HDTV Forum

Updated 05/28/2008

The real question is what is DTV. DTV is not to be confused with digital cable, satellite, Direct TV or Dish. DTV, digital television, is a new RF transmitting standard for over the air broadcasting which will replace NTSC, our old standard. Originally slated for January 2007, The DTV transition was riddled with filed extensions due to various reasons from capitol and financial market limitations to available crews and new equipment. While those same problems will continue for a some time the FCC has settled on a February 2009 requirement for the vast majority of broadcasters across the nation. If you are on satellite or cable you won

Consumer Site - get your coupon here! https://www.dtv2009.gov/

From https://www.dtv2009.gov/FAQ.aspx

There are 22.25 million coupons available to all U.S. households. Once those coupons have been used, there are an additional 11.25 million coupons available only to households that solely receive their TV broadcasts over-the-air using an antenna. Households with TVs connected to cable, satellite or other pay TV service are not eligible for this second batch of coupons. Consumers can apply for coupons until March 31, 2009, or until the funds are exhausted.

Each household can request a maximum of two coupons. Each coupon may be applied towards the purchase of a single converter box. The coupons can be ordered one at a time or both at the same time.

Government data on the program
TV Converter Box Coupon Program Status Update with the number of applications and coupons requested to date
TV Converter Box Coupon Statistics by State and ZIP Code

National Telecommunications and Information Administration
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/

A new feature of some DTV convertor boxes that is very beneficial

viewtopic.php?t=10289

Can anyone give me an idea about the difference between NTSC and PAL system? Another thing I want to know about 1080p and 1080i.

For understanding PAL, you can start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL. PAL, like NTSC, is an analog broadcasting standard.

The "i" in 1080 stands for "interlaced"; the "p" for progressive. The 1080 means there are 1080 lines of horizontal resolution.

Progressive scan is explained here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_scan. There is a link to an explanation of "interlaced video" in this article.