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Text of the page (random words):
electronics business for at least a year 8 an example of the ntia converter box 40 subsidy coupon which is in the form of a bank card that can only be used as payment for a converter box purchase to implement the coupon program the act authorized ntia to use up to 990 million from the fund including 100 million for program administration those funds supported an initial non contingent program that was available to all requesting households ntia was also authorized to spend up to 1 5 billion for the program including 160 million for administration if the initial 990 million were insufficient to fulfill the non contingent coupon requests in that case a contingent fund would be available for us households not serviced by cable or satellite 9 if the funds were insufficient the committee on energy and commerce of the house of representatives and the committee on commerce science and transportation of the senate would be notified an initial funding of 990 million was expected to allow all us households an opportunity to apply for the coupons which expired 90 days after they were mailed after that money was used up 510 million in additional funds was available to households that stated they did not already subscribe to cable or satellite television services neither allotment had a means test 9 the ntia planned to start processing coupon requests a year before the original transition date of february 17 2009 2 4 million people had applied for 4 7 million coupons out of an estimated 13 million homes that still received television with an antenna 10 by the end of 2008 the new york times said about 40 million coupons have been requested but to date 16 million have been redeemed compared with an estimated 35 million televisions that will lose a signal 11 institutions such as retirement homes were initially excluded from the program while this was partially remedied to allow one coupon per retirement home resident citation needed prisons 12 homeless shelters 13 and residential hotels remained disqualified from the coupon program on january 4 2009 the ntia began placing coupon requests on a waiting list after the program reached its maximum allowed funding only after unredeemed coupons expire could new requests be fulfilled 14 by january 7 ntia s waiting list included just under a million requested coupons a week later the list had grown to two million coupons 15 on january 7 both consumers union and representative ed markey of massachusetts who headed the u s house energy and commerce committee s telecom subcommittee advocated that the february 17 2009 analog shutoff date be postponed due to the lack of coupons and ntia s inability to handle the expected public enquiries 16 on january 8 president elect barack obama s transition team contacted key legislators to express support for a delay largely because of problems funding coupons for converters 17 18 the delay passed early in february see below specifications edit the ntia specification is arranged in three categories describing required permitted and disqualifying features absolute requirements edit a digital tv converter box the following features were required but could be provided by the box in various ways coupon eligible converter boxes had to convert all atsc digital formats to the traditional ntsc analog system used by analog us television sets the box needed to output radio frequency signals compatible with a television s antenna input composite video and stereo audio it had to include a remote control and be compatible with universal remotes the units had to support both a 4 3 center crop of a 16 9 transmitted image and a letterboxed rendition of a 16 9 transmitted image the video outputs had to produce video at an itu r bt 500 11 quality scale of grade 4 or higher various technical performance parameters for the digital tuner were also specified the boxes were required to decode emergency alert system eas messages closed captioning data and parental control v chip descriptors and to decode the program and system information protocol psip data from the digital transmission using it to provide the user with tuned channel and program information cecbs could not consume more than an average of 2 watts of power when not in use when there was no video or audio display they had to provide an automatic power down option that could put the unit in standby mode when it hadn t received any commands for a period of time optional features edit manufacturers could self certify compliance with these requirements but had to provide test results and two units to the ntia for ad hoc testing the fcc could also test converter boxes at the ntia s request among the optional features permitted but not required were the following support for a smart antenna through the use of the cea 909 antenna control interface the manufacturer could optionally provide a promotional package discount for the combination of a smart antenna and a cecb multichannel television sound btsc stereo at the rf output s video output analog passthrough as needed for lptv broadcast translator and foreign signal reception electronic program guide software updates support for the canadian television ratings system allowing the manufacturer to sell the same device in canada support for secondary audio channels such as foreign languages or descriptive video service 19 while an outdoor antenna is required for adequate digital reception in most locations beyond 10 25 miles 16 40 km from tv transmitters and smart antenna interfaces were an optionally permitted feature of coupon eligible converter boxes 20 there were no subsidies for antennas although manufacturers could sell a converter smart antenna bundle they were required to also offer the converter by itself to consumers 21 dtv converter boxes could earn a united states environmental protection agency energy star label if they consume no more than eight watts of electricity while operating no more than one watt while in standby mode and if they automatically power down after four hours of inactivity 22 disqualifying features edit some features disqualified a converter box from coupon eligibility such as high definition video output and built in dvr functionality digital cable and satellite set top boxes that incorporate a digital tuner were also disqualified certain output features were prohibited from coupon eligible devices component video vga rgb dvi hdmi usb video ieee 1394 ilink firewire video ethernet video and ieee 802 11 wifi video outputs 9 limitations edit coupon eligible converter boxes only tune to one channel at a time as they only contain one digital tuner and no analog tuner in order to watch one channel while recording another one must have two such converter boxes unless the recording device has its own digital tv tuner most video recorders were also unable to change channels under control of built in timers when using a converter as channel selection was then handled by the converter 23 some converter boxes have a programmable timer which the user could program to match the recording schedule of their vcr then the converter s tuner will change to the appropriate channel at the time the vcr needs to record this requires a separate box for the vcr or the viewer will have to watch what is being recorded another less common option is an ir blaster which a recorder can use to control an external tuner like a cable set top box or converter box however older devices with ir blasters may