Did you apply for your TV converter box coupons yet?

If you're anything like us, your only New Year's resolution for this particular ride around the sun is to sign up for a converter box coupon in preparation for the 2009 digital TV transition -- even if, also like us, your only remaining analog set is gathering dust next to your laserdisc player in the basement. Still, a bargain is a bargain, so $40 off a product or products that we don't really need was more than enough motivation to race over to the official sign-up page only minutes after it went live. You, of course, still have a good 13 months to pick up one of these digital-to-analog converters from LG or friends, but since you're probably not in very good shape to do much else today, why not make the most of your incapacitation and hit the Read link to fill out your application.

[Thanks for the reminder, Travis C.]

[yaksplat @ Jan 1st 2008 12:28PM]

"We're sorry for the inconvenience. An unexpected error has occurred and been logged.

You will be redirected to the home page in 3 seconds."

Good job US Government

[kevin @ Jan 1st 2008 12:56PM]

It said that for me around 9 (EST) this morning; I tried again half an hour later and it worked fine.

[Josh L @ Jan 1st 2008 1:46PM]

I am surprised by this turn of events.

Yes, I am.

[Don Wilson @ Jan 1st 2008 3:53PM]

Yep, no other website ever has problems.

[mattclarkie @ Jan 1st 2008 12:29PM]

So I gather that everyone in the States gets a $40 voucher to get money off/ a free freeview box depending on price. So if the box costs $40 you get it free, if it costs $80 you pay $40.

Why aren't the UK doing this, I have to buy my own freeview box, what kind of a world is that, where you exchange money for goods and services, outrageous.

[Craig @ Jan 1st 2008 1:07PM]

They are for certain members of society such as the elderly and those on benefits but not until nearer switchover.

[Carstars @ Jan 2nd 2008 3:22PM]

Matt,

Good point. The real secret is America has likely been one of the Most socialist counties on the planet. I don't think that is all bad. It's a real eye openner when I found that so call socialist counties like France required school children to pay for text books in School.

Try doing that in America and your will have a second revolution. We have a massive safety net including TV decoder boxes for the masses. Unlike UK we don't have a TV tax!!! Do you guys still have to hide you sets behind closed doors?

Granted our health "payment" system is weird but almost everyone will receive massive cutting edge medical care. You may go broke but receive you will. Sort of a special socialist/market system only the land of fruit and nut cases can come up with.

I still recall a guy from the UK standing at the highway bathroom/rest stop near the Chicago airport and was marveling at the structure which exceeds in size the largest castle of nobility in the UK. As it spanned 15 lanes of highway, many restaurants, spotless bathrooms all "free". Never saw 1 reststop on the M25 and sorry to say my wifes bladder was not happy.

Just having some fun....

Carl

[Michael Garrison @ Jan 1st 2008 12:30PM]

As long as we convince ourselves we are getting deal, this is all that matters.

[Bravo @ Jan 1st 2008 12:33PM]

Its so sad to see the end of an era =(. Oh well all good things must come to an end and besides changes are good =)



HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

[Stan @ Jan 1st 2008 12:39PM]

It looks like it is not working yet as I am getting the same ERROR as the first post mentioned..........

[decadeofevil @ Jan 1st 2008 12:53PM]

im good!! long live hd cable

[Daniel @ Jan 1st 2008 1:04PM]

hahaha, 1337 engadget towers. very funny. maybe you should've made it 1337 3n64d637 70w3r5, though.

[SteveMB @ Jan 1st 2008 3:49PM]

Haha, no.

[Cesar Cardoso @ Jan 1st 2008 1:05PM]

"The page cannot be found" on every page I click on dtv2009.gov. lol.

[aboriginal @ Jan 1st 2008 1:05PM]

so, the US.gov is using only top notch website designers from the looks of it . . . nonworkola

[kevin @ Jan 1st 2008 4:32PM]

Seeing as a large number of people who need these coupons are most likely a little "behind" in their technology, isn't it safe to guess that they probably don't have the latest and greatest in computers, either? A simple website that takes very little computer power and is very easy to navigate and understand is definitely the best way to go for this.

[mrsalty @ Jan 1st 2008 1:06PM]

Working for me have been signing up friends and family all day have sent out over 118 coupons to different addresses. My first reference number was 1805 at 612 am this morning. I guess it went live around at 12:01. I think this would be better if we could get $40 off any product that has a digital tuner in it.

