TV converter box

John,

You will not need a converter box if you plan to continue to use Dish Network. A converter box is only required for receiving over-the-air TV signal.

Enjoy,

TIC

The date is February 17, 2009 (midnight--isn't that exciting!).

If you have cable or satellite you do not have to do anything except continue to pay outrageous monthly fees.

https://www.dtv2009.gov/

ONLY OFF THE AIR LOCAL CHANNELS REQUIRE ANY SORT OF BOX, NO BASIC, OR DIGITAL CABLE OR SATELITE FEED IS AFFECTED BY THE CHANGEOVER.

Did you order your $40 coupons? With one of them you can buy a converter for $20-30 out of pocket. However, if you are keeping dish you don't need to do anything.

I would get the coupons and boxes just to have them, you can either help somebody out who needs them or hang on to them just in case.....I gave one to a friend and I am going to hang onto one..you never know if there could be a huge failure of a cable/satelite system and having ability to get locals for a few days would be good.

Thanks everyone! Where do you get the coupon?

John

Hey John 888-388-2009 is the number to order the voucher, then take coupon to Wallmart (Radioshak charges too much). You will get 2 cards in form of credit cards in a few weeks after you order. I hope to see you at another audio party somewhere down the road if your schedule permits,
Cheers
Chad

John:

As others have already said, the official date of the analog to digital switchover is February 17, 2009.

Go to www.dtv2009.gov to see where you can get a $40.00 voucher coupon so that you can purchase a DTV Converter Box. When your coupons arrive, you can then take them to any store that sells these converter boxes and redeem them on the box that you like. Most of these boxes retail between $40.00 and $70.00. Most of them cost about $60.00. The coupon will cover the majority of the cost and then your out of pocket expense is only $20.00.

These boxes are widely available all over (mass market stores and specialists stores alike).

If you have cable or satellite dish, then you are not affected and you don't need to do anything. The switchover mainly affects anyone who DOESN'T have cable or dish and solely receive their TV signals through a rabbit ears antenna.

Good Luck......

--Charles--

"Chadnliz":

"(Radioshak charges too much)"

No..... not really.... Radio Shack doesn't charge any more for their converter boxes than other retailers. I got one for my Panasonic CT-27SF37 27" Direct-View TV and I only paid $20.00 for mine (a coupon covered most of the cost).

The one that I bought was the Digital Stream DTX9900 (the one with Dolby-Digital capability and audio outputs on the back of it).

I am thinking about getting one for my Toshiba Hard Disk DVD Recorder. It's connected to my Panasonic Plasma, but the difference being is that the Plasma has a digital tuner and the DVD Recorder does not. Otherwise, I would been okay without it.

But no...... Radio Shack doesn't charge any more for theirs than anyone else.

--Charles--

when I bought mine Radioshak charged $10 more per box then Wallmart so maybe things are different in regional areas, John lives near me so I am telling him my experience.

Is there actually something on TV thats worth watching?

Azmoon, if you don't think so you don't need to bother buying the boxes.