Crave

(Credit: Dish Network)

After a delay of several months, Dish Network will be releasing the DTVPal DVR in mid-December. The antenna-friendly HD DVR will retail for $250 (after a $50 instant rebate).

You may remember the DTV Pal DVR as the EchoStar TR-50. That's the name under which it was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, where it garnered CNET's Best of CES award for the home video category.

The latest iteration of the DTVPal DVR is pictured above. While the name and look of the product have changed a bit, it appears that it retains its core feature set: the ability to record digital TV programming to its internal hard drive (30 hours of HD video or 150 hours of standard-def), a 7-day electronic programming guide, and--the big one--no additional subscription fee or contract. That last point is a big distinction from TiVo DVRs, which require a subscription fee above and beyond the cost of the hardware. Dish is also reaffirming that the device supports closed captioning, program search, and analog passthrough.

The DTVPal DVR will be available for pre-order starting November 19 at dtvpal.com. (It's not eligible for the $40 government DTV coupon, which is why Dish is throwing in the instant rebate.)

I know from my e-mail that there have been quite a few consumers looking for just such a device--an HD DVR for over-the-air programming that doesn't require a monthly fee. The question now is whether or not the DTVPal DVR will live up to its impressive specs, as well as to its excellent satellite-only predecessors such as the ViP722. Dish has promised us a review sample by the end of the month, so we should be able to share a full review soon.

If you're among the 2.4 million Americans who have already applied for government subsidies to offset the cost of a forced digital television upgrade, you should be receiving that voucher soon.

Next week, the U.S. Department of Commerce plans to start mailing out the $40 coupons, which can be used to defray the cost of selected converter boxes that permit older, analog televisions to receive digital broadcasts, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Friday.

It's all part of the congressionally mandated switch from analog to all-digital broadcasts scheduled to occur on February 17, 2009.

Here's a favorite demo that digital TV converts like to show: contrast the snowy picture generated by the good ol' rabbit-ears antenna and analog tuner on the left screen with the clearer image on the right of the analog TV outfitted with a converter box.

(Credit: Anne Broache/CNET News.com)

If you're currently a cable, satellite, or Internet Protocol TV subscriber, you're most likely not going to have to make any changes. But anyone who relies on over-the-air broadcasts will need to purchase a TV or DVD player with a digital tuner--or take the arguably thriftier route of outfitting an existing analog TV with a digital-to-analog converter box.

To that end, the government is allowing any household, regardless of income level or any other factors, to request up to two of the $40 coupons during a first phase, in which 22.5 million coupons are expected to be available. If that supply runs out, Congress can authorize some 11 million more vouchers, but households applying for that batch would have to self-certify reliance on over-the-air broadcasts.

Some 9,700 store locations across the country are prepared to accept the electronic cards next week, and another 7,000 or so expect to be able to redeem them in the coming months, according to the Commerce Department. The coupon-request Web site allows you to search for the nearest retailer who's supposed to be stocking one or more of the certified models.

The eligible boxes--some of which are apparently already in stores--cost between $40 and $70, according to the Commerce Department. Here's a complete list of the more than 30 certified boxes.

Remember that the coupons expire 90 days after they're mailed. Right now, the government isn't allowing households to reapply for help beyond the two-coupon maximum if theirs expire, although some congressional Democrats are urging more flexibility.

Applications are still being accepted online at DTV2009.gov or by calling 888-DTV-2009 (888-388-2009). You can also apply by mail or fax. The government plans to accept applications until March 31, 2009, or until the coupons run out, whichever comes sooner.

For more information about the digital TV switch, check out CNET News.com's latest FAQ.

If you want Uncle Sam's help in bankrolling your household's switch to digital television before analog channels go dark next year, you can start filing your requests now.

As promised, the U.S. government on January 1 began accepting applications from American households for $40 coupons to defray the cost of a basic digital-to-analog converter box.

