Trying to find a $40 DTV converter box

Written by Joshua Breitbart Tuesday, 24 March 2009 12:36

The Zenith DTT901 is the best one overall, but the problem might be finding it. A lot of the online stores are back-ordered and they won't let you use a coupon for anything on back order. I know RadioShack had them, but I am annoyed at the lies they've told me when I went into their stores. ("No, there aren't any $40 boxes. The government sets the price of these.")

My coupons were set to expire the following week, so I needed to make a purchase now. My main focus was figuring out how to do it for the least amount of money, since the extra $20-25 for the Zenith box is a problem for some of the people that have been looking for advice. The Zenith model costs $60-65. I wanted to purchase the Zenith and then a $40 box with my second coupon, but I couldn't get both from the same store.

To learn about the various models, I used the Consumer Reports website, which now has information on 31 boxes.

Analog pass-through was not something I was very concerned about. I support the feature on principle, but I don't watch – or even receive, as far as I know – any low-power stations so it doesn't make a difference to me. Likewise with the quality of the closed captioning.

The main features I was looking for were price, picture quality, a signal-strength meter, and a universal remote. I also wanted something that could at least tell me what program was on next in addition to what I was watching now. Ideally, I wanted a box that wasn't very big since my TV is not very big. There was one that Consumer Reports said had a really bright status light, which I knew would annoy me if I used it on the TV in my bedroom.

When I found the models I was interested in, I used this customized search engine to search across the certified online vendors to find where it was available.

Some of the sites are difficult to use. The major vendors don't even seem to bring up converter boxes if you just search for "DTV." Instead, you get an assortment of new digital-ready televisions, which amounts to upselling, in my opinion.

I wound up purchasing an Artec T3AP and an Insignia NS-DXA1, $40 each, from Meritline.com. Shipping cost about $10 and I had to call to understand how to use two coupons – the total says $50.54. I don't know if I made a good choice. I'll let you know after the boxes arrive.