Russ goes shopping for a CECB!
Like I said earlier, I go to the stores knowing what I want, get it, and get out. I have never “impulse bought” anything except gum or candy at the register. Darn those impulse marketers! Here at the end of August, and the end to H.A.D.N.M, or Help A Digital Newbie Month, I figured was a good time to pick out a converter box. I’m an Engineer, so naturally I work best under a deadline and pressure. So when I went shopping for my CECB, or Coupon Eligible Converter Box, I figured I’d have an easy time with no problems. Raleigh, after all, is the capital of North Carolina; and we just moved up in rankings as the 27th largest TV market in the nation as ranked by Nielsen Media Research. That’s over a million households with 2-3 sets per house. Converter boxes should be all over the place, in neat organized displays anyone can access, compare, and purchase with their coupon.
I visited numerous retailers over the past month, and researched online resources. Now, if you are asking yourself why the Chief Engineer of a major market TV station needs a CECB, you are my kind of reader! You got me! I don’t need it. I have been DTV ready since 2000, so I’m an old timer when it comes to DTV over the air. I’m being a good son, and picking it up for my Mom, a real digital newbie. She keeps asking me how to get the coupons, and is proud when I rattle off the 1-888-388-2009 phone number from memory since she has no Internet access. You know how Mom’s are.
So I was looking for a box a real newbie could operate. She hasn’t quite figured out the DVD / VHS machine I gave her a few years back, so this is going to be a challenge. Bigger than landing a rover on Mars! Armed with my sheet of local retailers selling boxes, I went shopping.
My mission was to discover how plentiful, or pitiful, the supply is and if there is sufficient information to make a decision based on what the government’s website, stations and others have offered. What can these boxes do, and can “any newbie” operate them and navigate the menus. Basically I wanted to know if a typical man shopper can find them in a store without asking where they are and make a decision based on in-store sales information.
Naturally I had to visit Rite-Aid Pharmacy first. A drug store selling a CECB had to be an indicator these things are in demand. They are even featured in their weekly circular prominently on page 11. (Models may vary by store). Since there’s one at Quail Corners right down the street from work, I visited it first. No boxes in sight, but a surprising amount of electronics for a non-electronic retailer. Later I went to the Zebulon store. I was about to give up searching when that little voice in my head said to check near the registers. Zowie! Right there hidden from plain view on the bottom shelf covered in other merchandise was two boxes, a Memorex and a Access box for $59.99. The Consumer Reports review detailed the Access box actually had all the features I was looking for. Namely you can customize the transparency and change the font on the closed captions.
Next was Wal-Mart in Zebulon, just down the street. They had a pretty good display, easy to find, and a huge stock of Magnavox boxes. Best price at under $50.00. I also stopped by Super Wal-Mart in Tarboro and they had an impressive display of the same boxes in a major intersection of the store where you could find them easily. Wal-Mart in Knightdale, however, has not discovered the importance of product placement as I did not see any boxes in the store anywhere. I guess that’s why they are flying off the shelf across the street at Target.
Next stop was Best Buy in Garner. Finally a good looking display, with two brands, the Insignia and Apex. They were well stocked with both brands. There’s nothing to fear about either brand even though they are not household name brands. Insignia is the Best Buy brand built by several manufactures including Sharp and LG. It’s basically the Zenith box platform. The Apex brand is an American company, although like almost all American companies has them manufactured elsewhere. They built the scandalous DVD player that had the “hidden” menu that allowed users to turn off copy protection and county codes on DVD’s. Naturally, that machine is no longer produced and banned from E-Bay.
I also read somewhere that K-Mart was a CECB player, so I visited the one up on Capital Blvd near Triangle Town Center. I can say, the floors looked very nice, even with the many different color and patterns of the floor tiles that have been replaced over the years. The lighting was brighter, and the isles have been widened to allow one to actually walk inside without getting claustrophobic. One thing though; their “display” was one Magnavox non-working display model on the end of the shelf. No stock in sight, no signage, just one lonely box.
