Family Life

06.11.09 | FL News Team

This Friday is when the all-digital television transition happens across the nation. Technology expert Greg Harper says making the switch from analog to digital TV is easy for anyone who still has a rooftop antenna or a "rabbit ears" TV antenna.  It requires buying a digital TV converter box, which Harper says is simple to install.  The average price for this box is about fifty-dollars at any electronics store.  

Harper's how-to video on setting up a digital TV converter box can be viewed on the Panasonic website www.LivingInHD.com.  He notes many people won't have to make the transition to digital TV.  That's because anyone who is a cable or satellite TV subscriber already gets digital channels.  A recent Nielsen survey, however, showed as many as three-point-five million American homes were not yet prepared for the digital TV transition.

Another helpful information source is the federal government website DTV2009.gov.  That is where consumers can find an order form for a forty-dollar coupon to apply to the purchase of a digital TV converter box.  Harper said anyone wanting to recycle an older television set can go online to www.MRMrecycling.com for a list of locations nationwide that do TV recycling.