The gadgets, which are expected to cost between $50 and $70, are supposed to enable analog TVs to continue functioning when analog channels are evacuated on February 17, 2009, per Congress' orders. (About a dozen models have been cleared for use with the coupons so far.)

It doesn't matter how much money you make or how many digital TVs you already own. Every American household will be eligible to receive up to two of the coupons during a first phase, in which 22.5 million coupons are expected to be available. If that first wave is exhausted, Congress could authorize an additional $450 million, creating up to 11,250,000 more vouchers. That crop would be limited to households that certify that they rely on over-the-air TV.

To sign up for a coupon or two, you can head to DTV2009.gov or dial 888-DTV-2009 (888-388-2009). You can also apply by mail or fax. The government says it plans to accept applications until March 31, 2009, or until the coupons run out, whichever comes sooner.

As of Wednesday morning, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration had received 277,457 applications for 528,354 coupons, totaling more than $21 million, according to spokesman Todd Sedmak.

The agency plans to begin mailing the coupons on February 17. By that time, more than 14,000 stores nationwide, including those of eight major retailers--Best Buy, Circuit City, Kmart, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Sears, Target, Wal-Mart--expect to begin stocking the converter boxes, Sedmak said. Update 3:55 p.m. PST:The vouchers are programmed to expire 90 days after their issuance.

The NTIA, which is running the coupon program, has said it's confident that the vouchers will not run out, as it has estimated the demand at 10 million to 26 million coupons. Some Democrats in Congress, however, have called for making more coupons available, arguing that some 70 million television sets are expected to need converter boxes to continue functioning.

Most American TV watchers are not expected to need new equipment.

If you already have a TV, DVD player or other peripheral device equipped with a digital tuner, you're good to go. (Nearly all new televisions purchased after March 2007, for instance, should include a built-in digital tuner, under federal regulations.) Subscribers of satellite, standard digital cable, and Internet Protocol television, or IPTV, services also aren't expected to have to make any changes. In a nutshell, only people who rely solely on free, over-the-air broadcasts will need to make adjustments.

If you're still not sure whether you need an upgrade, the NTIA has posted a quiz designed to help you figure that out. And for more information about the switch, check out our most recent FAQ.

Analog TVs will need a converter box on Feb 18, 2009

(Credit: Predicta.com)

If you're reading this, chances are you don't really need a $40 coupon to help pay for a converter box that'll allow you to watch over-the-air (OTA) digital television on your standard TV. But for those who happen to depend on that old TV and "free" analog television--not cable or satellite--and want to continue watching TV beyond February 18, 2009, the coupon should be a big deal. Under the new program, every household in the country will be able to apply for as many as two coupons, each worth $40 toward the price of a converter box. The boxes are expected to sell for between $50 and $70.

In other words, the boxes will still take $10 to $30 each out of the pockets of an estimated 19 million households that depend on analog TVs and OTA reception. Worse, it's hard to believe that, over the next two years, the government or a private coalition will do a good job of educating those households on their need to spend extra money to get free TV. The subsidy restricts the kind of box that the coupons cover to devices designed to do little more than convert TV signals--they can't go toward DVD recorders or other devices with built-in DTV tuners, for example.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the government will make an estimated $10 billion by auctioning off the airwaves that'll be cleared by switching to digital TV. The companies that will eventually use those airwaves will reap many times more profit. Meanwhile, the subsidy program was allocated an initial sum of $990 million by Congress, which will pay for 22.5 million coupons. Why not just pay the extra, say, $20 apiece ($450 million) to make the coupons good for "free" boxes? Why should U.S. citizens, especially those least likely to afford the expense or even know about the eventual shutoff of their TVs, bear the burden? And if the government were really serious about educating the public about the switchover to digital, allocating money toward an advertising campaign on--gasp!--network TV itself seems like a good start.

Analog TV, it was nice knowing you.

