Act soon to try out your TV's converter

If you get your TV signals over-the-air, with an antenna, listen up. The converters you'll need to keep your set from turning into a doorstop this time next year are finally on retailers' shelves: There are good reasons to buy one now, rather than waiting for the fall stampede.

The best reason is to make sure the box you buy actually works. Likewise, if you've already received the government's $40 subsidy coupons for digital converters, read the fine print. It turns out that they're valid for only three months - so if you don't buy converters before they expire, you may be out of luck.

But $40 may be the least of your worries. The real problem: No one knows exactly how the transition from analog to digital broadcasting will play out for the 19 million American households that rely on over-the-air transmissions - as opposed to cable, satellite or fiber-optic TV service. The same for millions more who have hardwired service for their main TV but rely on antennas for sets in bedrooms, kitchens and other areas.

The government has told broadcasters to turn off their analog transmitters on Feb. 17, 2009, in favor of a new digital broadcast technology. Local broadcasters have been transmitting both signals for about two years now, but after the cutoff, only digital transmissions will remain. Traditional analog sets - almost all sets made before 2006 and some that were sold as late as last year - won't be able to receive the new signals without a converter that contains a digital tuner.

Cable companies already provide analog signals for the majority of their customers, and they'll continue that practice for at least three years after Feb. 17, 2009.

But folks who rely on over-the-air broadcasts will need a set-top box with a digital tuner for each set in the house, plus each VCR or DVD recorder that captures programs off the air. The alternative: paying hundreds of dollars a year for cable service or emptying their pocketbooks into the economies of China, Taiwan and Korea to buy new sets they wouldn't otherwise need.

There are signs that the cabal of TV manufacturers, broadcasters, wireless carriers, politicians and bureaucrats who hatched this scheme more than a decade ago is seriously worried about the fallout.

This week, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, suggested a test run in smaller markets before the national switchover. "Broadway shows open on the road to work out the kinks before opening night. The DTV transition deserves no less," he wrote in a letter to the FCC's Republican chairman, Kevin Martin.

Given the partisan politics of this FCC, the fact that Martin didn't reject the proposal outright shows how scary this issue is for everyone involved. In fact, Martin said he'd have the FCC look into the possibility.

And he should be scared. Never before has the government, by fiat, declared obsolete a perfectly good, working technology that's almost universally available and so critical to public safety. And with so little real-world testing of its replacement.

Millions of Americans will have to buy unfamiliar equipment that is only partly covered by the two $40 coupons the FCC will provide for each household.

Many will have to install costly outside antennas or sign up for expensive cable service just to get the news, weather and other programs they get now free.

Most of these non-cable folks fall into two categories: the poor and the elderly - who are least capable of dealing with the change - and with those who just don't want cable or satellite service because they don't think it's worth the cost. The elderly and don't-wants include a disproportionate number of active voters who can and should show no mercy at the polls if they think they've been ripped off.

While the industry and FCC squabble over how many public service ads broadcasters have to run alerting viewers to the change, smart buyers are already shopping for converters. That's because knowing about the switch-over doesn't guarantee you'll have a picture once it happens.

One issue is the very nature of a digital signal. Under an analog system, you can receive a snowy, but still watchable, broadcast from a station with a weak signal in your area. Not so with digital TV. You get a great picture - better than you have now - or none at all.

So if you're a Baltimorean who's also accustomed to getting Washington stations that aren't perfect, you may find those D.C. broadcasts have disappeared altogether.

Worse yet, digital signals don't behave exactly like analog transmissions, which broadcasters have had half a century to tweak. So some local channels you get now may not be available, particularly if you use a rabbit-ears antenna.

That was the case at my home just outside the Baltimore Beltway, where I tried a power-boosted RCA antenna designed for digital TV with two sets: an RCA Standard Definition Digital Television and my superb Pioneer plasma HD set (normally hooked to cable). No matter how I adjusted the gain knob or tweaked the rabbit ears, there was no one place I could put the antenna that would pull in all of Baltimore's stations - on either TV.

As my Aunt Thelma would say, "This is not acceptable."

If you have an over-the-air set, it's time to find out if your signal is acceptable. Wal-Mart is selling converter boxes for $50, while Radio Shack and Circuit City are selling units for $60. I would suggest buying only one box to start. If it works, buy identical boxes for additional TVs; if it doesn't work, you can try another brand.

Hook the first box to your TV with your current antenna (or buy a rabbit ears if your TV's built-in antenna is hardwired). If you have a roof antenna, connect the antenna cable to the converter and run a cable from the converter to the antenna input on your TV set.

If everything works as planned, you'll get a better picture than you ever had before. If you can't get a decent picture without investing lots of money that you don't want to spend, let your congressman know now. Only Congress has the power to postpone the switch until the kinks are worked out.

For information on the digital transition and the government's $40 coupons for converters, visit www.dtv.gov or call 1-888-388- 2009. Hearing-impaired consumers should call 1-877-530-2634 (English/TTY) or 1-866-495-1161 (Spanish/TTY).

mike.himowitz@baltsun.com
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