ATSC converter boxes.

[Torque]

I screwed up and let my coupon expire while waiting for more converter box choices to come out.

[whurlston]

If anyone just needs a simple converter box (ie, will output the digital ATSC signals via RF or analog outs), I have a couple of old Voom boxes that will do the trick.

[nitrogen_widget]

I screwed up and let my coupon expire while waiting for more converter box choices to come out.

The tranny on my car blew & while occupied securing another means of permanent trasport I forgot about the whole convertor box & let my coupons expire also.

I think i'll look at the used directv / dish HDTV receivers.
I can probably hook them directly up to an LCD panel or VGA monitor with an HDMI adpator.

[zed]

Resurrecting an old thread...

Any more recent opinions/advice on good boxes? Or ones to stay away from?

The Sansonic looks pretty good and is a decent price ($43). Anyone have one?

[pcostanza]

I have the DTV PAL Plus which works fine with very old rabbit ear antennas but I'm not in a crowded area. I only got it for emergency as I will likely never use it.

[Deusxmachina]

I got two DTVPals the day they came out because my cards expired that day. I wish I hadn't. Other than the EPG and the VCR timer that maybe will work for you, the picture itself is soft/blurry. People report various problems with the boxes as well as nightmare stories dealing with DishNetwork's customer service. Read about it on avsforum for more details if you care.

My two will be used on smaller, older sets that don't get used hardly at all, so it's not a big deal to me other than that I paid early-adopter price for them, but I feel bad for the people who use it on their main TV and read the early reviews that the PAL/TR40 is the greatest thing since sliced bread and has a great picture because it's not and doesn't. I mean, anything should look good on a 27". Put it on a 50 or 65", and there can be a big difference in boxes' picture quality.

I also have two Artecs. You can usually find those for free or near free online. Has the same TV chip as the Zeniths. Pretty much the same box internally, probably. I like the Artec, especially for the price.

A newer one with VCR timers is the Zinwell. Haven't really looked into it, but from skimming some posts, it sounds ok.

If in doubt and you don't need the VCR timers, and especially if you want to get one locally, just get a Zenith from Circuit City or Kmart and call it a day.