TVJuneau.com - The source for television information in Juneau Alaska

DTV Converter Boxes

A "DTV Converter Box" is an external digital TV tuner that can be used to tune in Digital TV stations and convert that signal to an Analog signal for an Analog TV or VCR.

DTV Converter Boxes ONLY work with over-the-air DTV signals.
They will NOT work with Cable-TV.
To receive GCI's Digital cable TV signal, you will need a "digital cable" ("QAM") tuner. Generally GCI's cable boxes are the simplest option and are guaranteed to work with their system.
Satellite TV has been Digital for many years now, the satellite receiver provided by DishNet or DirecTV is the only tuner you will need to watch satellite TV.

If you have a TV with a built in Digital tuner, you do not need a DTV converter box. See the "General DTV Info" page for details.

Some Juneau TV stations will not be switching to digital in 2009. To continue receiving these stations, you will need a converter box that supports "Analog Pass-through", a feature which allows the analog signals from TV stations to pass through the box to your existing analog TV.

AFD is a feature that allows the converter box to automatically adjust the aspect ratio to the viewer's TV in the most suitable way for any paticular program. As of 1/26/09, no digital Juneau stations are broadcasting AFD codes, but may in the future.

TV converter boxes are available from the following stores in Juneau:

Picture	Make	Model	Price	Analog Pass-through	AFD
Fred Meyer - 6/12/09
	Maganvox	TB100MW9	$54.99	YES	NO
	Philco No longer available	TB100HH9	$54.99	YES	?
Radio Shack (Nugget Mall) - 6/12/09
	Digital Stream No longer available	DTX9950	$59.99	YES	NO
	Digital Stream No longer available	DTX9900	$59.99	NO	?
Radio Shack (Western Auto) - 6/12/09
	Airlink 101	ATVC102	$69.99	YES	?
	Digital Stream	DTX9950	$59.99	YES	NO
	Zenith No longer available	DTT901	$59.99	YES	YES
	Artec No longer available	T3AP Pro	$69.99	YES	?
Sears - 6/12/09
	Maganvox Out of stock	TB100MG9	$49.99	YES	?
Wal-Mart - 6/12/09
	Maganvox	TB110MW9	$55.87	YES	NO
	RCA No longer available	DTA800	$55.87	NO	NO

Dates reflect the last time the store in question was checked.
Prices are normal sticker price before the $40 coupon discount or any temporary sales. (At the time of this writing, the Philco unit at Fred Meyer was on sale for $49.99, with the coupon, the box would cost $9.99 plus tax. However the normal sticker "pre-sale" price was $54.99, as is indicated in the table.)