I think digital televisions are still to costly. Once the price really comes down, it will be more appealling; especially in a recession. Perhaps this will be an incentive to get people to read more. :)

the government should not have subsidized the boxes. what a waste of money...if people wanted to keep using analog that badly, they should have paid for the box themselves. what obligation does the government have to ensure people can still get their TV shows?

I live in a place where I can recieve all of my local analog channels just fine with a small set top antenna. For digital signals, I had to install a huge rooftop antenna, install an amplifier on that, and I still get iffy reception of the FOX and CBS channels. This forced sweitch is a great deal only if you are a cable or satellite provider or one of the corporations poised to take over the former "free" analog TV bandwidth to sell some profitable services while many lose their ability to watch over the air TV without paying a cable or satallite provider.

Some people will never make the switch until they are forced. Having cable for the better part of 25 years I cannot understand how someone could be happy with standard television...are there 5 or 8 channels? I don't know what I would do without Discover or the History Channel.

Let's pull the plug already. I'm sorry to sound mean, but if someone cannot afford the $60 converter box they should really consider doing something with there life other than watching TV.

The stations in my area are already running the digital signals, I have a new tv, so I don't need the converter boxes, but I bought one anyway for the "extra" features. Several stations (on the digital channel) have great pictures BUT the picture freezes, contorted picture, audio cutout,..if this is the future of digital TV, it sucks....

[Not all digital TV broadcasts today are running at full power. These problems have been reported by many consumers who have tested their digital boxes. When February 17 rolls around and the analog signals are turned off, the digital broadcast signal strength will be increased and those problems should go away.

Digital will always be hampered with those kinds of errors, however. Rather than just snow appearing and a weaker signal, it will either work completely or it will freeze, inroduce boxes, etc. Digital really is not a good choice, but it does make companies more money. -Rick]

How could the converter program run out of money? They could spend another billion on boxes and still come out ahead. Was there ever a reason behind the sale of the frequencies, or was it just raw greed?

It was the cable operators and the broadcasters screaming for this, NOT the consumers! The industry wants cheap, lower-cost hardware and digital TV gives them that. But the consumer never wanted or cared about this. Americans weren't screaming far and wide, "We want digital TV!"

So it should come as no surprise that the most popular option consumers are choosing is to go the route that lets them spend the least money possible and just keep what they already had, which they were quite happy with.

Digital TV. Bah! For what? I already get 97 variants of ESPN that I don't want. I don't want more channels, a bigger picture, or a faster refresh rate. I want shows on TV that are worth watching. As it is, 6 days out of 7 I never even turn my TV on.

Not everyone was surprised by this decline, or the disaster that is our Terrestrial Broadcast standard. We have reached diminishing returns on many technologies, and the net energy to power our industrial economy is in decline. This mean that ever increasing complexity is over. Couple this will the horrible standard that will not be able to serve many of the rural areas, and you have this. Another reason that it should have been expected, is that if you look at all of the companies that have been involved in inventing / implementing this stuff since the late 1980's they have all went out of business. Why would you expect any difference today. The technology has few rewards, some serious problems, and is much more expensive. http://www.energystrain.com

digital TV does not equal HDTV. You can buy a "digital TV" at best buy for under $150.

This is part of the problem with the digital switch over. Way too many people are confused about the differences between digital TV and HDTV. The gov should have put more effort in explaining the differences.

[Do you really see a point in buying a digital TV that is not HD when a converter box for your existing analog TV will only cost you $20 after government rebate? If you're going to buy digital TV, why go with non-HD? -Rick]

I have no intention of converting. Switching to digital broadcasting won't do a thing for the crappy content. What's showing on TV is not worth the cost of a converter box. Thank goodness for Netflix.

With just standard rabbit ears, I could pick up all the local analog network affiliates (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, MyNet), and 2 non-network stations. All reasonably clear with minimal snow at worst.

I bought the converter box months ago. Originally with standard rabbit ears I could pickup the local ABC, NBC and MyNet digital stations. Within the last couple of months, PBS has boosted its signal and I can receive it from 30 miles away. The CBS and Fox stations are also 30 miles away, but not a blip on my digital receiver, even after buying the "best" available indoor digital antenna. The 2 non-network stations are also MIA, one 30 miles away, one only 15 miles away.

I'm not in the middle of nowhere, I refuse to pay for cable at the extortionate rates they're charging locally, and a rooftop antenna is not possible (I rent). I'm screwed, and I'm not alone.

I guarantee a significant outcry from the people on Feb 18th, mark my words.

wha u talkin about willis?

You can get 20-26 inch LCD's that receive digital signal for under $500

You can prob find a decent 20" LCD for about $200

No it wasn't, it was Google, ATT, and Other non TV broadcast companies wanting the analog spectrum for new wireless products and the GOV wanting a big fat check for that spectrum. This had nothing to do with cable or satellite operators. And no I don't work for them either.

