After a slow start, DISH Network has released quite a number of digital converter boxes lately. Now they have announced the DTVPal DVR, a digital video recorder for over-the-air broadcast television. You can read the press release here.
I’ve written before about the DISH Network DTVPal, a $59.99 digital converter box with some of the best features of any converter box available. DISH Network later released another converter box, the EchoStar TR-40 CRA, with a price $20 lower than the DTVPal. This was somewhat confusing because the TR-40 CRA was exactly the same [...]
Judging from the number of emails I have received on the subject, there seems to be quite a lot of interest in building your own UHF antenna for HDTV reception. I’ve discussed this topic a few times in the past, but here are some resources for prospective antenna builders.
Simple Antennas
These two UHF antenna projects are [...]
There were persistent rumors before the DTVPal digital converter box was released on June 26 that DISH Network had already signed up Sears and Radio Shack as national distributors. But neither chain sold the DTVPal after the introduction. The DTVPal remained available only through the official DTVPal website and through some smaller, local retailers.
But SkyReport [...]
Regular readers of these pages may remember my earlier attempt to build a UHF antenna for HDTV reception. It worked surprisingly well, especially considering that it was a crude prototype. My subsequent attempts at antenna building were less successful, for a variety of reasons I may go into later.
I think that the copper wire I [...]
Doc Searls wrote an article which poses this question about the digital television switchover: What happens after TV’s mainframe era ends next February?
He raises the point that nobody else seems to address, that many people will lose television stations after the switchover. Despite statements to the contrary, just putting up a new antenna won’t always [...]