How many of us did our do diligence of getting our DTV box coupons then drive to one of the many places to get our converter box only to find out we could have waited a little longer? Course those who jumped 1st had the issue of waiting for stores to even get enough of these little black boxes in stock. Then those who waited to the last min of the original due date of Feb were in a panic as not enough coupons were given out fast enough. Good thing there was an extension.  Here is a good youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7cxzT-IZGQ

Now those coupons might get to you on time as it is part of the economic stimulus package and there should be plenty of DTV boxes as now it seams you can walk into a grocery store were stack have been made. If you actually want help on how to hook these box up and if you might need additional connections or longer coax cable then you still want to visit your local RadioShack store. They seem to have a good stock and the employees know how to hook these little boxes up. Course they will offer you an upgrade antenna so you can get more channels and a few antennas will pick more HD channels. As well as they will offer you an instore replacement 1 or 2 years to protect the product. Either invest the money or buy a Monster surge protector that also cleans the power. Course with TV prices dropping as they are maybe you want to just go ahead and upgrade your TV this way you can see these free over the air HD channels with that tax return.

There is a silver lining, I hear some stores are allowing you to purchase the DTV box and when you get your coupon in they are allowing you to return the product to use the coupon (found several RadioShacks doing this). Plus now it looks like these DTVs have flooded the market so they seem to be going on sale. Wow who said it doesn't pay to wait.

Course its been interesting the feed back customers give as to why they are having to purchase these boxes:

1) Government conspiracy to stimulate the economy (lets see we planned for an economic crash and thought that analog to digital conversion could help us get back on track, if only that simple)

2) I thought black boxes were illegal now they want us to buy them so they can see what we are watching (hello not watching much if your watching free TV).

3) They just want to make it difficult for us elderly people or those who don’t understand this technology. (this maybe valid)

4) The TV makers paid those political people a lot so they could sell more TVs at higher cost (if this was true then why make a box that allows you not to have to purchase a new TV, and oh yea hasn't the cost of TVs gone down.)

5) The government just wants to know where we live and track us with these coupons. (thats why the government thought only 1 million coupons were needed when in 2005 the US had a pollution of 305,186,613 and according to USA today the avg home has more TVs than people, http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-09-21-homes-tv_x.htm)

6) Those cable and satellite people paid the political people to make us have to pay for TV. (again why make a box and give a coupon to get around this)

Course it all comes down to how people spend their free time. Maybe if we don’t get these converter boxes we might have to leave the house for entertainment, might seek higher education, might visit with family and friends, might go on a vacation, and oh goodness buy a news paper or read something all of which would have a higher impact on the economy versus sitting around listening how bad the economy is by watching free TV.

I did find this great link to help you decide which box to get as it has a rather good list of DTV comparison chart: http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-tv-converter/

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