Satelliteguys.us First Look, Digital Transition Conversion Boxes.

[bnaivar]

I got my coupons this week. I was actually hoping they'd take a little longer to get here so they wouldn't expire before a decent box came out.

BTW: Save yourself a lot of trouble. THROW AWAY THE PUSH-ON COAXIAL CABLE!

 

[vurbano]

The whole purpose of this coupon program is to keep Granny from having to buy a new TV, just because the government wanted to change the broadcast format. It's not to give HD to the masses.

I know. It is silly that the coupon cannot be applied to the purchase price of any ATSC tuner that provides HD, digital and analog output. An old Voom box would be a perfect candidate for this.

 

[mdonnelly]

I know. It is silly that the coupon cannot be applied to the purchase price of any ATSC tuner that provides HD, digital and analog output. An old Voom box would be a perfect candidate for this.

Since this time last year, all new TV sets sold have had ATSC tuners, mandated by the FCC. When Granny wants to upgrade to HD, she can do it on her own nickel.

 

[Phoenix1]

I've never understood how boxes did otherwise. The guide data comes from the PSIP stream and only comes from the channel itself. If you're tuned to channel "5", how can it get PSIP data for channel "8" ? I have an older DirecTV HD set-top that I use for OTA (back-up now) and it's the same way. I have to cycle through the channels before the data fills in for all channels. Kinda annoying but we don't use it much at all, so I live with it.

In order to get PSIP data for non-tuned channels, I'd think it needs a 2nd tuner.

Correct. Most set top boxes for OTA and cable have an extra tuner that collects the PSIP data. So a "dual tuner" box actually has 3 tuners and a "quad tuner" model actually has 5.

 

[Peter Parker]

The purpose is to allow a consumer to continue to use their EXISTING ANALOG sets at minimal cost. It is being done because the govt mandated the change and profits by it. But there is no intent to allow someone to upgrade to a better set or use this with an HD set that for whatever reason has no tuner.

As it is we have posts accusing people of fraud,embezzlement and loose morals for applying for the coupons why can't we just apply for the coupons if we meet the eligibility requirements and use them for their intended purpose----continued TV reception on existing analog TVs instead of accusing people who want to use them for lawful purposes of being criminal---or of trying to modify the scope of the program now to give everyone a discount on a better tuner than the congress intended.

 

[Hall]

My Samsung SIR-TS160 must only have (1) OTA (ATSC) tuner then as I have to tune each channel to pull guide data. In it's defense, it's primarily a DirecTV HD set-top and the OTA portion is just an added benefit.

 

[PurpleRedbird]

I bought the Best Buy store-brand today and it works well. I was surprised that it actually found 22 digital channels in Central Illinois. I do have one question that hopefully somebody can answer for me.

I have two Dish receivers that I am using a ChannelPlus 5525 two-channel modulator on to make the channels available on all of my analog tvs. Is there a comparable product I can purchase that will transmit my Dish receiver content on a digital channel? I supposed I could buy a switch for each tv to go between analog and digital, but am looking for a better solution.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If this is posted in the wrong forum I apologize.

 

[Mike500]

I bought the Best Buy store-brand today and it works well. I was surprised that it actually found 22 digital channels in Central Illinois. I do have one question that hopefully somebody can answer for me.

I have two Dish receivers that I am using a ChannelPlus 5525 two-channel modulator on to make the channels available on all of my analog tvs. Is there a comparable product I can purchase that will transmit my Dish receiver content on a digital channel? I supposed I could buy a switch for each tv to go between analog and digital, but am looking for a better solution.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If this is posted in the wrong forum I apologize.

No, this box will not pass through analog channels. Just use a splitter on with one cable to the converter and another directly to the regular 75 ohm input to the TV. Use the rca cables to the composite input to the TV. The dish remote can be programmed to control the Video input. Just program the coaxial input of the tv tuner to receive only the channel to which the modulator is programmed.

 

[PurpleRedbird]

Thanks Mike500. I kind of assumed that's what I would need to do. I'll give it a try tonight.

 

[ciwsguy]

Does anyone know if any of these upcoming boxes will be HD capable as well with either HDMI or Component outputs? Would love to use the coupon to get a tuner for my HD Ready TV.

Sorry, but you can't do that with the coupon. That's not its purpose. Its purpose is to provide 480i analog only to legacy (i.e., old) TV's.

 

[GaryPen]

Do any of the coupon-eligible models have QAM capability, in addition to ATSC?

 

[Hall]

Probably not. I don't think having this would disqualify it from the coupon program but the add'l cost might keep it out of that range of boxes.

 

[Peter Parker]

Do any of the coupon-eligible models have QAM capability, in addition to ATSC?

No. Their purpose is to allow you to watch OTA broadcasts.

 

[Phoenix1]

I know a few of the models have tuners that are capable of receiving the QAM signals, but I doubt that they have QAM decoders in them.

 

[jessshaun]

I had better luck with the Magnavox one from Wal-Mart. The OTA tuner picks up more channels than my new HDTV does, and I can't find my remote right now, or I would tell you how to get to the guide. There IS a way to tell what's coming up on the channel you are on.

 

[Phoenix1]

Anybody catch these news articles today?

Microtune Claims Problems with Some DTV Converter Boxes

NTIA to Review Microtune DTV-Converter-Box Test Results

 

[eacalhoun]

I received my coupon over the weekend and went to my local Radio Shack and picked up the Zenith DTT900. I hooked it up and made comparisons of it to my previously installed Hisense (Wal-Mart) HDTV Converter box I got off Ebay about a year ago. Immediately, I realized I did not like the on-screen program guide layout on the Zenith. It navigates horizontally instead of a typical vertical fashion and only shows the current and next program -- the Hisense goes out several hours and is the common vertical layout. However, all of the menus and the intitial Zenith setup seem pretty straight forward and easy. A big plus is that the Zenith's reception sensitivity is better than my Hisense; I'm still tweaking and playing around with the antenna adjustments and I've already picked up 4 additional stations on the Zenith that the Hisense will not receive. And I have also realized this about my government coupon: I initially only requested one, but I discovered that I could request a second one so I submitted that request via www.dtv2009.gov Of course, two coupons are the maximum allowed but I previously thought that was limited to ONE request, until I re-visted the dtv2009 website. I would still like to get the Echostar box, so hopefully my second coupon will arrive late enough to still be valid once the Echostar unit is available.

 

[rhdj]

Does anyone know if these do analog passthrough. I have a lot of low power stations in my area, They will not switch to digital next year and Dish does not carrier any of them right now. I have my Coupons in hand just waiting for the right box.

 

[hdtvtechno]

Does anyone know if these do analog passthrough. I have a lot of low power stations in my area, They will not switch to digital next year and Dish does not carrier any of them right now. I have my Coupons in hand just waiting for the right box.

No

 

[Peter Parker]

No

Actually I believe that some dohave anlog passthrough.