# Hey, these things work pretty good.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-these-things-work-pretty-good/111862
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 1, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-these-things-work-pretty-good/111862 "2002-06-01T05:49:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-these-things-work-pretty-good/111862/1 "2002-06-01T05:49:21Z")
I want to tell you about a couple of items I bought about 2 months ago, because they work really well, and when something works this good, people ought to know.
I have digital cable in my family room. It cost more than regular cable, but is worth it. In order to get digital cable you have to have a decoder box. Even a “cable ready” set cannot decode the digital signal. The box is an additional $5 a month rent. “Regular” cable for additional rooms is free (we have 4 other rooms with calbe hook ups) but if we wanted digital cable in those rooms, we’d have to pay the additional $5 per room for the box rent.
I’d be willing to pay that, but the digital box is rather large, and does not fit well in the space we have the other t.v.'s, especially the t.v. in our bed room.
So I heard about these things:
[http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1356971056](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1356971056)
And I bought them for $22. They work great! They transmit the picture crystal clear, and the sound is terrific! They are about the size of a radar detector, so they take up very little space.
I also bought these:
[http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1356678981](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1356678981)
And they were horrible. They worked for shit! So I returned them (to Best Buy) And on E-bay, for $9 I bought this:
[http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1357137842](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1357137842)
And it works fantastic! Now I can lay in my bed room and watch all the digital cable channels, with the big ugly box, and without paying the $5 a month box rent!
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-these-things-work-pretty-good/111862/2 "2002-06-01T05:52:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pkbites \*
> \*\*Now I can lay in my bed room and watch all the digital cable channels, with the big ugly box, and without paying the $5 a month box rent! \*\*
Uh, that should read **without** the big ugly box.