The Second Analog Converter, March 27, 2013
To start, I would simply like to say that Sunkey, the maker of my first converter box, makes junk. It lasted a month and 11 days after I took it out of the box and installed it. It worked at 9:30 Monday morning, March 25. At 5:00pm that same day, bupkus. It turned on with the remote, booted, but instead of the channel display, there were four LED hashmarks -- no picture, no sound. Then, it would not shut off using either the remote or the on/off button on the converter. Sunkey's "tech support" number (a 323 area code) is hooked up to an answering machine. It's been three days, and they have not responded to either my calls or e-mails. Until I hear something from you, Sunkey, and this is resolved, YOU BUILD JUNK. And you don't stand behind it.
In doing further research, I found that poor quality has been a problem with every brand of converter box from the time they came out in 2009. I'm not the only one whose converter has conked out after barely a month. And in my case, the thing was barely used, since I had sworn off most TV except for the 5:30pm and 10:00 news for Lent. So most of the time, it just sat there, ice cold, unless it was turned on with the remote, and I always had it set to turn off after a half hour. No reason for this thing to have done this. And it's powering a TV that, except for a tuner issue in 2008, has provided reliable service for almost 12 years now, and I hope it's 12 more.
Watching the news online is not an option. The network news isn't available as one continuous newscast, and the sports segments on the local news are chopped out of their streaming broadcast because of rights issues with the footage. So a converter box is a very necessary evil.
To prevent a recurrence of this merriment, I decided to buy a more expensive Digital Stream converter from Radio Shack, and also buy the extended 2-year warranty. If it craps out again, I can take it back to any Radio Shack for a replacement. It doesn't have a channel display like the Sunkey, but then, neither did my last Comcast cable box.
By the way, I never, ever keep this one or the previous one sitting on top of the TV. This is just to show you what it looks like, and the picture it provides. On an unrelated note, will spring ever come to Chicago?
The Second Analog Converter, March 27, 2013
To start, I would simply like to say that Sunkey, the maker of my first converter box, makes junk. It lasted a month and 11 days after I took it out of the box and installed it. It worked at 9:30 Monday morning, March 25. At 5:00pm that same day, bupkus. It turned on with the remote, booted, but instead of the channel display, there were four LED hashmarks -- no picture, no sound. Then, it would not shut off using either the remote or the on/off button on the converter. Sunkey's "tech support" number (a 323 area code) is hooked up to an answering machine. It's been three days, and they have not responded to either my calls or e-mails. Until I hear something from you, Sunkey, and this is resolved, YOU BUILD JUNK. And you don't stand behind it.
In doing further research, I found that poor quality has been a problem with every brand of converter box from the time they came out in 2009. I'm not the only one whose converter has conked out after barely a month. And in my case, the thing was barely used, since I had sworn off most TV except for the 5:30pm and 10:00 news for Lent. So most of the time, it just sat there, ice cold, unless it was turned on with the remote, and I always had it set to turn off after a half hour. No reason for this thing to have done this. And it's powering a TV that, except for a tuner issue in 2008, has provided reliable service for almost 12 years now, and I hope it's 12 more.
Watching the news online is not an option. The network news isn't available as one continuous newscast, and the sports segments on the local news are chopped out of their streaming broadcast because of rights issues with the footage. So a converter box is a very necessary evil.
To prevent a recurrence of this merriment, I decided to buy a more expensive Digital Stream converter from Radio Shack, and also buy the extended 2-year warranty. If it craps out again, I can take it back to any Radio Shack for a replacement. It doesn't have a channel display like the Sunkey, but then, neither did my last Comcast cable box.
By the way, I never, ever keep this one or the previous one sitting on top of the TV. This is just to show you what it looks like, and the picture it provides. On an unrelated note, will spring ever come to Chicago?