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Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
 ·SONIC.NET
1 edit | Voucher problems 1. Voucher takes too long to come: 8 weeks (yes, that's almost two months). March 15 - May 10.
2. Voucher doesn't stay valid long enough: 10 weeks. May 10 - July 22. They say 90 days, but it's shorter (73 days from date of receipt, 81 days from when they mailed it), because they lied and miscounted from 10 days before they said they mailed it which was about 8 days before I received it (they use "standard" mail, not first class, which is too slow for a quickly expiring voucher).
March 15, 2008: I applied.
Apr 22: When they counted when they mailed the voucher from for the 90 days expiration.
May 2: When they mailed the voucher according to their tracking website.
May 10: 56 days (8 weeks) later after I applied, I received the voucher.
July 22: 73 days (10.4 weeks) after I received it, it expires. 81 days (11.6 weeks) after they said they mailed it is when it expires, instead of the 90 days (12.9 weeks) that they claim it should expire in. I have to find a box that is appropriate in the marketplace within that narrow window of time.
They will not send another one, either, if the one you have expires.
So, #1, you can't use the momentum from studying boxes to get one right away, and #2 you can't take time for the market to mature by the cutoff.
Of course, the side effect of #2 is that it forces the market to be ready sooner, but still, I can't just get my relatives to use their vouchers for something they don't think they'll ever need. I'll probably end up having to subsidize their vouchers for them or something.
Why? Because my surviving relatives are clueless and need to have the boxes as backup, and since we all pay so much taxes, we ought to get some back when it's offered (better than just giving, since they're not going to stop taking yet). And because our budgets and cable suppliers are not constant (i.e., those things could change before our TV sets are moribund, and we might then use antenna).
P.S., anybody know a good DTV converter that's made in USA and doesn't cost more than about $75? Best features would be quality, then NTSC pass-through. (They *do* convert HDTV to NTSC, right? I always assumed they would, since that's the whole point of them.)
Government: why do we allow people who use more government money to have the same voting power as those who pay more taxes? For that matter, why do we let people with low IQ have the same voting power as those with high IQ? Must we always see government, even republics, as things which must be overthrown periodically? I thought we had graduated from that, since we graduated from so much else (we value life higher now, we try to limit theft, we were healthier for a century or so, etc., but lately those things have been sucked out of a lot of US from the south). | |
Reviews:
·Great Works Inte..
| I haven't gone through every box on the list, but I don't think any of the boxes valid for the rebate perform any sort of HDTV down conversion. The box rules (paragraph 54) make it clear that HDTV output is not allowed, but it's kind of ambiguous in regards to down conversion. I believe there are boxes that do this but they're probably not eligible for the rebate.
Ten weeks is sufficient time for people to drive over to Wal-Mart and get a box. | |
systems2000What? You Say It's Fixed. Hah
join:2001-11-29
Cyberspace | The Wal-Mart boxes don't currently have Pass-Through capabilities. | |
 MadnessLike a flea circus at a dog show
join:2000-01-05
Quincy, MA
kudos:1
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by systems2000:The Wal-Mart boxes don't currently have Pass-Through capabilities. If I could drop a couple of pennies: The only reason I could see for pass-through after February would be to receive the Class A/LP stations. RadioShack, in fact, suggests on their site (see the "manuals" for their boxes) that one use a splitter & an A/B switch. But I suppose one could also just use an old VCR as a tuner and connect it to the coax chain before the box (assuming the TV has A/V jacks). | |
systems2000What? You Say It's Fixed. Hah
join:2001-11-29
Cyberspace | For anyone using an OTA outside of the City/Burbs, this can be a very important feature, since Class A, LP's, & Translator stations will continue to broadcast analog transmissions for as long as they want or the FCC finally passes another rule/law to shut them down. | |
Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| reply to Madness
said by Madness:said by systems2000:The Wal-Mart boxes don't currently have Pass-Through capabilities. If I could drop a couple of pennies: The only reason I could see for pass-through after February would be to receive the Class A/LP stations. RadioShack, in fact, suggests on their site (see the "manuals" for their boxes) that one use a splitter & an A/B switch. But I suppose one could also just use an old VCR as a tuner and connect it to the coax chain before the box (assuming the TV has A/V jacks). I did realize that for many converter box and TV combinations, many (most applicable?) TVs have both a composite input and an antenna/cable input, and the output side of many (most? all?) of the converter boxes has a composite output, thus you can split your antenna to the TV and to the converter box. The loss in the split could be dealt with a few ways: an A/B switch, but that has lots of detriments to it (remote control lacking), and an amplifier, but that is also difficult to handle. Let's hope the signal is good enough without the amplifier. | |
Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| reply to ElJay
said by ElJay:The box rules (paragraph 54) make it clear that HDTV output is not allowed, but it's kind of ambiguous in regards to down conversion. I believe there are boxes that do this but they're probably not eligible for the rebate. quote:
54. In its comments, Funai recommended that NTIA clarify the types of outputs that would not be permitted in a CECB. Funai commented that “we feel that it is inappropriate to extend Coupon Program eligibility to devices that support high-definition (HDTV) viewing, i.e., a display with higher-than-standard definition video resolution.” Funai then listed a series of connectors which it felt should not be permitted in the NTIA supported converter box. Funai requested that the following connectors be excluded from the converter box program: Digital Video Interface (DVI), high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), analog component video (YPbPr), computer video (VGA), as well as USB IEEE-1394 (sometimes trademarked as iLink or Firewire), or IEEE-802.3 (Ethernet) or IEEE-802.11 (wireless). Funai further recommended that “any device that includes an integrated display intended for use as the primary video presentation should be ineligible for the Subsidy.”
That's sloppy rule writing for a final rulemaking. Who's this "Funai" running our lives? Anyway, what it says is that you are not allowed to use the subsidy for a box that outputs for "i.e., a display with higher-than-standard definition video resolution.". By definition, an NTSC destined resolution is not higher-than-standard. Therefore downconverting the HDTV signal is prettymuch standard fare acceptable.
So, would someone explain what the boxes do if they don't downconvert the HDTV? I assumed a DTV box was basically to receive the DTV signals for an NTSC set. That implies downconverting the HDTV automatically. I know my cable box does that (downconverts HDTV signals to my NTSC set); Sometimes the HDTV is better, sometimes the SD is better, but at no point are they any more than NTSC, since that's all my set is. | |
| The boxes can receive HDTV. They will take this signal and convert it to NTSC so you can view HDTV programming in NTSC resolution. That's why they call these CONVERTER boxes. They convert HDTV, DTV anything that is ATSC (digital) into NTSC (analog). If you tune to a station that is outputting 1080i, the box will convert it to NTSC analog. If it picks up a 720p signal, it will swallow it whole and crap out NTSC analog. If you come upon a 480i or 480p station, guess what? It comes out of the converter box as NTSC analog. Bada-bing, bada-boom. | |
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