not be fully compatible with digital subchannels the converter box may require the use of a or button to specify the subchannel which the pre digital recorder may not know how to transmit some older tivo brand digital recorders received software updates specifically to control digital converter boxes via the tivo s included ir blaster 24 small battery operated portable televisions while valuable in time of disaster are generally poorly suited to digital conversion while at least one cecb winegard s rcdt09a is operable from an external battery pack 25 the combination of television converter external antenna and power supply limits portability 26 as of 2009 update portable digital lcd tv sets cost at least 100 and could not be used while in motion at significant speeds restoring this analog functionality would require broadcasters to transmit mobile tv via the separate atsc m h standard which would in itself require new tuners the inability of some boxes to add new digital channels without a full re scan deleting all existing channel settings renders them unusable to viewers who rely on directional antennas and rotors to receive distant stations signal strength meters where available are awkward typically only displaying information for channels that have already been found 27 this is problematic as digital signals are most often transmitted on higher frequencies or with far less power than their analog counterparts 28 requiring careful antenna installation orientation and location to avoid obstructions fading and multipath interference problems where the converter fails to receive a channel an often cumbersome manual process is usually provided however this requires knowledge of which frequencies each missing station is actually transmitting on rather than the virtual channels each is mapped to by the atsc protocol since the ntia did not require cecbs to output mts stereo signals via their radio frequency output that corporation a noted that consumers using rf only connections with cecbs will lose stereo tv sound 29 this problem may be avoided by using the converter s line level audio outputs low power television concerns edit a year before the transition ron bruno president of the community broadcasters association cba said only four of 37 ntia certified converter boxes had analog passthrough and none had analog tuners 10 in late march 2008 the cba filed a lawsuit in the u s court of appeals for the district of columbia seeking an injunction to halt the sale and distribution of cecbs 30 31 according to the cba the converters lack of support for analog transmissions would harm its member stations which include low power and class a television stations as it was cost prohibitive for many of them to convert to digital transmission 32 the cba claimed that the new boxes would prevent viewers from being able to watch these analog only stations viewers might not even be aware such stations still existed because the boxes would not list them 33 at the time of the digital transition the fcc did not set a deadline for existing lptv stations to convert to digital service however it announced that no new analog lptv stations would be authorized 34 responding to the cba the fcc and ntia urged manufacturers to include analog support voluntarily in all converter boxes manufacturers responded by releasing a new generation of models with the feature some new dvd recorders and personal video recorders also provide both analog and digital tuners and therefore could perform the basic functions of a set top box in both modes in early may 2008 the d c district court denied the cba petition without comment the cba felt that the court wanted them to continue working with the fcc the association said it would continue to pressure the fcc to support analog functionality as a requirement of the all channel receiver act urge more government funding for low power and class a broadcasters to transition to digital and ask congress to increase the number of such stations eligible for funds 35 on august 13 2009 the cba announced that it would cease operations one reason given was the cost required to fight restrictive regulations that kept the class a and lptv industry from realizing its potential including the campaign to require analog passthrough amy brown former cba executive director said some 40 percent of class a and lptv station operators believe they will have to shut down in the next year if they are not helped through the digital transition 36 in june 2010 the fcc stopped accepting new applications for digital lptv stations while it considered the spectrum needs of the national broadband plan 37 in a notice of proposed rulemaking published in september 2010 the fcc suggested setting a shutoff date for all analog tv transmissions including lptv stations in 2012 38 it also proposed moving all low power stations on channels 52 69 to new frequencies to free the 700 mhz band for other uses 38 in april 2011 the ntia announced that it would stop accepting applications for grants toward upgrading lptv stations to digital transmission as of july 2 2012 39 the grant program was initially funded with 44 million as of june 2011 update over 30 million in grant funding remained available 40 the final deadline for lptv shutdown is 1 september 2015 the last ntia grants offered to lptv broadcasters repeaters to convert their systems to digital ended in july 2012 the september 2015 deadline is to allow for possible new construction to accommodate digital equipment 41 unlike the tv full power transmitter digital conversion in 2009 there will be no consumer subsidy program for the final lptv digital conversion deadline since it is anticipated that without dtv set top converter boxes the majority of remaining sdtv edtv models in use should have left the consumer market by then end of subsidies edit by early january 2009 the ntia had issued 1 34 billion worth of coupons for converter boxes reaching the obligation limit set by the u s congress in the digital television transition and public safety act of 2005 as a result the ntia started placing requests for coupons on a waiting list issuing coupons as previously issued but unredeemed coupons reached their expiration date 42 in december 2008 fcc commissioner mcdowell urged those who don t need the government subsidy not to wait on that process before purchasing a converter box for themselves or as a gift for someone else during the weeks it takes for the government to process coupon requests you will lose precious time to hook up the box check antenna connections and start enjoying free digital broadcast tv right away 43 nielsen media research estimated in august 2008 that 25 percent of affected viewers would opt for inexpensive converters instead of replacing existing televisions or switching to cable and satellite television subscriptions citation needed by november 2008 38 3 percent were planning to buy the less costly converter boxes citation needed many retailers had stocked converters based on coupon use and shortages of the converter boxes themselves remained possible 44 in early february 2009 the consumer electronics association estimated that three to six million converters were available 45 while nielsen estimated 5 8 million american households were completely unready for digital transition citation needed the new york times estimated that converter supplies could run out by the end of the month 46 manufacturers who had halted production ahead of the ori...
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