MTV, DTV, HDTV

Remember the ad campaign about the transition to digital broadcast signals that was directed at people who were still getting their TV programming over the airways?  Oh, that would be me.  Well, in NYC, we have excellent over-the-air reception.  I can barely watch everything that is on "free" TV, so I haven't really been tempted to pay $100+ per month to get all the premium channels that I won't have time to watch.

Anyway, when I first heard the rumors about analog TV going the way of the dinosaurs, I immediately contacted the U.S. govt agency that was distributing the allotment of (2) $40 coupons, per household, that could be used toward the purchase of the digital converter boxes. The coupons arrived in plenty of time to make my purchases, and then I waited for the transition, which was then postponed, since people hadn't been paying attention to the ads that were running every half hour for six months. Oh well...

Since these digital converter boxes were a relatively new invention, there wasn't much customer feedback on the Web to help make a decision as to which brand to buy.  The lowest priced unit was around $60, so, we were still going to have to shell out some cash.  That seemed very unfair, but, what choice did we have.

Long story short — Since I had a Radio Shack in my neighborhood, I opted for their brand, DigitalStream, to start. I set it up and all seemed fine. Then, I went to Best Buy and bought an Insignia for the same price.  After I set that one up, there was just something about it—the ease of the set-up and the intuitiveness of the features—I wished I had bought two of those instead. Oh well.....

Fast-forward a year and a half later — everything has been going along just fine since the July 2009 switch over, until last night. The Radio Shack DigitalStream just quit and that was that.  I unplugged it and let it rest overnight, but no amount of resting made any difference what so ever--it was just dead.  I looked at the manual and it has a 6-month warranty!!!  I called their customer service reps, who offer a service, but don't really work for Radio Shack or DigitalStream, and even they agreed that a 6-month warranty is ridiculous.  Another, oh well.....

Now that there is a lot more customer feedback on the Web, my research tells me that Zenith and Insignia are basically identical and made by the same company, and either one would be a good choice in the lower price range. You can also spend $80 to $100+ for a more high-end product.  But, after checking on the Best Buy website, it seems they are no longer selling the Insignia and have replaced it with a real piece of junk (from what the reviews said).  Now what?  
H-e-l-l-o — eBay!!!

eBay Sellers have brand new Zeniths starting at $9.99.  Every listing that I saw had several bidders, but it looked as though the price was ending up around $35, plus $10 for shipping.  So, not too bad.  Now, I will watch and wait.