I have a 13 in tv in guest room. Is a DTV converter box worth getting for a tv this small?

Question

I have a 13 in tv in guest room. Is a DTV converter box worth getting for a tv this small?

Answer 1

The size of the TV doesn't matter.  If the TV works for the room it's in and is worth keeping, you will need to get a converter to continue using it after Feb, 2009.

If the TV is too small for the application, then you should consider replacement.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

It depends on how your setup is, and if you use cable, it matters about your cable company

OTA (Antenna)-By Feb.17, 2009, you will need a DTV converter box to recieve anything at all (except for low power TV stations), so if you plan on the television recieving channels like NBC, CBS, FOX, and ABC over an antenna, you will need a DTV converter box

Cable company type 1 (I will discuss cable company types below)-Some cable companies (mine included) will slowly but surely take all analog channels and change them to digital channels, by doing so, they will get basic cable customers to buy digital cable set-top boxes and pay more per month for the set-top box rental fee (around $6 from my local cable company), they do this time by time, by taking random analog stations, and moving them to the digital tier, slowly getting to different customer's favorite basic cable channels, then tell them they need to order the box to be able to see those channels again, if you are not willing to rent a digital set-top cable box for the television, then you will need a certain DTV converter box called a QAM converter box, it works similar to an ATSC DTV converter box used for antennas, but is made specifically for cable, allowing you to have basic digital cable (digital cable without the box rental, some channels will still be blocked)

Cable company type 2-Let's hope, if you have cable in that room, that this is the type of cable service you have, unlike cable company type 1, cable company type 2 will not scam you into getting a digital cable set-top box, and will offer analog basic cable for some time to come, they may have a digital tier, but unless the digital tier of channels dosen't include anything important, you basic cable connection will be fine without a QAM DTV converter

Cable company differences:

All cable companies operate differently, depending on company and location, because of this, some companies have different ideas about how they want to run their service, some (like the cable company type 1) like to charge customers more money, by forcing their customers into renting digital set-top boxes, and saying that some programming can't be viewed legally without renting the box (while you can, unless the channel is scrambled, and in most cases it's not, unless it's HBO or something like that, depends on location), then there are cable companies (like cable company type 2) that respects their basic cable customers and no not force them into renting a costly set-top box

Answer 3

That depends.

If the TV still works good and you can get the converter with a coupon, then it makes sense to buy a converter for it.

$10 - $20 for a converter compared to $120 for a similar TV with a digital tuner built into it. I'd put off buying a converter for a while as the prices will drop as more models show up in the stores.

But, if you already have 2 larger TVs that need converters and don't have a friend/relative willing to give you another coupon, give this a little more thought.

If you wait until next year you should be able to buy a good converter for about $40. It still might make sense to buy a converter instead of spending ~$120 for a new digital TV. For that kind of money you are not going to get any better reception than you will with a converter box.

When counting your coupons & TVs, keep in mind that for about $200 you can buy a DVD/Hard drive recorder with a digital tuner. You could use this in place of a converter on one of your main TVs and have recording capability as well. That would free up a cheap converter for the guest room.

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Everything I've said above assumes you get your TV over the air with an antenna.

If you use cable or satellite service:

The converters that the government is talking about do not have anything to do with cable or satellite service.

The 2/17/09 analog shutoff is only for over the air broadcasts and has nothing to do with cable or satellite TV service.