# Digital Converter Boxes



## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

A few months ago I submitted the request for a couple of coupons for the digital converter boxes. I'm not really sure if I will use them for anything or not, but thought I might as well get them so if the need arose I would have them, at a discount. There are two situations in which I might use them. First, at church I "store" a nice tv in my office. Unfortunately the signal in my town is pretty much non-existent without a very good antenna, on a very high roof or tower. The best signal I can get with rabbit ears is snowy at best. I'm hoping that the digital signal might be better. All or nothing, and I'm hoping for closer to all. The only time I really miss not having a tv signal in my office is on Saturdays, when I have a wedding and Iowa or Iowa State is playing football.  The other place I might use one is with my Media Center laptop.

OK, so I've got the coupons. If I remember correctly they expire on July 11, so I have just over a month left to use them. Being a tight old skinflint, I don't want to put any more of my own money into these things than I have to, since I'm not even sure I'm really going to be using them. Has anybody used any of them yet? Which one? Any thoughts on how well the one you tried has worked? Right now I'm hoping to find one in stock by July 11. A month or so ago my local Wal-mart had several models in stock. I looked yesterday, and they had an RCA display unit on the shelf for $49, but none in stock. If they had it I could pick it up for $10, but if they don't have one, it doesn't matter what the price is.


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## ajc68 (Jan 23, 2008)

For $10 you've really got nothing to lose, and you can test it out immediately. If it doesn't work, you could probably sell it on ebay for a profit, or sell it to somebody else that needs it for $10.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The boxes are pretty scarce around here ... and $49+ in price. Having coupons that expire next month helps ... you can keep looking! 

Some of us early applicants are watching our coupons expire. I was waiting for the Echostar boxes (now called DTV Pal?) to come out but it looks like they won't be out for a couple more weeks. I ended up settling for other boxes ... and paying for the privilege ... but $40 off of $59 is better than $0 off of any price above $20. 

My coupons expire Thursday, so the purchase was made Tuesday ... just in time. The store I bought the boxes in was out of stock but was able to order them, delivered to my home, and apply the coupons. No extra charge for shipping. I got two of the Radio Shack $59 boxes. The clerk mentioned that he has a lot of problems with customers not understanding the program ... and a few that have arrived with expired coupons that are 100% worthless.

Other than that, choose wisely and be glad you have a month left to find and decide. Once you get your boxes there are no returns ... you can't get the $40 back. You might be able to talk a store into an exchange but you certainly can't get a refund at one store and replace the boxes at another. Just another challenge (but good to prevent people from converting the converters to cash).

PS: The Wal-Mart ones were the ones that I've heard complaints about ... although that could be the customer not understanding that digital TV isn't as trivial as analog TV to receive.


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## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

I see the expiring coupons as a real pain. I ordered mine, and a week later CNet was advising to wait a while to order them, because the better boxes were still coming, and the price is sure to drop. Great timing! 

My son is working at a Radio Shack (not a full line store, the guy he works for does computer sales and repair, and also carries a limited supply of RS stuff). He has advised me not to buy from them, because their prices are higher and the boxes they have don't seem to be the best. But their particular store does not have some of the boxes that RS has for sale online and that CNet has rated as being the better boxes.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

> ...He has advised me not to buy from (RS), because their prices are higher and the boxes they have don't seem to be the best.


I am just shocked to hear that!


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## Old Tv Watcher (Dec 23, 2007)

I bought two RCA converter boxes at Walmart with net price of $10.00 each using coupons. I've had them for a month and they work graet so far.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I'm moving this to the Broadcast/HDTV forum.


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## Scott in FL (Mar 18, 2008)

I bought two of the Insignia boxes from Best Buy and they work just fine. I chose Insignia because it is essentially the Zenith box which CNET rated as having the best tuner. That is very important to me as one of the boxes will be used at my daughter's house in a weak signal area and she needs the best tuner possible.

People are reporting that the Zenith/Insignia boxes have an audio problem: too much sibilance. But I don't notice it at all on our little 13" bedroom set. You might not like it if you pipe the audio through a stereo with good speakers.

Best Buy here in Ft Myers have a ton of them in stock.

You can read several good reviews at cnet.com


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

bogy said:


> First, at church I "store" a nice tv in my office. Unfortunately the signal in my town is pretty much non-existent without a very good antenna, on a very high roof or tower.


Here is the church
this is the steeple
put up the antenna
and watch Real People



Thank you! I'll be here all week!