[Kevin @ Jan 1st 2008 1:17PM]

but are stores even selling converter boxes yet?

hopefully they're not going to shove them in the back where no one can find them.

[Garst @ Jan 1st 2008 1:44PM]

I have looked, but haven't found any that you can use the coupon for yet.

[Michael @ Jan 1st 2008 10:11PM]

Best Buy is selling them and in plain sight too, the first time I saw them on the shelves though i had no idea what they were then i discovered that they were converters by seeing this post

[Harvey E @ Jan 1st 2008 1:22PM]

This system is down at 1:20 pm est.

[Alexander @ Jan 1st 2008 1:34PM]

What does this mean for all the analog TiVO's and things out there?

[jason @ Jan 1st 2008 2:02PM]

Shame on you Engadget, and you too Mr. Salty, you greedy deadbeat. These are supposed to be used by people who can't afford to buy the boxes. Something tells me that anyone reading engadget is probably able to shell out the $40 for their own box.

[Mike @ Jan 1st 2008 2:11PM]

Jason why should these people have to pay for something that is being forced on them by the government? The government is doing this to free up the spectrum because they know they can auction it off and making billions of dollars from the sales of these spectrums.

[kevin @ Jan 1st 2008 4:28PM]

Something tells me that most people reading Engadget don't need the coupons because they don't need the converters themselves, due to owning a TV with a digital tuner, or having a cable/satellite subscription.

[Al @ Jan 1st 2008 8:38PM]

Despite how well-off any of us may be, we are paying taxes to subsidize this, so we may as well reap the benefits of the money we are paying to the government. The program is of arguable merit in the first place, considering the ability to watch TV is far from a necessity of survival.

[Hank @ Jan 2nd 2008 4:26AM]

Actually, every household should at least get one box for when the cable or satellite goes out, unless you live in those lucky places where it never happens. It is important to get one as a backup, and it is likely that the supply for cable/satellite households will expire by the end of February as public awareness increases.

[TrentD @ Jan 2nd 2008 8:31AM]

Not true - there are no limitations or qualifications on who can use the coupons.

[paul @ Jan 2nd 2008 12:09PM]

Why should we have to, though? I'm not paying $40 to watch free TV any more than I'm paying $500 or more for some ridiculous digital-ready TV. If the government wants to change things, they'd better make sure it doesn't cost me a dime.

[Jeremy @ Jan 2nd 2008 7:45PM]

I agree. This was intended for people who can't afford them and now everyone is going after them simply because they're a free gadget. The people who justify this by saying that it's their tax dollars paying for them are morons. The more people who do this, the more it costs, the more money it costs the government, and the more it costs you.

[iofthestorm @ Jan 1st 2008 2:19PM]

Hmm, just applied for two for my family because they don't know about it. We don't watch much TV anyway, mainly just my sister watching PBS and ABC and so we don't have cable, and don't need it really. I was originally planning on letting the thing expire so that they would have to get a new TV to replace the ancient ones we have but then I figured that would be cruel and useless since we don't use much TV anyway, and I'll be in college at the time of the switchover. Just wondering, if anyone can clear this up once the digital converters come in will we be able to use them with our analog TVs right away or only after the switchover date? I'm hoping this makes our TV clearer since the few times we watch TV it's horribly grainy since we live in a valley and almost everyone has cable anyway.

[Joseph @ Jan 1st 2008 2:30PM]

would someone please provide a direct link to the page with the coupon? I can't find the damn thing. Damn government!

[Robert @ Jan 1st 2008 2:44PM]

Quote from https://www.dtv2009.com/FAQ.aspx

"Coupons expire 90 days after they are mailed. Each coupon has an expiration date printed on it."

So, now might not be the best time to get one, unless you plan on using it right now. I'm sure retailers will have a lot more choices and bigger selections 6 months from now when the public gets informed and races to the store to buy converters.

[kevin @ Jan 1st 2008 4:29PM]

"IMPORTANT: TV converter boxes are not expected to be available in retail stores until late February or early March. You will receive your coupon(s) then. The Coupon will expire within 90 days from the date it is issued."

