Digital Converter Box

I need to get a digital converter box for my TV. I have been looking around and reading some reviews about various ones and it seems that many of them ether don't work or have some sort of problems. (Typical for something the government has a hand in.)

I was just wondering if any one else has purchased one and if so if you have had any problems?

If you have been successful with your purchase which brand and model did you get?

Thanks

Do you use DishNetwork, Directv, or cable?? If so technically you dont need a Digital Converter box...If you watch TV from a aerial antennae and that station converts to all digital broadcast, then you would need a converter.

Glad you brought this up because just this afternoon I was thinking of doing the same.

I bought two Magnavox boxes at Wal-Mart with my government issued $40 coupons plus a little extra. I was told if I hooked them up it would improve my reception but just the opposite happened. I had to disconnect it to get my channels and clarity back. I was wondering if I had to wait until Feb 9, 2009 before they worked.

They are not going to flip the switch til Feb. Read in the news where the were going to do a test in some city this year to work out any bugs before they flip the switch. That is when you will need the box.

Bought one several months back just to try. Gets more channels, but has difficulty getting one that came in without fail before I installed the converter. Since I have DishNetwork with local channels, I likely will not use it much. My suggestion would be a new TV. The tuners in them are much better that the older sets.

I bought the Zenith and it works great. AL33 all of the major networks out of Atlanta are already broadcasting digital tv. The only problem with the Zenith box is that it is not a pass through box, meaning it will only pass digital signals and the analog signals will not show. Not all stations will go digital the very small stations may stay analog.

Just to clear things up........

Every over the air, full power broadcast station in the USA has a digital signal in the air right now......every single one of us.

There is no testing going on at all in any cities at this time. While there are some bugs to work out, there is no testing needed. In order for some stations to crank their digital transmitters up to full power they need some of the analog transmitters in nearby stations to turn off, as is the case for WATL channel 36 here in Atlanta. Some stations will be required to change their permanent channel assignment for their DTV signals as they are currently assigned temporary channels that are out of the core channels, about 1/3 of the stations in the US are facing that problem.

Low power TV stations are not required to go digital, and most will not. Having said that most people will never notice as they do not know they exist now.

I have owned and tested various of the set top boxes and have had good luck with Samsung, Zenith, LG, and Magnavox. As a matter of fact, my Samsung works significantly better than the $3k ATSC tuner we have at the station, go figure. In some cases you may have to realign the antenna to receive the stations digital signals as not all of the DTV and analog transmitters are colocated on the same towers. Additionally, I have found most folks do not need pre-amps with the new tuners and antennas, and adding a pre-amp at times overloads the front end of the ATSC set top boxes.

If you do not want to watch HD then there is no reason to buy a new TV. The electronics in the set top boxes are the same electronics in the tuning section of the new TVs, you just will get a converted analog signal and not the HD signal, keeping in mind that not all DTV programming is HD anyway. If you don't care about such things, the set top box is the way to go.

Al, you should be able to receive all of the channels very reliable in the Mayr'etta area, just make sure the antenna is pointed in the general direction of Buckhead. Having said that, you will possibly need to have a rotor on your antenna as WSB and WXIA are nowhere near the rest of us in ATL. There are 4 DTV signals coming off one tower near Briarcliff/N Druid Hills Rd (WUVG, WGCL, WTBS, and WATL,), and WAGA is just around the corner. You will need to re-allign to get WSB and WXIA as they are in a different direction from your house as the rest of us.

If you currently have cable or one of the dish companies you will see no change on Feb 18, 2009 when you wake up. Nothing will change. If you want to get rid of those guys and only watch local stations, you will need either the set top box or a new TV with a built in tuner in addition to an antenna.

Thanks guys for the great advice! I have an external antennae and had not thought about having to realign it. I have been watching TV with an external antennae since 1988 receiving channels 2, 5, 8, 11, 17, 30, 36, 46, and 69 getting great reception on almost all of them. I have always told myself, and the kids too when they were young and wanting cable, that if they couldn't find anything to watch on all these channels they needed to find something else to do.

I have not tried hooking up my second box to the other TV yet but will try it on that one and see how it works and then will adjust the antennae direction as suggested.

Thanks again, good thread gaowlpoop!

Here is a web site that you can punch in your address and it will tell what channels you can get and what direction to point your antenna.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

LIGHTNING said:

Here is a web site that you can punch in your address and it will tell what channels you can get and what direction to point your antenna.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

Click to expand...

So if I have Dish Network and a tv that is about 3 years old, I don't have to worry about getting one?

RackNBeardOutdoors said:

So if I have Dish Network and a tv that is about 3 years old, I don't have to worry about getting one?

Click to expand...

No, you will not need one.

Well I went and got one. I went to Rat Shack (yuck-first time I been in there in many years) and got the DigitalStream DTX9900. It works quite well. Just followed the instructions and all is well.