Consumer Reports: Best Digital TV Converter Box

This article ranks the top 14 boxes
http://forbestadvice.com/Shopping/Co...verterBox.html

Top 4 Converter Boxes for Picture Quality

* Tivax STB-T9 - ($70)
* Lasonic LTA-260 -
* Sansonic FT300A - ($60)
* Microgem MG2000 - ($65)

Many of the boxes are not listed on Amazon.com and none are $40 which
the government said would be a price boxes could be purchased with
their $40 coupons.

How many of those $40 coupons will expire as people wait for the
promised $40 digital converter TV boxes?

I'd like to make a recommendation for the $40 coupon on this blog
article
http://morenoodlesplease.blogspot.co...igital-tv.html

Noodles wrote:
This article ranks the top 14 boxes
http://forbestadvice.com/Shopping/Co...DigitalTV-Conv
erterBox.html

Top 4 Converter Boxes for Picture Quality

* Tivax STB-T9 - ($70)
* Lasonic LTA-260 -
* Sansonic FT300A - ($60)
* Microgem MG2000 - ($65)

Many of the boxes are not listed on Amazon.com and none are $40 which
the government said would be a price boxes could be purchased with
their $40 coupons.

How many of those $40 coupons will expire as people wait for the
promised $40 digital converter TV boxes?

I'd like to make a recommendation for the $40 coupon on this blog
article
http://morenoodlesplease.blogspot.co...rts-best-digit
al-tv.html

I don't recall anyone saying the boxes would be $40.
Can you supply a link for your claim? The way I
remember, the government said they would reimburse
everyone up to $40.

Chip

--
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wrote:
Noodles wrote:
This article ranks the top 14 boxes
http://forbestadvice.com/Shopping/Co...DigitalTV-Conv
erterBox.html

Top 4 Converter Boxes for Picture Quality

* Tivax STB-T9 - ($70)
* Lasonic LTA-260 -
* Sansonic FT300A - ($60)
* Microgem MG2000 - ($65)

Many of the boxes are not listed on Amazon.com and none are $40 which
the government said would be a price boxes could be purchased with
their $40 coupons.

How many of those $40 coupons will expire as people wait for the
promised $40 digital converter TV boxes?

I'd like to make a recommendation for the $40 coupon on this blog
article
http://morenoodlesplease.blogspot.co...rts-best-digit
al-tv.html

I don't recall anyone saying the boxes would be $40.
Can you supply a link for your claim? The way I
remember, the government said they would reimburse
everyone up to $40.

Chip



I was gonna say the same thing, so I'll just second your comment.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

What I remember is the $40 was chosen because they thought places like
BestBuy would sell boxes at cost of about $40 to get people in the
stores to try and up sell new TVs.

The poor could ignore the sales pitch and get what they need to watch
TV at near zero cost, part of the justification to take the airwaves
away in the first place to resell. Now it seems the poor will have to
pay $ if they want to continue to watch their TVs.

Noodles wrote:
What I remember is the $40 was chosen because they thought places like
BestBuy would sell boxes at cost of about $40 to get people in the
stores to try and up sell new TVs.

The poor could ignore the sales pitch and get what they need to watch
TV at near zero cost, part of the justification to take the airwaves
away in the first place to resell. Now it seems the poor will have to
pay $ if they want to continue to watch their TVs.



I wonder how many of these companies will disappear when the coupon
program is over..?
Eric

On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:06:57 -0700, Noodles wrote:

What I remember is the $40 was chosen because they thought places like
BestBuy would sell boxes at cost of about $40 to get people in the
stores to try and up sell new TVs.

Then you have a bad memory. The gov. *estimated* cost to be between $50
and $70. They never promised anything except to offset the cost by $40.

The poor could ignore the sales pitch and get what they need to watch TV
at near zero cost, part of the justification to take the airwaves away
in the first place to resell. Now it seems the poor will have to pay $
if they want to continue to watch their TVs.

Yep. They might have to spend about $10. That's what the two boxes I
bought from Walmart cost with the coupon. They have 2 models at $49.87.





