I've been converted

I picked up a government-subsidized digital television converter box at Wal-Mart in Meadville today. As was expected, the cashier initially wasn't quite sure what to do with the $40 government-issued card/coupon. A manager-type person came over and cleared things up as to how to handle the card, and the net price after discount was $9.87 plus tax. It's a Magnavox—the only brand that Wal-Mart had.

Setup was simple: coaxial cable to my set of amplified rabbit ears, composite audio/video (red, white and yellow) to the home theater receiver, and power cord to an outlet. A power switch on the side and one on the remote (batteries included) brought the unit to life, and a set-up guide appeared on the screen. After a few questions about audio output and screen format, the unit auto scanned for available channels.

As expected, I was only able to pick up the stations from WSEE (16.1 aka channel 35, and 16.2, WBEP.) That makes sense since WSEE is the only area station broadcasting its digital signal at full power. The good news is that reception is simply fantastic. Once I adjusted the antenna, I ended up with a sharp picture (far better than the analog WSEE signal) without any stuttering or pixels dropping out (which Coaxial Cable's digital cable service suffered from quite a bit in my experience.)

Now these Erie stations just need to get moving on ramping up their digital signals.