US Digital Television conversion

[Tone2TheBone]

Has anyone already purchased a digital tv converter box? For those of you not on cable or satellite? We live in the country so yeah we still use one of those big ole grandpa antennas. We have a widescreen "HD ready" tv and 2 old fashioned tvs but I was wondering if it's too early to apply for the $40 off coupon. I know most of you have fancy LCD HD tvs with direct access to digital but this question is for those that don't. Thanks for any info anyone posts. :bravo:

 

[thearabianmage]

Television is gash. Just play guitar.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I will have to look into one also. We use old tv's on cable out here in the sticks.

 

[marnold]

You can get them now. We're on cable so it's moot for us.

 

[WackyT]

I will have to look into one also. We use old tv's on cable out here in the sticks.

You won't need a converter box for televisions on cable, only for off-air (antenna) television.

Waiting for the Zenith DTT901 to be available at vendors real soon for my one off-air television in my bedroom. My main television in my living room is on DISH.

 

[SuperSwede]

We´ve had digital terrestial broadcast television for a while now, and it works really good.

You dont really need to get a HDTV but most boxes are capable of at least 720p output.

What you do need is a modern antenna because some older antennas doesnt work well with digital broadcasts.

 

[WackyT]

Went and picked up 2 of the Zenith DTT901 converter boxes today at the local Circuit City. They were $25 each after the $40 coupons. Reception is great with an old pair of rabbit ears on the TV. And analog pass through works great.

 

[aeolian]

I have 3 TV sets in the house. The first one is an old analog TV. I'll likely replace it with a digital TV some time this year. The second is a HD-ready TV which we bought in 2004. I bought a digital receiver to go with it. The digital receiver has input from a regular TV antenna sitting in my attic and it picks up all the local digital channel off the air. Like Superswede said it works really good. This TV setup will not be affected by the switch over as I'm already watching digital broadcast. The third TV is a digital LCD TV we bought a year and a half ago. This one has digital receiver built in and all I had to do was to connect my antenna hookup to it and I receive all the digital channels. It actually also picks up all the analog channels too but the digital picture is much better. In 2009 the analog channels will be taken off the air, but I don't think I will miss them.

My regular old VHF/UHF antenna works fine with these 3 different TVs. I actually bought an indoor powered antenna thinking that I needed it, but turns out my old antenna works even better than it. I have to point out I have sight line to the TV broadcasting towers so reception is not a problem.

 

[just strum]

We have six TV's (to keep up with the guitars I guess) and my wife picked up the boxes the other day. I was surprised at the difference. As for it being too early, I thought it was too late to be honest with you. Maybe it's the coupon itself that has an expiration date. My wife commented that there was only two days left to cash it in when she picked up ours.

We have six TV's and I only watch Seinfeld and concerts. Just another reason to have more guitars than TVs, the guitars get far more use.

 

[Rocket]

We have six TV's.

Jeopardy question: How many TV's does it take to distract a wingnut?

 

[just strum]

Jeopardy question: How many TV's does it take to distract a wingnut?

What is seven?

 

[just strum]

The three good ones were free, and people know my motto - Free Is Good.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Ok I bought one box so far. New question is...these converter boxes for analog televisions are (duh) converting digital signals into analog signals....right? If you have a HDTV that you bought brand new today...those receivers will actually be receiving pure digital signals ya?

So even if you use a digital conversion box...you're really not seeing a real digital signal with clear sight and sound on a standard analog tv....

right?

 

[aeolian]

Ok I bought one box so far. New question is...these converter boxes for analog televisions are (duh) converting digital signals into analog signals....right? If you have a HDTV that you bought brand new today...those receivers will actually be receiving pure digital signals ya?

So even if you use a digital conversion box...you're really not seeing a real digital signal with clear sight and sound on a standard analog tv....

right?

The answers are yes, yes, and yes. See my post from earlier in this thread.

The converter box receives digital signals and convert it to analog for analog TVs to display, this obviously will lose resolution.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

The answers are yes, yes, and yes. See my post from earlier in this thread.

The converter box receives digital signals and convert it to analog for analog TVs to display, this obviously will lose resolution.

But why do the infomercials about the conversion always mention how good the picture is going to be "in digital" after you purchase the box? To me that's misinformation on their part. Thanks aeolian that's how I "understood" it even though I wasn't sure. FWIW the stations do seem sharper in resolution though. Would the conversion from digital to analog still yield some amount of higher res than standard airwaves?

Edited to add: I have one of the last rear projection "HD" ready widescreens that Toshiba made. As far as I can tell from the manual it doesn't have an internal HD receiver but you can attach it to an external HDMI receiver to get digital signals. Trouble is most of those receivers are the home theater/amp types and are expensive as most MIM guitars. I don't know if I'm seeing the better resolutions because of the tv being "capable" of reading it or not but the picture sure is sharper with the $50 converter box. I bet if I did have one of those HDMI receivers it would be even better. I know guitars amps and pedals but not tvs sorry for my ignorance.

