We received our set of two $40 coupons from the government for our digital television converter boxes. We don’t have cable or dish or any kind of subscription TV at our house. We have a good old fashioned antenna on our roof. We live about 30 miles outside of Boston, and I always thought our reception (with the big antenna) was fairly good. For a while we had comcast basic cable, and our over the air reception actually gives us better picture quality.
In any case, in February of 2009, all standard analog over the air broadcasts will cease. So, everyone that has a TV that does not have a digital tuner will need a converter box. Even if you have cable or satellite, in some extreme emergency situations the only way you’ll be able to get a TV signal is over the air.
I took our coupons to Best Buy for the converter box. They have only one model there, an Insignia. I was expecting the box to be about the same price as the coupon ($40), but they are charging $60, so I had to pay $20 out of pocket. The only outputs on the box are composite video or RF (modulates to channel 3). I was really hoping for an s-video connection, so I only bought one unit in hopes that in the next few months (coupon expires in 90 days) a model with s-video will be available locally.
I brought the unit home and hooked it up - it found 21 digital channels off my antenna - and they all look crystal DVD clear! I thought that I would only get the same channels as before - but no! Because of the increased bandwidth, many networks are broadcasting multiple channels. PBS (GBH 44) has 4 channels all to itself, including one just for kids. There is also the Qubo network, which appears to be also just for kids that only broadcasts in digital.