TV Convertor Boxes - Montana Owners Club

Driftwoodgal · 01-21-2009, 02:11 AM

We haven't bought the new convertor boxes for the Montana. We have been waiting for the coupons, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. They either ran out of money, or it wasn't sent first class mail ( so it wasn't forwarded to us). We have cable here at this campground, but several of our favorite local parks do not. Here are a couple of questions about the new change.

If you install convertor box/boxes do you have to have one for each TV?

If you only have to have one, do you have to watch the same station on both, or can you watch seperate channels?

Does the antenna on the Montana work with the convertor boxes?

If you buy a smaller digital TV for the bedroom, can you use the antenna and then hookup directTV for the living room?

Where did you buy your convertor box? Hom much did you pay for it? Is there different types of boxes, one better than the other, or it does more than the basic one?

We have been so busy with the hurricanes, we haven't really thought about the change since we are on cable right now. Just got to thinking about the old TV at home and when we have storms that knock out DiretTV. We are without local news and weather/ big deal is the weather and tornado alerts.

Where did you insall your boxes?

Thanks for your answers guys and gals.

Colleen

bncinwv · 01-21-2009, 02:38 AM

Coleen,
We got a couple of boxes at Wal-Mart (with the coupons) just in case we needed them for the rig. We have the older analof televisions. The price was around $50. The only features I was looking for was a remote control and analog bypass (this alows the older non-gigital signals - PBS, etc. in some parts of the country). Can't tell you much more than that as we have not installed them yet.
Bingo

lawrenceb42106 · 01-21-2009, 03:38 AM

You should be able to go on line to check for your coupons. We had to order ours twice. It messed up the first time. Have not installed ours yet, so can't help there.

jpbcny · 01-21-2009, 06:02 AM

This thread should provide most of the answers to your questions:

Digital Converter Box

JP

HughM · 01-21-2009, 06:04 AM

If you call for the coupons for converter boxes as I did this weekend you can sign up for the box but they claim they are out of money at this time. If more money is available then more coupons will be sent out.
Hugh

kmh3212 · 01-21-2009, 08:32 AM

The program is out of money.
Your antenna will work fine for the digital signal,
You will need a box for each TV to simplify installation. You could use one box but you would have to watch the same program on both TVs.
You can keep the Direct TV in the living room and watch digital off the air in the bedroom if you put a box in the bedroom.
The box is a tuner and converter. It tunes in the digital signal and converts it to a channel or signal you can watch on your analog television.

SlickWillie · 01-21-2009, 01:54 PM

I am hearing they will extend the deadline. They will continue to broadcast both analog and digital for awhile. Wonder if they invested the converter box money with Bernard Madoff?

kmh3212 · 01-21-2009, 04:02 PM

Congress may extend the deadline and may authorize more money from us taxpayers for the program. About a third of the issued $40 cards were not used and expired as well. I know mine expired and my dad's expired. I got my cards early and the boxes were just not available.

Driftwoodgal · 01-22-2009, 02:19 AM

Well, I checked on our coupons that I ordered at the begining of December. They have mailed the coupons to our home address. That mail is being forwarded to us here in Bacliff, but only First Class mail. The coupons aren't being sent out as first class. We were in before the money ran out, just couldn't get them

I just ordered two more coupons to be sent here to Bacliff with our trailer mail. Hopefully, we will get them here, if they have more money.

Colleen

TLightning · 01-22-2009, 04:43 AM

An other point of confusion...the way my instructions read, we need a converter box for the old analog TVs and the new TVs IF they are high def only and not digital. So even though we have one new HD, it still needs the converter because it is not digital.

Waynem · 01-22-2009, 06:57 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Driftwoodgal

We haven't bought the new convertor boxes for the Montana. We have been waiting for the coupons, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. They either ran out of money, or it wasn't sent first class mail ( so it wasn't forwarded to us). We have cable here at this campground, but several of our favorite local parks do not. Here are a couple of questions about the new change.

