Echostar TR-40 ready to be ordered, but under a new name..

Why is this worth getting excited about?

Apparently, the audio problem in the left channel with the Zenith has been fixed with the newer manufacturer dates ( I believe after 3/08). See this avsforum.com thread for more info.

thinmoney said: Well, search on the net about this product (more info under its old name Echostar TR-40, as the new name has been given only recently, and quietly!).

You can also visit the same link that I have posted to see what it can do.

To answer your particular question, No, it is not an alternative to Slingbox, but it is probably one of the best Digital-to-Analog converter boxes among those listed by www.dtv2009.gov.

I had done significant amount of research to find the converter box that gets the best reviews, and many forums had the tone that the customers are eagerly awaiting the Echostar TR-40 as it is supposed to be the best (of course not based on any reviews yet for obvious reasons)

Ignoring DTVPal (old name Echostar TR-40), Insignia or Zenith had the best reviews, but these boxes (which are actually the same product under two different names) have sub-par audio quality, which threw me off. Apparently, DTVPal is much better in that aspect as well. One another good feature in DTVPal is analog pass through, and apparently it also catches the digital music broadcasts.

I hope this helps.

Jaydeep

Is there any reviews that actually prove DTVPal has better reception, better video/audio quality than other converter boxes?

I also just pre-ordered two of these with my two $40 government coupons. The link that the OP provided seems to be the best deal on these boxes at the moment. My total out-of-pocket cost for the two boxes (including $9.95 shipping for two) was $14.95.

For comparisonSolid Signal is selling these boxes for $48.99/each plus $9.95 shipping for one or $12.95 shipping for two. Your total out-of-pocket cost for two (assuming you use your two $40 government coupons) at Solid Signal would be $30.93. That's more than double the cost of the OP's offer. The other issue is that Solid Signal will not even let you order these boxes with your $40 coupons until the boxes are in stock. That isn't expected to be until the week of June 16th.

BTW, Solid Signal is showing an MSRP on these boxes of $59.99, so $42.50 from the OP's link seems like a very good FW price.

Sigh....

My coupon expires June 6, no preorder for me

Does anyone know if CC or BB will carry these for a similar price?

Provantage just told me that the DTVPAL(or TR40) is unavailable.

looks like provantage.com is out of stock (for now)

Does anyone know of a converter box that offers Analog RF Signal Passthrough and S-video?

I can find boxes with one or the other but not both.

Thanks for your help

trp2525 said: I also just pre-ordered two of these with my two $40 government coupons. The link that the OP provided seems to be the best deal on these boxes at the moment. My total out-of-pocket cost for the two boxes (including $9.95 shipping for two) was $14.95.

For comparisonSolid Signal is selling these boxes for $48.99/each plus $9.95 shipping for one or $12.95 shipping for two. Your total out-of-pocket cost for two (assuming you use your two $40 government coupons) at Solid Signal would be $30.93. That's more than double the cost of the OP's offer. The other issue is that Solid Signal will not even let you order these boxes with your $40 coupons until the boxes are in stock. That isn't expected to be until the week of June 16th.

BTW, Solid Signal is showing an MSRP on these boxes of $59.99, so $42.50 from the OP's link seems like a very good FW price.

The selling price for this box at Solid Signal has gone up from $48.99 to $51.99.

flyboy said: 2cheap2ignore said: I ordered a couple of Echostar TR-40 boxes from Provantage ... Provantage also has a great reputation.


I ordered from them too, but I got an email this morning saying the order had been cancelled.

Provantage is no longer participating with the coupon program and all orders for the DTVpal from them are likely to be cancelled.

Oh well...

Bad news: Mosquito Productions and FreeDTVShop.com also cancelled all preorders. Fortunately, they say coupons can be reused...

June 14, 2008

To Our Dear DTVPal Customers:

It is with deep regret that I am writing to inform you that Mosquito Productions and FreeDTVShop.com will no longer be offering the Echostar/Sling Media DTVPal converter box. This is a decision that is out of our control. Up until Monday, June 9th, we had solid committments from Sling Media (a wholly owned subsidiary of Echostar) and our distributor that we would receive stock of the DTVPal during the week of June 16th. We worked extremely hard to establish this distribution channel for the DTVPal over the first 6 months of the year.

On the evening of June 9th, Charlie Ergen, CEO of Echostar Corporation, announced on his Charlie Chat television program on the Dish Network that the DTVPal would be selling for an increased MSRP of $59.99 instead of the original $39.99 MSRP that had been consistently stated by Echostar since January, 2008. This announcement was a surprise to us, as well as our distributor and representatives at Sling Media, especially given that the product was due to be released in approximately one week.

