  Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3916 Registered: 11-2005 |
So yes, I am behind the times and have an old TV. I got a coupon for a convertor box but am annoyed that if I want to buy one online I have to use this list of approved vendors. I have never heard of any of these. If I want to buy from a well known store I have to go in person. Does anyone know anything about any of the sites on this list? Thanks. https://www.dtv2009.gov/Vendor Search.aspx | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1202 Registered: 11-2007 |
Pam - I am on a fringe area, without any cable, have you heard of any signal improvement with the box? Can't find an answer online. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3917 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: I saw the answer to that today but I can't find it now. I think it is supposed to. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12422 Registered: 12-2003 |
Good luck using that coupon, please let me know the moment you cash it in successfully. Read the fine print...there is an expiration date, as far as I know. I heard something about it on NPR, but didn't catch the whole thing. If you could scan it and post it here, that would be the bomb. As for fringe signal reception, it truly is a crapshoot. You will need a rooftop antenna, and possibly a rotor. You'll be able to look up the signal broadcast area on-line, there should be a link off the FCC website...I'll see if I can find it. Even within decent coverage, we've found that there is still considerably more ART than science to this. Get ready for the backlash to begin, this is where you find out which side of the digital divide you really are on...feel free to start mini-riots in every national chain that doesn't have answers for you when you walk in! Cheers, I guess it is time to finally end my sabbatical from the Home Entertainment Electronics industry and start my critique magazine called AudioVideo INsanity. Inertia is a motherfucker. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12429 Registered: 12-2003 |
Bigb, You asked, "I am on a fringe area, without any cable, have you heard of any signal improvement with the box? Can't find an answer online." IF you get a signal, it will look prettier than the old one, even on a standard television. Digital signal transmission all but eliminates the old style of signal distortion from loss due to distance. IF you can grab it cleanly. If not, it is some of the most frustrating garbled breakup in both image and sound possible...completely unwatchable, unlike that fuzzy snowy picture that you could almost make out...but always have enough sound to be useful. The way MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group, the fine folks who decided upon all the technical stuff) error correction works, only the stuff in motion...or which changes frame-by-frame...is updated. I've found that moving humans have the leading edges of their silhouettes breakdown the quickest with weak signal, and having the digital micro- and macro-blocks imprint themselves on such a familiar form is un-nerving in the least. It ain't your father's television any more...believe what I say...when it is right, with a new high-resolution screen properly setup, and proper sources and signal...along with decent BROADCAST (they've finally really got their act together mostly)...it is like looking through the looking glass into another world. With good signal, and also with proper television setup, an old standard set will never have looked better. It is pretty easy to 'dumb-down' the high-res signal for playback on a set you don't want to get rid of just yet. You will need a box for every set in your house, unless you want them all watching the same channel. But then, you'll probably need to call someone like me to do the wiring. Cheers | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3918 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: Yes, it is only good for 90 days. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12436 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thanks, Pam, that is it. Problem IS, at the point of that NPR article a month or so ago, there were NONE in the distribution pipeline AT ALL. With none on the horizon...which is quite curious. Making that piece of paper worth quite a bit less than $40 or whatever that 'discount' is. Do they say what these boxes are going to sell for? I thought they've said $300 retail, putting it's cost for the retailer somewhere between $180 and 210, given the relatively standard COGS (cost of goods sold) in electronics of 60-70% of advertised retail pricing (in some very rare instances, it can be as high as 80%, but standard brick-n-mortar retailers cannot exist with their gross profit margin much below 30%). So, a $40 discount coupon is well within what a savvy buyer would probably find off the regular retail price...for promotional loss leader types of goods. No coupon necessary...which, unfortunately is OFTEN the case at retail. Coupons are another game played on unsuspecting consumers. Buy NOW! (not a bad time to listen to Step Right Up...Tom Waits at his finest!) Expect your retailer to 'suggest' connection cables and other accessories