DTV Converters and Info

I saw that they finally have the DTV converters in the stores. I noticed last week a thread on here about them. Someone said that they could not get the analog signal now, at least not without some wiring changes to the antenna connections. I seem to have lost the thread on here, so I am starting a new one.

I just signed up for my coupons. They expire after 90days, so I wanted to make sure the stores had the converters in stock first. I saw them at Walmart. The 4 stores that carry them are Walmart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Circuit City.

While looking at all the info, I found the list of approved brands. Some of them WILL pass the analog signal as well as the digital. Here is the exact copied list from their site. Those with a star "*" will pass the analog signal. I definately want one of them. (The list is below). Walmart only had two of them. Magnavox and RCA.

I hope this list helps others.

Now, I have some questions. Has anyone found an online source that tells the features and rates them? Or what about "Consumer Reports" or some such thing? Please post if you find anything......

One other question. I noticed when I signed up online they did not ask me for my email address, just name and mailing address, and what type of tv reception I have. My reason for asking this is because I need to sign my mother up to get the coupons. She's elderly, and not able to go to stores anymore. She does not have a computer or understand any of this sort of thing. In fact when I told her she got all upset and thought she would be without tv. She lives quite a distance from me. so I will have to get her coupons, and buy and install it for her. I was wondering if anyone knew if they track our URL when we sign up, because I will have to do that for her. Of course I will use her name and address, so it's just the URL tracking that could be a problem. Anyone know?

Here's the list. As I said, those with a "*" are for both DTV and Analog. (If anyone sees those models, please say what store you found them, because I live in a rural area and do not have access to any of those stores except Walmart, and will have to travel considerable distance to get to them.

------ Copied from:

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Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes (CECB)

The NTIA will maintain a list of approved CECBs to distribute to consumers and participating retailers.

The following is the list of approved CECBs.

AMTC AT-2016

AccessHD DTA1020U

AccessHD DTA1020D

AccessHD DTA1010D

AccessHD DTA1010U

Apex DT1001

Apex DT1002

Artec T3A

Artec T3APro

CASTi CAX-01

COSHIP N9900T

DIGITAL STREAM D2A1D20

DIGITAL STREAM D2A1D10

DIGITAL STREAM DTX9900

DIGITAL STREAM DX8700*

DIGITAL STREAM DSP7700T*

DIGITAL STREAM DSP7500T

DIGITAL STREAM DSP6500R

ECHOSTAR TR-40*

GE 22730

GE 22729

Goodmind DTA900

Goodmind DTA980

Goodmind DTA1000

Insignia NS-DXA1

Kingbox K8V8

Lasonic LTA-260

Lasonic LTR-260

Magnavox TB100MW9

Magnavox TB-100MG9*

MaxMedia MMDTVB03

MicroGEM MG2000

Microprose MPI-500

Mustek MAT-K50

OLEVIA DTA100

Philco TB150HH9*

Philco TB100HH9*

RCA DTA 800B

RCA DTA 800A

Sansonic FT300RT

Sansonic FT300A

Skardin DTR-0727

Synergy Global Supply SYN2009

TATUNG TDB3000

Tivax STB-T9

VENTURER STB7766G

ZINWELL ZAT-856

Zenith DTT900

Zentech DF2000

Zinwell ZAT-857

*The manufacturer has indicated that these models are capable of passing analog signals through to the TV set.
Reply to
letterman
Loading thread data ...

From AVSFORUM tests and a Consumer Reports blog, the 4 converters currently available rank as follows in terms of reception (with "1" being best):

1) Zenith - available at Circuit City & possibly Radio Shack 2) Insignia - should be the same as Zenith, available at Best Buy 3) Magnavox - Walmart 4) RCA - Walmart

I'll be buying based on digital reception capabilities - it doesn't make long-term sense to buy a box with analog pass-through (which will be useless in less than a year) if it cannot receive digital signals well.

Jean

Reply to
Jean

To answer the last part of the question, regarding tracking url's for the rebate forms, I doubt anyone knows for sure. But I'd wager

99.999% that they don't. It makes sense to track name and address because that is how they must be distributed and limited by law. I can't imagine them caring about URL's. It would be a huge boondoggle and has nothing to do with who gets what.
Reply to
trader4

Could you post the links? I checked the avsforum site and didn't see any front page links to the review.

Reply to
Tony Sivori

I don't understand i thought the whole idea of these converters were to transfer digitally channels through an ota ( analog antennas )..why would they make the issue more confusing by making converters minus the anolog connections?

Reply to
Anthona

Low-power stations that a lot of bigger cities have are not required to convert to digital only. If you don't have a converter that will pass the low-powered analog signals thru, you won't get them. If you don't have such stations in your area, or don't watch them, it doesn't matter.

Reply to
mwlogs

Translator stations (these rebroadcast some other station) are exempt too. However, there seem to be even fewer of those than low power stations.

[snip]
Reply to
Mark Lloyd

snipped-for-privacy@invalid.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I noticed today that when I changed my TV from Ch.3 converter output to Ch.9,that the analog station was displayed,but very snowy compared to usual reception. the same happens for other channels.

Magnavox TB100MW9 converter. The MG9 has analog pass-thru. It's probably just an input relay and front panel switch that's the difference.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Heh. I was in a hurry and didn't research it enough, but -MW9 was apparently the only model the local Wally World carried, unless the boxes at the bottom of the stack were the other model. Best Buy had the Insignia model, which I passed on because it was ten bucks more. No matter- analog pass-through isn't a major problem, I just split the antenna, and feed the converter signal to the video inputs, with normal signal going to the RF. On the main TV with the satt box, DVD, VCR, etc, there was an open port on the mechanical switch box.

I'm pretty happy so far, but obviously need a better set of rabbit ears or roof antenna, to nail the channel 3 digital signal. All the others within 50 miles seem to come in okay.

aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

note digital is either there or not or badly pixeled, that blocky look.

but at times when analog may have given you snow or ghosts digital may give you blank screen

Reply to
hallerb

Or just use a coax switch.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

For the Consumer Reports blog:

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The overall ranking of the 4 units is based on wading through hundreds of postings in the forum and two newsgroups. For the forum, look at the following threads:

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?t=980052&page=1
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?t=934600&page=1 For the newsgroups, try a "google newsgroup" search on the two groups below. (I think it was in one of those 2 groups that one guy actually tested all four converters under the same conditions): alt.video.digital-tv alt.tv.tech.hdtv

Jean

Reply to
Jean

Except in rural areas -- translators are the only transmitters we can get -- they're from 60-75 miles distant; the "real" stations are 225.

I'm figuring there's a good chance we'll be w/o any reception owing to the distance. :(

--

Reply to
dpb
[snip]

I don't need one, having no low power or translator stations I can get. However, I've seen them for sale in a lot of places that sell A/V accessories.

Wal-Mart has some now. I've gotten one at Lowe's. The one I use now is automatic (switching based on presence of video).

[snip]
Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Don't spend $40 on a switch box.

Sometimes I see receivers that goes on sale for $150. You get a switch box plus a lot more. You can also look into your local craigslist for used receivers. You don't need to have extra speakers if you don't want to, just pipe the output to the TV. A lot of people are selling their otherwise fine receivers because it doesn't switch the digital video (hdmi), so you should be able to find something decent for $100 and will work well with your TV.

You can also look at

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for audio cables and switch boxes.

Raymond

Reply to
nospam.tv

Reply to
w_kang

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