Trouble with DTV converter box coupon!!

[matt_s78mn]

I just got back from a trip to Best Buy to pick up an Insignia converter box, only to find out that my coupon had ZERO money on it!!! The clerk ended up calling an 800 number and speaking with someone who was going to try and re-charge the coupon and I'm supposed to go back to Best Buy and try again tomorrow. (the person on the phone couldn't guarantee that it would work - only that they'd try to see if they could do anything) So, I may be out $40 here! Argh!!! How Frustrating!

Has anyone else had this happen or had any other issues with their coupons??

[Don Lindsly]

I used a coupon at Circuit City with no problem. The salesperson said it was the first one he had seen and seemed pleased that there was no problem getting it to work. He said their system treats the coupon like a gift card.

I purchased the cheap Zenith box, took it home and it worked. It found about 9 stations in the Denver area using an indoor antenna. Three to four came in pretty well. A few others were erratic. Some were too weak for a picture. Nothing was so exciting as to make me a digital TV convert. It just worked. I expect better results when the all digital stations are relocated to the mountaintop.

Don

[KingBubba]

I requested two and have never received them.

[zenith2134]

I requested two and heard nothing either.

Either way, that just ain't right! Hope they straighten this out for you...

[Chad Hauris]

I just went ahead and got the Insignia box to use in the barn and paid full price...haven't got the coupons yet. I should have applied the first day I guess!
I am a complete convert to digital TV as viewed on analog CRT sets. The difference in the quality is unbelievable when comparing digital vs. analog reception with an indoor antenna. Even the best analog reception I got with an outdoor antenna and rotor is not as good as DTV. The signal strength indicator on the Insignia and on-screen guide, volume and remote control features are all a plus too.

When viewing the converted digital picture on an analog CRT set I don't see any of the pixellation or motion artifacts I have seen on flat panel sets.

Here is a video I made in the barn of the Insignia with a Zenith Chromacolor II console. The chromacolor II still needs a little work on the chroma as the color sync isn't always there but it behaved well for the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooNonQG3n2s

[Eric H]

I requested two and got one also, wonder how they decide who gets what?

[MRX37]

I haven't gotten any coupons or convertor boxes yet, cos all my TV's are hooked into cable, and my new HDTV card in my computer allows me to watch the HD channels.

I too have grown very fond of the signal strength meter. It allows me to see the exact strength, rather then by guessing from looking at the picture.

An outdoor antenna, even a homemade one just a few feet off the ground seems to work the best for HD signals.

Oh, and I get three public TV channels now. One HD and two SD channels. More programming variety. (though the SD channels are compressed a bit too much...)

[kx250rider]

I got mine, and used one last night at WalMart. I got the RCA with RF and Video Outputs. I haven't hooked it up yet, but I will probably later today.

There was a slight problem with the coupon, but it was due to the clerk not knowing how to use it. A manager came over and pushed a button, and all good.

That's a scary thought about the coupons arriving depleted... Hey, if they can do it to your bank account, they sure can do it to the government. There's probably a foreign internet fraud ring hard at work on it! Two $40 coupons x 250,000,000 people? Lot of dough to steal!

I got an iTunes gift card for my birthday, but it had been cashed in Jakarta, Indonesia a week before it was bought . Apple did make it good right away, and said it happens all the time.

Charles

[terra1]

I got mine a week or two ago and they expire May 29.

I don't remember when I applied, maybe a couple months ago.

But supposedly they are timing distribution with retail availability and marketing.

In fact, when I went into Radio Shack today they had none on display just a little generic plexiglass placard announcing the change at the cash register. The clerk said they didn't have Zeniths in yet. They may get a shipment next week. Later the manager said they did have them. And they were in the back storeroom.

from consumerreports.org:


To get your coupons, you can call a toll-free number, 1-888-DTV-2009, and give them your name and address. You can also visit a website, www.dtv2009.gov, to apply. The last day to request coupons is March 31, 2009, but there's no guarantee they’ll be available at that late date if funding for the program runs out. The coupons are good for 90 days, and the federal government is supposedly timing coupon distribution to coincide with retail availability of the DTV converters. Many leading retail chains, including Best Buy, Circuit City, Kmart, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart, have been certified to participate in the coupon program.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I got my coupons last week and I just bought one box for now, a Zenith brand at Circuit City, no problems and I kept the card. Next week, I'll get Box #2 when my pay is bigger. IIRC, they are probably mailed out from Portland, Oregon, at least that was the return address is. I did apply on January 1st.

