Yeah, I thought about that. The one at Wal-Mart didn't have any buttons on front, so it must come with a remote. Although, at the time, they didn't have any in stock. Just the display model. But I'm glad I got the one I did.
I live in Hickory, N.C. and last night on PBS/UNC-TV they had a DTV call in hour. They said they'd be doing it monthly. So that's cool. Although I think they were just a tad biased towards DTV or what have you. They actually showed how you hook one up to an analog tv. But the thing is, they showed the picture from far away and it was their own station.
So, they should've shown what happens when the signal gets crapped up (this part of the program wasn't Live). Although during the other part of the program, this one guy said if your signal on analog is bad when trying to get in a station, it probably won't even show up on DTV. And this one guy called in from the coast asking if they make converter boxes that use batteries (like after a hurricane come through). And they're like, they make them, but their not on the market yet. Or something like that. This one guy asked if he'd have to turn his outside antenna everytime he wanted to get in a station. And they reply, Yeah.
I had my box hooked directly up to the tv. I'll try and hook it through the DVD player. But, I'd be afraid it'd screw up the DVD player. Can't let that happen. And yeah, I'll probably take the $20 antenna back to Best Buy and try and get an amplified one. I was thinking about doing that anyway. Do they give you 30 days to return something that's been opened? Right? They better.
But they are high. Might as well just get a small digital tv instead of all this DTV stuff.
Ok, it's not as bad as I describe (maybe ), but I was watching Two and a Half Men just staring at the image trying to make out if it was sharper than analog. After that show was over, my eyes hurt. I was using a 13" Orion. Normally I don't have the converter box hooked up. I put mine back in the box, just so nothing will happen to it. But I do plan to hook it up this weekend to see Garbage on Soundstage (on PBS). That way, I can see it twice. Once their UNC-HD channel at like 8:00 pm on Sat. night and again on the regular airing of Soundstage at 1:00 am late Sat. night/Sun. morning. Har har Although I already taped it last time it was on. But I like watching it on tv every time they air it. ''I'm only happy when it rainnnnnnnnnsssssssss!"
PBS is the best station to take advantage of DTV. If you miss a show like NOVA or Nature, you can probably tune it to another PBS channel the following day or so and watch what you missed the previous day. I know you can watch the BBC World News twice within a couple hours of each other. The 2nd time it's a rerun. They have hot anchor women (for the most part).