Mary Moore's digital converter box sat unopened for weeks because the Denver resident was too intimidated to try connecting it to her television herself.

But within minutes of showing up at a walk-in digital transition workshop on Monday to see a one-on-one demonstration, she had it figured out.

"It was just so simple," Moore said.

Moore was one of more than 300 people who attended the Walk In Center at Park Hill United Methodist Church, which provided a way for would-be digital TV transitioners to ask informal questions of everyone from Federal Communications Commission staffers to the general managers and chief engineers at local TV broadcasters.

While the FCC has held a series of town hall meetings around the Denver area in the past several months, this was the first one to offer attendees the ability to get one-on-one help. In light of the overwhelming response, it won't be the last, said Nikki Shears, the FCC's DTV outreach coordinator for the Denver market.

"This was the litmus test, and let me tell you, the litmus burnt," said Shears, taking a quick break from helping a line of people 10 deep who were trying to figure out why their converter box coupons never arrived in the mail.

Denver analog TV watchers received a reprieve this month when Congress passed a bill to delay the transition to digital signals to June 12 from Feb. 17.

The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals are not ready.

People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.

Many of the workshop attendees lugged converter boxes, sometimes still unopened in their packages, rabbit ear antennas and decades-old TVs as they asked their questions.

"I've seen some TV sets today that I haven't seen in a long, long time," said Denver's 7 General Manager Byron Grandy, who spent the day fielding a variety of technical questions about connecting and updating converter boxes and coupon expiration dates.

While some attendees needed help cutting through the red tape to get the coupons or figuring out how to make the boxes work, others had troubleshooting questions.

Helen Stinnett, of Denver, had her box hooked up and working well for weeks but couldn't figure out how to add new stations or delete obsolete ones.

"I think I've got it now," she said as she headed out the door.

Shears said a time and place for the next Walk In Center hasn't been determined, but when it is, local broadcasters will spread the word.