In the interests of comprehensive research, and because I cannot engage in any semi-serious activity without producing hours of mind-numbing research, laying waste forests of paper and dithering over various options, I have produced the following table that explains the result of my attempt to find digital-to-analog converters, or in the alternative a simple DTV tuner with some form of analog output. I have to say that for someone as obsessive-compulsive as me, this experience seriously stretched my very low tolerance for shopping. I realized at one point that no reasonably healthy person would be spending as much time on this as I would and so immediately curtailed my research to ensure that it could be replicated by someone with more of a life.

Here’s what I found through a combination of mostly online research and a few local telephone calls. The list came from CNet’s list of “TV/HDTV Tuners & Receivers” which they price and rate. I noted with interest that the LG models were not even mentioned, although LG/Zenith is supposed to hold the patent on ATSC technology. But I included the LG model anyway, since I knew it was out there and that Circuit City had it on their website.

	Circuit City	Best Buy	Sears	K-Mart	Target	Walmart	Costco	Good Guys
Samsung SIR-T451	$249.99	$237.49 [Not available locally]	---	---	---	---	---	Sells the Samsung TS360 for $299.99
Humax HFA100	Available only at Crutchfield for $299
Motorola HPT100	Available only through Motorola for $399, but I couldn’t find it on their website
Philips FTR9952	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
RCA ATSC21	---	---	---	---	---	Advertises the RCA ATSC11 for $388	---	---
NextVision HD12	Available only through Dell for $373
Directv (mystery model)	---	Local Best Buy only has Directv receivers. Without a DVD it costs $199.	---	---	---	---	---	---
LG LST3510A [with DVD]	$399
USDTV receiver	---	---	---	---	---	$198.76, but only in certain stores.	---	---

So who was the big winner? I was looking for:
· a reasonable price;
· availability at a store near my home (so I could avoid paying with that staple of American purchasing power, the credit card; our family recently decided to stop using credit unless absolutely necessary);
· a nice set of features, including a universal remote if possible;
· analog outputs;
· ease of installation; and
· recommendations from others posted online.

And the WINNER IS……the Samsung SIR-T451. I’ll be picking up my new electronic baby from the local Circuit City today after work. Interestingly, when I called, the salesperson said they had exactly TWO in stock! So I managed to deplete their stock by 50%. This says loads of course about the priorities of retailers and manufacturers.

By the way, isn’t it remarkable how silly the names are for these pieces of electronic equipment? Surely, the promotions people were out of the room at the time these were named, and so the naming process was apparently left to the engineers. Couldn’t these companies attract more sales if they named their receivers something like “the scorpion” or “the vision star” or something interesting? With some limited exceptions, car manufacturers already do this (unless they’re German or Swedish). At the risk of sounding sexist, how do they expect to get female consumers to be attracted to something that sounds like it should be attached to the bottom of your car? I don’t say this wantonly, because I remember reading an article in one of our myriad trade presses that women are now driving the purchase of flat-screen TVs. One of the factors encouraging purchase is to get that big chunky CRT out of the living room and replace it with something with a less imposing presence. Does the poor naming of this equipment further illustrate the low importance of the product among manufacturers?

So much for today’s rant. Next up, the installation.

A correction: our aging analog Mitsubishi TV is actually 20” diagonally, not the 29” I noted before. I guess this shows that size doesn’t matter. ;-)