Polls have consistently shown that many people are confused by the upcoming digital TV transition — the government-mandated switch by most broadcast TV stations to all digital signals starting Feb. 18….People aren’t sure if they need a new TV to continue receiving over-the-air signals, or if they should apply for the two $40 coupons available to any U.S. household to purchase a converter box so an old analog set can pick up the new digital broadcasts.
The friendly folks at Universal TechTronics say they are here to help.
In newspaper ads, the Ohio-based company has been offering two free analog-to-digital converter boxes, without the hassle of applying for those government coupons. All you need to do is buy a five-year warranty at $59 for each of the Miracle ClearView TV boxes, which according to the ad is, “a real steal.”
Including shipping and handling, each box ends up costing significantly more than if you used a $40 government coupon for any of several converter box models that sell for from $49 to $59. If ordered within 72 hours of the ad’s publication, the box costs $68.30 (including shipping), according to the company. After 72 hours, the total goes up to $97.30.
How many newspapers and TV stations will pass along this scam without the slightest hesitation? They’re righteous about the politics of their advertisers; but, crooks are always welcome.
Get the Gov’t Coupons !!! Only way to go ! Circuit City or Radio Shack has the Zentih DTT900 or 901 Converter Box for about $60, so with the $40 coupon, that works out to $20 plus tax. The Converter receives the Digital Broadcast Signal and converts it to show on your Analog TV – either through the antenna input or Video/Audio Inputs if your set has them. The setup is simplicity itself, taking maybe 15 min ! And the signal looks like the cleanest video you have ever seen !
You are still watching TV through an antenna and with a TV that is too old to decode digital, then chances are 1. A hick that lives in a trailer park or on a mountain, or 2. don’t really give a shit about TV anyway. Only the former will fall for this scam.
Or elderly people who just don’t know any better cause they dont keep up with the newfangled stuff. They just want to watch Matlock. The elderly are always a prime target for scams like this.
That’s no scam. He’s providing a warranty for 5 years with the box. He’s making it easier for the public. Jeez, next you will be saying the all of the corporate world is a scam too for repackaging things like water and sugar, and selling them as refreshment, steel fabricated into different forms and selling that for 10,000 times what it cost. Duh.
“Miracle ClearView”
Gotta love that product name.
#2: I don’t really give a shit about TV, but I’m smart enough to not fall for this scam. I do need to look at an occasional network program, so I went and bought a converter box at Wal-Mart.
Actually, I wish I lived on a mountain… then my DTV reception would be a lot better than it is because then I’d have Line Of Sight propagation from transmitters to my outdoor antenna. As it is now, my DTV reception is screwed by all the &%$#@ 40-foot tall trees surrounding my 25-foot tall antenna.
#2… my mom still watches OTA TV with a TV so old it doesn’t even have a remote. And she is furious that she now has to spend MORE money and that she won’t be able to easily record her favorite shows on the VCR any more.
What they needed was a converter box that simultaneously converts all of the digital channels (or at least 4-5 of them) to analog. That way the converter won’t need to be touched once it is set up. The output of the converter can go into the VCR and TV, and the people could operate everything the exact same way as before.
But no….. the converter can only output one channel in analog. So you have to use a new remote to change channels. And you can’t record one program while watching another.
And if you want to record a program on your VCR, you have to program your converter with the times and channels in addition to the programming the VCR. Jeeze… you know how long it took me to teach mom how to program her VCR? This is going to be a nightmare.
The next prez is going to be in office for 30 days when the cut off happens, and is going to get the blame for the anger it produces. Pretty slick trick there that Congress managed to set up the conversion to fail on someone else’s watch.
With sky high heating bills anticipated this coming winter, the same people who need these boxes are going to be the same people who can least afford to cough up another $30 or more per TV to convert. These are people, like my mom, barely getting by on Social Security.
Right now the coupon program is running way behind schedule, 3-4 weeks on top of what they claim they can do. Bottom line, it takes over a month to get your coupon. Can you imagine what is going to happen in late Feb when the cut off happens and everyone then starts demanding their coupons? It will be months before they get them all out. It will be as bad as the passport situation (the PP office is takings months, even over a year, to issue passports).
