We’re a little more than a year away from the big analog shut-down. On February 17, 2009 analog broadcast TV will breathe it’s last. If you’re one of those 20 to 30 million people who still rely on a broadcast antenna for your TV programming and you’re hoping to squeeze just a little more life from your trusty analog TV, then you’ll need a digital converter box.
One of those converter boxes just arrived at E-Gear’s office. This Zenith DTT900 is a small thing, about the size of a bedside clock radio but much easier to use. What it does, very simply, is take the ATSC (which replaces analog NTSC) digital broadcast signal from the air and converts it to an analog signal your old TV can understand. Along with an improved picture, converter boxes like this include basic on-screen program guides, program and channel information and access to additional digital channels that were never broadcast in the analog domain. These converters cost about $70 but qualify for the government’s $40 coupon program.
If you’re in need of one of these devices, go to www.dtv2009.gov or call 1-888-dtv-2009 to apply for the coupon. Each household is eligible for two converter box coupons, and they must be used at a retailer who is participating in the coupon redemption program. The major retail chains like Radio Shack, Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears are all participants as as many smaller regional and independent dealers. The boxes just started arriving at retailers a few weeks ago so you may need to hunt for them.
Very important point here: If you get your TV service from cable, satellite or FiOS you don’t need to worry about the analog cutoff. Those services are not affected. Only TVs that receive their programing from antennas will need a converter box. Also, nearly all TVs sold in 2007 (whether they be standard definition CRT TVs or 60-inch plasma HDTVs) already have a built-in digital ATSC tuner. Check your manual if you don’t know for sure.
By the way, I’ll be demonstrating this converter box and talking about the DTV transition on ABC’s Action news here in Philadelphia month.
The DTT900 has a "Zoom" button on its remote. I’m guessing this switches between 4×3 and 16×9 aspect ratio. Does it allow you to do a center cut on a 16×9 broadcast image? The reason I ask is that many stations broadcast digitally in 16×9 at all times, even when the program is actually 4×3. Without the ability to do a center cut, you’re stuck with black bars on top, bottom and sides when you watch one of these stations on a standard 4×3 screen.
Yes, the zoom button will use the center of a 16:9 image to fill a 4:3 screen. Does a decent job of it too.