When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired. I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. I'm
trying to determine which one to get. My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area.

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

On 1/7/2009 1:16 PM Jimw spake thus:

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Zenith DTT901. Satisfied; I give it a 7 out of 10.

Functionally it's all I need; remote, menus, user interface in general
is pretty well designed.

Operationally, I'm not sure about picture quality. Could be my old
freebie Panasonic TV, as others have said it actually has superior
picture quality. It does seem a little better than the analog picture,
so it's probably good.

Sorry, not in a fringe area so can't help you there.


--
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the
powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.

- Paulo Freire

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
On 1/7/2009 1:16 PM Jimw spake thus:

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Zenith DTT901. Satisfied; I give it a 7 out of 10.


That is the one I picked up to play with. I am a ways off from the stations
and I hooked it up to a ham antenna that is made for 145 Mhz. that is only
up about 20 feet. Picked up 22 stations in the auto tune mode. A much
higher antenna at 60 feet gave me 29 stations. The antennas are not even
made for regular TV reception. I won't talk about the quality as I only had
it hooked up to an old 16 inch TV. Think it was about $ 60 at Circuit City
before the $ 40 discount card.

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:33:09 -0500, Ralph Mowery wrote:


"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
On 1/7/2009 1:16 PM Jimw spake thus:

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu satisfied,
or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in particular, how
well does it perform in a fringe area?

Zenith DTT901. Satisfied; I give it a 7 out of 10.


That is the one I picked up to play with. I am a ways off from the
stations and I hooked it up to a ham antenna that is made for 145 Mhz.
that is only up about 20 feet. Picked up 22 stations in the auto tune
mode. A much higher antenna at 60 feet gave me 29 stations. The antennas
are not even made for regular TV reception. I won't talk about the
quality as I only had it hooked up to an old 16 inch TV. Think it was
about $ 60 at Circuit City before the $ 40 discount card.

Yet another 901. The consensus on various forums was that 900 (without
the analog pass trough) was the best of the boxes available at stores
within ~25 miles. Since I wanted the pass trough, I waited until the 901
was released to order coupons (mid-summer). Of course the 901s
immediately went out of stock. But did eventually get one, then another.

The 901 gets the one local station (25 miles) that's currently on-air with
digital fine. And, one that's about 75 miles away occasionally. No joy
with the other three stations 75 miles away. I do expect to get the other
local station when it goes digital 2/17 (or whenever they get their act
together).

Imo, fringe reception probably has more to do with location and antenna
than with the converter box. Incidentally, according to antennaweb.org,
there is no TV reception at my location.

A lot of people are having reception problems with digital. The digital
signal is much more "fragile" than the analog signal. All of the
promotions that claim digital provides a better picture are BS. IF you
can get a picture it might be better but getting it is the problem.
Complain about this to your congressman.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

On Jan 7, 7:25*pm, (---MIKE---) wrote:
A lot of people are having reception problems with digital. *The digital
signal is much more "fragile" than the analog signal. *All of the
promotions that claim digital provides a better picture are BS. *IF you
can get a picture it might be better but getting it is the problem.
Complain about this to your congressman.

* * * * * * * * * ---MIKE---In the White Mountains of New Hampshire

* (44° 15' *N - Elevation 1580')

The reviews I read by a store address the issue that some work better
in reception, and give ratings.

On 01/07/09 08:25 pm ---MIKE--- wrote:

A lot of people are having reception problems with digital. The digital
signal is much more "fragile" than the analog signal. All of the
promotions that claim digital provides a better picture are BS. IF you
can get a picture it might be better but getting it is the problem.
Complain about this to your congressman.

I just looked through our local channels using an outdoor antenna
connected to the built-in tuner(s) in our Sam sung LCD HDTV. In some
cases the analog signal was horrible -- ghosting -- while the digital
version was crystal clear.

Keep in mind that some stations are not yet running their digital
transmissions at full power. Your digital signals may well improve
further after Feb 17.

Perce

(---MIKE---) wrote in
:

A lot of people are having reception problems with digital. The
digital signal is much more "fragile" than the analog signal. All of
the promotions that claim digital provides a better picture are BS.
IF you can get a picture it might be better but getting it is the
problem. Complain about this to your congressman.


