Consumer Reports posts results of converter box tests - Page 3

Zing!

Unfortunately, I have friends who picked their CECB based on CRs' report without consulting me first. They've relied on CR for years, so why not trust them now? Well, they are paying the price with spotty reception even though they are well situated in the suburbs between two major markets.

But, as has been pointed out many times on AVSForum, for many folks, it will come down to the antenna set up they use. Even more than CECB sensitivity variation.

Agreed. You need both a good antenna setup as well as a capable CECB. Digital signals alone won't insure a perfect picture....(though the governmental commercials concerning the digital transition may lead you to think otherwise.)

medoug.

Yeah. Anybody who's tried a DISH DTVpal versus a Zenith converter box *knows* there's a difference in reception. The DTVpal only brings-in about two-thirds as many stations as the Zenith box, and the DTVpal experiences tons of dropouts while the Zenith remains rock-steady.

I've come to the conclusion that "everett whitney" does not know much. He thinks a HDTV will have a better tuner, but the truth is that HDTVs don't have to pass FCC testing, so in reality they are inferior to the Coupon-eligible boxes.

I actually find them to be pretty even in my situation. In fact, I think the PAL holds on to some of my fringe stations slightly better.

Now, if you're talking multipath, that may be a different story - but I don't really have that problem much so I can't tell.

And the tuner in my little cheapo 19" Dynex LCD is every bit as sensitive and holds onto weak stations as well as my CM-7000's. Probably depends on the TV.

On November 1st a Consumer Reports poster inquired about updated converter box ratings. Consumer Reports November 8th response puts their next update in late December or January 2009:

http://discussions.consumerreports.o...03eltelevi#a13

That's just swell . . .