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My Tivo Experience http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/tivo.htm
Tivo HD/S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm
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"Noodles" wrote in message
...
This article ranks the top 14 boxes

http://forbestadvice.com/Shopping/Co...italTV-Convert
erBox.html

Top 4 Converter Boxes for Picture Quality

* Tivax STB-T9 - ($70)
* Lasonic LTA-260 -
* Sansonic FT300A - ($60)
* Microgem MG2000 - ($65)

Many of the boxes are not listed on Amazon.com and none are $40 which
the government said would be a price boxes could be purchased with
their $40 coupons.

How many of those $40 coupons will expire as people wait for the
promised $40 digital converter TV boxes?

I'd like to make a recommendation for the $40 coupon on this blog
article

http://morenoodlesplease.blogspot.co...-best-digital-
tv.html

This site lists the Zenith DTT900 at $180? Not the DTT901 (with analog
pass-through and fixed audio) but the DTT900?

It's this and the "never heard of" brands that rank at the top that leaves
me to think this page isn't worth the bits its made of.

"pirate" wrote in message
...

"Noodles" wrote in message
...
This article ranks the top 14 boxes

http://forbestadvice.com/Shopping/Co...italTV-Convert
erBox.html

Top 4 Converter Boxes for Picture Quality

* Tivax STB-T9 - ($70)
* Lasonic LTA-260 -
* Sansonic FT300A - ($60)
* Microgem MG2000 - ($65)

I have not seen the Consumer Reports printed article yet,
but do they consider the following in their ratings:

1) Immunity to static and dynamic multipath reception
conditions.
2) Sensitivity for weak signals.
3) Rejection of adjacent channels.
4) Overload from very strong signals.

These are more important than the picture quality since the
most important characteristic will be getting a usable
signal to display anything at all.

David

Wes Newell wrote:

On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:06:57 -0700, Noodles wrote:

What I remember is the $40 was chosen because they thought places like
BestBuy would sell boxes at cost of about $40 to get people in the
stores to try and up sell new TVs.

Then you have a bad memory. The gov. *estimated* cost to be between $50
and $70. They never promised anything except to offset the cost by $40.

The poor could ignore the sales pitch and get what they need to watch TV
at near zero cost, part of the justification to take the airwaves away
in the first place to resell. Now it seems the poor will have to pay $
if they want to continue to watch their TVs.


Yep. They might have to spend about $10. That's what the two boxes I
bought from Walmart cost with the coupon. They have 2 models at $49.87.


this whole date restricted coupon thing
is a clear disaster

how do you like your two boxes from Walmart?

how many hours of TV guide info do they provide?

if one (or both) have a remote, would you
state which, thanks

fwiw, solidsignal now shows echostar as maybe
arriving in July; manufacturer suggested price
is now $80 ( ! up from $40 6 weeks ago)

i got a Channel Master (7000?) from SS 3 weeks ago
($80 +10 shipping, now at $70; decent unit w/remote)

thanks for info on the WM units, bill

On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:23:04 -0500, willbill wrote:

Wes Newell wrote:
Yep. They might have to spend about $10. That's what the two boxes I
bought from Walmart cost with the coupon. They have 2 models at $49.87.

this whole date restricted coupon thing is a clear disaster how do you
like your two boxes from Walmart?

They worked fine.

how many hours of TV guide info do they provide?

2 hours iirc.

if one (or both) have a remote, would you state which, thanks

All CECB's come with a remote. It's a requirement.

fwiw, solidsignal now shows echostar as maybe arriving in July;
manufacturer suggested price is now $80 ( ! up from $40 6 weeks ago)

All I know is you can't order one on dtvpal.com yet.

i got a Channel Master (7000?) from SS 3 weeks ago ($80 +10 shipping,
now at $70; decent unit w/remote)

I didn't really didn't need any. I gave away the 2 I bought to someone
that did need them.





--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
My Tivo Experience http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/tivo.htm
Tivo HD/S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm
AMD cpu help http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php