 

[aeolian]

But why do the infomercials about the conversion always mention how good the picture is going to be "in digital" after you purchase the box? To me that's misinformation on their part. Thanks aeolian that's how I "understood" it even though I wasn't sure. FWIW the stations do seem sharper in resolution though. Would the conversion from digital to analog still yield some amount of higher res than standard airwaves?

I don't know why the picture would be better. It is possible that the digital broadcast source has more resolution and when converted still has more resolution which shows up on the analog TV. If someone else has a better understanding of this please clarify for us.

Edited to add: I have one of the last rear projection "HD" ready widescreens that Toshiba made. As far as I can tell from the manual it doesn't have an internal HD receiver but you can attach it to an external HDMI receiver to get digital signals. Trouble is most of those receivers are the home theater/amp types and are expensive as most MIM guitars. I don't know if I'm seeing the better resolutions because of the tv being "capable" of reading it or not but the picture sure is sharper with the $50 converter box. I bet if I did have one of those HDMI receivers it would be even better. I know guitars amps and pedals but not tvs sorry for my ignorance.

So you are using the converter box but going into an HD-ready TV set? Now I show my ignorance: does the converter box have more than one type of output, by that I mean does it have normal video out (red, yellow and white connectors) and perhaps some type of digital output set too. If it does and you are using something other than normal video out it may be possible that you get better resolution. But also see my reply to the first part.

I have one of these digital receivers (mentioned in my first post) when I got my HD-ready TV back in 2004. I don't remember how much it was; I'm pretty sure it did not cost as much as a MIM Fender but it was in the $2-300 range if I remember correctly.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I don't know why the picture would be better. It is possible that the digital broadcast source has more resolution and when converted still has more resolution which shows up on the analog TV. If someone else has a better understanding of this please clarify for us.



So you are using the converter box but going into an HD-ready TV set? Now I show my ignorance: does the converter box have more than one type of output, by that I mean does it have normal video out (red, yellow and white connectors) and perhaps some type of digital output set too. If it does and you are using something other than normal video out it may be possible that you get better resolution. But also see my reply to the first part.

I have one of these digital receivers (mentioned in my first post) when I got my HD-ready TV back in 2004. I don't remember how much it was; I'm pretty sure it did not cost as much as a MIM Fender but it was in the $2-300 range if I remember correctly.

It's an HD-ready tv yes but it doesn't have an internal receiver like new ones do now. It just has the HDMI connection port but it also has standard coax in /out which is how I'm running into the converter box now. I'm running my DVD player with component video cables (RCA but heavier duty - RGB plus Audio L/R). When I got this tv this was before I knew about the digital conversion due in 2009. At least a year before they started mentioning it everywhere. Your receiver sounds about what I would need to get pure digital signals. I guess I exaggerated on the price. I should have said those were in the price range of a USED MIM Fender. Which receiver do you have?

 

[aeolian]

Your receiver sounds about what I would need to get pure digital signals. I guess I exaggerated on the price. I should have said those were in the price range of a USED MIM Fender. Which receiver do you have?

I don't remember the brand of my receiver; since it is 4 years old it is grandfather's technology when it comes to electronics.

What you need is an ATSC receiver, ATSC being the broadcast standard for digital TV. I did a quick Google lookup and within a few minutes found at least one example at $70. If they are mandated to be built into new TV sets you know it can't cost much. For an ATSC receiver you need a coaxial input for inputting from your antenna, and some form of output compatible with your HD-ready TV e.g. S-video or component or ... Once you find a set like that it will work for you. The picture will be far superior to the converter box with your HD TV.

Don't let anyone tell you you need a digital TV antenna. If you have a standard directional antenna for your analog TV and it works well it will work well for digital broadcast. Digital TV is broadcast under the UHF frequency band.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I don't remember the brand of my receiver; since it is 4 years old it is grandfather's technology when it comes to electronics.

What you need is an ATSC receiver, ATSC being the broadcast standard for digital TV. I did a quick Google lookup and within a few minutes found at least one example at $70. If they are mandated to be built into new TV sets you know it can't cost much. For an ATSC receiver you need a coaxial input for inputting from your antenna, and some form of output compatible with your HD-ready TV e.g. S-video or component or ... Once you find a set like that it will work for you. The picture will be far superior to the converter box with your HD TV.

Don't let anyone tell you you need a digital TV antenna. If you have a standard directional antenna for your analog TV and it works well it will work well for digital broadcast. Digital TV is broadcast under the UHF frequency band.

Thanks a bunch for the tips aeolian! :master: :beer: