so, how strong this digital signal will be? because as of now I dont get any of the analog channels in my area in perfect pic quality and sound except one-- not to mention the sound being all disortorted and there are about 20 channels in my area. So, I'd like to assume that when this transition begins I'll be able to receive ALL these channels in the clear, right? Also, will sound be 5.1 digital?

Maybe and no. Depends on the broadcast and the station. You may need an ota antenna.

http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html

"maybe" its a good sign.

If you get nothing now, I doubt you should expect to get much more without a decent OTA antenna on your roof. In my experience the signal is just as strong but certainly more touchy/tempermental that the SD feed ever was in terms of getting a non-pixellated broadcast. SD is already broadcast in 5.1 and so is HD so you should still get that if you have the antenna/sound running through your speakers.

(Though one begs to question why you're so concerned about 5.1 but not concerned about DOWNCONVERTING HD feeds to your SD television. :lol:)

The "coupon" converter boxes only allow 480i output video and stereo. The purpose is to subsidize replacement for what you are losing, not give you HD.

If you have an HD-ready (ie tunerless) TV, there are better boxes for HD tuning and 5.1 sound, but no coupons allowed. In almost all areas, stations are already broadcasting ontheir digital frequency; they are just still on their analog too. Newer HD TVs are required to have built in digital tuners.

no concerns at all. I just thought that the sound would be 5.1 since the signal will be digital.

I guess my concern, along these lines, is that is Canada a part of the "spectrum selloff"?

I would imagine we would be, mostly because as America Jr. we are lockstep with Washington on most issues, but I have heard nothing North of the border about analogue shutdown.

There are a great many Canadian stations, all located close to the border (as most of our cities -- outside of Alberta and Newfoundland -- are), with powerful analogue signals. Would be strange if the US shut down and repurposed that bandwidth while Canada kept going causing Americans living along the border to go mad with interference. :D

Has anyone heard anything about Canada in regards to this situation?

Canada currently has no plans to shut off analog (or analogue, if you prefer) television broadcasts.

Geez, you Canadians may as well just join up with us if you think our laws affect you this much.

Interesting the stations in Canada and Mexico won't be going off- sometimes in the US with a good roof antenna you can get stations from there, usually channels 2, 3 and 4. With the American stations going off the air these may come in more often.

I've heard the low-power stations in the US will be staying on the air, at least for a while. I'd really like to see some pirate broadcasters start up on the empty analog frequencies. (Wonder how easy it would be to broadcast a pirate digital TV signal?)

Check out this neat tool
which helps determine your antenna needs and locates your nearby stations.

I'm assuming that some converters will be better than others in terms of handling weaker/distant stations, with the same incoming antenna signal. This is important to folks in rural areas and folks who can't have a big outdoor antenna. I'm keeping an eye out for reviewers to start evaluating the various models as they become available. Last week, my local RadioShack had received it's first product, a Zenith. The coupons must be used within 90days of receiving it, so I'm gonna hold off until there are some real choices available before applying for the coupon.

I can't. I'd never qualify for your health care. :)

So are all stations going to finally commit to a 16x9 aspect ratio standard for the switchover or will we forever be cursed to fiddle with our remote AR buttons whenever we change channels or a new show comes on?

^ this transition is only about how the signal is transmitted.... not aspect ratio. It's still up to the station on format of picture and sound. Don't confuse "digital" with "high def".

If the station goes HD, then it'll be broadcasting in 16:9, although that doesn't mean that everything they show will be 16:9, some might be 4:3 inside the 16:9 signal. If the station stays SD, or possibly adds an SD channel, then that channel could be either 4:3 or 16:9. If you have cable or satellite, some of those channels are going to stay 4:3 SD.

So short answer, yes you'll probably still fiddle with your aspect ratio buttons, although this'll probably happen less and less as time goes by.

My coupons came on Sat if anyone was still wondering where they were.

The RadioShack guy told me they will have what amounts to an "instant in-store coupon" (my invented phrase), for customers who don't have a coupon. It's not in effect yet; he indicated the start date is some weeks away. It was the first I heard of such an option; I have read the gov. website and faqs and all, but there was no mention of such a thing, iirc. I can see how this would be good for the retailers to make an instant sale rather than lose the customer while waiting to receive mailed coupons. Anyone else heard of this? (Possibly the guy was confused?)

Maybe it's something where Radio Shack takes the hit and applies the discount now, and then they get the real coupon from the government for reimbursement. It's kind of like how a business like H&R Block can give people tax refunds instantly (for a fee) by giving it to them out of their own money and collecting later.

Count me in as one of the few that is going to get bent over when they shut down the analog broadcasts. Right now, we have OTA television, with an antenna on the roof. We also have 4 VCR's around the house, that pretty much all tape a couple shows a night, when the tv shows are not in reruns. My understanding is that these boxes will take the place of the analog tuner in the tv. So the tv will be set to channel 3, and the channel will be changed by the box. What does this mean for the vcr's? Will they be able to tape a show on a different channel, than the one that we are watching? will the box have to be preset to the channel so the vcr will tape the correct show?

I'd use this as an excuse to get a DVR.

I would post your question on "VCR Talk," right under the sticky about getting rid of the blinking 12 O'clock. ;)

My son's TV is a Sony that is HDTV ready - no HD tuner, but able to play HD content via an HDMI cable. He lives in a fairly remote area of Texas that has no cable, but does receive many OTA broadcasts. My understanding is that the coupons are only good on SD sets, not HD-ready sets. We've already purchases a digital tuner and a decent antenna for him.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that VCRs use their own internal analog tuners to record. Therefore, your VCR will be useless.

It would work on an HD set, but you obviously wouldn't get an HD picture.

The tuners in VCRs and older DVD recorders will work if they are used in conjunction with the tuner in the digital converter box

However, there are plenty of DVD recorders on the market now that have OTA digital tuners built in. Those relying solely on OTA signals (that don't have a DVR) could invest in one of them for a more convenient recording method than VHS.

My VCR also has a "line" input. I can record now from an old HD box that also has analog outputs.

(That box doesn't have the greatest tuner, and I plan to try one of the coupon boxes. The LG one uses the 6th generation LG tuner chip which is supposed to handle multipath better).

But, I don't think the VCR can change the channel on the box. You have to set box to correct channel, leave it on, then program vcr to record from line input or channel 3/4 at the correct time. So, each night, each VCR can record the programs of interest on one channel without intervention, or intervene if that's a limit.

But my VCR is only my backup. If 3 things are on, I watch one in HD, record one in HD on HD-DVR, and VCR the third,

The converter box doesn't have to connect to the TV, it could connect straight to the VCR. However, if you wanted to watch TV and record another channel on the VCR, you'd need two separate tuners, one hooked up through the VCR, the other to the TV (probably between the VCR and TV if you're using all RF connections). In this case, you'd need 8 boxes total, one for each TV and VCR (assuming all the TVs are analog). Also, the VCRs probably couldn't control the converter boxes themselves. I remember when VCR+ came out, they had remotes that would control both the VCR and the cable box, changing the cable box's channel while starting the VCR's recording. Maybe something similar could be set up with the converter box/VCR.

Another option would be upgrading your recording equipment. If you wanted either permanent copies of what you're recording, or at least something portable, then you could replace your VCRs with DVD recorders. Some new ones include digital tuners, so you wouldn't have to worry about synchronizing the box with the recorder, and you'd then only need 4 converter boxes for watching TV separate from the recorder.

If you don't need permanence or portability, go with a DVR. It's possible that a dual-tuner DVR may be able to handle most of your recording needs. An added bonus of the DVR would be that you could start watching shows as they're still being recorded. If dual-tuners aren't enough, you could possibly use some combination of DVRs and DVD recorders.

Or, get cable. Cable will still have analog broadcasts, and aside from the initial installation of the outlets, which you may or may not have, they'd only charge you for single household use while all 4 TVs and all 4 VCRs could tune into the analog channels pumped through the cable. If you only need the locals, cable companies are still required to offer them separately as a "basic" package. Basic cable in my area is around $15 a month.