Out the door to h.h.gregg located next to K-Mart. I had such high hopes. Here’s where I became the salesman’s nightmare. “Just looking around”, I said. Which is no lie, I was looking, but I did not see any CECB’s at all. Knowing how retailers work, I went to the most logical isle first, but walked right past them with the salesman tagging behind a respectable 10 feet as I circled the store. My associate mystery shopper told me later he saw them right where I went first, Zenith boxes on the bottom shelf, but I totally missed them.
After my disappointment at K-mart, I went around the corner to Sears. They had the Dish Network DTV Pal boxes in the electronics section. Not much signage to draw your attention to them, but a decent supply and easy enough for any man to find. (Right around the corner from the tool section)
I went to Target in Knightdale, and was happy to see they had a display. Unfortunately, the display was at the back of the isle, facing a myriad of plasma and LCD sets that made the CECB’s look shameful. They had three shelves with two of them empty. They featured the out of stock RCA box, GE box, and had 8 Sansonic boxes on the top shelf. Never heard of them. I also went to Target at Triangle Town Center. Their display was the same as in Knightdale, but the shelves had a couple of choices, including another brand I never heard of; Venturer. The name was so obscure it’s in small print on the box. To be fair, I went back to Target in Knightdale on Monday, Labor Day, and they had sold out of the Sansonic boxes, and re-stocked with the Venturer, and covered the bare shelves with rabbit ears. I took that as a sign they are moving quickly and Target may be on track with their display facing pricier options.
Off to Circuit City on Capital Blvd. You know, right across from Best buy. These folks had what I was looking for: the Holy Grail of displays. Nice signage and a stack of Zenith boxes. So I bought one. I’m now looking for an RCA box for comparison. I was told this morning the Wal-Mart near Clayton has them in stock and I’ll check them out as soon as I can.
Most of the stores have them in plentiful supply, and general information signage about the analog cutoff. The packaging for the boxes themselves leaves a lot to be desired. I usually like to read the features on the outside of the box to make up my mind. These things simply say “Easy to install! There’s no indication about analog pass through. No details on how limited the guide data is, and in several cases, no clear branding. My copy of the Consumer Reports rankings listed the Zenith DTT-900, but CC had the DTT-901. It wasn’t until I opened the box and read the manual that it said it had pass through.
They all do basically the same thing- receive over the air digital signals. I expected better information and signage. Heck, I expected to find them at the local gas station since the drug store is selling them. I can’t say one box is better than any other because I have not tested them. I was not looking for a box with the wall wart style AC adaptor, but they would be a good bet if you wanted a mobile box you can plug into a cigarette lighter or battery pack. I wanted a more solid looking device and a remote my Mom could figure out how to use. I also like electronics with buttons on the front. Power and channel up/down is all I need on the box. I did tell you I buy batteries in bulk, and batteries do go bad at the worst possible time.
So I did buy one box based on an attractive in-store display with the basic features I wanted. I am still looking one with more guide data than what’s on now and coming up next. The search continues as I have until late October before my other coupon expires!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader or email.
Subscribe to RSS
Hi Russell,
You wrote, “My copy of the Consumer Reports rankings listed the Zenith DTT-900, but CC had the DTT-901. It wasn’t until I opened the box and read the manual that it said it had pass through.”
I imagine that’s the difference
between my DTT-900 and the current
DTT-901, then. Bummer not knowing
from reading the labeling, ‘tho.
It is also my understanding that
the Best Buy house brand is about
the same as the Zenith but they
didn’t fit my requirements for
basic helpfulness. BB had a couple
in a display case that the staff,
including the service techies, had
no clue about–naturally, after a
bit of expressing my disappointment,
I moved on and found much better
treatment at CC. I think I might
do better asking a pharmacist than
I did at BB, LOL.
Regards