Hey there i have a question about convertor boxes the kind that changes the analog signal to a digital sigal my question is where can you get one and what brand do yall recommend getting b/c when i go to Radio Shack the employees dont seem to know what im talking about Thanks in advace for any information
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DTV Converter Boxes
- Thread starter Tiger198619
- Start date
N
Nichole
Guest
I would like to know how much these converters are going to cost. Also, how will that affect cable?
> Hey there i have a question about convertor boxes the kind
> that changes the analog signal to a digital sigal my
> question is where can you get one and what brand do yall
> recommend getting b/c when i go to Radio Shack the employees
> dont seem to know what im talking about Thanks in advace for
> any information
>
What you are referring to is a Digital Television Set Top Box, or DTV STB. The purpose of an STB is to receive and decode ATSC signals. A STB can be used with either a digital or analog television.
Circuit City sells Samsung and Pro-Brand. Wal Mart sells US Digital boxes. The average prices of these things is around $200, however, about a month ago I picked up an Accurian HTS-6000 on clearance at Rat Shack for $89.
If you want to learn more about digital television, I suggest you visit http://www.avsforum.com.
> that changes the analog signal to a digital sigal my
> question is where can you get one and what brand do yall
> recommend getting b/c when i go to Radio Shack the employees
> dont seem to know what im talking about Thanks in advace for
> any information
>
What you are referring to is a Digital Television Set Top Box, or DTV STB. The purpose of an STB is to receive and decode ATSC signals. A STB can be used with either a digital or analog television.
Circuit City sells Samsung and Pro-Brand. Wal Mart sells US Digital boxes. The average prices of these things is around $200, however, about a month ago I picked up an Accurian HTS-6000 on clearance at Rat Shack for $89.
If you want to learn more about digital television, I suggest you visit http://www.avsforum.com.
USDTV
> What you are referring to is a Digital Television Set Top
> Box, or DTV STB. The purpose of an STB is to receive and
> decode ATSC signals. A STB can be used with either a digital
> or analog television.
>
> Circuit City sells Samsung and Pro-Brand. Wal Mart sells US
> Digital boxes. The average prices of these things is around
> $200, however, about a month ago I picked up an Accurian
It should be noted that the US Digital box is a bit more than just a converter.
USDTV has teamed up with local broadcasters in some markets to offer a "wireless cable" service. They can send out about five cable networks on one DTV signal - in addition to the broadcast station's regular programming. These signals are scrambled and can be decoded by the USDTV box with a subcription to their service.
They are about to launch their service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
> What you are referring to is a Digital Television Set Top
> Box, or DTV STB. The purpose of an STB is to receive and
> decode ATSC signals. A STB can be used with either a digital
> or analog television.
>
> Circuit City sells Samsung and Pro-Brand. Wal Mart sells US
> Digital boxes. The average prices of these things is around
> $200, however, about a month ago I picked up an Accurian
It should be noted that the US Digital box is a bit more than just a converter.
USDTV has teamed up with local broadcasters in some markets to offer a "wireless cable" service. They can send out about five cable networks on one DTV signal - in addition to the broadcast station's regular programming. These signals are scrambled and can be decoded by the USDTV box with a subcription to their service.
They are about to launch their service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Re: USDTV
> It should be noted that the US Digital box is a bit more
> than just a converter.
> USDTV has teamed up with local broadcasters in some markets
> to offer a "wireless cable" service. They can send out
> about five cable networks on one DTV signal - in addition to
> the broadcast station's regular programming. These signals
> are scrambled and can be decoded by the USDTV box with a
> subcription to their service.
>
> They are about to launch their service in the Dallas-Fort
> Worth area.
>
I think that USDTV is destined to fail. With cable available to most and satellite to all, I just don't see much of a market for a five channel cable service.
Additionally, the original purpose of digital television was to provide free over-the-air HDTV, not multi-channel pay services. The only thing that the pay channels are going to do is to reduce the overall bandwidth available for HD, resulting in more compression and lower picture quality.
Unfortunately, consumers generally prefer quantity over quality.
It also should be noted that a similar concept was tried and failed in the early 80's. Some analog UHF stations provided a pay movie service via a scrambled signal that could be decoded with special set top box. I believe that KTXA-21 Dallas, and maybe channel 27, were some of these early pioneers. These over the air pay channels didn't last more than a year or so.
> It should be noted that the US Digital box is a bit more
> than just a converter.
> USDTV has teamed up with local broadcasters in some markets
> to offer a "wireless cable" service. They can send out
> about five cable networks on one DTV signal - in addition to
> the broadcast station's regular programming. These signals
> are scrambled and can be decoded by the USDTV box with a
> subcription to their service.
