Digital TV Converter Options

[jskibo]

This was ripped from dailytech.com

Digital-to-analog converters to retail for $60 USD, $20 USD after government coupon


The United States and Japan are leading the consumer shift to HDTV televisions. Recent studies have shown that the two countries will lead worldwide HDTV penetration to triple from 48 million households currently to 151 million households by 2011.

The United States is doing its part to push customer to the digital era by discontinuing all analog television broadcasts on February 17, 2009. At that time, those using external antennas or rabbit ears to feed over-the-air (OTA) analog content into their outdated TVs will see nothing but static.

In an effort to help Americans that are still using televisions without digital tuners onboard, the U.S. government is allotting households two $40 coupons which can be used towards the purchase of an digital-to-analog box. The program will start on January 1, 2008 and will end on March 31, 2009.

LG Electronics, one of three companies manufacturing digital-to-analog boxes for analog TVs, says that the converter boxes will retail for roughly $60 USD in stores. When coupled with the government coupon, consumers can expect to cough up a Jackson to bring new life to their analog televisions.