Originally Posted by
brdad
It almost sounds like you don't have a strong enough signal. The box may be perfectly fine, even though it may be useless. If your box can't get reception using your existing antenna, a new digital TV may not, either.
My sister gets the cable for the local channels that you can't get with some dish systems, it gives her 7 or 8 channels for less than the regular basic cable. I forget how much, though.
Other than that, you may try a larger antenna, outside if you could do so. I built one with phone wire an thumbtacks on the back of my entertainment center for HDTV that works 95% of the time, but I live right in town.
I agree with Dave . . . the second Dave that is. While the converter box may possibly be defective, it sounds as though you may not be getting enough of a signal where you are . . . with digital TV it's usually all or nothing . . . you either get a wonderfully, clear picture or you get the pixellation.
Where I live I receive WABI great . . . but then again I practically live in the shadow of their transmitter in Dixmont. I also have a roof top antenna and I added a powered line booster as well . . . WLBZ, WCSH and the other CBS affiliate in southern Maine come in about half of the time . . . some days are better than others.
Short of adding a roof-top antenna (or an antenna in your attic if you prefer to go that route) I can only let you know that the last I knew not every station in the Bangor Area was transmitting at full power for their digital stations . . . apparently the cost in running dual transmitters (standard def and hi def) is pretty pricey . . . things may change when the big switchover is made.
One thing I have noticed is that the PTV stations seem to be transmitting at pretty high power . . . plug things in and see if you can't pull in a signal from PBS.
You might want to see if Best Buy will make a swap for the same or similar unit . . . there is always the possibility that the converter is defective.
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