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Got my coupon from the government when I was out of town. Got a Zenith box today from Circuit City, seemed as good as any. It cost $25 including tax, after the coupon.
So I started playing today. My antenna is a VHF rabbit ears with a UHF flat panel in between. I keep in on the 2nd floor and run a line down to the 1st floor. That has worked OK, reception ranges from excellent to poor, depending on the station.
The box first does an automatic cycle to detect stations. This was kind of exciting, because there were over 20 stations.
However, the rub was that some of the important ones were not picked up. While I had Spanish soccer and infomercials on UHF, I did not have ABC or PBS. Back to the drawing board.
I tried manually adding these important stations. This was partially successful. Then I decided to start from scratch. I chose the exact list of stations that I was interested in, looked them up, and added only those. I deleted all the others for now. Then I worked on trying to pick up the 9 stations that I really want (in analog, 7 of these are VHF, 2 are UHF).
I am practiced at tweaking antennas, and eventually I got 8 of the 9 coming in pretty well. This was a proof of concept for now...after the digital conversion, the actual channels will change location anyway, so there's no great utility to dialing it all in today.
The most annoying thing about the digital picture is the variable aspect ratio. In some cases, the traditional 4:3 picture filled up my traditional 4:3 screen and looked fine. In other cases, a smaller 4:3 box was placed inside black bars, effectively lowering the size of my picture. There were a number of channels which required me to switch my TV to 16:9 (a button on my remote)- then these would either be letter boxed or again boxed both horizontally and vertically.
There is no snow, however, a weak signal pixellates, then drops out completely. This is worse than snow.
In general, it's not great, but it appears to be workable.
Follow Ups:
I experienced some of the same reception issues/problems when I hooked up a convertor box at my dad's a couple of weeks ago. (See my post below.) He has an old combo rabbit ears VHF and loop UHF antenna, with separate leads for each. Not knowing any better, I hooked up both leads to the box (via an adapter). Reception was pretty good, but some stations were iffy/nonexistent at best. My dad later fiddled with the antenna leads and ended up disconnecting the VHF lead, leaving the UHF lead connected to the box. Voila--reception is now near-flawless, and my dad's a happy camper.
Russell
Well, before I read your post, I suspected that I could change the aspect ratio with this Zenith. Now that you've pointed me to the Zoom button, the aspect ration problems are solved.This has been a big step in the right direction. Depending on the broadcast itself, I can watch letterbox or full screen and the things that are supposed to be full screen are now really full screen.
The digital picture is really very nice. I am preferring it to analog, when available.
The rub remains reception. I have to mess with the antenna to pick up about half the channels. One channel barely comes in at all, unless I put the antenna up against a window, and even then it is marginal.
I tried your suggestion- no help. I've been hoping to hit a sweet spot, but after a lot of messing around, I am realizing the sweet spot varies with each channel. So today I plan to try an amplified antenna and see if that gets me there.
Once an antenna is reliably working, my own personal DTV conversion will be accomplished.
It's not all that easy. I can see a lot of dismayed people next February.
Later update: I found a Philips amplified antenna for $40 at Circuit City, checked the web, found out it is $30 at Walmart. I drove over and picked it up. Very carefully opened it, so that I could repack it and take it back. I did not expect much.
However, the amplification has brought me to an almost fully acceptable state. I am using the full 50 dB. I am reliably picking up all but 2 stations now, and I consider them both minor and unimportant. The other 2 stations seem to be watchable with careful antenna adjustment, but then I lose the fully stable configuration on everything else. So I am pretty much there.
Indoor antennas are very specific to location, but for the record, this is the Philips MAT510.
I would be curious to know about how far are you from the DTV transmitters and are they up high on a mountain top or on some high rise buildings? Are you "line of sight" to the transmitters or do you have a few obstructions in your "view"?
I believe we still have a handful of stations broadcasting DTV from high rise buildings downtown and another set of stations that are sharing a large tower on a mountain top. These transmitting locations are about 45-degrees apart. So in my case, I will either need to rotate the antenna about 45-degrees or get two of them pointed 45-degrees apart. Or... if the signals are strong enough, I could try an antenna that isn't too directional and point it in between the two transmitting locations.
I may head out to Best Buy today and see if I can find those Zenith DTV boxes. My coupons are good until August 4th. I believe the Zenith model number is DTT900?? What type of connections are on the back of this unit? How do you like the remote control?
