I just got my 2 coupons for converter boxes and I'm pleased to see that most eligible boxes would be reduced to about $20 with coupon… however I have been searching through them for one that offers the option of leaving the resolution format as-is, and outputting via component video. Every one I've seen has only composite out, and maybe RF or coax, for a max of 480i. One had s-video but still couldn't do progressive scan.
I kind of suspect there's a rule forbidding it now, which makes no sense. Doesn't the government understand that those of us who have HD-ready TV's are just as SOL next February as everyone else? The coupon program is basically to provide digital tuners to people whose TV sets don't have digital tuners. What difference does it make if your TV is HD-ready, it still doesn't have a digital tuner.
Does anyone know of a coupon-eligible converter box that also allows HD output? Or one that at least will output in progressive scan?
Well, yes, as I said I figured they had made a rule restricting it to SD output. What is silly is that it costs more to make a digital tuner that converts the signal to SD, than to simply make a digital tuner. The government is requiring that the coupons be spent on items with extra hardware, in effect, which is kind of wasteful.
The implication that everyone with an HD-ready TV is prosperous is silly. My HD-ready TV was only $350. Anyhow, it seems to me the government's intent was not restricted to helping the poor, but rather to alleviate for everyone the unfair cost of suddenly having to buy a digital tuner. If it was meant specifically for poor people, there would have been some kind of income cap to get the coupons.
I think maybe I will just boycott digital television from now on, since the government doesn't care whether I watch it as much as other people. Unless these SD-only boxes can be modified.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Broadcast Engineer // Apr 15, 2008
The coupon program was meant to provide boxes for the poor who have little money to replace their TV. Not for the folks who can afford a HDTV set. Hence the restriction. But just consider this: In 2002 when I first saw HDTV receiver boxes (set top boxes) hit the market in my area they cost $700 and the Plasma TV sets were around $7000. The set top box from LG can now be bought for around $150 and the Plasma TV sets can now be bought for $3000 or less (in the 42 inch size that once was about $7000 back then). Economics has taken care of the price for you.
If you have a VCR or DVD recorder that does not have the digital tuner built in you can use the converter box for that. The DVD recorder or DVD/VCR recorders with the built in tuner are SDTV recorders anyway. Why? Because of cost I suppose and the fact that Hollywood would rather sell you Star Wars six discs at $15 each and up instead of have you record them all off of Spike HD in HDTV quality.
2 Stephen P // Apr 15, 2008
The government specs for the coupon program prohibit anything except analog 480i output. Only RF, composite, and s-video (optional) are allowed.
The government only allocated so much money for the coupon program. Their intent was to make sure that no one that didn't use cable or satellite TV would lose their OTA reception.
>Doesn't the government understand that those of us who have HD-ready TV's are just as SOL
You can connect a converter box to your HD ready TV, it's just that you will only see SD resolution.
Wait, that's what you get now, just in better quality.
3 thom_manni // Apr 15, 2008
It has been known for years that the digital changeover was coming. It was delayed because people weren't prepared; but now is moving forward. If you chose to either disregard the announcements or not to pay attention to what is going on in the world around you, don't blame others.
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