Connecting your new DTV converter box

I have received so many requests for help connecting DTV converter boxes that I decided to
make this little basic how to guide.

First off, if you subscribe to Satellite TV (DishNetwork, DirecTV...), Digital Cable (With
the Digital cable box), or if you have a newer TV with a built in digital tuner, you do not
need a digital converter box.

Second you need to look at signal traveling through the cables like flowing water through
pipes, complete with valves, T splitters and faucets.

You have your TV Antenna, either an outdoor roof antenna, or an indoor set of rabbit ears
that collects the signal from the broadcast stations. Now keep in mind your distance from the broadcast station towers. If you only used a set top rabbit ear antenna With the older analog signal, you may need to upgrade to an amplified indoor antenna or maybe even an outdoor rooftop antenna to pickup the the full digital signal. Most newer antenna's on the market today are already tuned for the new digital signals, but if you cannot find one in stock, dont worry, you can use a regular antenna and still pick up the digital signals, you just may need to get a more powerfull (higher gain or amplified) antenna to make up the difference. Just remember like anything else, you get what you pay for in antenna quality, but you dont have to get carried away with super expensive equipment either.

Next there is a cable that caries the signal down to the Converter Box. If you are using an outdoor antenna that has been in use for a number of years, you may need to have all of the connections checked for rust and corosion, even if you may not have noticed any problems in the past. Digital signals are more sensative to poor connections.

At this moment your Antenna cable is currently connected to either your tv or connected to a VCR or another device. Disconnect the antenna cable from the device it's currently connected to. Connect the Antenna cable to the "Antenna IN" port on the back of the converter box.

Now the signal has been converted from digital to analog and needs to be sent to the TV. Most converter boxes have two or more types of signal outputs, in most cases, you will only need to use one of the outputs. In most cases you will use the coax output "TV OUT". Connect one end of a coax cable to the "TV OUT" port in the back of the Converter Box. Connect the other end to the device the antenna cable use to be connected to.

If you connected the coax directly to your TV, then all you have to do tune your TV to channel 3 (in some cases you may need channel 4), if you previously had the TV set for Cable, then you will need to change it to Antenna/AIR. If you plugged the coax into a VCR, then you will need to tune the VCR to channel 3 (or 4), then tune your TV to channel 3 (or whatever channel you usually use to whatch your VCR movies). Next plug the converter boxes power cord into a wall outlet. If the conver box does not power on as soon as you plug it in, then you will need to use the remote that came with the converter box to turn it on (dont forget to put bateries in the remote). Most converter boxes will power up with a setup wizard to walk you through scanning for digital channels. If the converter box did not start up with a setup wizard, then refer to the users guide that came with the converter box to scan for new digital channels. Once the scanning is complete, you are set to start whatching Digital TV. Just keep in mind that from now on, you have to use the remote that came with the converter box to change channels.

I hope this has helped some otherwise confused people out there. I realize that there are many more ways to connect or route the signal, but I made this BASIC guide for those that have the most common or basic setup. Perhaps I will make a more advanced guide later.