This comes up after requesting them online. Sounds to me like the coupons can be requested now, and will not actually be issued until supply of the boxes is ready - so you will still have roughly 90 days to use it. I had the same concern you did until the above message came up.

[Michal G @ Jan 1st 2008 2:48PM]

I have this little box that takes the Antenna signal and then it goes into my TV. The cable company forced everyone to switch to it. I do need to order 3 pairs of these things for my upstate home for the grandparents..

[Paul Blonsky @ Jan 1st 2008 3:12PM]

Has anyone noticed the incomprehensible words they make you type to get validated? What is the deal with that? I can't figure out any of them and the audio is even worse! Anyway, the system is down for me too.

[insertAlias @ Jan 2nd 2008 11:01AM]

You really don't know what captcha is?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

[paul34 @ Jan 1st 2008 3:20PM]

I'm not going to tell my parents about this. Hopefully my father will be forced into replacing the 14-year old Sony set (that still works) that they still use right now.

[Roberto @ Jan 1st 2008 5:30PM]

I thought that Engadget was bursting with tree-hugging pinkos, but you proved me wrong.

[iofthestorm @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:22AM]

Haha, I thought the same thing but then I figured I'll be in college anyway so I won't care what TV they have at home. Heck, if I can get a decent part time job in college I'll buy them a smallish HDTV.

[snchpnz @ Jan 1st 2008 3:30PM]

"So, now might not be the best time to get one, unless you plan on using it right now. I'm sure retailers will have a lot more choices and bigger selections 6 months from now when the public gets informed and races to the store to buy converters."

That is why I only ordered 1 coupon now in case they run out of the 22.25 million coupons (It doesn't sound like a lot to me) and if anything 6 months from now I'll order the second coupon and get a nicer box if there are any. I'll probably end up using them both at some point anyway. Living in Florida every time theres a Hurricane I don't get cable for weeks even though the power comes back up. It would be hell having to spend it without TV.

[Roberto @ Jan 1st 2008 3:38PM]

To anyone who will apply to this coupon program, while not needing it. Don't do it: the boxes only have a composite output and an RF output.

[Aaron @ Jan 1st 2008 3:40PM]

Ms. Gadgie sounds hot! Is she on MySpace?

[John @ Jan 1st 2008 4:11PM]

There is only so much money devoted to this. It's a shame that Engadget is promoting getting coupons for TV's gathering dust while people who actually need the box will be left having to pay full price when the goverment money runs out. A previous poster had a good point that people are getting rich off this but is that a valid reason to screw people who don't have money to buy an HDTV and probably don't even know what's going on? Don't be greedy.

[Cedric @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:31AM]

People actually *need* tv?

[Robert @ Jan 1st 2008 4:12PM]

Also this:

"Consumers who apply at the beginning of 2008 will receive their coupons when TV converter boxes are expected to be available in retail stores, probably in late February or early March."

So I guess it is okay to get them now.

[Miggity @ Jan 1st 2008 5:00PM]

Dude I am sorry that is just irresponsible and a waste. It is already bad enough that the government is pissing away millions of tax dollars on these coupons to give boxes away to people who are too poor/ignorant/lazy to upgrade on their own. I will take pride in myself and the fact that I don't NEED one of these. If a bunch of schmucks sign up and get these boxes when they dont need it then I guarantee, (mark these words), the government will just throw more of my tax money at it so the people who really are too poor or ignorant of the situation can get boxes in 2009 when they realize, "Why my t.v. done not work no more?!"

Also I agree 100% with everything that John just said two posts up.

[Nelson @ Jan 1st 2008 9:17PM]

The money the government is using for these coupons is being taken from the funds they will receive from auctioning off the newly freed spectrum.

You might look at the high bidder as paying a tax, of which a small part goes to the coupons... But you'd have to be stretching it quite a bit to think that we taxpayers are footing the bill for these coupons.

It's a bit poetic... The people who end up with obsolete TV's are helped to overcome this situation by the money coming in as a result of that obsolescence.

[Frank @ Jan 1st 2008 5:13PM]

PFFT!

I won't even bother signing up. I'll just wait like every other nerd out there when they break open the box and post what you need to build one on the Internet!!

[kevinm @ Jan 1st 2008 5:38PM]

Yes I still have an analog box that I don't want to fork over to pay cable. It not an old set either. This will be helpful. I hope to see a side-by-side comparison of each converter.