I picked up a Magnavox TB100MW9 at Wal-Mart last night for $50. I've got a small RatShack TV-FM combo up on a 25 foot mast, with a rotator and inline amplifier. I connected the converter with RCA patchcords to my Sanyo VCR, using the VCR as an RF modulator. This will enable me to videotape DTV programming.
For NTSC programming, I was able to pick up a maximum of 13 channels, with only six or seven of them able to be classed as "average" or better. Most of the others were always ghosting, or snowy to some degree. Some were downright awful.
With the converter, I can pick up 16 DTV channels (including subchannels) with no effort at all, and all look great. I don't even have to spin the antenna around to get the local channels! There was one CW channel I really wanted to get that's about 40 miles away because of religious programs on Sunday, but their DTV channel is a no-show.
Their analog signal was rarely better than
in the past, and I'm positive it's because of signal loss due to the hilly terrain between the transmitter and my antenna.
So overall, I'm content. Not thrilled, but content.
Tom