Bob says:
They were buying a TV for a new RV and bought a DTV converter box. I told them after they got it that they shouldn't need a converter because the TV (an LCD) was new. I unhooked the converter box and the TV found the new digital stations fine. They are in a poor reception area where they only get a couple of channels, but the digital ones were very clear.
They still don't quite believe they don't need the converter. I wonder how many people were over-sold the converter boxes. I did a fair amount of searching and couldn't really find much (although there was a glut of general information) about what happens when a converter box is hooked to a new TV. I'm guessing it won't work too great, but I'd like to see a more in depth analysis.
Is this one of those questions bored physics teachers like to ask? Like, "If you go the speed of light and turn a flashlight on, what happens?" (Answer, here.)
Well, we're not experts or anything, but our best guess is that the box would do its job and convert the signal into something an analog TV would understand. Since your in-law's TV understands analog signals as well as digital ones — it probably depends on the quality of the converter box.
Consumer Reports tested a bunch of DTV converter boxes and found that the quality of the image varied. Some produced almost DVD quality images — others were just about the same as your typical analog broadcast.
Anyway, does it really matter? Your in-laws don't need the box — so tell them to get rid of it.
(Photo:vidaarctique)
]]>@Glenn Crosse: Hell, we still receive TV for free, as in no monthly fee for service. Yes, one has to have the appropriate equipment, but that was always the case.
]]>I actually go so fed up with the Philips dropping channels that the kids' TV got just fine that I got a converter box for it. Picture's not as good but at least I can get the channels reliably.
And this is with an antenna, amplifier, and the shortest possible cable run going to the Philips but a long convoluted cable run going to the kids' TV.
]]>I have a television with a built-in digital tuner, but use an external DTV tuner anyway. If I use the TV's built-in tuner and connect digital audio back to my receiver, the sound is slightly out of sync. If I connect the digital tuner to my receiver, and the receiver to the TV, everything is in sync and switching between sources is simpler.
]]>Same experience here. A friend who thought he had "HD" because his picture was now stretched out took a look at my correctly set up HDTV and proclaimed it looked so good because it was in 3D.
]]>1. You will not get anything in high definition.
2. You will get some line noise from the conversion of the signal to an analog RF signal.
3. You will get some chroma noise from the signal being converted to a composite (the worst form of baseband signal), which is a requirement for an analog RF signal to be generated.
4. You may get some wonky aspect-ratio issues.
It will work, though.
]]>this is my 'real' tv:
[www.flickr.com]
Holy crap!
I haven't seen one of those in AGES.
That should be my 37" TV, not 73" TV. My goodness!!!!
]]>I turned off my DirecTV box to see if my 73" Toshiba TV would pick up the local channels and got nothing but snow. I didn't try unhooking the box, but I thought my TV had a tuner too.
]]>@cyborg5001:
"Do you pay for cable/satelite?"
So did anyone ever reply that the didn't pay for cable...that they stole it from their neighbor?
]]>Also, the converter box modulates digital into analog. If the analog tuner in the TV is lower quality than the digital tuner in the TV, then even if the digital tuner in the converter box is great, you get degraded signal.
]]>The light may or may not exhibit unusual properties but no different from the unusual properties exhibited by anything else. ie, by normal, I mean in relative terms.
]]>I work at Best Buy, in the home theater department, and I spent the last year telling people they didn't need the converter box.
"But I have this new tv and I don't have cable, so I need a box right?"
"The commercial on ESPN says I need a box, so I need a box so I can watch ESPN right?"
"I have direct TV on my 50" plasma, I need a box too!"
There have been so many people of all sorts comming in and wanting a converter box. For the longest time I would ask 3 simple questions before I would even tell them where they were.
"Do you pay for cable/satelite?"
"Do you have a flat panel tv?"
"Are you buying a new tv before Feb/June?"
If they said yes to any of those questions I would do my best to convice them that they didn't need the box. And I would say that I failed about 20% of the time. People would demand to buy one, even when they obviously didn't need it.
Eventually I gave up and for the last 2 months I have just pointed to them when asked.
To the previous questions of quality, the difference is huge between the quality of the built in tuner and the converter tuner. especially when you hook the converter up by composite cable instead of with coax.