One last gripe… these cheap converter boxes run really hot. I wonder how long they will last? And how pissed off consumers are going to be a few months down the line when the box fails and they now have to pay full price for a new one.
I’m with #7. The DTV conversion is going to go as smoothly as shitting bricks.
I ditto his objections and add a couple more. Digital signals do not pass through the air as well as analog. If your analog signal is a little on the weak side, you get a fuzzy but still watchable signal. If your digital signal is weak, well you get an unwatchable stuttering or pixelated picture, and while you can adjust the antenna a little, there is no way to tell if your antenna adjustment is better or worse.
And it gets better. I hooked up a digital converter to a TV with an antenna just to see what my reception is like. I live in the middle of a major metropolitan area BTW. I got two channels perfectly clear. 6 more were at least detected and watchable with some antenna manipulation. 2 other broadcast channels, Fox and CW, could not even be detected.
What happens to people on the outskirts of town, or worse rural areas? Basically this sounds like a scam to force people to buy cable or satellite service just to get locals, while other corporations make billions with the freed up bandwidth.
This DTV conversion is a disaster in the making for every non-tech savvy politician that supported it without understanding the technology behind it.
I’d wager that they will end up reversing the decision and pushing back the deadline at least 5 years. Digital televisions are still not that prevalent yet, and the typical American who is forced to drive less and less, then loses easy access to free television, is going to be rightly pissed!!
#7 #8 Time to move on with life. If you are unable or unwilling to do so then stop aside and stop fucking it up for the rest of us. I tied of technology road blocks due to the cheap, old or stupid.
I don’t understand the fuss. We’ve had DTV for several years here in Spain and nobody seems to have difficulty understanding it.
#9 Neither me or I assume #7 have problems, we are pointing out problems that others will have, and we are not talking about a small fringe group of technological luddites, we are talking about tens of millions of american TV viewers who cant afford cable or sattelite (and shouldn’t need to), many who are not tech savvy enough to deal with the difficulties associated with using converter boxes.
Their only other choice is to spend hundreds of dollars on new TVs and recorders that have digital tuning built in, again we are dealing with the cant afford issue. Forcing people to spend money to get again what they already get for free sounds like a scam invented by corporate lobbyists loking to steal more money from poor America.
#11 sounds like a scam invented by corporate lobbyists looking to steal more money from poor America
…which is exactly what my mom thinks.
#9…. believe it or not, there are a lot of people who can’t afford a new TV, and will struggle even with this box.
I knew when they decided on $40 coupon that is was going to be too low. No one has come out with a $40 box. What retailer in their right mind would want to deal with such a high-headache, low-margin product? Can you image being one of the poor sales clerks dealing with this? Yikes!
Ron,
The conversion was originally supposed to happen (iirc) in 2006 and was decided upon 10 years ago. No shady republican cabal is responsible this time.
And for the rest of the whiners: Looking through my copy of the constitution, I’m not seeing right to TV. The old TV standard has been in place for about 60 years now, and its never been free for new equipment. Its not like this changes weekly at the whim of the FCC.
If you cant afford a $20 (equivalent) tuner box then you have bigger worries than missing Survivor. Or you should.
#14…
I’m just the messenger dude. If my mom represents a lot of people her age, and I think she does, then things are going to get ugly.
#4 You mean to tell us that the corporate world isn’t a scam???
7 & 8 – I’m pretty sure they now sell VCR/DVD combo units that can tune in the digital channels just as the older VCRs did. Of course these newer units cost more. I think the whole push for the digital switch-over comes at the bequest of the electronics industry. Their LCD and Plasma screens weren’t selling as fast as they want. And the slump in the economy is effecting this to. The $80 worth of coupons (2x $40) is really a subsidy to them, not the public. It can only be spent on converter boxes, of a certain type, in certain stores. That’s tax money aimed at the industry’s pockets. There should have been only one brand and model. And only one price, $40. And allow them to be sold anywhere, like VCR tapes. This is a subtle way to get customers back into the major electronics chain stores, to also see what ditigal Tv are available. The converters are never on display, the way everything else is. Just shutup in their packaging, on some back shelf, so you have to pass by everything else to find them.