It was a disappointment as well. Ever since January, there have been claims through press releases and other Charlie Chat programs that Echostar was looking to be a leader in the DTV Coupon Program by keeping their MSRP at $39.99. This was a real beakon of hope for a lot of customers that had been disappointed to see that other converter boxes were $10 to $40 more than the $40 coupon value. At FreeDTVShop.com, we had no choice but to set our price at $42.50, which was the lowest price point we could meet without losing money on the unit. We certainly don't expect any company to willingly lose money on a product, which may have been the case with Echostar at the $39.99 price. However, given all the attention that has been focused on the DTVPal up until this point, we would have expected an announcement of a change in price and availability to be made more than one week in advance of the product's release. We would also expect all established distribution channels to be honored. This simply is not the case.

Given the level of scrutiny that has been placed on retailers like us to help ensure consumer protections in the TV coupon program, we hope that the NTIA reviews these latest developments with the DTVPal. If you have any questions or comments that you would like to voice about these changes, you can contact the NTIA's Coupon Program 24-hour hotline at 1-888-DTV-2009 or email them by going to https://www.dtv2009.gov/EmailUs.aspx

We understand that this change is leaving some customers with rapidly approaching coupon expiration dates in a bad situation. For those of you that pre-ordered that DTVPal, we apologize, but have no choice but to cancel your order with us. You are free to use your coupons at any NTIA approved retailer. This cancellation process may take a few days to complete, but you can use your coupons immediately.

We do not have any further information about the availability of the DTVPal, so please allow other customers a chance to get through our phone lines to inquire about other products. We will continue to offer the widest selection of coupon eligible converters on the market today, and our selection will continue to increase over the coming weeks and months.

I apologize to all of our customers for this change, but again, it is a decision that is out of our control. One unfortunate outcome of this cancellation of orders is that the Freedom Calls Foundation (www.freedomcalls.org) will now be receiving thousands of dollars less from us. We have committed to donate 10% of our profits from converter box sales to this foundation that provides telephone and video conference facilities for our troops overseas free of charge. The Freedom Calls Foundation is completely supported by public donations and receives no funding from the military. We do see the irony in a satellite TV company forcing us to cancel orders resulting in a loss of thousands of dollars worth of donations to a foundation that is centered around satellite communications for our troops. If you have it in your heart, please take a few minutes to check out what they do and send a few dollars their way.

Sincerely,
John Buchmann, Owner
FreeDTVShop.com
Mosquito Productions

So is everyone going after the new Zenith model now?

I would love to see someones review on this post-release.

SolidSignal now shows DTVPal won't be in stock until July:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=DTVPAL

It looks like I will buying the RCA DTV convert box at WalMart since my coupns expire July 17 .

bamx2 said: It looks like I will buying the RCA DTV convert box at WalMart since my coupns expire July 17 .

Why not the Zenith at CC and RS?

More models:
Text

LadyLiza said: With the status of this box changing daily, I do not think I trust waiting on it. I do not know which one I want. Each time I think I have chosen one no one has it. Of the stores I have been to none of them had a single box left.

I am considering getting whatever box I can find as close to the $40 as possible and then getting a DVD recorder with a digital tuner to run the signal through. I have wanted one anyway and if I have to spend an extra amount, I might as well have something that does more than one thing. I don't have room to stack up more equipment that is not usable for multiple tasks. The boxes could be a back up.

Has anyone tried watching through another tuner like this? If so, how successful was it?

I also have to get boxes for my 86 year old mother and apparently some of these boxes come with remotes that have tiny buttons. Any suggestions?

We have a DVD recorder with a digital tuner and also have the Digital Stream converter box. They are set up so that we can watch TV or record on Channel 91 using the DVD recorder, or we can watch TV or view the electronic programming guide using the converter box on Channel 3. I don't know if all DVD recorders work this way but with ours, you can't record one station while watching another so you need a converter box also to be able to watch a digital station other than the one you are recording.

LadyLiza said: Thanks.

I have heard the same thing about watching one/recording one from other sources, I think that is pretty standard.

Do you like the Digital Stream box? Which model is it?

It is Model DTX9900. There are some things that are rather annoying about it. For example, when you turn it off the on-off light flashes. The channel number box on the TV screen doesn't stay on when quickly changing channels, it goes off between each channel, you can't change channels before turning off the electronic program guide, etc. Also, the info. button doesn't show a summary of the show, you have to switch to the electronic program guide to see a summary of a show. This box is quite a bit slower to show the summary information than our DVD recorder, plus it often will show that no summary is available, then if you try it again, it will show the summary.

The electronic program guide is nice though since it often lists several hours of shows for each station. Sometimes, a station will have 12 or more hours worth of shows listed. So that is really nice. Haven't had any problems with audio or video.

I can't really recommend the box, nor advise against buying it, since I haven't seen any of the other boxes in use to compare it to. Hope this helps some anyway.

Edit: We bought it at Radio Shack. It doesn't have the analog pass-through, but our local Radio Shack is now carrying the model with analog pass-through.