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Coupon-eligible converter box

Coupon-Eligible Converter Box or CECB is a specification for converter boxes that are eligible to receive subsidy coupons through the U.S. federally-sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program. This program was put into place in order to provide over-the-air TV viewers with an affordable means with which to continue to receive free television services after the digital transition takes effect. The specification was developed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), with input from the broadcast and consumer electronics industries, as well as public interest groups.

History

The United States Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, which is a part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, requires that, among other things, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasting by midnight on February 17, 2009. Recognizing that consumers may wish to continue receiving broadcast programming over the air using analog-only televisions not connected to cable or satellite service, the Act authorizes the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to create a digital-to-analog converter box assistance program. The Act also establishes a new Treasury fund, known as the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Fund, and directs the receipts from the FCC’s analog spectrum return auction to be deposited into the Fund.

The Act directs NTIA to implement and administer a program through which eligible U.S. households may obtain a maximum of two coupons of $40 each to be applied towards the purchase of a digital-to-analog converter box. The Act defines the term “converter box” to mean “a stand-alone device that does not contain features or functions except those necessary to enable a consumer to convert any channel broadcast in the digital television service into a format that the consumer can display on television receivers designed to receive and display signals only in the analog television service, but may also include a remote control device.” The Act, however, does not define “eligible household.”

To implement the coupon program, the Act authorizes NTIA to use up to $990 million from the Fund for the program, including $100 million for program administration. Those funds will support an initial "non-contingent" program that is available to all requesting households. NTIA is also authorized to expend up to $1.5 billion for the program, including $160 million for administration, if the $990 million is insufficient to fulfill the non-contingent coupon requests. In that case, a "contingent" fund will be available for U.S. households not serviced by cable or satellite.

The United States law requires that all full-power analog television broadcasting cease on February 17, 2009. While most new televisions have digital tuners, many millions of old televisions do not. According to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, "Starting January 1, 2008, all U.S. households will be eligible to request up to two coupons, worth $40 each, to be used toward the purchase of up to two, digital-to-analog converter boxes."

An initial funding of $990 million will allow all households an opportunity to apply for coupons, which expire in 90 days. If and after that money is used up, $510 million in additional funds will be available to households that state they do not already subscribe to cable or satellite television services. Neither allotment has a "means test".

Specification

The NTIA Specification is arranged in three categories, describing required, permitted, and disqualifying features.

NTIA absolute requirements

These requirements are absolutely required, but may vary in the way they are provided by the box

CECBs must convert all ATSC formats to NTSC.
The units must support a 4:3 center crop of a 16:9 transmitted image, and a letterbox rendition of a 16:9 transmitted image.
An RF output, as well as baseband video and stereo audio outputs must be supplied.
All CECB's outputs must produce video at an ITU-R BT.500-11 quality scale of Grade 4 or higher.
CECBs must include a remote control and be controllable by universal remote controls.
Must support decoding of Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages and Parental Control (V-Chip) descriptors and Closed Captioning streams.
Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data must be decoded, and the units must provide the user with tuned channel and program information.
CECBs must consume no more than an average of 2 watts of power when passive (no video or audio display).
CECBs must provide an automatic power-down feature [that can be turned off] when operator input has not been detected for a certain time.
Various RF sensitivity and interference rejection performance parameters are also required.

Optional features

Manufacturers can self-certify compliance with these requirements, but must provide test results and two units to the NTIA for ad hoc testing. The FCC may also test converter boxes at the request of NTIA. Among the optional features permitted but not required are the following:

Support for a smart antenna, through the use of the CEA-909 Antenna Control Interface.
Promotional pricing of smart antenna and CECB combination.
MTS (BTSC) stereo at the RF output, and S-Video.
Analog passthrough, as needed for LPTV, broadcast translator and foreign signal reception.
Electronic program guide (EPG), and software update.
Suitable secondary audio channel and accessible menu support for descriptive video services for visually-impaired users is also optional.

While an outdoor antenna is required for adequate digital reception in most locations beyond 10-25 miles from TV transmitters and smart antenna interfaces are an optionally-permitted feature of coupon-eligible converter boxes, there are no subsidies for antennas per se and consumers using coupons to buy smart antenna-compatible converters must retain the option to buy the identical converter without the bundled smart antenna.

Energy Star

DTA converter boxes may earn a US EPA Energy Star label if they consume no more than 8 watts operating, and 1 watt in sleep, and automatically power down after 4 hours of inactivity . Such units will have lower electrical power costs, when compared to other units.

Limitations

Simultaneous TV watching and recording of different programs requires two converter boxes if the recording device lacks a digital tuner.

Specifically excluded from coupon eligibility are High-definition video output and DVR functionality, as well as digital cable and satellite set-top boxes. These output features are prohibited: Component video, VGA, RGB, DVI, HDMI, USB video, IEEE-1394/iLink/Firewire video, Ethernet video, and IEEE-802.11/Wifi video outputs.

DTV enthusiast Mark Whitis believes that the decision to prohibit certain output formats was arbitrary and limits consumers' freedom of choice. He points out that "since CECBs are limited to SDTV resolution, there was absolutely no reason to limit the output to RF and composite. There are many televisions in service which don't have a built-in ATSC tuner (and therefore will need a converter box), but do have component video input jacks. These televisions will not realize their full potential picture quality when used with a coupon-eligible converter box.

The inability of many boxes to add new digital channels without a full rescan (wiping out all existing channel settings) renders them unusable to viewers which rely (or will soon be forced to rely) on directional antennas and rotors to receive distant stations. Signal strength meters, where available, are awkward, typically only displaying information for channels that have already been found. This is problematic as digital signals are most often transmitted on higher frequencies or with far less power than their analogue counterparts, requiring careful antenna orientation and location to avoid obstructions, fading and multipath interference problems.

Since NTIA did not mandate the inclusion of MTS in CECBs' RF modulators, THAT Corporation (which licensed the now-expired patents to MTS' dbx technology, and still holds patents on some digital implementations of MTS) claims that most consumers with CECBs will lose stereo TV sound, since RF-only connections are common. Though THAT is correct in that an RF-only connection will be in mono unless the CECB's RF modulator has MTS built-in, this problem can also be remedied by connecting the CECB's RCA connectors to the TV's line level stereo and composite video inputs, which bypasses the RF modulator (and also tends to provide a better video signal). The few stereo TVs without RCA connectors may instead try computer sound card speakers with a Y-adapter attached to their mini phone jack, or a separate RF modulator with RCA inputs and MTS.