What’s interesting is that very few models of these converters, pass thru the analog signals. And yet now all stations duplicate their programming between analog and ditigal channels. So at times, something you want to watch isn’t on the digital station, but is on the analog one. And if you want to watch or record it, then you have to connect the box after the VCR, and send its output back to the VCR’s analog RCA connectors, then the Tv gets its comsite video from the VCR. And its RF signal from the Box. But then you can’t watch Tv without having one or both units turned on.
The other thing that gripes me is the lame onscreen guide feature. Only one program in advance, so it doesn’t compete with TvGuide. Older analog RCA Tv had a better Guide built in. Did that get bought off by News Corp too? The guide in the converters doesn’t stay updated unless you get the power on, and scan thru all the channels periodically. So apparently there makers didn’t do a deal with PBS to carry the entire guide on their channel. It’s up to each station to provide it, and not all do, or get it right. Ah, the 21th Century.
Sorry about the typo. I meant “And yet NOT all stations duplicate their programming between analog and ditigal channels.” See that makes better sense, doen’t it?
#2 – Why would you need cable if you live in a largely populated area with dozens of free over the air channels? With the digital transition and the addition of specialized sub channels, the reason to get cable becomes even less.
#8 not sure where you’re at but maybe it’s an antenna problem. Channels around here generally reach 50-60 miles in any direction from the transmitter source.
I agree with the VCR issue. I’d say it’s more of a plot to destroy the DVR/VCR people’s buisiness than it is to sell cable.
Also I was wondering about the quality of these cheap boxes everyone’s getting. Are they all going to die in a year after the transition is barely in effect and we all depend on them?
Nope, the recovered bandwidth of the wasteful analog channels will be auctioned off for big bucks. Verizon paid several billion for a portion of the old UHF TV channels. So think again.
I have installed 3 dtv converter boxes. Using the same antenna I used for analog. I lost one channel. I suspect they are running on low power temporarily.
The coupon based boxes are difficult to find. Only such rare stores as Wal-mart, Radio Shack and Circuit City handle them.
The Zenith DTT901 has analog pass-thru and thus costs a bit more. Circuit City had those.
The 60 year old system being phased out uses a vestigial sideband amplitude modulated carrier. That’s right NTSC TV is currently delivered by AM radio. That “vestigial side band” part means really crappy AM radio. It is time to move on. The Feb. 17, 2009 date will not be changed. I suspect most broadcasters have suspended allocating funds to maintaining analog capability past that date.
The one converter I bought at Wal-mart was really entertaining. I purchased it before the coupons were available. The lady running the department could not understand why I wanted to buy one. She kept saying the coupons aren’t available yet so we haven’t put them on display. I kept saying I could buy them by the ton without the coupon as long as I was willing to pay full price. She finally let me have one.
How many newspapers and TV stations will pass along this scam without the slightest hesitation? They’re righteous about the politics of their advertisers; but, crooks are always welcome.
Posted on (shameless promotion!) kgvy1080.com on 6/23:
Better Business Bureau warning about Digital TV scams
Over the air Television will be going digital, and there have been scams that mislead about converter boxes for regular TV sets.
A company based in Ohio called Universal TechTronics is running full page ads to promote the Miracle Clearview Converter TV Box, claiming the box must be purchased in the next three days. The box is ‘free’, but the company is including almost sixty dollars ($60) for a ‘warranty’ for the converter box. Shipping and handling is also charges, but it is possible to get such a box with the help of a government voucher for about twenty dollars($20). The boxes that are needed to convert regular TVs to Digital reception are available at many local electronics stores for forty to sixty dollars ($40-60). The company also does business under the name Heat Surge LLC, and the BBB has received complaints including delays in delivery or non-receipt, quality issues with the boxes, and problems with refunds after returning the boxes. For information on the vouchers and other information on the Digital TV Conversion, you can go online to http://www.dtv2009.gov/FAQ.aspx.
(NOTE: the bold is not in the original post)
J/P=?
gquaglia- “I think the whole push for the digital switch-over comes at the bequest of the electronics industry.”
