Canadian Converter Boxes

What "Canadian" converter boxes?

The Canadian government isn't subsidizing their conversion the way our nitwit government did. The same converter boxes are for sale north of the border as are for sale south of the border. It's just that the consumers "up north" have to buy them on their own without government funds.

The only converter boxes I know of are the ones we have in the US. I checked at Digital Home.ca, where they are lamenting about the age of the boxes, lack of availability, etc.

A variety of the older CECB's still show up at places like Walmart, Target, Kmart, etc. A quick search for 'CECB' at Amazon pulled up units from Philco, Samsonic, Insignia.

They are still out there. Unfortunatly for Canada, no one seems to have thought the market would support any new investment.

CVS still has old converter boxes on its shelves for neary $70 a pop, for those who are desperate. You can find any model CECB you want on eBay for $20 to $40 or so.

I checked and see that Amazon still has the Zinwells in stock; probably the best new box still available for $40 AND free shipping. Also stumbled across this unusual 'Zinwell' (?) site in my search:

http://zinwellzat970a.com/

Sounds like they're still making these boxes or they built up a huge stockpile. I'll post this over yonder Zinwell MB as well.

It's amazing how different the situation is wrt to OTA converter boxes this side of the pond :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...x=freeview+box

Just a quick search on "Freeview box" on amazon.co.uk lists loads. These are mainly SD receivers though, so don't have to downconvert HD signals.

They're not quite the same as the US boxes, as most don't include RF modulators, as sets without AV inputs are incredibly rare in Europe where SCART has been knocking around since the early 80s.

In fact the smaller receivers are basically boxes with SCART plugs integrated into them that plug into the back of your TV (though SCART is a lousy connector mechanically and I bet they fall out). Some include basic recording/replay to/from USB external storage these days.

Freeview HD boxes, which will receive the HD channels in HD and output via HDMI (and usually also output an SD SCART or RCA composite output) are dropping in price as well They're going for sub £40 in supermarkets, with a Grundig model for £38 on amazon.

We probably can't afford those over here as the dollar's been beat to a pulp.

I think we benefit from DVB-T (which we use for SD in the UK) being a pan-European (and Australia and NZ) standard so there is a very large market for these boxes (though there are some small local differences)

The DVB-T2 HD boxes are more interesting - as so far only the UK, Sweden, Italy and Finland have T2 services on-air, but box prices have tumbled.

Note that most Canadian OTAers don't live far from the US border and watch US stations so many already have their converter boxes. Many who might have needed one have moved on to an HDTV.

That would be because when we did our transition not many people had TVs with built in tuners in them because the FCC didn't mandate all TV to have them until just a mere 27 months before the transition took place. Canadians have had the benefit of an extra 26 months. If Canadian adoption of HDTVs is the same as the US then over 70% should have HDTVs, which means thoise 70% also have ATSC tuners in them. Even the 30% with old fashioned SDTVs at least half of those if not more should have ATSC tuners in them. So a very small % of Candians should be affected. I'm not sure what the % of Canadians that get TV via OTA is.

The prices may climb higher once the Canadians realize they need them, driving up the competition.

I have 2 new CECBs that I was planning on placing on eBay. I may hold off another month and see what happens.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...=127559&page=6 is the place to check

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the canadian government has ever required new tv sets to have built in digital tuners. I think it is still legal to sell a new tv in Canada that only has an NTSC tuner. Can anybody confirm if there are any analog only tube sets or "HD Ready" sets in major stores in Canada? What about Mexico?

According to Wikipedia's CECB page, a tuner box could incorporate "support" for the Canadian television ratings system without rendering itself ineligible for the FCC's Coupon program

Optional features

Manufacturers could self-certify compliance with these requirements, but had to provide test results and two units to the NTIA for ad hoc testing. The FCC could also test converter boxes at the NTIA's request. Among the optional features permitted, but not required, were the following:...

Support for the Canadian television ratings system, allowing the manufacturer to sell the same device in Canada.


Does anyone know of any models of CECB that do, in fact "support" the Canadian television ratings system?