DTV is coming...I'm not ready.

(arg!)Styopa writes: As an 'early adopter', I have an HDTV-ready set WITHOUT an integrated tuner. Now the airwaves are full of voiced proclaiming the end of analog television next February. My suspicion is that the $40 set-top box at Walmart is the minimum functional to get by — ie. simply a digital-to-analog converter, and NOT an HDTV receiver.

Something like 2-3 years ago, I plunked down the money for a nice UHF superantenna (I'm about 40 mi from the towers, so not-quite-but-almost fringe reception) and searched for a HDTV converter to pull down HDTV OTA broadcasts. They were EXTREMELY hard to find — none at Radio Shack, Best Buy, Ciruit City, or Ultimate Electronics (all the local bigboxen).

I ended up buying a SIRT150 from ebay which never showed receiving a signal, despite confirmed reception (on the set's normal tuner) of both VHF and UHF channels.

So, now — any advice from the brilliant crowd at /. on what to look for in a set top box? Are they easier than they were to find, with the upcoming signal switch? Is it going to cost me an arm and a leg, or is it somewhere near the $40 Walmart special. Will Uncle Sam's $40 coupons count towards it?

I'd like very much to be able to find a physical store where I could go see the signal, before I decide if the HD signal is worth the upcharge, if any, over simple DTV.
Thanks!