]]>As some have mentioned, it is unlikely that the converter box is capable of providing anything above 480i (Standard Def), however, this may not matter as you indicated that the TV will be installed in an RV, so I assume that it will be on the small side, and therefore probably not HD. If the TV is SD, tell them they don't need the box and let it drop. If the TV is HD, tell them they don't need the box, they are degrading their picture quality, and then let it drop. P.S. You are alse free to complain to your wife if she agrees that they are being silly...but don't blame me if you need to sleep on the couch :-)
]]>Hmm, I seem to have a problem with my LCD TV. I bought one of these Toshiba 37 inch TV's at markdown. When trying to scan using the TV's tuner, it picked up no channels (actually it picked them up but perpetually indicated that there was no signal) . When I hooked up my DTV box, it worked. A part of me wants to ask Toshiba for a replacement. But another part of me is too lazy to care....
Dod anyone have a similar experience? Would it be worth the hassle to try an antenna specifically for DTV broadcasts?
]]>But it'd be equivalent to plugging a CD player into a tape recorder, recording the CD onto a tape, then listening to it. Or maybe playing the tape into a recording program on your computer and listening to it then ... it all depends on whether or not that last digitization step is there.
The point is that the signal is converted to analog, when it doesn't need to be.
]]>I would suggest buying an in-line amplifier and putting it as close to the antenna as you can, before any cable splices, splits, or barrel connections (otherwise you'll also be amplifying the noise that gets introduced on these junctions).
You know... if it's that big a deal to you. They're pretty cheap and you can always return it.
]]>i think some people just don't care, as long as the picture is half way viewable and so is the sound. my sister told me she can't tell the difference between SD and 1080i broadcasts on her TV. i'm like, are you blind?
]]>Even the technologically ignorant know when something is hitting them in the pocketbook.
]]>No, the answer is the light wouldn't move relative to the person holding the flashlight. They wouldn't notice that it isn't actually going forward, though, because time has stopped. But if, somehow, they *could* notice it, the light itself wouldn't exist since it would never make it to their eyes.
Well, that's how I remember explaining it in my high school physics presentation. Of course, I failed high school physics twice. Third time (and a different teacher) was the charm!
]]>They may ask for your advice but they will not often take it... just like many of our elders.
]]>@GMFish: Hear hear! My mom still *tapes* her favorite shows with her trusty VCR, even theough she has a digital DVR cable box hooked up to the TV. It works for her, she's happy, so who cares?
]]>This also means that any HD signal received by the converter box is converted to analog SD prior to being passed to the new (presumably HD) LCD TV.
Get rid of it, it is degrading the picture, sucking more power, and adding a remote to the mix.
]]>After a 2 year stint as a custom a/v installer and the amount of misinformation that was put out for the conversion I'd put money on that there is plenty of confusion.
]]>You can see the effect in Photoshop. Take a digital photo, and scale it to have a height of 1080 pixels. Then, scale it down to a height of 480 pixels. The image will look ok still. Now, scale it back up to 1080 pixels. Not pretty, is it? Especially when compared to the original 1080 version.
Most people at "TV sitting distance" probably wouldn't notice a difference, unless viewing the same programing on a similarly calibrated set not going through the convert box. If your in-laws are happy living with an unnecessarily downgraded picture, let them. Ignorance is bliss.
]]>I wonder if he's figured it out yet?
]]>But that is the answer.
]]>That didn't answer it at all, it just said it wouldn't happen and told you what would happen near the speed of light.
i feel deceived.
]]>For example, even though my in-laws only have basic analog cable and their HDTV cannot receive QAM channels, they are completely convinced they are getting true HD programming. My dad thinks stretching out 4:3 content to a 16:9 screen makes it look "better."
Either way, it's none of my business. And if your in-laws are happy using a DTV converter for no good reason, let them be happy. You'll sleep better without the aggravation of trying to tell them otherwise.
]]>Is the OP saying hooking up a converter box to a DTV won't work too well? It would do the same darn thing, the only difference is WITHOUT the box you can use the tuner controls (e.g. channel up/down) on the TV. WITH the box connected, you turn the TV to channel 3 (or Input or whatever) and use the controls on the converter box. But yes, they were clearly oversold.
It is fair to note that my TV downstairs does get slightly better reception with the converter box than my TV upstairs that has a DTV tuner built in. But I've always believed it's because there's less distance of cable to the antenna than the one upstairs (I have a big antenna set up in the garage that is hooked up to the coax running through the house so all TVs share the one antenna).
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