DIGITAL TV AGAIN.

[powderman]

Turns out that the converter boxes that the govt, YOU AND ME, paid $40 apiece for have been the problem all along. A local station sent a trouble shooter to my house, at least 50-60 miles, spent 2 1/2 hours measuring signals, checking antenna, connections, etc. He said the boxes were bad and the signal wasn't getting through. I believed him but just bit my tongue and stayed with the 4 channels I was getting. Bought a new digital tv. Now I get 32 channels. Converter box ripoff for sure. I wonder how many million of those crappy magnavox boxes WE THE PEOPLE paid for. POWDERMAN. 

[MGMorden]

Eh, more of Magnavox's fault than the program's.  I've setup a ton of these converters for friends and relatives - so far the Magnavox units have indeed not performed so hot.  Another generic one one of my great-uncles got from Radio Shack also didn't perform very well.  Most others (RCA, Apex, etc) have been ok-ish.  The best ones I've found have been the Zenith units that Circuit City carried.  I have one on my living room TV and it picks up better than the TV in my bedroom or the back room (both of those are native digital).  The ones that DISH network put out were also supposed to be good from what I read, but I have yet to find anyone around here using one. 

Hindsight is 20/20 (like always), but electronics are just like guns.  If you're gonna buy one I'd suggest you hit the net, read reviews, user opinions, etc.  I researched the units for over a week and drove almost 70 miles to find a Circuity City carrying the Zenith units to get mine .  For a forum kinda similar to GBO focused on tvs and such http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ is very good.

[Questor]

Did you happen to get an amplified antenna to go with the box?

I read about the boxes before we got one and I learned that an amplified antenna was practically a necessity. I bought one with the box (not magnavox), and it has been working very well. The antenna is an indoor model that looks like a little black book that hooks into the converter. Cost was around $50 for the antenna.

[torpedoman]

the government made a ton of money on the digital switch, It opened up thousands of new bandwidths for new stations which they sell to station operators. Very profitable business just ask lady bird.

[MGMorden]

Did you happen to get an amplified antenna to go with the box?

I read about the boxes before we got one and I learned that an amplified antenna was practically a necessity. I bought one with the box (not magnavox), and it has been working very well. The antenna is an indoor model that looks like a little black book that hooks into the converter. Cost was around $50 for the antenna.

The amplified ones are better than most unamplified cheap ones, but I've found a homemade bow-tie antenna to do WONDERS.  They look ugly (make sure you hide it behind the tv ), but most of us have enough materials sitting around the house to make one pretty easily.  A 1x4, a few clothes hangers,  some screws/washers, and a balun (the only part you'd probably need to buy - wal-mart has them for like $4.  I found a local pawn shop that had them for $0.99).  I've got this type on all 3 of my tvs and it works better than a $50 Philips amplified antenna I bought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

Just make sure the hangers criss-cross in the stated patterns, and that they're insulated at the points where the two running length-wise cross each other.

[powderman]

I have the biggest OUTSIDE antenna walmart sells, and yes, I also have an 18 db booster. I haven't talked to ANYBODY with a converter box that has been happy. With the new tv we get great reception on most channels, but still don't get some channels we used to get with analogue. This is going to have to do. POWDERMAN. 

[MGMorden]

I have the biggest OUTSIDE antenna walmart sells, and yes, I also have an 18 db booster. I haven't talked to ANYBODY with a converter box that has been happy. With the new tv we get great reception on most channels, but still don't get some channels we used to get with analogue. This is going to have to do. POWDERMAN. 

Is it specifically a UHF antenna?  A lot of the antennas (both indoor and outdoor) were designed for the VHF spectrum which is what most of the old channels were on.  All digital stations now transmit over UHF.  An antenna designed for VHF signals will still pick them up, but not nearly as well as one specifically designed to receive UHF frequencies (if you look at most old rabbit ears for example you usually have the rabbit ears and then a circular loop - the ears are for VHF and the loop is for UHF,and on many of them you'll notice those huge rabbit ears with a tiny UHF loop thrown on as an after thought ).

It could also be in your distance too.  Digital is an all or nothing deal - it comes in perfect or it comes it choppy (or not all all).  If you were on the edge of the broadcast area you might have gotten a staticy but watchable analog picture before, but the digital transmission won't likely have enough bits make it through to render the image.

PS Also, make sure with your amplifier that you have it as close to the antenna as you can, rather than the TV.  Amplifiers really help with longer cable runs (particularly from outside), and so it helps to amplify the signal at the beginning of the run.  If you stick it at the end of a long cable run much of the signal has degraded and you're just amplifying a signal that's already gotten noisy.