---MIKE---
In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')



All of the
promotions that claim digital provides a better picture are BS.

I have a cheapo $300 RCA DTV I got a year ago. I have it on amplified
ears. On analog it gets snowy crap...on a good day. Hit digital
flip-over button and I get like 28-30 stations crystal clear.

So, your general statement is BS. "It all depends" would be more
accurate. Accroding to antennaweb.org, I'm 43 miles from the majority of
transmitters for Raleigh, NC (north of here). I can also get a couple of
stations from the Myrtle Beach SC area which is about 60 miles
(Florence, SC transmitter) in the opposite direction south from here.

You're in White Mountains of New Hampshire. I lived in VT area a little
over a year ago. Yea, I did the cog railway up Mt Washington. They
aren't transmitting much from BTV let alone the Mt Washington area of NH.

IF you can get a picture it might be better but getting it is the
problem.

If you look on antennaweb.org for zip 03589 (Mt Washington I believe)
there's only like two stinkin' digital stations available now. What do
you expect? Ruralness has some drawbacks.

Complain about this to your congressman.

About what? Where you choose to live?



DTV 03589

Antenna
Type Call Sign Channel Network City, State Compass Heading Miles From
*uhf WLED-DT 48.1 PBS DURHAM, NH 299° 22.3
*uhf WVTB-DT 20.1 PBS BURLINGTON, VT 321° 35.6

On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 18:33:09 -0500, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
rs.com...
On 1/7/2009 1:16 PM Jimw spake thus:

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Zenith DTT901. Satisfied; I give it a 7 out of 10.


That is the one I picked up to play with. I am a ways off from the stations
and I hooked it up to a ham antenna that is made for 145 Mhz. that is only
up about 20 feet. Picked up 22 stations in the auto tune mode. A much
higher antenna at 60 feet gave me 29 stations. The antennas are not even
made for regular TV reception. I won't talk about the quality as I only had
it hooked up to an old 16 inch TV. Think it was about $ 60 at Circuit City
before the $ 40 discount card.


I'm surprised it worked at all on a ham antenna. I know the
wavelength affects the reception, and a half wave antenna is half the
length, etc. What is the actual frequency band for DTV, and how does
that compare to the 145Mhz ?

By the way, are there any decent antenna amplifiers for DTV, or does a
person just use the standard UHF VHF amps they always sold? I know I
can not raise my antenna any more or the mast will bend in high winds,
and towers are way beyond my budget.

Thanks

Jim

Jimw wrote:

What is the actual frequency band for DTV, and how does
that compare to the 145Mhz ?

Today most DTV signals are UHF, between 470MHz and 800MHz. After the switchover,
many will move to the VHF band.

In article ,
Robert Neville wrote:

Jimw wrote:

What is the actual frequency band for DTV, and how does
that compare to the 145Mhz ?

Today most DTV signals are UHF, between 470MHz and 800MHz. After the
switchover, many will move to the VHF band.

Sorry, Rob, but that's *TOTALLY* incorrect. One of the primary purposes
of the switch is to open up the VHF bands for other uses. *ALL* digital
transmissions are on UHF now (on channels 14 through 51, between 470 and
698MHz, to be exact) and will remain there after the switch. This
includes the digital signals from stations that are currently
transmitting analog on VHF channels. What will change is that the analog
signals (whether they're currently on VHF or UHF) of all stations will
be switched off, leaving only the digital signals that are on UHF
frequencies. The only other "change" will affect some stations that are
currently transmitting digital at less-than-full-power - They'll bump
their output up to their full licensed power once the switch is
completed.

The only exceptions will be what are termed "low power" stations (I
haven't bothered to find out exactly what it is that makes a station
"low power", although the information is certainly out there if someone
cares enough to look for it) which will remain where they are,
transmitting in analog mode as they always have.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info

On Jan 7, 11:23�pm, Robert Neville wrote:
Jimw wrote:
What is the actual frequency band for DTV, and how does
that compare to the 145Mhz ?