The Zenith box is a good one, IMHO, I get 17 channels here in the Pittsburgh area and I'm using a set of Rembrandt rabbit ears from 1959 my parents got at a wedding gift then. My "TV set," a Commodore 64 monitor from 1984. I took out the dead VCR for an NTSC tuner and now I'm using the monitor strictly for ATSC. The farthest stations from me is WATM, channel 23 from Altoona, PA and WWCP, Channel 8, from Johnstown, PA. Both have breakup but the Altoona one, sometimes comes through OK. I'm scratching my head on that one, never got Altoona before.

My next box will go on my 1964 Sony B&W TV and will use a bow-tie UHF antenna for more of a minimalist approach. B-) I'm satisfied with the Zenith brand, I know the Zenith of today is not the Zenith of old, but hopefully some good karma rubbed off and I got a good box.

[OvenMaster]

A friend of mine told me that Wal-Mart now had a $49 converter available. I'll be checking it out next time I go. I'm not going to bother with a coupon. Uncle Sam doesn't need to know how many TV sets I have in my house or my address. If it works, I'll be hooking it up to my VCR so I can still tape shows.

[kx250rider]

My RCA was $49 at WalMart, and they also showed a Magnavox for $49 (out of stock at the Simi Valley store). I don't mind if Uncle Sam knows how many TVs we have, but I won't tell how many guns, all of which we acquired before the Brady Bill and all it's paperwork

Charles

[Jeffhs]

I have not yet received any DTV converter coupons here. If this is supposed to have been done starting after the first of the year, I think someone must have dropped the ball somewhere, somehow. If I have to apply for these converter coupons, that would explain why I haven't received mine as of this late date. If an application is required, how does one go about applying for these coupons?

I have digital cable at the moment, but if the rates go much higher (for what Time Warner Cable calls Digital Classic service; I do not have movie channels such as HBO, Cinemax, etc.) I may consider getting a DTV set-top for my RCA CTC185 and leaving my 19" Zenith in the bedroom as it is (I currently only use that set as a backup to the RCA and to cross-check when I have trouble with my cable--and as a replacement for the RCA when the latter eventually dies). I don't know how good my digital reception will be in this area (at least 35 miles from Cleveland TV transmitters); analog reception with indoor antennas (no outdoor antennas allowed in the apartment building where I live) is fair to poor at best on two VHF channels (5 and 8), no reception whatsoever on channel 3, but the UHF stations (19, 25, 43, 55, and 61) are much better. That's for analog stations. Who knows what the digital reception will be like out here? Most folks around here either have cable or satellite; there are a few houses with outdoor antennas (many of which are falling apart by degrees with every bad windstorm that comes along), but most of them are just sitting on their masts, unused. One antenna on a house near my apartment has been blowing around in the wind as long as (or likely longer than) I've been here (eight years), many of its elements missing and a 3-foot long (more or less) stub of 300-ohm twinlead is hanging from the antenna. The bowling alley down the street from me is still using a rather large fringe-area antenna on a rotor for its televisions, but I feel this will be replaced by cable next year unless they have switched to HD flat panels with ATSC tuners by now.

Oh well. Perhaps after February 19 next year, when the analog stations go off the air for good, the cable rates will be more reasonable. I certainly hope so, as antennas do not work well in this area (for television; the irony, however, is that FM radio reception here with indoor antennas, even on my vintage FM radios, is great). I'm considering going to basic cable (local channels only) if the rates go through the roof after the DTV conversion and using my DVD player and VHS VCR for alternative programming--the cable channels aren't as good as they used to be, IMO. Time Warner Cable, the cable operator in my area, has assured all its subscribers that they will not have to do a thing after 02.19.09--the company has converted all its systems to full digital and is ready to do whatever is necessary to give their subscribers uninterrupted service even on analog sets, including headend conversions of digital broadcast channels to analog if need be.

[Web Police]

Originally Posted by KingBubba

I requested two and have never received them.

Same here.

[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I have not yet received any DTV converter coupons here. If this is supposed to have been done starting after the first of the year, I think someone must have dropped the ball somewhere, somehow. If I have to apply for these converter coupons, that would explain why I haven't received mine as of this late date. If an application is required, how does one go about applying for these coupons?

Jeff, you do need to apply for the coupons. Here you go:
https://www.dtv2009.gov/Options.aspx

Tom