Installing a Digital to Analog TV Converter Box

The transition to Digital Television is June 12th, are you ready? Digital Television is a new style of broadcasting TV signals that allows you to view High Definition quality television programming from your standard television. With Digital TV, you also will receive Dolby Digital audio directly from an over the air source. If you have an older TV without a digital tuner and receive your TV from an antenna there are several steps you must take before the June 12th deadline or you will not be able to receive most TV channels. I say most channels as the transition only covers the higher power network stations, and does not effect the lower power, mostly local channels.

The very 1st thing you need to do to be ready for the Digital TV transition is to buy a Digital to Analog TV Converter Box. There are a multitude of brands and styles of converter boxes available, with prices ranging from $39.99 to $129.99 depending upon your needs. You will need a converter box for each TV in your house. The Federal Communications Commission has a program that will give you up to 2 coupons for $40.00 off each DTV converter box. To sign up for this program you must go to www.dtv2009.gov and fill out the form on their website. If the coupons are available, you will receive them in the mail in about 10 days. They will also give you a list of stores in your neighborhood that sell the DTV converter boxes and accept the coupons.

There are a few considerations you must make when choosing a converter box. The very 1st thing you must consider is if there are channels that you enjoy that are not being required to transition to digital. If this is the case, you should select a DTV converter box that allows for analog pass through. This will allow you to receive the analog channels without having to disconnect the DTV converter box. You also want to make sure that you choose a DTV converter box that is high quality. The reason for this is that some boxes out there, that are lower in cost, will pixilate, or will display small squares if the signal is not very strong.

Now that you have chosen your DTV converter box, you are ready to get started receiving your digital programming. You don't need to wait until June 12th, lets go ahead and get it set up and running. Most TV stations are now transmitting a digital signal, you you can already enjoy your favorite shows in high quality DTV.

Installing your DTV converter boxes is very simple and straightforward. You first must decide if you want to connect your boxes with a coax cable, or with RCA Jacks. You will receive a better quality of picture and sound by installing your DTV converter box with the RCA Jacks, if your TV is so equipped. The first step is to hook your RCA cables or your coax cable to the Converter Box, then to your TV. You do this just like you would hook up a DVD player. Then hook up your antenna cable to the DTV converter box. To do this, simply screw the coax into the connector marked Antenna Cable In. Now plug your converter box into wall, or in to your surge protector.

If you are using the coax connection between the DTV converter box and the TV, you will need to make sure that you set the channel selector on the rear of the DTV converter box to either channel 3 or channel 4. Now turn your TV on to the same channel. Set your volume level on the TV to 50%. Halfway between off and full volume. This is done because the remote for your DTV converter box will now control your volume. If you have chosen to use the RCA jacks to connect to your TV, turn your TV on and select the proper input. Again you will want to set your volume to 50%. Turn on the DTV converter box, and you should see the welcome or start up screen.

The next step is to tune your DTV converter box. To do this, press the menu button on your remote. Once into the menu, you should select auto-tune, and allow the DTV converter box to search for TV stations in your area. This channel search will take between 5 and 10 minutes. Once this search is complete, you will have full access to the digital TV channels. You will also have an on screen program guide, that should allow you to view what is on each channel for up to 7 days. This guide may be empty right now, it takes anywhere between 4 and 24 hours for the DTV converter box to download the program guide.

The final step is to enjoy your favorite shows in the new Digital TV format. You will find, that even with an older TV, you will have much better pictures and sound quality. You will also notice that you are receiving more channels than you were using the analog signal. This is because the broadcasters are able to transmit more channels, including 24 hour news and weather in the DTV format.

Links
www.dtv2009.gov