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DTV converter boxes selling fast?
- Thread starter Mediafrog+
- Start date
My coupons finally came in today. I may wait a week or two before using it though, since I'm in a financial pinch right now. I also requested coupons for my mother and brother, so it will be interesting to see when they get theirs.
dhett said:
KLDT has gone digital only now.
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,98174.0.html
TheRover said:
Yes, I know that. And you just linked to a thread I started in response to this.
At the end of the DTV transition, stations will continue to ID by their analog channel, even if that license has been returned to the FCC. KDTN will continue to ID as 2.1, even though it's on channel 35; I thought that KLDT would have continued to ID as 55.1.
P
PhillyWatch
Guest
FWIW, I applied for my coupons on 3/2/08 and just received them today. Two months, not bad at all.
I got my coupons today and went to WalMart, one thing is the WalMart where I live (and there's no other close to me) has only one model, the Magnavox.
I noticed on the back of the coupon it says "Coupon value will not be refunded if box is returned."
So I asked the sales person, what if this box doesn't work for me. He said I could return it for another model. But since they don't have another kind, I'd be out my coupon.
This whole thing was so ill planned.
I guess I'd have to buy the box outright, see if it works, return it to Walmart, get my money back THEN rebuy another box WITH the coupon, to make sure.
LOL
I noticed on the back of the coupon it says "Coupon value will not be refunded if box is returned."
So I asked the sales person, what if this box doesn't work for me. He said I could return it for another model. But since they don't have another kind, I'd be out my coupon.
This whole thing was so ill planned.
I guess I'd have to buy the box outright, see if it works, return it to Walmart, get my money back THEN rebuy another box WITH the coupon, to make sure.
LOL
Thought I'd buy a backup box and thought the Zenith might be best. So trotted on down to my local Radio Shack and was promptly told they don't sell Zenith's any longer, only the Digital Stream. I could have held out and gone down the street to one of the other retailers but decided to try out the DS instead.
Good move. Compared to my Wally World Magnavox it is a nicer unit. Smaller footprint. Easier to handle remote. Better graphics on the menu's. Displays both the digital and RF channels and has the equivilant of an 's' meter. Video and audio are about identical to the Mag. Has a volume control for the TV. I like it!
Radio Shack had one other surprise though. My previous post spoke of Wally World's way of handling the coupon once the purchase had been made. RS just cuts the card up. If you return the box you get your piece of the cost but not the $40 coupon amount AND you then have no coupon to use to buy another. I thought that was cheap and unethical but no big surprise for the Shack. I am not normally a customer.
I have one coupon left and am hoping Echostar gets their unit to market before the expiration date. It is supposed to be the cheapest at $39.95 and also one of the better units so we'll see.
No complaints on either the Magnavox or Digital Stream yet though.
Good move. Compared to my Wally World Magnavox it is a nicer unit. Smaller footprint. Easier to handle remote. Better graphics on the menu's. Displays both the digital and RF channels and has the equivilant of an 's' meter. Video and audio are about identical to the Mag. Has a volume control for the TV. I like it!
Radio Shack had one other surprise though. My previous post spoke of Wally World's way of handling the coupon once the purchase had been made. RS just cuts the card up. If you return the box you get your piece of the cost but not the $40 coupon amount AND you then have no coupon to use to buy another. I thought that was cheap and unethical but no big surprise for the Shack. I am not normally a customer.
I have one coupon left and am hoping Echostar gets their unit to market before the expiration date. It is supposed to be the cheapest at $39.95 and also one of the better units so we'll see.
No complaints on either the Magnavox or Digital Stream yet though.