Today most DTV signals are UHF, between 470MHz and 800MHz. After the switchover,
many will move to the VHF band.

no no no, nearly ALL remain UHF, since the new users of TV band prefer
VHF. the lower frequencies go thru buildings etc better

Jimw wrote:

By the way, are there any decent antenna amplifiers for DTV, or does a
person just use the standard UHF VHF amps they always sold?

There is no difference between the analog and digital signal for antenna or
amplification. Anyone selling "digital" is selling snakeoil.

The only difference would be for those who are using a VHF only antenna today
and have digital transmitters that are going to stay in the UHF band.

In article ,
Robert Neville wrote:

Jimw wrote:

By the way, are there any decent antenna amplifiers for DTV, or does a
person just use the standard UHF VHF amps they always sold?

There is no difference between the analog and digital signal for antenna or
amplification. Anyone selling "digital" is selling snakeoil.

Correct so far.

The only difference would be for those who are using a VHF only antenna today
and have digital transmitters that are going to stay in the UHF band.

Partly correct, but for exactly the opposite reason you think. VHF
antennas will indeed become essentially useless. However, this is
because *ALL* digital transmitters are already on UHF (though some are
operating at lower-than-licensed power levels) and will stay there. When
the VHF signal is turned off in February, the VHF antennas will still
function as (lousy) antennas, but performance is likely to be so poor
that they won't be useful except in cases where there are very strong
signals.

And no, it doesn't matter that a station is now on a VHF channel, yet
transmitting digital - What's happening is that they're transmitting on
two separate frequencies - The standard analog signal on their "old" VHF
frequency, the digital signal on their "new" digital frequency. Which,
in *ALL* cases, is in the UHF band.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info

In article ,
Jimw wrote:

On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 18:33:09 -0500, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
rs.com...
On 1/7/2009 1:16 PM Jimw spake thus:

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Zenith DTT901. Satisfied; I give it a 7 out of 10.


That is the one I picked up to play with. I am a ways off from the stations
and I hooked it up to a ham antenna that is made for 145 Mhz. that is only
up about 20 feet. Picked up 22 stations in the auto tune mode. A much
higher antenna at 60 feet gave me 29 stations. The antennas are not even
made for regular TV reception. I won't talk about the quality as I only had
it hooked up to an old 16 inch TV. Think it was about $ 60 at Circuit City
before the $ 40 discount card.


I'm surprised it worked at all on a ham antenna. I know the
wavelength affects the reception, and a half wave antenna is half the
length, etc. What is the actual frequency band for DTV, and how does
that compare to the 145Mhz ?

According to the research I've done, other than "low power" stations
(and I still haven't found a satisfactory definition for what makes a
station "low power" - I imagine if I were interested enough to root
through the FCC legalese and tech stuff, I could find it, but I'm not
motivated enough to bother) after the switch, broadcast TV is going to
exist only on the frequencies that now correspond to UHF channels 14
through 51. Which means that for "proper" reception, the range the
antenna needs to be useful on is 470-698MHz. Expecting any kind of
decent performance at all out of a ham antenna tuned for 145MHz on TV
frequencies is... Well, putting it as kindly as possible, just short of
utterly insane. Quite literally, you'd get better performance by cutting
off a chunk of co-ax cable and stripping a bit more than 4 inches (VERY
approximate number - Exact length can be calculated from online
information) of the braid off one end to make a quarter-wave "wick"
antenna before plugging the other end into your TV/converter box.


By the way, are there any decent antenna amplifiers for DTV, or does a
person just use the standard UHF VHF amps they always sold?

Since you'd be working on standard UHF frequencies, a standard UHF amp
should work just fine, but make sure you locate it as close as possible,
electrically, to the antenna's feedpoint to minimize the inevitable RF
"crunge" the rest of your feedline is going to add to the mix. You want
to amplify signal, not noise, doncha know

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info

In article ,
(Jimw) says...
By the way, are there any decent antenna amplifiers for DTV, or does a
person just use the standard UHF VHF amps they always sold? I know I
can not raise my antenna any more or the mast will bend in high winds,
and towers are way beyond my budget.

