Orange County Register

Five months from today, TV broadcasts will change to all digital, all the time. Approximately 70 million older, analog TV sets won’t work after that date unless they’re connected to a paid-TV service or a digital converter box.

I’ve been following the transition since spring but hadn’t done an update since last month. For my Orange County readers affected, please go to my special Guide to the Digital TV transition to get basic questions answered.

A few updates:

• The $40 government-issued coupons to help offset the price of a converter box are still available. If you’ve already requested yours, use it before it expires. They expire 90 days after being mailed.
• As of Sept. 10, approximately 10 million of 33.5 million coupons available have been used. Some 7.9 million have expired.
• Amazon is now selling digital converter boxes. There are 10 models available that can be purchased with a coupon discount. Here is Amazon’s page of digital TV products.
• Residents of Wilmington, N.C. were the first to go all digital, all the time, last week. No major issues, from what I can tell.
• The government-sponsored Digital TV Road Trip still has not posted any Orange County locations so you can’t go yell at them in person.
• If you’ve lost your coupon, don’t want to pay for cable or satellite TV or have decided that installing a converter box is too difficult, consider buying a digital TV. They’re getting cheaper and you won’t have to worry about the day TV networks start broadcasting in digital all the time beginning Feb. 17.

Related:

• Most digital-TV coupons expire before being used
• Yell at the FCC on its Digital TV transition tour
• Portable TVs will fade away after February
• Tax discount on digital TV converters bought with coupons
• 23 reviews of digital converter boxes
• Find a store that sells digital converter boxes
• Which (nearly) free digital TV converter box should I buy? (CNet)
• Who Acts as Tech Support for the DTV Transition? (PC Magazine)
• List of DTV converters eligible for the coupon afterdawn.com)
• Help parents survive the digital TV transition (Gadgetress)
• Guide to the 2009 Digital TV transition (Gadgetress)

Recent tech posts:

• Modern-business card MeeID loves OC
• Update: Google Android phone out next week?
• The 15 most dangerous celebrities online
• Video: Ripping open Esquire’s digital ink cover
• Stump the PC Club: Diagnose powerless USB port
• Latest OC tech buys: Newport Beach hot for iPods; H.B. prefers $35 MP3 player
• AT&T offers free Wi-Fi to all broadband customers
• OC’s Averatec offers twist on computers
• Alt+Save weekends: Money-saving headlines and contests
• A netbook with an 18-inch monitor
• 1,075,500 reasons I switched from FireFox to Chrome
• New Facebook coming to O.C.
• OC gets a new cable Internet company

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