to pad their profit margins...not unlike car dealers and their installed accessories, this is their easiest way to increase the margin on the sale. (Some of these accessories ARE necessary, and some will actually improve the performance of the product, so I'm not dis'ing all accessories by any stretch of the imagination.) I'm NOT saying any of this is a bad thing...just giving y'all some of the back story. The HDTV switchover was designed from the start to be a moneymaker for the CE industry...but mainly for the government, with the 'sell-off' of the current TV channel frequencies to the providers of all these wireless thingies of which we've all grown so fond. You are all required to put some into the kitty for your television viewing pleasure. I'll call it a forced tax to subsidize those wireless industry company's access to OUR public airwaves. (just please forget the last wave of frequency leases...some of them fell apart and were allowed to be unpaid and unused by the FCC after the dot-com crash...and this 'income' from the digital television switchover has been in federal government budget projections for a decade or more, greedy bastards chomping at the bit for more cashola!) Cheers! | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3919 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: I've been checking prices. They are not too bad. I've seen some for 45.00-60.00. I wouldn't even be thinking about getting one if the coupon wasn't a big help. I think I am going to go the online order/store pickup route with Circuit City. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12440 Registered: 12-2003 |
Whoa! I've forgotten the Chinese discount on all manufactured items...that original $300 retail is from five years ago. heh So, they lowered the price to quell the rioting...not a bad move. Let me know if you have any difficulty with it, don't bother buying any extended warranty...those are usually the WORST 'accessory' to add to any CE purchase! (especially one with no moving parts beyond the buttons) Don't expect any electronics you buy worth less than a hundred bucks to last longer than a few years, though...especially DVD players! | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1209 Registered: 11-2007 |
I heard some place that they were supposed to extend the expiration date of the cards. Mine expire June 6th. Otherwise whats to keep retailers from holding inflated prices until this summer? Unless you have major disposable income in the United States, you are screwed on Telecommunications, unlike Ghana,The Philippines,and other third world countries. Fallujah has better cell coverage than I do. Whatever happened to the billion dollar tax breaks we gave the Telecom companies some years back for lowcost high speed access for all? | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12445 Registered: 12-2003 |
They took it and researched the restricted Internet that we will be getting soon. They have allowed this wild-west behavior to show a multitude of bad skin...from pornography to tiny-penis spam to sales, use, and tobacco/liquor tax avoidance...IN ORDER TO force the populace into accepting their much more profitable second tier Internet. Watch for it... | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1211 Registered: 11-2007 |
I've been following that scenario for years. The FCC just uses the public domain and endless tax dollar give aways for a select few mega corporations, especially in the last 7 years. Coincidence? | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3921 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: I might need the antenna adaptor they mention here. Do you happen to have one laying around?  http://www.dtvtransition.org/d ownloads/converter_qsg.pdf | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3922 Registered: 11-2005 |
Never mind about the adaptor Gannon, I found one. | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 733 Registered: 05-2006 |
"I've forgotten the Chinese discount on all manufactured items...that original $300 retail is from five years ago. heh " Gannon, the $40-$65 boxes are strictly analog to digital, not HDTV. They convert the signal back to a 480 res signal usable on old TV'S. The more expensive ones you mention are HDTV. I bought one about a year and a half ago for my 52" projection HDTV-ready TV. It works great with my roof top antenna. It was almost $200 and still is. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12450 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thanks, Wash_man, I haven't seen the basic boxes yet. Pam, I do have a few of those hanging around here...they used to be free with every VCR, and I cannot throw out useful stuff that I might fork over $10 later at Radio Shack. Plus, in conjunction with the reverse adapter, they are great ground loop isolators for when the cable guy didn't install things properly and you get that scrolling horizontal bar on the screen, or some hum in the hifi connected to it! Cheers | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 165 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, Mr. Retailer, I would like to purchase this conversion box, Here is a coupon card with an official govt hologram on it, Give box please. | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1219 Registered: 11-2007 |