“Nope, the recovered bandwidth of the wasteful analog channels will be auctioned off for big bucks. Verizon paid several billion for a portion of the old UHF TV channels. So think again.”
Hey moron, think about your answer. You have proven his point.
With all the problems in this country why do we need a f***ing law to have digital tv. How petty is that? About as petty as your childish demeanor.
#14 That’s about the stupidest thing I’ve read on this blog in at least a week. I guess Ol’ Ben just forgot about adding the right to download music when he forgot to add TV rights also.
Also Mr. Genius, advertisements pay for the “free” TV we watch, why shouldn’t they pay the $20 your taxes aren’t paying for. And what could your tax dollars be better spent on than a digital converter that wouldn’t be needed if we stick with what we have? I bet a simpleton like you would pay $50-$100 for a t-shirt that advertises someone’s product for them.
Cripes, when will you realize that you are part of the problem and not the solution? Oh, duh, YOU won’t.
God bless america, home of the bait and switch, home of the scam, home of the ponzi scheme, home of just plain olde tyme business.
#23, how so. The government made billions on the auction. How does that benefit electronics biz? The way I see it the government made some big bucks on basically useless UHF analog channels that were mostly vacant anyway.
And MrCranky pants, why don’t you just pick a name and stick with it. By your attitude and douche comments I figure you probably post with 3 or 4 different names here.
As for the push for the date to be delayed, this change has already been delayed repeatedly for many years. It’s not likely to happen again with the effort being put into it this time around.
BTW this scam company also sells “Amish Heaters”. Supposedly handmade by real Amish people and selling for $100, they are actually chinese $20 space heaters with wood panels and a fake fireplace scene plastic cover.
BTW I used my government coupons and it was sweet. I bought a Zenith DTT901 and a DigitalStream DTX9950.
Both are great but the Zenith edges the other out slightly by running much cooler and its menu system has more features and is laid out more logically. the DigitalStream has a nicer remote and both have an analog passthrough.
A bargain at $25 each when you use the $40 coupon.
America is the land of the scam, its so bad that even the government seems honest in comparison.
One thing we all must remember is these converter boxes are intentionally cheap, and intentionally lacking features. They aren’t being sold to Vidiots who want every type of output known to man on the back. They are for the poor who can’t afford that $1000 snazzy LCD TV.
If you have cash you can purchase much better converter boxes that have S-Video, component, TosLink, and DVI.
My ancient roof antenna has new life in the digital world, and gives me a strong signal and 22 channels. Too bad 1/3 of them are religious channels. The christians must have incredible money resources to pay for 24/7 TV evangelism.
I found the government coupon program to be surprisingly painless. I signed up for it, waited a few weeks, got my coupons, went to the store, picked out the 2 boxes I wanted (it helps to research first of course) paid about $50 total for both, and plugged them up and got them running in minutes.
What you people don’t understand is that this is a blessing. You say there is not enough time in the day to spend with family or do the things that you would like to do. Well, when this change takes please you will have more time then you will know what to do with. You will be able to re-acquaint your selves with; your children, spouses, church, HEY GOD, and the crafts and other outlets that you use to like. How don’t get the converter box and watch less TELEIVISION!!!!!!!!!! Yes, we (and I say we not to exclude my self, who has been hooked on tv for so long, many years. Basing my weekends, down time, vacations {pre-typing}, and other events around what other people that I don’t even know, are able to say or do.) We having based our lives aroung the boob tube for too long and this is a great way to break free to do other more important things. Come with me friends towards the light and leave the darkness of over viewing of tv behind. I am viewing less tv everyday gearing towards the end of tv as we have known it. I’m getting excited that this monkey will be off my back. This thing that I made a bad habit will no longer be a hinderance in my life.
With all jokes aside it could be the blessing that you have been hoping for by not getting a converter box and living with out tv for about a mount or two, just to see what happens in your lives, with your children, your spouse,again your relationship with God.
Try it you may like it. If you find that you just can’t live with out tv you can bet there will be many deals, coupons, and other enticing gimmicks to get you back after you give this experiment a try.
well, what ever your decision have a blessed day. Mary