[BC] DTV on the cheap

[Kevin Tekel]

I noticed that Wal-Mart now has a selection of conventional picture-tube
TV sets with built-in SDTV 480i decoders available, ranging from a 13"
mono set for $94.68 to a 24" set (presumably stereo, but the tag didn't
mention it) for just under $200.  All have an SDTV logo on the front
panel.

I was unable to determine the digital picture quality of these sets,
because Wal-Mart was feeding them with their own in-store TV channels as
conventional analog NTSC.  Although they had a large "HD" logo bug in the
corner of the picture, the TV set itself identified each channel as
analog, and there was even visible static on one of the sets.

The more expensive true HDTV sets got a true digital signal to decode,
but there was an annoying echo going on because each set took a slightly
different amount of time to decode the digital data, causing a "baseball
stadium announcer" effect.

There were no HD Radio-equipped radios in the car audio display, although
one was "HD Radio-Ready".  Or you can forget about digital entirely and
get an analog-tuning AM/FM/cassette car radio for $30.




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