Call 4 Action: Finding Digital TV Converter Boxes Not So Easy
POSTED: 4:30 pm EST February 22,
2008
UPDATED: 5:03 pm EST February 22,
2008
All television stations will go digital for good in 361 days. Most people still using antennas will need to buy a special converter but the problem is the small boxes aren't easy to find.Call 4 Action checked out four of the biggest retailers in the region. Most of them had the boxes but only one made it easy for you to find them.The concern is that some people will instead walk out with a new TV you probably don't need.
Contrary to what you might have heard, you do not need to buy a fancy, high-definition television to watch TV a year from now. Yet that's what some who attended a recent Digital TV forum had previously believed."There seems to be a certain amount of panic when people first realize that the television signal they have today is going to go away," said David Kasperek of WTAE Channel 4 Action News.The change from an analog signal to a digital one only affects those with older sets still using an antenna to tune in stations. If you have cable or satellite plugged into the TV, you're fine.If not, the government will give you a $40 coupon to buy one of the digital converter boxes.At Wal-Mart, Call 4 Action's Aaron Saykin found the converter boxes after looking for 10 minutes. There were no display signs or labels, and the staff didn't even know they had them.At Best Buy, the boxes were easiest to find. They had an entire section with plenty of signs and information.Next, one Circuit City had the boxes, but Saykin couldn't find them without asking where they were.Finally, Target said it doesn't carry them and might not until later in the year.The good news is that once you get your converter box, "even here in this tough terrain in western Pennsylvania with all of the hills we have, we've gotten amazingly good reception, even with rabbit ears," said Kasperek.The converter boxes Saykin found sell for about $60. You can get that $40 coupon by calling 888-388-2009.For more information, visit WTAE Channel 4's Digital TV Transition section.
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