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LG gets certified with first set-top digital converter box

9 October 2007 14:18 by Dave "Davedough" Horvath | 15 comments

As many of you already know, February 17, 2009 is the analog blackout day in the United States. On that day, broadcast television will no longer be dished out in analog form, forcing every couch potato to conform to the new digital age. If you don't have a digital television, you're either out of luck or have to purchase a converter box capable of bringing that pesky digital signal back down to the comfortable old analog you know and love. Being the understanding government system that is the United States, they have set aside several billion dollars to issue up to two $40 coupons good towards the purchase of said converters. Well, leave it up to the folks at LG Electronics to remind you that "Life's Good".

Korean based LG has become the first company to be certified by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to offer set-top digital to analog converter boxes that are redeemable with the government issued coupons.

"It is an honor for LG Electronics to be the first major company to receive official NTIA certification for digital-to-analog converters," said Michael Ahn, president and CEO, LG Electronics North American Headquarters. "This product is a very important component of the DTV transition assuring that millions of Americans will continue to receive free-over-the-air TV programming after the digital switch in just 18 months. LG Electronics is proud of its leadership role in the development of digital television technologies generally and the converter box specifically."

The LG box is said to deliver DVD quality images via multicast broadcasting from several different digital sources. The box also brings more advanced features to older analog televisions by incorporating a next generation closed captioning which allows the user to choose different fonts, colors and backgrounds to their on-screen messages as well as V-chip parental control. Other features include an all-format ATSC receiver, flexible 4:3 and 16:9 display formats, PSIP processing, Channel 2-69 tuning, RF input and RF output, and composite (RCA jacks) video and left-right stereo TV audio outputs.

Expect retail availability to be early 2008 and coincide with the NTIA market of the national coupon program.

Source:
PR News Wire

Permalink to this article

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Discuss this article!
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 9 October 2007 17:46
I feel as tho this is something that should have been made and offered to the consumer 10 years ago, when you got sat TV you should have been able to pipe it through your cable lines like normal cable just to save time and hassle..... [ + quote]
DXR88 (Member) 9 October 2007 18:05
Not worried about it i alreadty have an 1080p Plazma HDTV. however i am concerned about emergancy situations where a portable tv is a must. for instance tracking weather my grandfather is 78 years old and WW2 vet he's death in one ear and almost death in the other. he cant hear a radio so where is he going to get weather movement, there are no portable t.v. that i know of that have a dig tuner. and im quite sure this new dig 2 ana box has gotta have power. i think there rushing this idea to fast. but any way it always a great idea to be ahead of the game with new tech if all the bugs are squished with both hard ware and software aspect. [ + quote]
ydkjman (Junior Member) 9 October 2007 19:21
How much are these things going to cost are the two $40 coupons going to make them free or close to a cost that is going to make us feel ok that we "Have to buy them" just so we can still watch tv if we don't have a HDTV yet? [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 9 October 2007 19:21
jacsac (Member) 9 October 2007 19:38
Cable and satellite boxes already convert digital to analog don't they? If so it seems like they are making a big deal about it. How many people are still using broadcast tv? [ + quote]
H0bbes (Junior Member) 9 October 2007 20:12
*Originally posted by jacsac:* How many people are still using broadcast tv? I know I am, as is my dad and at least a dozen others i know. I can't afford cable, which is $80 a month here for just basic expanded. also, I'm sure I'm not the only city that has TV stations wanting to charge the cables comanies extra rates to carry their digital. I love the quality of broadcast HDTV. I'm perfectly satisfied with it. [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 9 October 2007 23:03
i know in europe that the movie industry is trying their best to lock down dvb broadcasts to only sync with trusted sources so it may be worth considering this will happen in the land of the free! http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005157.php [ + quote]
cart0181 (Junior Member) 10 October 2007 18:07
H0bbes That's because broadcast HDTV is better than what comes over the cable line or the satellite due to compression. There was an article or two about that on here about a month ago or so. There's even a new company selling a special antenna that does a better job of receiving HDTV. Then there's me who writes off the antiquated idea of "TV" altogether... but that's just me. [ + quote]
Mr_Del (Member) 10 October 2007 21:38
here is some good reading on this http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.html -Del [ + quote]
slim23 (Junior Member) 11 October 2007 5:49
so.. im a little confused sooo what is considered a "digital TV" like is it an HDTV only? the way im thinking a non digtal tv would be like the OLD fashon t.v's that you have to get up and turn the NOB lol but im not so sure can someone explain please thanks in advance [ + quote]
slim23 (Junior Member) 11 October 2007 5:49
so.. im a little confused sooo what is considered a "digital TV" like is it an HDTV only? the way im thinking a non digtal tv would be like the OLD fashon t.v's that you have to get up and turn the NOB lol but im not so sure can someone explain please thanks in advance [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 11 October 2007 7:27
*Originally posted by slim23:* so.. im a little confused sooo what is considered a "digital TV" like is it an HDTV only? the way im thinking a non digtal tv would be like the OLD fashon t.v's that you have to get up and turn the NOB lol but im not so sure can someone explain please thanks in advance SDTV: 480i (640 x 480), EDTV: 480p (720 x 480), HDTV: 720p (1280 x 720), HDTV: 1080i/p (1920 x 1080). digital tv is just another format that the signal is sent by not necessarily a HiDef display, many sdtv(normal crt telly) have a build in digital decoder or you can just get a box to convert the signal. HiDef is the pixle count, the more pixles the better the picture quality supposedly, but normal tv ie 640 by 480 looks dog awful through a large hd screen and the effect is blocking and bad digital smear. in the uk the government is selling off the radio spectrum and terrestrial television broadcasts via freeview are only foreseeing 3 to 9 channels going to ever be broadcast in HiDef because of the spectrum they will have. Track What Companies Have Edited Wiki http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ (very heavy load atm) [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11 October 2007 7:32
DHua (Member) 11 October 2007 16:43
I am also a little confused. I know an analog TV are those tube TVs, and digital are those big widescreen TVs. I have one Plasma Tv inmy living room and about 4 analog TVs in the bedrooms. Is this saying that I have to buy a converter box for all 4 of my analog TVs? [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 12 October 2007 6:15
*Originally posted by DHua:* I am also a little confused. I know an analog TV are those tube TVs, and digital are those big widescreen TVs. I have one Plasma Tv inmy living room and about 4 analog TVs in the bedrooms. Is this saying that I have to buy a converter box for all 4 of my analog TVs? the only thing that is changing is the way the signal is sent, its a tuner that you will need instead of one that picks up analogue signals you will need one that picks up digital signals. just because you have a plasma does not mean you have a digital tuner inbuilt the same as many lcd screens do not have a digital tuner and will require a separate one. Track What Companies Have Edited Wiki http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ (very heavy load atm) [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 October 2007 6:18
DHua (Member) 12 October 2007 16:18
Okay, thanks. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 21 October 2007 17:49
I wonder what the day will be down under :) [ + quote]