The same old signal amps will work fine for digital. If you aren't
running a mast mount antenna and RG6 coax, that is probably your signal
problem. UHF is higher frequency than VHF, and there is quite a bit of
loss in coax, particularly cheap coax. The old twin lead is even worse.

Mast mount amplifiers are the best, but more work to install. If you
use an inline amplifier, mount it as close to the antenna as possible,
and before any splitters.

--
For email, replace firstnamelastinitial
with my first name and last initial.

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?


I got the standard box the satellite company provided. It works good. I
live in the XXXtreme SW corner of Utah, and I get stations from all around
the US.

Steve

In article ,
Jimw wrote:

When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired. I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. I'm
trying to determine which one to get. My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area.

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

You might take a look he
http://tinyurl.com/96hqmw
There are also forums there for TVs and such.

Dean


----== Posted via Pronews.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.pronews.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

On Jan 7, 3:16*pm, Jimw wrote:
When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. *I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired. *I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. *Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. *I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). *Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. *She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. *So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. *Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. *I'm
trying to determine which one to get. *My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area. *

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. *Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? *What are it's pros and cons? *And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

Nobody here can rate them for you, nobody has all the units, Google
the ratings, Consumers Reports is posted through google somebody set
up a free link, they tested maybe 20. A few other companies that sell
many different units did their own ratings. What I know is the good
ones are mail order only, they are at no stores. I dont have the name
handy but one model stands out by several ratings, google for the
ratings. I am buying 2 online so I will google ratings again.

On Jan 7, 3:16*pm, Jimw wrote:
When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. *I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired. *I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. *Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. *I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). *Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. *She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. *So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. *Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. *I'm
trying to determine which one to get. *My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area. *

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. *Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? *What are it's pros and cons? *And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

If you find consumers reports rating you will see only maybe 30% have
a quality picture, some are poor, and none of the top ones are at
local stores, reception also varies.

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:56:05 -0800, ransley wrote:

On Jan 7, 3:16Â*pm, Jimw wrote:
When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. Â*I finally had to drive a long distance to buy
and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only had 2
days left before my coupons expired. Â*I was not impressed by this
converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. Â*Of course I
live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations. The nearest
station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. Â*I use a fairly
decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the ground, and I
have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). Â*Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. Â*She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. Â*So, I told her to keep that one,
and give me her coupon. Â*Now I want to buy one that will work in my
fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. Â*I'm
trying to determine which one to get. Â*My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area. Â*

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Â*Are yoiu satisfied,
or dissatisfied? Â*What are it's pros and cons? Â*And in particular, how
well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

If you find consumers reports rating you will see only maybe 30% have a
quality picture, some are poor, and none of the top ones are at local
stores, reception also varies.

CU's converter box ratings are "free". Click on "Recommendations & Notes"
for write-ups on the individual boxes. CU rates on picture and sound
quality and features.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/e...es-ratings.htm

In article ,
(Ann) says...

CU's converter box ratings are "free". Click on "Recommendations & Notes"
for write-ups on the individual boxes. CU rates on picture and sound
quality and features.

CU doesn't rate fringe reception, which is what the OP was asking about.

--
For email, replace firstnamelastinitial
with my first name and last initial.

On Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:52:12 -0800, Larry Caldwell wrote:

In article ,
(Ann) says...

CU's converter box ratings are "free". Click on "Recommendations &
Notes" for write-ups on the individual boxes. CU rates on picture and
sound quality and features.

CU doesn't rate fringe reception, which is what the OP was asking about.

I wasn't replying to the OP. Look back in the thread; it was someone else
who posted that the CU report rated "reception". Posting the url clarified
that and any misconception that it is "pay" content. The information in
the report may be useful to those interested in "picture and sound quality
and features". Anyway, since when has staying on-topic been a requirement
for posting to m.r? g

These maps show the both the individual stations' analog coverage areas
and new DTV coverage areas. For example three fringe VHS stations I
now receive have cut their coverage areas (and changed the pattern) -
which explains why I don't/won't receive their UHF digital signal.

