up the channel on the correct channel (3), but display it as 2, so nobody gets confused. As if. Anyway, all those extra channels out there add to the “noise floor” which makes it hard to pick up the channels. You can’t receive channel 3 coming in from Grand Rapids or Chattenooga in Chicago (for example), but they contribute some “static” on digital 3 here. So when they turn off all the analogs, the tv spectrum gets a lot quieter, signal to noise ratios go down, and consequently you don’t need as “loud” of a signal to get clean reception.
Secondly, analog signals are a little “bigger” than their assigned channel. Sort of like when you’re listening to AM radio on one station, sometimes you can hear a station on a whole different frequency. Picture the channels on a number line, and analog signals are triangular points pointing at the channel number, but spilling over into the next channel. Digital signals do not have that problem. They are more like a rectangle that stays within it’s channel.
All of that causes interference, so when the analogs shut off, it gets better.
(There are other issues with harmonics, especially in the UHF band, that with analog required complicated algorithms so that channels don’t interfere with another. That’s why they are so many and they are sparsely populated. Completely incorrect example: if you have a channel 22 in an area, you can’t have a 33, 44, 55 or 66. Again, completely wrong numbers, but the concept is there. That problem is reduced with digital, so you can cram more channels into less “space”, so that’s why they are lopping off part of the spectrum and using it for other purposes. Digital TV is just a much more efficient use of the spectrum.)
Hey all! I appreciate the information you’re provideing as well as the opinions. But, I’m really curious on how this will effect *portable* t.v?? All of the mentioned sets here are stationary systems. I’m one of those civilians living out in the middle of freaking nowhere Ohio and I don’t really mind adding an extra box to my t.v. Thing is what if I go camping? Or perhaps have a tailgate party or something? DO I have to haul arround a black brick with my Sony Watchman? A device thats twice as large as it *and* that has tobe powered by 110-120v source? I’m not entirely up on the whole digital sets but I highly doubt the portable tv’s will have capabilities to keep up with this?.. Give me some feedback guys! I’m concerned.
@Sun_Dog: Unless you can connect a device between your antenna and the tv, it won’t work. If it has a plug in for an external antenna, then you’ll have to buy the cables and antenna to put the converter between the antenna and the tv, and have a power source for the converter.