Time is ticking away. There are only 224 days left until the end of most analog television broadcasts, and many of you still aren’t ready.

“TV is about to become complicated,” said Phillip Swan, author of TV dot COM: The Future of Interactive TV and founder of TVPredictions.com.

Consumer concerns over buying and installing converter boxes that will allow televisions to pick up the new digital signals are coming in force, said Swan and Joel Kelsey, policy analyst for Consumers Union.

“We’re hearing a lot of confusion in the marketplace,” Kelsey said.

Over 1 million of the $40 DTV coupons offered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration have expired without being used, according to the NTIA website. (The coupons have a 90-day expiration date by law.) These coupons are available to help offset the cost of purchasing a DTV converter and are available to all households in the US.

Many consumers also are finding out (often too late) that many big box retailers only stock one or two of the coupon eligible boxes which leaves no room for comparison shopping. Lots of stores are also not carrying enough stock to satisfy consumer demand leaving folks out of luck once their coupons expire.

And some are finding they need an upgrade to their antenna once they buy the converter boxes to get some of the channels they had over the air before, Swan said.

Buying a DTV converter box
Here are a few good tips on how to choose a digital converter box:

Don’t wait. You need to begin start shopping immediately after ordering your coupons, which take two to three weeks to be mailed. This will give you time to find the best model to meet your needs so you can be prepared once your coupons arrive. Be aware that coupons expire after 90 days. One million coupons have already expired without being redeemed.

Be aware of the features you need. If it’s important to you to have a good program guide, a universal remote control or a button on your remote to choose whether you want your programming in full screen or letterbox, you must keep those features in mind when reading reviews or shopping.

Shopping online gives you more choices. “We ended up buying a lot online because it was the easiest way,” CU’s Kelsey said. Many big-box retailers have only one or two brands available at their stores, while online retailers will have many more brands and models so you can find the features you need at a price that fits your budget. This can also help save you money buy not burning gas to drive around the stores in your area shopping for boxes.

Get an Energy Star rated product. Digital converter boxes that have earned the Energy Star label by the Environmental Protection Agency consume no more than 8 watts of electricity in “on” mode and 1 in “sleep” mode. They also automatically power down after four hours or less of user inactivity. Look for the label to confirm that it has met program qualifications.

Install your converter box before upgrading your antenna. Don’t buy a new antenna until you have determined whether you need it. If you live far from the broadcast tuners and are not receiving all of your desired channels with the converter box, consider getting a smart antenna, Sedmak advised. To see whether you may have poor reception, go to antennaweb.org and type in your ZIP code. The Web site provides a mapping program from the Consumer Electronics Association and the National Association of Broadcasters that locates the proper outdoor antenna to receive your local television broadcast channels. SummitSource.com also carries a HUGE selection of antennas so you can receive crystal clear HDTV broadcasts for free.

Best converter boxes
Consumer Reports recently rated the best TV converter box in a variety of areas, including the quality of the program guide, whether it has a universal remote control, whether it makes adding new channels easy and whether an AV cable is included. The models that ranked at the top for best picture quality, defined as those capable of images that come close to DVD quality are the following:

The Sansonic FT300A, which retails for $54.95 and the Philco TB 100HH9, which retails for $59.95. Both of these units are available at many online retailers for your convenience. (By Aaron McCann, a 15 year veteran of the technology and media industries)

Tags: digital antenna, Digital TV, digital tv tips