(Credit: Predicta.com)

Slowly but surely, the February 17, 2009, cutoff date for over-the-air analog TV gets an increasing amount of attention as we get closer to the date (just two years away). But an equally important date is just days away: February 28, 2007. That's the last day that manufacturers can ship or import any product that has only an analog TV tuner. As of March 1, all new TV and video products imported into the U.S. or shipped to retailers that include an analog (NTSC) tuner need to have a digital (ATSC) tuner as well.

The March 1 date is merely one step in an ongoing process. By federal mandate, over-the-air analog TV broadcasts will cease in the U.S. on February 17, 2009. From that day forward, you'll only be able to receive over-the-air TV broadcasts on TVs with digital (ATSC) tuners. To prepare for that inevitability, the FCC has setup a years-long schedule for transitioning the nation from analog to digital TVs. That's one reason why it's become increasingly impossible to buy large-screen analog TVs: Big-screen models were the first to fall under the digital tuner mandate, and it's been applied to smaller and smaller screen sizes as the decade has progressed. March 1 is the final deadline on the product side. At that point, TVs of all screen sizes need to have a digital tuner. Perhaps more importantly, any device with a built-in TV tuner needs to have a digital option as well. That encompasses a huge swath of products--everything from VCRs, DVRs, and DVD recorders to more esoteric PC peripherals such as TV tuner cards.

Of course, there's always a loophole. The FCC rules about the digital TV transition extend only to tuners that can receive over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts--ones you receive via an antenna. That's why the tens of millions of TV viewers who are cable or satellite subscribers should be largely unaffected by the 2009 over-the-air analog cut-off. Manufacturers can bypass the rules by simply omitting an over-the air analog tuner altogether. For instance, HD monitors such as the Panasonic TH-50PH9UK don't include any built-in tuners at all, just plenty of inputs for external video sources--leaving it up to you to connect your own cable or satellite box or even an outboard over-the-air tuner. Likewise, manufacturers may tweak an internal analog tuner to accept only a cable TV signal--rather than one from an antenna--thus skirting the requirements of the rule. The TiVo Series2 DT is one such example: Its tuner decodes signals from analog cable but, unlike the older Series2 models, not from analog antennas. As a result, the DT version is compliant with the post-March 1 mandate, even though it doesn't include a digital tuner.

So how will the deadline affect what you can buy in the store? In the short term, it won't. The March 1 deadline applies to manufacturers, not retailers. Whatever's on the shelf at Circuit City or Best Buy on February 28 will still be there the following day. But once the existing stocks of analog-only products are sold off, they won't be replaced. For TVs, that won't be a big problem. All larger (25 inches and up) HDTVs are already digital-ready, or they're monitor-only and thus exempt. For example, Best Buy already offers a 27-inch tube TV with analog and digital tuners for a scant $209--it just downconverts all the HD programming to standard-definition resolution. Look for digital tuners to appear in even smaller, cheaper TVs as the year progresses.

Perhaps more interesting is how the March 1 deadline will affect other video equipment with TV tuners. At the Consumer Electronics Show 2007, major manufacturers such as Panasonic, Samsung, RCA, and LG were showing off DVD recorders with built-in digital tuners. Fully compliant with the tuner mandate, they're exactly the sort of upgraded products that will be replacing the analog-only DVD recorders from the 2006 model year. Because the digital tuner costs more to implement, entry-level VCR and DVD recorders will likely follow the "monitor model" and go without a tuner, offering only line-in and line-out ports. Once again, if you're attaching them to a satellite or cable box, the lack of a tuner won't be missed.

One final reminder as we enter the home stretch of the digital TV transition: The hundreds of millions of old analog TVs already in use will still work just fine. All existing cable and satellite boxes--even HD ones--can still be connected to old analog TVs. However, viewers who watch over-the-air TV via an antenna will be able to purchase a digital-to-analog conversion box to avoid a loss of TV programming. (The government is even establishing a fund to help subsidize the purchase of such boxes, but details remain vague.) So while there's nothing wrong with upgrading to a nice, big, digital-ready flat-panel TV, there's no need to rush, either.