Wal-Mart offering $10 DTV converter box (with coupon) |
Wal-Mart has brought its huge retail muscle into the DTV conversion game set to happen in Feb. 2009 by unveiling at its 3,400 stores a converter. The price you ask? After the $40 digital converter box coupon you can get from the government, the cost is a mere $9.87.
That is right – just under $10 (converter box prices at $49.87 without). That is a slap in the price face of Best Buy, which is selling its boxes for around $20 with the coupon. Wal-Mart is pimping a box done up by Magnavox for its offering, whereas Best Buy is going with its private label brand.
“Due to our many locations, we expect the majority of customers will come to us for making their digital transition plan, both for convenience and price,” said Gary Severson, senior vice president of Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. “We’ve prepared for many months to ensure the coupon process will go smoothly, and will work with suppliers to continue to have available, affordable options in our stores for all customers.”
Wal-Mart/Magnavox Converter Box
TAGS: converter boxes, DTV, magnavox, Television, Wal-Mart   |
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Walmart may be selling a $10 after coupon box… but be forewarned – you get what you pay for.
The Magnavox box has a tiny remote which is difficult to read in low light.
It has no on-box controls, so if you lose the remote you can’t control the box.
It has no ventilation – making it run VERY hot and possible fail sooner.
It does not have Analog pass through – so you can’t watch channels that haven’t turned on Digital tranmissions yet, or for low powered local stations not making the transition to Digital on Feb 2009.
The Insignia Brand at Best Buy is a great unit with the LG chipset, better remote, better reception. However, all of the Insignia’s (and the Zenith’s which are the same box) have all been recalled to be replaced with Pass through.
The only other box – the Microprose MPI-500 (which is also a clone of the Zenith and Insignia) actually HAS Pass through and it is a great product is available
http://www.microprosesystems.com/dtv.htm
Also, while upgrading to DTV, consider a new antenna too – while not totally necessary, its a good idea to get a stronger reception antenna – check out antennaweb.org
What is the source for info regarding recall of Zenith and Insignia boxes. Do you know the proceedure for getting replacement units. There is no question that this was a significant oversight on Zeniths part. Many people are going to be made aware of the difference between digital and analog reception when to their dismay they find they will need a better antenna system. This will be a land rush opportunity for antenna installers in Feb of 2009.
Contrary to the previous comment(pasted below), my existing antennas do much better receiving the digital broadcasts.
Rayman1 Says:
“Many people are going to be made aware of the difference between digital and analog reception when to their dismay they find they will need a better antenna system.”
My advice… get a converter box and compare analog vs digital reception at your locale, before spending $$$ to upgraded your antenna system.
Digital reception requires decoding… if the signal is too weak, you get nothing, or intermitent mosaic freeze.
Weak analog signals result in snow or herring bone interference patterns.
Do not fear, DTV is here… with more channels and in hi-def.
If you are not on cable/sat, be sure to order your coupons before analog goes off the air (Fed 17, 2009).
Rich
KT4JQ
Wal Mart is out of the dtv boxes every where. Please help get boxes.
If your DTV box does not have Analog pass through, simply use a switch box to switch between inputs (signal coming through the DTV box and signal not coming through the DTV box), or simply use an additional TV. The additional TV can be dedicated to watching the channels which haven’t switched to digital yet.
I found my boxes online at http://www.consumerelecgroup.com. Easy website fast delivery.
couypon program has ran out of money can i still get agood price on a box without coupon please let me know????
RadioShack has DTV boxes made by Digital Stream and Zenith — both better than the Wal Mart ones, naturally. Plus they are never out of them — if there are none in the store they just have one shipped to you from their warehouse and they pay the shipping, simple as that.
They cost 5 or 10 dollars more, but well worth it. You don’t want a cheap WalMart box, plus they have had all kinds of problems with them. RadioShack is the obvious place to buy something like that anyway.
The coupon program has not run out of money as one person said. I got two coupons for our house and two for my daughter’s house just a week or so ago, and I ordered them quite recently.
Suggestions and comments from users helpful. Still have to purchase 2 boxes, will do so before June deadline. Will look at Radio Shack prices, but with all the difficulties stated with WalMart boxes, probably will take a chance and buy there for price….they stand behind everything, so if something is wrong within a year, I feel they would replace it for free.