In article 1bb73af3-0ae9-4787-be11-57bc497f01d6
@u32g2000yqe.googlegroups.com, says...

Lately I have had quite a few requests, mostly from elderly customers,
who couldn't care less about HD TV for a way to keep watching their
old reliable tube sets on either cable or antenna. Is there an
inexpensive no frills "set top box" that can be purchased, then
depending upon which system you're using, connect either an antenna or
a cable into, receive your channel, convert it to NTSC and output in a
conventional way on channel three to a standard TV? Most of these
people are on fixed incomes and even those that do have cable have the
basic at best and just can't afford the packages offered by the cable
providers. I was hoping to find a unit that could do both so that if
someone had cable and then went to an antenna, they would be covered.
This would make a lot of retired folks very happy. Thanks, Lenny

As mentioned, you should hvae no problems finding a "Digital TV
Adapter", as there were tons sold during the OTA changover. You can
probably find many used ones at garage sales and elsewhere for real
cheap. I like the Zenith DTT series (Best Buy also sold a rebadged
version under their Insigia label), as they work well. Even though I
have a digital TV (and cable), I use a DTT to play around and see what
is going on OTA, even do some DX'ing. Unlike many built-in TV tuners, it
will keep trying to tune a signal, even if it can't initially pick it
up. Many TV's drop to analog on a signal after a second or so of trying
digital, unless it's already mapped in it's memory.

As for cable, check with their cable company. Many should offer very-
low-cost or even free 'DTA' adapters. For Comcast, you can typically get
two DTA's for free. They are typically programmed to get the Digital
Starter tier (bsaically the old expanded basic plus a few extras.) I
guess they may also be available to be programmed with just basic cable
in areas where all analogs have been deleted.

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