>
> They are about to launch their service in the Dallas-Fort
> Worth area.
>
I think that USDTV is destined to fail. With cable available to most and satellite to all, I just don't see much of a market for a five channel cable service.
Additionally, the original purpose of digital television was to provide free over-the-air HDTV, not multi-channel pay services. The only thing that the pay channels are going to do is to reduce the overall bandwidth available for HD, resulting in more compression and lower picture quality.
Unfortunately, consumers generally prefer quantity over quality.
It also should be noted that a similar concept was tried and failed in the early 80's. Some analog UHF stations provided a pay movie service via a scrambled signal that could be decoded with special set top box. I believe that KTXA-21 Dallas, and maybe channel 27, were some of these early pioneers. These over the air pay channels didn't last more than a year or so.
E
edwardrmurrow
Guest
Re: USDTV
>
> I think that USDTV is destined to fail. With cable available
> to most and satellite to all, I just don't see much of a
> market for a five channel cable service.
>
> Additionally, the original purpose of digital television was
> to provide free over-the-air HDTV, not multi-channel pay
> services. The only thing that the pay channels are going to
> do is to reduce the overall bandwidth available for HD,
> resulting in more compression and lower picture quality.
>
> Unfortunately, consumers generally prefer quantity over
> quality.
>
> It also should be noted that a similar concept was tried and
> failed in the early 80's. Some analog UHF stations provided
> a pay movie service via a scrambled signal that could be
> decoded with special set top box. I believe that KTXA-21
> Dallas, and maybe channel 27, were some of these early
> pioneers. These over the air pay channels didn't last more
> than a year or so.
You are correct. KTXA 21 had "OnTV"..KDAF33 hd "VUE"TV,andKTWS(KDFI) 27 had "Preview" Vue"last 18 months ,the others one year.
>
>
> I think that USDTV is destined to fail. With cable available
> to most and satellite to all, I just don't see much of a
> market for a five channel cable service.
>
> Additionally, the original purpose of digital television was
> to provide free over-the-air HDTV, not multi-channel pay
> services. The only thing that the pay channels are going to
> do is to reduce the overall bandwidth available for HD,
> resulting in more compression and lower picture quality.
>
> Unfortunately, consumers generally prefer quantity over
> quality.
>
> It also should be noted that a similar concept was tried and
> failed in the early 80's. Some analog UHF stations provided
> a pay movie service via a scrambled signal that could be
> decoded with special set top box. I believe that KTXA-21
> Dallas, and maybe channel 27, were some of these early
> pioneers. These over the air pay channels didn't last more
> than a year or so.
You are correct. KTXA 21 had "OnTV"..KDAF33 hd "VUE"TV,andKTWS(KDFI) 27 had "Preview" Vue"last 18 months ,the others one year.
>
M
Mediafrog
Guest
Re: USDTV
> You are correct. KTXA 21 had "OnTV"..KDAF33 hd
> "VUE"TV,andKTWS(KDFI) 27 had "Preview" Vue"last 18 months
> ,the others one year.
VUE moved from 33 to 27 for the last months of its existence, IIRC. OTA subsciption television might have had a better chance at success if it had launched a few years earlier. However in the early 80's cable had started to take hold, and offered much more at a cheaper price. The three services mentioned above all wanted $22-25/month for one channel and relatively few hours of what was for the most part, pretty crappy programming.
Towards the end, some of these services were actually selling (opposed to leasing) their receiver/converter boxes, which of course became completely useless when those companies went belly up. Wonder how many of those are still floating around somewhere, perhaps used as a paper weight or doorstop?
BTW, 33 was KNBN back in the VEU days.
> You are correct. KTXA 21 had "OnTV"..KDAF33 hd
> "VUE"TV,andKTWS(KDFI) 27 had "Preview" Vue"last 18 months
> ,the others one year.
VUE moved from 33 to 27 for the last months of its existence, IIRC. OTA subsciption television might have had a better chance at success if it had launched a few years earlier. However in the early 80's cable had started to take hold, and offered much more at a cheaper price. The three services mentioned above all wanted $22-25/month for one channel and relatively few hours of what was for the most part, pretty crappy programming.
Towards the end, some of these services were actually selling (opposed to leasing) their receiver/converter boxes, which of course became completely useless when those companies went belly up. Wonder how many of those are still floating around somewhere, perhaps used as a paper weight or doorstop?
BTW, 33 was KNBN back in the VEU days.
