Chances are, you feel pretty strongly that you give enough of your hard-earned money to your state as it is, but if you're a resident of California, Connecticut, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas or Wisconsin who purchased a DTV converter box from Best Buy, you may have donated a little extra. Reportedly, some Best Buy locations accidentally overcharged for sales tax when deducting the $40 government voucher from the purchase price of DTV boxes, and now the retailer is looking to right the ship by doling out refunds. If you paid with a credit card, sit tight -- your check is in the mail; if you used greenbacks, don't even bother spending $5 per gallon to retrieve your $2.50.

[Thanks, Matthew]

Even though we just know you'll disregard this information until the last possible moment, we'd like to point out that three more digital-to-analog converter boxes have been reviewed over at Sound & Vision. The $60 Zenith DTT900 -- one of the very first DTV boxes to get outed -- was pit against the $50 RCA DTA800 and the $60 Digital Stream DTX9900. Believe it or not, reviewers actually found quite a bit of difference in the three units ranging from looks (clearly) to on-screen interfaces. If you're one to care about the minutiae (and admit it, you are), head on over to see which of these three most deserve your $40 voucher.

Here's a nice wrinkle -- issues associated with the digital switchover on Feb. 17, 2009 may taint the Nielsen "sweeps" ratings for that month. Depending on which reports you believe, the switch to all-digital signals will either be a small bump or an apocalyptical cliff. But one thing's for sure -- lots of money rides on those sweeps numbers, and Nielsen cannot break its role as an impartial observer and give its "families" any special help in making the transition. For its part, Nielsen has no plans to change operations for February 2009, which we think is the best approach. Despite ethnographic discrepancies in homes with unready TVs, there's still time and lots of PSAs in the works. Looking into our notoriously murky crystal ball, we see lots of panicked consumers buying (sans coupon) DTV converter boxes during the third week of February and a week or two of skewed data.


[Image courtesy Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen]

No need to worry about how you're going to stack equipment on the curvy GE 22730 digital converter box -- it won't be staying in the system that long. At least, that's the recommendation from CNET. They were hard pressed to find anything to like about the unit, and even the eight-day EPG suffered from an unintuitive layout. Frankly, we're a little surprised that such a simple device could come up short in so many areas; the poor video quality and sub-par number of channels pulled in are especially glaring. We guess there's something to be said for Microtune's complaints, so even converter box coupon holders should do a little research before cashing in.

[Via TVSnob; Image courtesy CNET]

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has tapped Florence Henderson (a.k.a. Carol Brady) to launch its "Convert Your Mom" DTV transition campaign. It's true that awareness of the digital switchover is spreading; but we also know that there's a big difference between being aware and knowledgeable. And we're all familiar with how preparations The spots will encourage baby-boomers to help older family members make sense of converter boxes, antennas and other gear necessary to keep the health TV glow burning in the living room. And seriously, how could anyone not help Mrs. Brady? As the HD intelligentsia class, we encourage EHD readers to pick up the cause (some of us have already done our part). Even if the person you overhear at the local big-box store isn't family (or even a Brady), try to lend a hand. No need to launch into HD-esoterica (which we love), just keep it simple and ease them into DTV.

Did you get a DTV converter box yet? If so, Microtune, a company that makes tuners used in some of the boxes, may have some bad news for you. In a test of five different boxes (off the shelf) that did not employ its tuners, all five showed interference problems. Unfortunately, there's no detailed description of the observed problems, but in a letter to the NTIA, the company's President said that the units did not meet the FCC requirements for coupon-eligible converters. Sure, the fact that Microtune is the only U.S. manufacturer of tuners used in any of the DTV converters puts an air of skepticism over the whole matter. But we're in agreement with the company's contention that trouble-free operation is well worth a marginal cost increase to the consumer. Hopefully the company will come forth with a more detailed description of its findings so we'll know whether to add "has a Microtune tuner" to the list of criteria for DTV converter selection.


[Via TVSnob]

Given the smorgasbord of choices when it comes to picking up a digital TV converter to prepare for the looming 2009 cutover, there hasn't been much said about which one actually performs the best. Quite frankly, we're assuming said comparison hasn't been done simply because of the inordinate amount of work that would be required, but we aren't underestimating the power of the people. Check out what's been on Roberto's mind:

"With the analog shutoff coming in less than a year, I have to start worrying about 2 TVs in my house which will need tuner crutches (ATSC receivers). I would normally postpone the expense as much as possible, but my federal $40 coupons will expire in about two months now, and I want to get the most bang for my buck. Anyways, do any of you, TV gurus, know which of the US government-approved ATSC receivers had the best tuner and the best interface? Where do I get one? I don't want to bring one home and realize it only tunes 3 channels and it is a pain to operate."

There's no doubt each DTV converter will operate slightly differently, and we're hoping that by now, a number of you have been able to procure one and can give your opinion on it. So, tell the world how you feel about your recently purchased converter -- good and bad, we want to hear it all.

Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.

We've had digital TV tuners for years, but for many there's a lot of anxiety associated with trying to ensure you're ready for the analog shutoff. So to do our part in helping to make the digital transition a success -- and to get some much needed cred' with the mother-in-law -- we set out on a quest for a DTV converter box.

Finding a DTV converter box that is eligible for the $40 voucher is pretty easy, in fact, in almost every place we looked, we found 'em. The problem is that the voucher is only for $40 and since those who actually need one in the first place are too cheap frugal to pay for cable or buy a new TV, every penny counts.