"Map Book of All Full-Power Digital Television Stations Authorized by the
FCC"
http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/

On Jan 7, 3:16*pm, Jimw wrote:
When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. *I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired. *I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. *Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. *I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). *Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. *She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. *So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. *Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. *I'm
trying to determine which one to get. *My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area. *

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. *Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? *What are it's pros and cons? *And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

I remenber Tivax has better reception than others and a top picture,
you need to find independant review of many side by side, and look for
all the features you want, I am probably getting Tivax.

Us broadcast engineers bought a bunch of DTV converters that were
available around here and tested them in bad locations. The Zenith
DTT900 was the best of the lot as was the Insignia that Best Buy sells.
This is not surprising, because they have the same circuit board, in
fact, the FCC number on the bottom of the two units is the same.
The RCA and Magnavox units sold at Wal-Mart were inferior in every
respect. The only redeeming value of the Magnavox unit is that it has
analog pass through.

Another good unit is the Channel Master DT7000. It has the added
advantage of S-video output, it has a really great picture on a set with
S-video input. The fringe area performance seems comparable to the
Zenith DTT900.

I have the Zenith.

I also live in the fringe area and I am in the process of erecting an
antenna tower.

I bought the big bertha of antennas and a good rotor.

With my old setup my reception was marginal but when I added the converter
box it was worse. When I studied the signal propagation I realized that it
was a problem with my antenna, hence the change.


Check out http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

This web site will allow you to predict reception in your area.

Also if your neighbor has a tower and a rotor you might be able to bring
your box to their TV and give it a test.

Good luck.


--
Roger Shoaf

If knowledge is power, and power corrupts, what does this say about the
Congress?
"Jimw" wrote in message
...
When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired. I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. I'm
trying to determine which one to get. My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area.

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

I obtained the RCA converter early last year, before the 'B' model
came out, but it works fine. By the time I received my coupons,
Wal-Mart was out of the RCA units while still awash in the Magnavox
units. I picked up two of the Zenith converters from the local Radio
Shack. It works well too.
My local station transmitter farm is about 50 miles south. I also
got a new antenna from Radio Shack but have not installed it yet.
Still using an older 'outdoor' V-shape antenna that's 20+ years old
hanging in the attic. Too cold to go swap it out right now.

When I got my coupons, it was near impossible to even find a DTV
converter in the stores. I finally had to drive a long distance to
buy and Apex converter which was the only one available, and I only
had 2 days left before my coupons expired.

Huh? Mine expire on the day of the switch-over in Feb. I didn't
realize there were different expiry dates.

Thanks

Twayne

I was not impressed by
this converter, at least as far as reception in my rural area. Of
course I live in a fringe area, and I can not get much for stations.
The nearest station is 50 miles, and it gets further for others. I
use a fairly decent rooftop antenna, which is about 24feet from the
ground, and I have a rotor.

What I was getting was one channel (from 50 miles) that worked on and
off, and would fade in and out, and some days did not come in at all.
The only channel that worked all the time was one of the PBS channels
(and their secondary channels). Note: On analog, I get 5 channels
well, and 3 more that are fair to poor.

A elderly relative lives in a large city, and I took my Apex converter
over there and hooked it up. She was satisfied with it, and she needs
something real simple, being elderly. So, I told her to keep that
one, and give me her coupon. Now I want to buy one that will work in
my fringe rural area, and there are piles of them in the stores. I'm
trying to determine which one to get. My biggest concern is getting
one that will get the best reception in a fringe area.

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

Jimw wrote:

Please post which converter yoiu have and rate it. Are yoiu
satisfied, or dissatisfied? What are it's pros and cons? And in
particular, how well does it perform in a fringe area?

Thanks

Jim

We got two, a Zenith 901 and a Tivax T8. The Tivax got better reviews in
terms of picture quality and the program guide. No question the picture
improved a lot on digital, why anyone would say not to expect an improvement
is beyond me, it's instantly noticeable. However it seems like a lot of
material is still being broadcast in fairly crappy quality, I don't know if
that's poor sources like worn-out videotapes or some channels just have the
quality knob set to medium. Good luck with being in a fringe area, that
looks like it's going to be a problem for many folks.