Thin-Air ATSC (And NTSC): Assessing Several Set-Top Boxes
Back in late October, I told you that I was planning on ordering my two DTV converter box coupons, with Prying Eyes dissection of the subsequent hardware acquisitions in mind. I requested my coupons the very next day, actually, they arrived in yesterday’s mail, and I ordered my set-top boxes earlier today. I decided to order the two $0.01 (yes, one penny)-after-rebate STBs offered by CompUSA (as well as by TigerDirect, which now owns CompUSA), the Apex Digital DT502:
and the AccessHD DTA-1080D:
The only two differences between the DTA-1080D and DTA-1080U that I can discern are the latter’s upgrade to a universal remote control, coupled with a $9 increment in the latter’s price tag. And happily, both the AccessHD and Apex Digital STBs claim to support the analog pass-through feature.
As you can see, the two devices’ enclosures look very different; I’m hopeful that this delineation will be replicated in dissimilar underlying hardware designs which will result in a much more interesting Prying Eyes analysis (as compared to two clones!). And of course, before I crack open the cases, I’ll hook the STBs up to my UHF-plus-VHF antenna pairing and let you know how well (or not) they tune in the broadcasts originating from the other side of the Mt. Rose range.
Keep an eye out here at Brian’s Brain for more details as I have them; I paid for ground shipping to save EDN a few bucks, so my report probably won’t be out until after Thanksgiving. Until then, content yourself with Bjork’s explanation of how television works (thanks to Boing Boing for the heads-up):
Have a good weekend, y’all.
Followup: I’ve been given the opportunity to act as product selector for another set of two DTV converter box coupons, and (intentionally, admittedly) chose a different set of STBs than the ones I’d already ordered. They’re Sansonic’s FT-300A (which even includes an ATSC antenna) for $0 after rebate (plus shipping) from Meritline:
and Dish Networks’ TR-40 CRA, again $0 after rebate (plus shipping and sales tax), which looks just like the DTVPal below:
As compensation for my advisement, I’m allowed to crack open the enclosures on these two additional units (with the promise that I’ll try my utmost to return the units to their fully functional, pristine cosmetic conditions afterwards!), as well as to try them out for myself. Stay tuned for further details after the hardware arrives.
Brian Dipert commented:
