CECB Shopping Part Two
Shopping for my first converter box went fairly well, even though I was disappointed in the displays because I was shopping with the average man-shopper mentality, get it and get out without help. I found most stores had an adequate supply of boxes. Discovering the features of the box by reading the packaging is not very accurate, and even the Internet proved to be behind the times with recommendations.
On this episode, I wanted to see if there are alternatives to the regular CECB. Heck, set top boxes are not new. We have been using VHS and DVR’s, as well as cable boxes for years. I expected someone would have a recorder with an ATSC tuner ready to go. Even a VHS machine with ATSC would be awesome. Take a $30 VHS machine and install a $30 tuner in it, and it would be worth $60 bucks to replace that tape-eater sitting on top of the old round cornered tube TV.
Well, friends, that ain’t happening. The stores have several DVD recorders and cheap VHS machines available, with of all things, SDTV tuners. That’s right. The same garbage the manufactures pulled on early adaptors, where they sold “HD ready” TV’s, which required an external set top box to actually display HD. Beautiful 16:9 displays, with analog tuners installed. What a rip. And back then, the boxes cost almost as much as the TV did, if you could find them.
So I resigned myself to keep to the quest for the CECB: The basic converter box which does not require a PHD in Engineering to connect and operate. You already know, I spent a lot of time on the Internet researching. I went from store to store in and around Raleigh burning my own gas, and stopped by stores every chance I got. I did pick a box, and my quest began. I re-visited all the stores in my first post, and every location I could find as far away as Tarboro and Ahoskie. It appeared the box I wanted was not stocked anywhere.
After dinner Saturday night, I decided to visit the Target Store in the White Oak Shopping Center outside Garner. I walked slowly to the rear of the store, whipped by the disappointment of the numerous (understatement) stores I had visited since my last post. I had no anticipation as I neared the electronics dept., until I got near the display facing those gorgeous wide-screen sets. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed there were more than the GE and Venturer boxes on the shelf. Could it be? Is this new product simply an antenna to fill the empty space where my box of choice would have been if it was available? I walked faster, my heart raced as I realized it was not a product to merely fill the space. I had found it. The Holy Grail of CECB products I personally wanted. Right there in front of me, I nervously reached out and lo and behold! I had one in my hand! I tucked it on my arm like a player holding a football running toward the goal line!
I don’t remember much after that. I woke up in a daze with my beloved box in my lap at home as I opened the end flap and slid the box out. I opened the instruction manual, and found the English version to read. For a simple box, it had a nicely written quick-start guide and a manual that would make sense to anyone.
I was not disappointed when I plugged it in. I decided to try it with a non-traditional antenna first. One that even Kyle at NCSU would be proud of. I stuck a paper clip into the F-connector, and began the channel search. It actually found all the local channels, except for NBC 17, ION and PBS, but it was good test for weak signals. Sure, the pictures did freeze, and break up from time to time, but I was using a paper clip for goodness sake, so it was far more reliable than I expected. I pulled in all the locals when I clipped an alligator clip to it!
When I connected it to my outside antenna, it was perfect. I turned it west and locked in the UNC Public TV signals. ION was no problem. WRAY in Wilson came in no matter where I turned my antenna. It found 38 channels so far, and I’m still playing with it.
My quest was for the RCA DTA809 box because it had the features I wanted. You can select several fonts for the closed caption text, and the menus are very simple to navigate. I really did not pick it because I was an “RCA man” as I mentioned in an earlier post, but I really wanted to set it side by side with Mom’s Zenith box to see how it compared.
Both the Zenith and RCA box do a great job with weak signals. At my Mom’s house, they did equally well pulling in all the channels. I like the menu structure on the RCA better than the Zenith, but they both have a feature to add channels without losing those already stored. I accidentally erased some stored channels and had to start over with the Zenith box because the menu’s aren’t self explanatory, and real men don’t read instruction manuals first; only later when we absolutely need to. The RCA has a second option to check in the menu to add new channels, so if you miss it, it will also over write any stored channels on a new scan.
V-Chip menus are pretty straight forward on both these models, but I like the signal meter on the RCA and the clarity of the menu graphics better than the Zenith. Both boxes have analog pass-through, and the RCA actually has it printed on the box. The buttons are bigger on the RCA, but they are laid out weird to me, and I find myself grabbing it upside down most of the time.
Just one more thing to get used to! I’ll try to get some screen caps as soon as I get some “spare time”.
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