Thanks!
According to a website I checked, I am about 35 miles from transmitters. They are up high on a mountain above Los Angeles, I believe. I am line of sight, however, as I said the antenna is inside a stucco building, so there are obstructions. If I put an antenna outside, I'd probably be fine, but I strongly resist that. The model number you have is correct. The connections are basic- coax in and out, then some audio plugs I did not use. The remote is also basic. Channel up and down, volume up and down, keypad for channel, then the set up buttons like signal strength. It's fine. The one thing I wish this had was an analog pass-through, so I could play with digital without changing cables.
Further progress: I did manage to pull in all 9 of the main TV stations in my area. The bad part is, I found no antenna configuration that pulled in all 9 at the same time. Maybe a better antenna gets me there. Maybe more playing around.
At any rate, I see the big debacle of this transition. A gradual picture degradation (more snow), one that I lived with, has been replaced by complete signal loss. This could get extremely annoying. I'm sure many people will simply be unable to get some of their stations. This really is going to upset them.
I couldn't find a Zenith. My Radio Shack told me they are back ordered and even the warehouse is out of them. I went ahead and got the Digital Stream DTX9900 which is also back ordered but not as bad. I should have it in a week delivered free to my home. Total cost to me was $23.05 with tax and the $40 coupon.
I still have a coupon so I may try to find a Zenith later.
If you're in the LA area, I suspect that most of the major TV / Radio stations will have their antennas high atop Mt. Wilson.
Digital Stream DTX9900
I bought a Zenith from Radio Shack, and wanted to get another one when I realized my coupon was about to expire. I called the store before I drove the 20 miles to make sure they had the Zenith converter. The store manager told me sure come on up, "we have a ton of them". Well, when I got there 5 hours later, the two Zeniths they had, had sold the previous day and the manager had left "an hour ago", according to the guy behind the counter. I was pissed. All they had were four boxes of Digital Stream DTX9900 Digital-to-Analog Converter Box's, (two of which had notes on them not to sell with the Gov. Coupons?).
With my time running out I had to take the Digital Stream box. If I did not like it, I had planned on returning it and giving the manager a tongue-lashing, (which I still might do for his deceitfulness). However, I like the Digital Stream more than the Zenith! You can blast through your favorite channels faster with the D.S. In addition, you can control TV volume and power, instead of just power as with the Zenith box.
I live 70 miles from Chicago; neither box will consistently pick up CBS. CBS is channel 2 on regular TV and difficult to watch with all the snow. I have a big Wineguard antenna with a power booster.
I have a US Digital HDTV box that I use on my downstairs TV. Its picture seems much smoother than either the Digital Stream or the Zenith boxes, (even on regular definition digital stations). However, the sound often does not match up perfectly with the picture. It is also a little slow switching channels. The US Digital can rarely pull in CBS here. Lucky for me CBS is moving to channel 12 before the Feb. 2009 deadline, which should tune in better.
Zenith and Insignia (Best Buy) are the same boxes made by LG of S Korea. My local Radio Shack doesn't have anymore Zenith but Best Buy has Insignia.
I'll have to check if RS has the Digital Stream box. They have a couple GE models which from what I have read, are junk.
The box to get is the EchoStar TR40 which isn't out yet... maybe later this summer. Apparently this model will be priced right at $39.95 AND have a friendly multi-day Electronic Program Guide (EPG) that the others do not. But I like the idea of the Digital Stream being able to control the TV volume. Thanks for that tip.
My coupons expire in August so I have to get something before then.
Thanks for the tip on Digital Stream.
Yes, that is what I was waiting for, the EchoStar TR-40. I remember the EchoStar TR-50 looked even more interesting!
It seems to me the Zenith did something important that the Insignia could not do. Yikes, it has only been three months since I researched this crap and it is already damn near gone!
Well, I went ahead and got the Digital Stream DTX9900 based on your comments and the fact that my local Radio Shack didn't have any Zenith models in stock or in the warehouse. Even the Digital Stream is back ordered but I should have it in about a week.
I may also get the Zenith later if I can find one. But for now, it's the Digital Stream DTX9900.
I'll be looking for a directional antenna that isn't too directional... something with more than a 45-degree beamwidth. This way, I should be able to point the antenna between the two main transmitting locations for my area. We'll see.
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