Hi,

I have 2 coupons which expire 3/17 of this year.  I've been holding off using them in hopes that I would be able to get the boxes "free" with the coupon but it seems that the prices are holding at about $50.

I'll be going by a Fry's tomorrow and they have the Channel Master CM-7000 for $50.  I may cave in and pick one up and hold out a while longer on the other.  I can certainly use both.

I've noticed that in my local Walmart they've had 30 to 40 units (Magnavox) one day and then just a few the following day, so they are moving.

Any recommendations, suggestions, advice or whatever? 

Jim

I've bought & installed four so far the past year for various family...
The Magnavox and Insignia (the green box that seems to be everywhere), btw, are identical to eachother.  Good units so far.  Easy to set up and very tolerant of poor signal and maintaining lock under some very nasty multipath conditions - much improved over my previous gen RJ-1000ATSC unit (not particularly recommended, BTW - should anyone see it on the used market. Unstable reception and overheats.) 
I also have an EchoStar DTVPal (aka TR-40), tho haven't installed it yet. Seems to be only available from the dishnet website (dish account not required, fortunately) and is AFAIK the only one on the market eligible for the coupon that also has an internal timer for switching channels - e.g. for use with a programmed VCR or similar.

The real trick usually is that the ATSC transmitters are often being run at a much lower power than their NTSC counterparts, so a usable analog signal does not necessarily indicate that same strength of  digital counterpart.  Also note that most will be moving to the UHF band (tho a few will remain in upper VHF: 6-13), so if you have a VHF only or very small UHF element then some re-aiming or larger antenna may be required.

Of the signal locater sites, I like TVFool the most... very easy to read charts & tables, IMO.  AntennaWeb is also popular, though I found their basic reporting style less informative.


Wait... Some related humor is needed here!    (hulu.com, since youtube apparently yanked it)  Embodiment of both my grandparents and the in-laws!

Got cable... not going to worry.... Or that what Cox says to do

Quoting Ken Cole:

Quote:
I have cable now but we're not sure we can get cable at our new house.  Comcast says the driveway is too long so they are refusing to install.  It's about 1100 ft.  We asked if there was an option to pay for the install but they said no.  Really odd.

Hmmmm....

I wonder what the "limit" is?

We plan to build soon, and the house will be about 700 feet back from the road.  I'm going to have to look into that.

I REALLY don't want to go satellite! 

Quoting Ken Cole:

Quote:
I have cable now but we're not sure we can get cable at our new house.  Comcast says the driveway is too long so they are refusing to install.  It's about 1100 ft.  We asked if there was an option to pay for the install but they said no.  Really odd.

That lack of enterprise must surely indicate a government-run operation?

Quoting Ken Cole:

Quote:
I have cable now but we're not sure we can get cable at our new house.  Comcast says the driveway is too long so they are refusing to install.  It's about 1100 ft.  We asked if there was an option to pay for the install but they said no.  Really odd.

Comcast denying extra money, it makes no sense.
I couldn't get rid of Comcast because my old place was too far from the pole, and the dish could only get me 1.5mb internet insted of the 6 I enjoy when it works from CC. My new place is more of the same, but seems far less cursed when it comes to electronics and service.

Quoting Staid S Barr:

Quote:
Quoting Ken Cole:

Quote:
I have cable now but we're not sure we can get cable at our new house.  Comcast says the driveway is too long so they are refusing to install.  It's about 1100 ft.  We asked if there was an option to pay for the install but they said no.  Really odd.

That lack of enterprise must surely indicate a government-run operation?

The free market in action.  The same sort of lack of enterprise kept rural areas from having electricity well into the 1930s because there was no profit in it, until the REA essentially forced them to do it.

Quoting Danae Cassandra:

Quote:
Why do I need one ... all I watch are DVDs anyway 

This why I'm canceling my cable and just keeping the net. Since it seems like every show goes to DVD anymore and if I do watch tv its usually the local channels anyways.