Just to update here...I bought an Insignia brand digital set top converter (Model # NS-DXA1) from Best Buy on Wednesday morning. I put my old pair of telescoping VHF rods and have them resting against the back of my 26" Sanyo LCD HDTV. Yes, my TV is capable of digital and HDTV on it's own. I wanted to compare how the set-top box tuner acts against the one in the TV already. Also, my grandmother may need it for her TV in another location soon anyways. After the initial scan, you can have it do a rescan to pick up any additional channels and, best of all, you go to any channel directly to check for a signal. It will show a signal meter, while showing the signal as BAD ||||||||| GOOD at the bottom Lastly, as an example, if you enter "3", a menu will come up for any channel starting with that number (e.g. 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 30-1 and 30-2). Not a bad box so far. Here's what I got:
WFSB-DT Hartford > 3-1 (CBS), 3-2 (CBS 3 Springfield), 3-3 (Eyewitness News Now)
WTNH-DT New Haven > 8-1 (ABC)
WUVN-DT Hartford > 18-1 (UNI), 18-2 (WHTX), 18-3 (WUTH) *
WTXX-DT Waterbury > 20-1 (CW), 20-2 (WTXX) #
WVIT-DT New Britain > 30-1 (NBC), 30-2 (NBC Weather Plus)
WTIC-DT Hartford > 61-1 (FOX)
* WUVN 18-2 said "WHTX" but was showing the same thing as WUVN 18-1.
# WTXX 20-2 was showing the same thing as WTXX 20-1.
My first scan also picked up WHPX-DT (ION) from New London. This last scan did not. The box seemed to slow down near channel 39-1, like it was going to add WCTX-DT from New Haven. However, it just kept going.
Let me know if anybody else here has a similar box in use!
WFSB-DT Hartford > 3-1 (CBS), 3-2 (CBS 3 Springfield), 3-3 (Eyewitness News Now)
WTNH-DT New Haven > 8-1 (ABC)
WUVN-DT Hartford > 18-1 (UNI), 18-2 (WHTX), 18-3 (WUTH) *
WTXX-DT Waterbury > 20-1 (CW), 20-2 (WTXX) #
WVIT-DT New Britain > 30-1 (NBC), 30-2 (NBC Weather Plus)
WTIC-DT Hartford > 61-1 (FOX)
* WUVN 18-2 said "WHTX" but was showing the same thing as WUVN 18-1.
# WTXX 20-2 was showing the same thing as WTXX 20-1.
My first scan also picked up WHPX-DT (ION) from New London. This last scan did not. The box seemed to slow down near channel 39-1, like it was going to add WCTX-DT from New Haven. However, it just kept going.
Let me know if anybody else here has a similar box in use!
I should have noted that this Insignia box does NOT relay existing analog signals. Anyways, with a slight movement of those telscoping rods, I'm getting a very choppy WUVN-DT. However, I'm now getting a decent signal of WEDN-DT of Norwich [53-1 (PBS), while 53-2, 53-3 and 54-4 are all blank], WCTX-DT of New Haven [59-1 (MY), 59-2 (Storm Team 8 Doppler Radar)].
Having tested the Wally Mart Magnavox, the Radio Shack Digital Stream and the Circuit City Zenith I have the following comments:
Magnavox is the bottom feeder. It is OK....nothing special. It is also the cheapest at $49.99 where the following two are both $10 higher.
Digital Stream unit has a small footprint and a nicer remote. The guide is OK and it has all the requisite bells and whistles except that it doesn't pass analog signals. It does have a display where the 'brand' channel is displayed alongside the RF channel. This is an interesting feature.
The Zenith is my overall pick although both it and the Digital Stream are made by LG and both have similar innards. The Zenith is an all metal box, slightly larger than the DS. Nicer front presentation with a wide on/off indicator rather than the single small green/red bulb of the others. Remote is a bit smaller than the DS but only takes one AAA cell where the DS remote takes two. I like the DS remote layout better but both have the same features in a slightly different layout. The Zenith's is a bit smaller, thinner and lighter - probably better for the female hand than the male. The Zenith also displays the 'brand' channel alongside the RF channel but does it a bit differently and not side-by-side. A minor point.
All three brought in the exact same digital channels which for my area is not a big challenge since I am line-of-sight and about 8 miles from all the towers.
The Zenith and DS both allow for adjusting the TV sound AND the box sound (a nice feature since one of my TV's has no remote functions). The Magnavox does not control sound.
Sound and picture are good with all three units and I'd be hard pressed to tell if there is any significant difference between them. I just used the old eyes and ears, no meters.
Magnavox is the bottom feeder. It is OK....nothing special. It is also the cheapest at $49.99 where the following two are both $10 higher.
Digital Stream unit has a small footprint and a nicer remote. The guide is OK and it has all the requisite bells and whistles except that it doesn't pass analog signals. It does have a display where the 'brand' channel is displayed alongside the RF channel. This is an interesting feature.
The Zenith is my overall pick although both it and the Digital Stream are made by LG and both have similar innards. The Zenith is an all metal box, slightly larger than the DS. Nicer front presentation with a wide on/off indicator rather than the single small green/red bulb of the others. Remote is a bit smaller than the DS but only takes one AAA cell where the DS remote takes two. I like the DS remote layout better but both have the same features in a slightly different layout. The Zenith's is a bit smaller, thinner and lighter - probably better for the female hand than the male. The Zenith also displays the 'brand' channel alongside the RF channel but does it a bit differently and not side-by-side. A minor point.
All three brought in the exact same digital channels which for my area is not a big challenge since I am line-of-sight and about 8 miles from all the towers.
The Zenith and DS both allow for adjusting the TV sound AND the box sound (a nice feature since one of my TV's has no remote functions). The Magnavox does not control sound.
Sound and picture are good with all three units and I'd be hard pressed to tell if there is any significant difference between them. I just used the old eyes and ears, no meters.
I bought the Zenith box about a month ago because of its reccommendations on this site. My experience with it was not that great. From my location in CT it pulled in the close signals (WFSB, WTIC, and WVIT), but reception on some of the farther signals was not great (WTXX was weak and WTNH and WCTX were non-existent). I tried to get the remote to control an RCA TV using the instructions that came with it. It found a remote code but after locking it in there was no response to any of the functions on the TV. I have not tried any of the other brands of boxes so I don't know if I got a lemon with the Zenith.
The Zenith instructions tell you to press a combination of keys. When the second key shuts the TV power off you have found the correct code. Should be a no-brainer. But just for grins you might try setup again using a brand new battery. The Zenith uses only one AAA and that's not as much power as the others.
I've got a circa-1987 rear projection big screen working fine with the Zenith remote but I guess there's always that one-of-a-kind.
However, the remote has two, yes two, controls for sound. One is supposed to work the TV sound and the other controls the converter box sound output. I have an old TV (no remote capability) set up with a small desktop stereo and I leave the sound on a constant setting controlling the sound from the converter box. Works well considering that TV is an RCA 25" console circa-1979.
However, the remote has two, yes two, controls for sound. One is supposed to work the TV sound and the other controls the converter box sound output. I have an old TV (no remote capability) set up with a small desktop stereo and I leave the sound on a constant setting controlling the sound from the converter box. Works well considering that TV is an RCA 25" console circa-1979.
The Zenith box is my favorite between it and the Magnovox.
However, the Maganvox remote allows you to no only turn on the the TV, but allow you to change to the channel of video input to see the DTV.
The Zenith remote --does not-- alow you to put the TV on the channel or video input to watch DTV.
This means using two reomote to switch from watching DVT to watching (Basic) Cable TV, which does not have a box.
It would be nice if Zenith would make the remote do what the Magnavox remote does.
The secret for good reception for me is a an amplified antenna with a nice UHF antenna, as most DTV channel are coming over UHF transmission for now.
However, the Maganvox remote allows you to no only turn on the the TV, but allow you to change to the channel of video input to see the DTV.
The Zenith remote --does not-- alow you to put the TV on the channel or video input to watch DTV.
This means using two reomote to switch from watching DVT to watching (Basic) Cable TV, which does not have a box.
It would be nice if Zenith would make the remote do what the Magnavox remote does.
The secret for good reception for me is a an amplified antenna with a nice UHF antenna, as most DTV channel are coming over UHF transmission for now.
Heres a Wal-mart update in my town,They still have been keeping the shelves stocked with at lease 3 to 4 dtv Magnavox tuners in the last two months.I my first stop before Wal-mart, I popped in BJ's and spoted a little nice gadgit called the Pinnacle DTV tuner for your computer or laptop for $109.99 . This device also captures from your cacorder and vcr compoisite outs.Has any of you seen this little device in action.
WPPCProductions said:
I bought a similar video capture card for my laptop on Ebay for $30, although the model I have only has an analog tuner, as well as S-video and composite. The biggest issue is that if you want to record video in good quality you need a tremendous amount of hard drive space. Even just a few minutes of video can use over 100MB.
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