On one of my earlier blog post, I had mentioned about the $40.00 coupon I had received through the coupon box program. Last month I went shopping for a DTV converter box as these coupons does have an expiration date and is clearly marked on the card.
I found that most of the retailers carry just one model or 2. I went to Wal-mart and Radio shack and was able to find one for $49.99 – but they all seem to be made of plastic body and I wasn’t willing to spend my coupon/money on it. So went to circuit city and they had Zenith DTT900 Digital TV Converter Box which has a metal body.
It costs $10 more than that one(s) at Wal-mart and Radio sack but I was willing to pay extra $10 for Zenith DTT900 Digital TV Converter Box.
So got home and want to see if it works (or to be more precise want to see how far this will convert OTA digital signal).
We have a Panasonic analog TV – before connecting to a converter box it won’t pick any signal from my attic antenna antenna nor any indoor antenna, as we live about 40 miles away from St. Louis city. I decided to try with my trusty fishbone antenna (I use this to get OTA channels for my HDTV) for my initial setup 
Hook up was pretty straight forward – you connect one end of coax cable to antenna/outlet and the other end to the converter box. Surprisingly the output from the converter box has RCA connectors
The output from the RCA connectors goes to the TV. One thing I was struggling with for a while (without reading the manual) was not receiving any signal on TV. Turns out I need to set my TV to channel 3 to watch “converted DTV” programs – similar to setting up a VCR.
The first time I powered on the converter box, it automatically started going through initial auto tuning process and setting up the channels. By the end of the set up, I am able to watch almost all the digital channels available in St. Louis area – though the quality is no where close to watching it on a HDTV but then again it’s just converted analog signal
Another good thing with this converter – I get program information like those one would receive on cable/satellite reception. I am guessing this is same with other digital converter boxes as well (?).
I am more than happy with my Zenith DTT900 converter box as we could watch more local channels and we are now ready for DTV changeover
More information on Zenith DTT900 converter box can be found here.
I’m glad you gave me a review of an actual converter box in your post here. I have been writing about the digital transition and converter boxes on my blogs to get the word out but have yet to find any reviews and am still waiting to get my coupon card so I can get my own converter box… Is it possible that I could add this article to my blog with credit to you and a link to your website?