I need TV Converter box help. I'm electronically challenged. Ok. I'm downright stupid about this stuff.

Question

Here's what I know about my TV.

I have a TV with rabbit ears. It works with a remote. It accepts my vcr/dvd player. It's got places to plug stuff into the front. I don't know what I'd plug in there. Some sort of game thing maybe? The book says it's cable ready. I live way out in the desert (I don't know if that matters). There isn't going to be any cable tv out here. It took about 17 years to get a dang phone line.

Anyway, I got my coupon and stuff together to by a converter box. I noticed that some coupon eligible converter boxes I see on line are saying that they are capable of passing through an analog signal to the tv set. What the heck does that mean?

Do I need to get one with that feature?

Answer 1

After they make the change on 2/17/09, major broadcasters will be using the digital signal... In my area, most if not all major stations are already switched to digital. Smaller broadcasters may still be using an analog signal, even after 2/17/09.

The analog pass through will allow you to view these stations after the conversion. If you purchase a box that does not have the pass through, you will not be able to view anything that is not digital.

-Words of Advice-

When you get your coupon, use it as soon as possible. They do have a 90-day expiration date on them. This is 90-days from the day that you applied for your coupon, so if the government neglects to mail it for a couple weeks, this deducts from your window of opportunity to use it.

Make sure your digital converter comes with the coaxial cable to hook it up. I have heard from many customers that a certain HUGE retailer... *ahem*WALLY*coughcough*WORLD*cough* has converter boxes on the shelves that do not come with the cable... that's an extra and completely seperate item to purchase.

Hooking it up is TOTALLY easy.

Take your rabbit ears and plug them into the ANTENNA IN on the back of your converter box.

Take the coaxial cable and plug it into the TV OUT on the back of your converter box. Plug the other end of your coaxial cable into the same jack that your antenna was plugged into... if your tv has one coaxial jack on the back, obviously use that one. If your tv has more than one, hook the coaxial cable into the TV IN jack.

Make sure to check which channel the switch is set to. There is a small switch on the back of the converter box. It will say Channel 3/4. Choose whichever channel and set your tv to that channel.

Our boxes come with a universal remote. This is used in place of your original tv remote.

Answer 2

Analog Pass Through means that you can still receive analog signals with the converter box installed.  Boxes without analog pass through will not let analog signals get to the TV while the box is connected.

This only comes into play if you will be watching any analog signals after the transition in February.  All full power TV stations are required to change to digital only broadcasting.  The operative phrase here is "full power".  Low power stations (LPTV) like Home Shopping, etc., and translators (low power transmitters that retransmit signals of a larger station) are not required to change to digital immediately.  

So, if you don't watch any LPTVs or translators, analog pass through would not make any difference to you.

I hope this helps.  Please return and select a Best Answer from all of those submitted.

Answer 3

Whether you "need" the analog pass through would take a long explanation. But since you can now get a converter with pass through at no extra charge it's best just to get the pass through.

The most common way to hook up a converter is to connect your antenna to the converter's antenna input and run a short length of coax cable between the converter's antenna output and the TV.

You set whatever channel you want on the converter and it appears as channel 3 or 4 on your TV.

If the converter doesn't have pass through, you can't receive analog broadcasts through the converter, so you would need an antenna switch or other extra parts to be able to watch both analog and digital stations with out moving wires around.

If the converter has pass through, when the converter is in standby mode the converter acts like it isn't there there and you just select analog stations on your TV like you always did.  It is "passing through" the analog TV signals.

The converters have both antenna outputs and composite outputs, so you could use the antenna output for the TV and the composite cables for your VCR inputs.

If you want to record one digital channel while watching another, you will need two converter boxes.

The converter I recommend is linked to below. It runs about $20 after using the coupon and includes pass through and both coax and composite cables to hook it up.

(Composite cables are those red, white, and yellow cables that are commonly used to connect DVDs & VCRs.)

Answer 4

there all the same just different brands