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

Hi Bogy,
I got an insignia box from best buy due to the good reviews for this box. I am in a very bad signal location. All of the analog channels come in either not at all or so snowy that really you can only hear the audio. The insignia is able to pull in the digital channels fairly well. Our HDTV with a built in tuner has more trouble locking in the channels. So I would echo what was said before about being picky about the box, if you live in a fringe area.


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## TheDurk (Mar 8, 2007)

I paid $59-$40=$19 each for two Zenith boxes at CC. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of reception. I am 35 miles due west LOS from the Empire State and all NY/NJ stations are rock solid clear and I even get one Philly station at 60 miles and WAY off-axis on my rooftop antenna. Video quality is superior to the ancient Sony B-10 SD DirectTV receiver on that machine, if you don't mind letterbox on a 4:3 (I don't). Sound goes through my bedroom 3.1 channel AV and quality is good but line level seems low. Volume has to be increased a lot from where the B-10 is at. For $19, it's worth it as a backup source. Like Lee above, it does better than either my HDTV or my HR-20 with the same signal source--but SD of course.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

TheDurk said:


> I paid $59-$40=$19 each for two Zenith boxes at CC. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of reception. I am 35 miles due west LOS from the Empire State and all NY/NJ stations are rock solid clear and I even get one Philly station at 60 miles and WAY off-axis on my rooftop antenna. Video quality is superior to the ancient Sony B-10 SD DirectTV receiver on that machine, if you don't mind letterbox on a 4:3 (I don't). Sound goes through my bedroom 3.1 channel AV and quality is good but line level seems low. Volume has to be increased a lot from where the B-10 is at. For $19, it's worth it as a backup source. Like Lee above, it does better than either my HDTV or my HR-20 with the same signal source--but SD of course.


1. Which box do you have?

2. Do these have analog pass through?


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## Scott in FL (Mar 18, 2008)

lee635 said:


> Hi Bogy,
> I got an insignia box from best buy due to the good reviews for this box. I am in a very bad signal location. All of the analog channels come in either not at all or so snowy that really you can only hear the audio. The insignia is able to pull in the digital channels fairly well. Our HDTV with a built in tuner has more trouble locking in the channels. So I would echo what was said before about being picky about the box, if you live in a fringe area.


Just this update from a recent installation in a very poor reception area... My daughter lives in an area where analog reception is very ghosty and with snow. Antennaweb.org predicted that no digital signals would be received at this location. I purchased the Insignia (Zenith) box and a CM4221 4-Bay bow tie antenna, and installed a homebrew pre-amp with a 3.5 dB noise figure at the antenna. The antenna is installed in the attic, pointed towards Washington DC. The Insignia receives all of the Washington stations with no breakups.

The Insignia/Zenith really is a very good DTV converter. If you're waiting for an analog pass through box, you might want to wait for the Zenith DTT901. It's due to hit the stores in mid-July (Radio Shack told me they will accept phone orders with coupons on July 15). This new Zenith DTV converter has the latest LG chip set so you get the great reception with analog pass through.


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## ziggy29 (Nov 18, 2004)

Scott in FL said:


> Antennaweb.org predicted that no digital signals would be received at this location. I purchased the Insignia (Zenith) box and a CM4221 4-Bay bow tie antenna, and installed a homebrew pre-amp with a 3.5 dB noise figure at the antenna. The antenna is installed in the attic, pointed towards Washington DC. The Insignia receives all of the Washington stations with no breakups.


Antennaweb tends to be overly conservative and often doesn't list many channels that you will likely be able to receive.


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## gfrang (Aug 30, 2007)

I have 2 Zenith DTT900 boxes one i have hooked up to a 16 in tv in the kitchen.It works really good, i think it has the LG chipset ,fast channel changes.It doesn't have analog pass through but i think that you can split the antenna line coming into the box and go to rf in to tv or recorder.It only has a two program guide i would like to try a TR40 box when it comes out seen a video and it looks really nice.Before i got the box i had the tv slaved from my h-20 in the bedroom with a rf modulator worked but not too well,what i would like to try is a digital agile modulator to the Zenith box.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

Go to Radioshack or Circuit city and get the best box available for weak signals in fringe areas, the *Zenith DTT900 or DTT901*. Or go to BestBuy and get the *Insignia*. It's BestBuy's store brand of the exact same high performing Zenith box.

The guy at Radioshack you talked to is a complete idiot.


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