Battery Powered Digital TV Converter?

I have a 12 volt TV/DVD player with a large antennae my wife and I use at our property in Osgood, Indiana.  Since we don’t have electricity (its where we go to get away), but like to get the weather and news occasionally, the 12 volt TV works well for us.  Does the converter require 120 volts?   I suppose it does, but are 12 volt ones available?  We may be losing our TV out at Laughery Creek if we have to come up with the higher voltage.

 

            Will there be a 12 volt HD TV available?  I hate to go that route, but the world changes in many ways and I’m not in charge.  I hope I haven’t used up my question allotment.  Thanks for the info, I do enjoy your article.

 

 

Thanks for the good questions.  I have not seen any converter on the market that runs on 12v DC.  Since the converters do not consume a great deal of energy you could use a car battery and purchase an inexpensive DC to AC power inverter to power it.  The Zenith model we have here at CET uses only 7 watts of power @ 120 volts so a charged up 12 volt car battery would run it for many hours and most likely power it for a weekend or more. 

 

I have not seen any DC powered Digital sets that I would recommend yet.  The few that are out there are way over priced but I am sure lower priced models will be available soon.

 

Some people who have radios that have the TV band will also loose that feature in Feb.2009.  I use mine to listen to the audio form the TV while I am doing dishes or working in the garage.  That will no longer work since it picks up the analog signals only.

Using a VCR to record Digital Channels

I’m confused. Does (can) my VCR change the signal from Analog to digital now and if so, can I use the VCR instead of buying the converter?
I’ve noticed that when I go thru the VCR the channel that’s broadcasting in digital allows the TV to have additional information at the bottom of the screen (program name) does this indicate it is receiving the digital signal?
Apart from the clarity of the picture, is there any other way to know if I’m recieving a digital signal to my TV?

Thanks to anyone who can answer.
kimwinger6@yahoo.com

I know of no VCR now on the market that has a digital tuner built in.  There was one model that was manufactured by Panasonic in the mid 90’s that connected to a Panasonic ATSC tuner and actually recorded HD. We have one here at CET.

If you want to record the digital over the air channels using your analog VCR you will need to use a DTV Converter to tune in the digital channels and connect the DTV Converter to the VCR using either the “antenna out” or “AV cables (yellow, red white).”  If you have cable you need to do nothing different from what you do now. 

Remember that in no case will the recordings be in HD.

I hope that helps.

 

jack

More on DTV Converters and Coupons

In the last few weeks I have received several emails and phone calls regarding the DTV Converters and the Federal Government’s DTV Converter Coupon Program.  There seems to continue to be lots of misinformation and confusion.  I will try shed some light on some of the most often asked questions.

 

Many have written complaining that they have yet to receive the coupons even though they requested them right after the first of the year.  While the program officially began in January 2008, the government stated that they would not begin to send the coupons out until the converters were available in stores.  Since the coupons have a 90 day expiration period and you may not request new ones for expired coupons, they wanted to make sure that once you had the coupons you could use them.  The coupons are being mailed out in order of when the requests were received.   I have a few friends who applied in early January and they received their coupons last week.  If you have a computer, you can check on the status of your coupon by going to www.dtv2009.gov/CheckStatus.aspx

 

Some people have related that their applications for coupons have been rejected.  In most cases it is because they did not provide a street address.  You can not give a PO box number on your application since the coupons are being allocated based on two coupons per each street address.  If you live in an apartment and provide an apartment number you will be fine.   Some people who are in nursing homes or other assisted living situations are not eligible for coupons.  You can apply for coupons even if you do not need them and give them to someone who does need one but is not eligible under the street address rubric.

 

Finding the converters should not be too much of a problem as they are stocked by most big box retailers.  I did have to chuckle the other day when I found the stock of converters at Best Buy® relegated to the bottom shelf of a dimly lit far corner of the store.  I guess they could have covered them up with a tarp. “Sure sir, we have converters.  How about I show you a $2000 DTV set first?”

 

There are a few things that you might want to consider if you are waiting to get the converters.  It is VERY unlikely that the prices will fall and the features will most likely not improve since most of the converters are essentially the same and the price is already so low that the retailer is not making the mark up they regularly get on other electronics.  Since the local stations are already providing these digital channels, you can begin using the converters right away thus getting some of the new channels and programs.  Also, picture quality will improve for many who have interference-prone reception.  For the most part, the picture quality will be even across all stations and your old analog set will never look better.

 

As we get closer to the February 2009 analog cut off date I am sure there will continue to be questions and concerns.  I  will try to address them here so that your transition is a smooth one.  Come Wednesday morning, February 18, 2009 we want the only snow to be on the ground, not on your TV screen.