Thread: DTV Box
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Old 08-12-2016, 04:57 AM
Robert Grant's Avatar
Robert Grant Robert Grant is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Monroe County, MI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hawkwind View Post
I need a good box for the Tampa Bay area. and one that would be good for DX'ing. I have a great outdoor antenna, a 7up with a channel 10 yagi...
The LG-designed Zenith and Insignia boxes have a good reputation for reception that does hold up well when comparing them to other DTV converters. DXers really love them because they have the manual tuning mode that allows one to go through the actual RF channels instead of having to do a scan (it will also scan if you prefer).

Note that not all Insignia boxes are of the LG design. Some later ones are not as good.

The Sansonic and Zinwell boxes have worked well for me. The Magnavox boxes, derided for their plastic construction, lack of manual tuning, and dependence on the remote control, actually are decent in sensitivity and multipath tolerance.

Multipath tolerance is a term you may have never heard before. In fact, the smart phone I'm typing this post on didn't even recognize multipath as a word! Yet, it is at the crux of ATSC reception issues.

Multipath occurs when a signal reflects off of a mountain, building, wall, or even a person, and interferes with the desired (usually direct) signal. In analog TV, this resulted in "ghosting", but in DTV, it turns the stream of octal numerals (from which a microprocessor assembles picture and sound) into gibberish - and no content is received at all. The consequence of this is that someone in a wood frame farmhouse may get reliable, perfect reception 50 miles away from the transmitter, whilst someone living downtown, a mile from the transmitter, gets nothing.

TV DXers have received ATSC DTV signals from distances in excess of 1400 miles, and one DXer recently logged his 700th DTV station.

There is a club forum where TV DXers have compared DTV converter boxes and TV sets and posted their observations.

Last edited by Robert Grant; 08-12-2016 at 05:33 AM.
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