Queue up for a digital set top box coupon for CT-100, etc...

[wa2ise]

I posted in the rectangular TV forum about the "Insignia" brand box I picked up yesterday. It actually works quite well. With an antenna on the roof meant for the 220MHz ham band aimed due east, I can get channel 55 Riverhead LI NY here in Oradell NJ (northeast NJ). I also get NJN channel 58 from central NJ on RF channel 8. Went back today to the Best buy to get another, but they were sold out. So I went to a Radio Shack and got a "Digitalstream" brand box. Using just a UHF hoop antenna, I can get all the NYC local stations. Next test is to try it on the ham antenna and see if it can get channel 55, as a DX test. EDIT: just did this, and the sensitivity is a little poorer than the Insignia box. Something like 5dB poorer (inserted attenuators in the antenna line next to the box, however they were meant for 50 ohm lines, so I can only say "approx 5dB" here).. Stations with choppy reception on the Digitalstream box was solid good on the Insignia box.

One good thing both boxes do is that the box's remote controls the volume inside the box, before it hits the RF or baseband outputs. For once they got it right.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

EDIT: just did this, and the sensitivity is a little poorer than the Insignia box. Something like 5dB poorer (inserted attenuators in the antenna line next to the box, however they were meant for 50 ohm lines, so I can only say "approx 5dB" here).. Stations with choppy reception on the Digitalstream box was solid good on the Insignia box.

Your experiences match what I have read elsewhere, that the Zenith DTT900 and Insignia NS-DXA1 (Best Buy brand) box, a relabeled version of the Zenith, are the best performers among the boxes that are available so far. This is not surprising, since they are made by LG, which has had the best ATSC tuners all along. (They should, since they bought Zenith, inventor or ATSC.)

[peverett]

Checked the local Wal-Mart today, boxes still not in.