Re: USDTV
> I think that USDTV is destined to fail. With cable available
> to most and satellite to all, I just don't see much of a
> market for a five channel cable service.
>
It's more than 5 channels. They can offer 5 channels per station that they work with. In the DFW market, that's KTAQ-DT, KMPX-DT and KPXD-DT. They should have 12 to 15 channels for $19.95 a month.
I think it's kind of pointless, but who knows. There may be enough people fed up with huge cable bills who don't want satellite or a lot of cable channels who will find this kind of thing appealing.
> I think that USDTV is destined to fail. With cable available
> to most and satellite to all, I just don't see much of a
> market for a five channel cable service.
>
It's more than 5 channels. They can offer 5 channels per station that they work with. In the DFW market, that's KTAQ-DT, KMPX-DT and KPXD-DT. They should have 12 to 15 channels for $19.95 a month.
I think it's kind of pointless, but who knows. There may be enough people fed up with huge cable bills who don't want satellite or a lot of cable channels who will find this kind of thing appealing.
M
Mediafrog
Guest
Re: USDTV
> There may be
> enough people fed up with huge cable bills who don't want
> satellite or a lot of cable channels who will find this kind
> of thing appealing.
Sort of the same philosophy that the 2 GHz MMDS services use...handful of channels at a cheap price, word of mouth promotion.
> There may be
> enough people fed up with huge cable bills who don't want
> satellite or a lot of cable channels who will find this kind
> of thing appealing.
Sort of the same philosophy that the 2 GHz MMDS services use...handful of channels at a cheap price, word of mouth promotion.
C
CW
Guest
> Hey there i have a question about convertor boxes the kind
> that changes the analog signal to a digital sigal my
> question is where can you get one and what brand do yall
> recommend getting b/c when i go to Radio Shack the employees
> dont seem to know what im talking about Thanks in advace for
> any information
There is no analog to digital boxes except at TV stations that use it to convert the analog signal to ATSC format for transmitting on their digital channel. What consumers need is a digital convertor so they can watch on their analog TVs..Check Circuit City and Best Buy...Both have HDTV receiver boxes..
The Motorola one at Ckt City is cheapest ($199) and works good from what I have read.
NOTE: without a HD monitor, you will only see Standard Def signals regardless of what you pick up...For complete HD, you need a HD monitor with this receiver to see 720 or 1080 HD formats...otherwise, you are no better off than analog.
> that changes the analog signal to a digital sigal my
> question is where can you get one and what brand do yall
> recommend getting b/c when i go to Radio Shack the employees
> dont seem to know what im talking about Thanks in advace for
> any information
There is no analog to digital boxes except at TV stations that use it to convert the analog signal to ATSC format for transmitting on their digital channel. What consumers need is a digital convertor so they can watch on their analog TVs..Check Circuit City and Best Buy...Both have HDTV receiver boxes..
The Motorola one at Ckt City is cheapest ($199) and works good from what I have read.
NOTE: without a HD monitor, you will only see Standard Def signals regardless of what you pick up...For complete HD, you need a HD monitor with this receiver to see 720 or 1080 HD formats...otherwise, you are no better off than analog.
> NOTE: without a HD monitor, you will only see Standard Def
> signals regardless of what you pick up...For complete HD,
> you need a HD monitor with this receiver to see 720 or 1080
> HD formats...otherwise, you are no better off than analog.
>
I respectfully disagree with your last statement. While it is true that without a HD monitor you cannot watch HD programming, standard def ATSC still blows analog NTSC away. Even with an analog set, you can still get 480i video, which is DVD quality, and digital audio. Plus, with many stations offering sub-channels, you get 2-3 times as many channels.
I have my set top box running 480i to an analog 32" Panasonic Tau Flat Screen via s-video, and the picture is still stunning, compared to analog over the air and what I can get from Directv. Plus, Monday Night Football in Dolby Digital 5.1 is most excellent.
> signals regardless of what you pick up...For complete HD,
> you need a HD monitor with this receiver to see 720 or 1080
> HD formats...otherwise, you are no better off than analog.
>
I respectfully disagree with your last statement. While it is true that without a HD monitor you cannot watch HD programming, standard def ATSC still blows analog NTSC away. Even with an analog set, you can still get 480i video, which is DVD quality, and digital audio. Plus, with many stations offering sub-channels, you get 2-3 times as many channels.
I have my set top box running 480i to an analog 32" Panasonic Tau Flat Screen via s-video, and the picture is still stunning, compared to analog over the air and what I can get from Directv. Plus, Monday Night Football in Dolby Digital 5.1 is most excellent.
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