Q:If you install convertor box/boxes do you have to have one for each TV?
A: No, but you will be restricted to watching the same channel on both tv's. You can use a splitter from the output of the converter box, or an RF Modulator to send the signal to the back BR

Q:If you only have to have one, do you have to watch the same station on both, or can you watch seperate channels?
A: Yes (See first Answer)

Q: Does the antenna on the Montana work with the convertor boxes?
A: Yes. The converter box does not care where it gets a signal from as long is it is a good clear signal. If you have an antenna that is marginal, then the quality of the signal will be marginal to non-existent.

Q:If you buy a smaller digital TV for the bedroom, can you use the antenna and then hookup directTV for the living room?
Yes. And in some cases you could hook both to both TV's. It depends on your DirectTV (Or Dish Network) receiver. If it has an "antenna" input (Not Satellite input), then you could control watching incoming signals off of the antenna, or satellite, with the remote control switching between antenna inputs. (Talk to me sometime)

Q:Where did you buy your convertor box? Hom much did you pay for it? Is there different types of boxes, one better than the other, or it does more than the basic one?
A: I have not purchased on yet as all of my tv's are digital ready, or have satellite which provides digital signals through their box. However, I have seen the converter's at many of your typical stores varying in price.

We have been so busy with the hurricanes, we haven't really thought about the change since we are on cable right now. Just got to thinking about the old TV at home and when we have storms that knock out DiretTV. We are without local news and weather/ big deal is the weather and tornado alerts.

Q:Where did you insall your boxes?
A: I have not installed one, but if I were going to I would place it in a position that was accessible with the remote control. If I were to have only one converter I would purchase an RF Controller for the bedroom to be able to control the box from there.

Thanks for your answers guys and gals.

Colleen

Colleen,
I posted the answers to the best of "MY" ability and so they could be shared with others, as I'm sure this is in the mind of a lot of non-digital tv owners. In NO way are my answers the absolute answer. There are many, many variations of hooking up electronic equipment, and I'm sure others will post them. I just wanted to provide a simple answer, well, to keep it simple.

Give me a call if you have any specific questions or need help in hooking anything up.

MuddyPaws · 01-22-2009, 11:09 AM

Before you buy a converter box get the manufacturer and model number and google (or whatever you use) for reviews. There are some very shoddy units out there.

In fact it seems that there are very few good ones.

kwolff7 · 01-22-2009, 11:32 AM

Please tell me what you have found to be good. Thanks

Driftwoodgal · 01-23-2009, 01:15 AM

I too would love to know what are the good brands and what ones are considered bad. Where are you getting the info? My internet time is really limited as the WIFI here at the park is horrible. Just about the time I get ready to post something or research something I get kicked off.

Colleen

av2pilot · 01-25-2009, 06:58 PM

Let me say that the converter boxes are a great investment. I was shocked at how good the picture was and how many "broadcast" channels I got. I might not have to worry about local channels with my Direct TV now! I bought both of mine at Best Buy using my coupon cards(be careful...they expire!). The ones I bought have a remote that controls BOTH the TV and the box. They use an RF signal so I just spliced it in behind the pull out TV in the bedroom and it works great. A definite must have in my book.

garyka · 01-26-2009, 02:41 PM

I purchased 2 boxes from this site for $11.97 complete with shipping
http://www.solidsignal.com/ and I just read they have extended the deadline to June.

Dean A Van Peursem · 02-07-2009, 06:41 AM

When looking at these digital converter boxes another thing to look for is how many and which connecting cables are included. A CA friend just purchased one at WallyMart and then had to go back and purchase the sound cables. His remote wasn't able to be programmed to control the sound level on the TV or turn it on and off. Still requires two remotes.

jimcol · 02-07-2009, 08:16 AM

We bought 2 of the Magnavox TB110MW9 from Sams. One worked perfect the second one worked almost perfect. It would not recoginize one of the local channels. Got an exchange from Walmart and new one works perfect. Easy to install. Only cable included is one short piece of coax which is all we needed. As others have said the difference in picture quality is wonderful. If you do have trouble take it back to where you purchased it for an exchange. DO NOT USE THE TECH SUPPORT NUMBER. The kid I got was very nice and professional but knew nothing about the product.

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