I barely caught on the channel 7 news, a story on a box manufacturer that will sell them for $39.95. Except for tax, they're free. I thought the company name was Echo, but I'm not sure, and I can't find the story online yet. Just a heads up for us po' folk. | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 734 Registered: 05-2006 |
It was Echostar. $39.95. It is mentioned at the end of this video clip: http://www.wxyz.com/mediacente r/local.aspx?videoId=10820@wxyz.dayport.com&navCatId=41 | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12463 Registered: 12-2003 |
Not surprised that Echostar would do such a thing. They are one of the best and smartest companies in the content provider business. I'm sure they used their main equipment supplier and easily packaged some circuit that was already designed, then decided to collect the addresses of everyone who would need such a thing. They will use this information to try to upsell these individuals into satellite once they realize that digital reception in the fringe isn't what it is supposed to be. It is a great advertising expense for them! | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1222 Registered: 11-2007 |
Thanks for the info, Wash_ Now if they sell that at a retail store.... | ||
1st_sgt Member Username: 1st_sgt Post Number: 144 Registered: 11-2006 |
Here you go. http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/W elcome.aspx Click on choose antenna. Give them your zip code. Click on building type and if there are any obstructions. If it shows your area click continue. It will show the channel, azimuth and strength and indicate the type of antenna ( size) needed to pick up the reception. View street level to get a picture of where to point the antenna. I hope it gives you the info you need. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3929 Registered: 11-2005 |
quote: I got a Zenith box at Circuit City with the coupon. No need to riot. I need to tinker some more with it though, since I don't have any signal improvement. Must be the shite roof antenna in my building. I might try some rabbit ears. | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 166 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, Cool, I knew it would be an even trade. | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1685 Registered: 11-2003 |
What does the converter box actually do? I thought to receive DTV you needed a special antenna? Or is that HDTV? | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2972 Registered: 10-2003 |
East_detroit. The convertor box receives the new Digital channels and converts them to the old analog format. You don't need a new antenna. Your old antenna works just fine. The antenna doesn't care about the encoding of the signal, Your TV does. Think of the convertor box as being similar to the cable or satellite TV tuner boxes. They will be turning off the old analog stations next year. You will need the convertor box or a new TV to be able to receive over the air signals. Cable and Satellite TV will not require the box since they already have their own digital box systems. HDTV are the couple of higher resolution formats supported by DTV. DTV supports multiple resolution formats. The DTV formats also allow multiple subchannels to be sent over 1 digital signal. Most of the stations are already doing this. Channel 56 is transmitting three sub channels. 56-1 is the main HDTV national signal. 56-2 is the current 56 regular channel. 56-3 is the create subchannel that runs repeats of their art, home improvement and Kid's shows. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2662 Registered: 01-2004 |
I have a new VHS to DVD recorder, it has a digital tuner. If I hook an antenna to it, it would receive the digital signal. Im probably going to let my idiot box die next year. After a couple months you dont miss it. Now - they took the analog cell phone bands away, they are taking the analog VHF and UHF bands away, so my question is this: When do the analog radio waves get shut off ? Is that the last step of the "Analog Sunset" ? You know they are going to privatize those too. | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1687 Registered: 11-2003 |
Thanks, Ndavies... | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 12503 Registered: 12-2003 |
Mauser, That's why I'm surrounding myself with thespians, musicians, poets, dancers, writers, and philosophers. heh Who cares about national entertainment designed and marketed by corporations? If I never see another advertisement that strains my intelligence...or offends my sensibility...I'll live my life happily. Cheers | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 1769 Registered: 11-2007 |
Used the coupon card, and the unit sucks.And it does not work at all. Mejier just had the Phillips model, and for the ten bucks plus tax, it's worthless. And don't even ask me about the shit service from the Electronics woman, who used to read Romantic novels at a desk, but now has to deal with people, and work for a living, but can do neither. Screwed again by Corporate. Unless you can afford the $100/month cable/phone package. |