I agree with what many are saying about digital reception sucking. I'd prefer to see snow over blocky lag or a complete cutout. However, I have noticed that a lot of the stations that would previously ghost like hell are crystal clear over digital. So while it may be a problem now, I think time will fix it.

Now what really pisses me off is the fact that the government (of course) waited 2 years before deciding to force a switch. If people can't deal with this in < 3 months then they never will. And I swear to christ if I see one more "Are you prepared for DTV" ad I'm going to kill a bunny.

I'll watch reruns on Hulu.com. Keep your digital TVs.

gov took in 20 billion,keep 18.5 billion , then
give most of the 1.5 billion to television stations for "advestisment" and then left a really small amount for set top box.
now they are running out of money.
screw it man!
And where is the 18.5billion goes? go to save the banking system by lending them money so that they can claim it and sit on it and get interest from the feds instead of loaning it to the public...
double screwed.

because our government controlls the media a hell lot better on tv than in the newspapers.
If people would just sit down and read them twice a week/(or go online) instead of watching re-runned reruined fantastic anchor woman talk about the same crap on cnn and so....well you get the idea.

I wonder what are the real reasons behind this conversion. It can't be solely for the sake of image quality? I bet this is an effort to bring in more taxes from more receivers and TV's sold(?)

[Analog TVs provide no feedback about what the viewers are watching, and no mechanisms to directly reach out and touch them with custom abilities, like on-demand movies, billing information, targeted commercials, etc.

Digital services are controlled by a computer, and can, therefore, be instructed and programmed to carry out tasks by those offering the service, i.e., businesses. It's a way to make us poorer, and businesses richer - though I doubt most would believe that reality. -Rick]

Nonetheless...we had this same conversion in Finland a year ago and many just dropped out TV from their lives altogether (I did and haven't regretted). TV nowdays is so full of s*it that you are better of renting movies from a store and if there really are programs you need to see you can always go to a friend to watch it. Improves your social life also :P

you could have fed at least 1000 white collar criminals for a month with that $720 mill...

I live in North Broward County in South Florida. This location places me a good long distance from the Palm Beach TV Stations to the north and most of the TV station to the south in Miami.

Analog TV, even with a very large (and expensive) outside antenna was hit or miss. Pointing south I had good reception on a few stations and poor to mediocre reception on the rest. Pointing the antenna north resulted in a similar situation. I had to use a rotor to be able to receive at least the major networks with reasonable reception.

Weather was also a factor as poor weather had a negative effect on reception. I also suffered from ghosting, snow and all of the typical maladies of analog TV.

I went digital some years ago when I bought a high definition TV and a Samsung digital hi-def receiver. Since then I've switched to a Sony hi-def flat screen with a built-in digital tuner.

Once going digital, I have been able to replace the large outdoor antenna with a small powered, bi-directional antenna which cost me only $59. Consequently,I have also been able to remove the rotor.

My current digital setup provides excellent reception of both Miami and Palm beach stations in hi-def with no issues.

As for the Government converter box coupons. I applied for a received 2 coupons when the program first came out. They were supposedly good for ninety days, but when I received them they were almost expired.

At that time, I checked for DTV converter boxes at several major stores in the area only to find they either had nothing at all, or only offered cheap Chinese boxes. I borrowed and tested three different models against my Sony's digital tuner. The performance of the boxes was quite disappointing. While my Sony had strong reception, the converter boxes were plagued by low signal strength and frequent loss of picture.

I held onto my coupons hoping that a higher quality converter box would turn up before they expired a few weeks later, but this never happened.

Despite the above article which states "Unredeemed coupons will be automatically re-mailed after they expire". This was not the case for me. My coupons expired more than a year and a half ago and no replacements were received and my attempts to get new coupons have been denied.

What ticks me off the most is that I two battery powered TV's (one hand held, the other a 5" model) for use during power outages resulting from hurricanes. Most recently, hurricane Wilma knocked out power to my area from nearly 2 weeks. During the storm itself, adn despite poor reception, was I able to watch a local TV station to keep up with the storm's progress. After the storm I was able to get TV on a limited basic using a generator, but since gas was almost impossible to come by, I relied on my battery powered model for news. We had NO WATER during the power outage and that portable TV was indispensable to learn when and where I could get water and ice - necessary for survival after out supplies ran out.

Even though my portable has an external antenna jack, there is still the problem of powering a converter box. I have found one converted box that will run on batteries or an ac adapter. But it is also pricey.

The switch to digital TV has proven to be very costly for me and my family. All of this so the government can resell the current frequency bans being used for analog TV.

I just purchased the new digital converter box and cant believe how great the reception is with the same rabbit ear antenna. Some channels I couldn't even get before and now they come through with great clarity and sound. I believe $20.00 (with the coupon)is a cheap price to pay for this new system. And besides, it's only a one time cost and you're going to get extra channels for free. So what's the beef? They have been telling us about the change for years. I'm telling you that once you get the new box you'll be happy with it.