Digital TV Tuner Spotted

Sometimes you can learn a lot just by looking. There I am wandering in Wal-Mart, and checking out the DVD players as my Sharp one from 2001 is starting to not play a disc occasionally. While I'd like to wait for Blu-Ray to get more affordable, I'll nurse my current unit along a little longer. Anyway, I spot this strange little box. It's right next to a compact DVD player, and it looks quite similar, but there's no slot for a disc. After a little head scratching, I realize that I've spotted a digital TV tuner set top box.

The thing is quite unimpressive, and made by Magnavox. It's just a little box with an on/off switch on the side. On the rear are coax in and out, presumably to connect to the antenna and the TV set. There's also a set of composite outputs: video, stereo L/R in yellow, red and white which is pretty standard these days for low quality video. There is a remote control but it wasn't displayed. Finally there is a power cord.

This is the type of box that you can use your $40 government coupon on. It even says it on the device box, and they had a whole pile of them. Thankfully, this model is going for $49.95 so the coupon will cover most of the cost.

Am I getting one? Probably not. After seeing this thing, I'm realizing that it may not save my 20" tube TV, at least how I use it. The problem is that on my TV set (a Hitachi, circa 1998, which still has a good picture) I have inputs for coax antenna, and a solitary set of composite inputs (yellow, red, white). Unfortunately, my Philips DVR needs to be plugged into both the coax and the composite simultaneously to work. So where can I plug the converter box into?

One option is to use the tuner on the DVR, but then I couldn't record and watch simultaneously, so it's hardly ideal, and a step backwards. Maybe I could send my antenna feed to the DVR, then to Magnavox converter box, and then to the TV set? I'm not sure if this might work, but in the end, a new TV, with many more inputs is probably the way to go, and avoid the experimentation.

Besides, in the the end, this converter box is simply ugly, with no pizzazz. We'll see if other consumers come to the same opinion, and flock to new LCD sets.

Jonas