# I tore my digital converter box to shreds. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161 "2010-09-27T00:48:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/1 "2010-09-27T00:48:28Z")
I did. I took a hammer to it, and ripped it apart in the World’s Most Irrational Bout of Rage. You know, I don’t watch a lot of television. In fact, in true Doper fashion, I have gone many years without watching any television at all, and many years plain not owning one. Most recently, I had a television, then the whole conversion thing happened, so my TV ended up being something I watched Netflix DVDs on. Then, some months ago, I happened to find that my friend had an extra converter box that she didn’t know how to dispose of, it came up that I didn’t have one at all, and I inherited it. My TV watching didn’t change much, but I often used it as white noise, and caught up on some shows I used to watch, but fell behind on. So why was I thrown into this wildly irrational bit of rage, you might ask, considering I don’t watch that much TV. Well, because the goddamn thing doesn’t work, and that makes me angry. One day, a Saturday, I turned on the TV and converter, and received a black screen. I thought my TV was broken, but after testing the TV with my DVD player and Nintendo (yes, NES, not this Wii crap), I realized it was the box. So I solved my problem the way I solved all of my problems, which was to reboot. So that was the deal. It occasionally didn’t work when I turned it on, but if I turned it off and on again a few times, the magic would happen, and I could watch TV. It was a mild nuisance, but it’d soon enough start functioning, which was good enough for me. There have only been a handful of times when I just could not get it to work. These times were all Wednesdays and Sundays. Folks, those are the ONLY two days a week when I actually care about what’s on TV. As in, “Ooh, I’m going to watch TV tonight,” as opposed to just turning it on, and watching whatever I see. Why in god’s unholy green pastures have the ONLY times my converter box refused to work been the ONLY two days of TV that I care about at all? Tell me. Now there’s nothing good on that I simply must see, mind you, but the device failing _exactly_ and _only_ when I wanted it to function pissed me off in ways a simple electronic device should not. In previous failings, I’ve been tempted to smash the thing to bits, but decided against it. But today, oh god today, I don’t know if I’m in a mood or what, but I decided this thing needed to **DIE**. Before acting rashly, I checked to see how much a new one would cost, to see if my rage was worth it. $40. Terrific. Well that does it. _This goddamn son of a whore was going to get killed to death._ So I tore it open, ripped the plugs out, smashed it with a hammer, and went full on Office Space on the bastard. Can digital converter boxes feel pain? I hope so. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/2 "2010-09-27T01:03:01Z")
What the fuck does PC Load Letter mean? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/3 "2010-09-27T01:05:33Z")
You realize that the proportion of malfunctioning equipment in the universe is a constant, don’t you? Since you made your cable box lose all possibility of ever working, someone else’s X-Box halfway across town will never fail again. You have given a gift. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/4 "2010-09-27T01:07:59Z")
I’m confused. _How_ is this going to enable you to watch TV tonight and next Wednesday? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/5 "2010-09-27T01:18:22Z")
They’re showing Lawrence Welk on Wednesdays now, too? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/6 "2010-09-27T01:20:33Z")
1. Exactly… exactly. 2. I’m a humanitarian, you know. 3. I was never going to be able to watch TV tonight, so instead of \*just \*not being able to watch, I killed the machine, and bought a new one. Edit 4) 🙂 So I wrote this thread just as I got through ruining the machine, have calmed down since, but I’m still glad I killed the thing. Sometimes you just gotta break shit, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/7 "2010-09-27T01:20:35Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You realize that the proportion of malfunctioning equipment in the universe is a constant, don’t you? Since you made your cable box lose all possibility of ever working, someone else’s X-Box halfway across town will never fail again. You have given a gift. Nope, you’ve got it mixed up. Since the box was destroyed, it was taken out of the equation. Thus, by destroying a piece of malfunctioning equipment, someone else’s 360 just got a RROD in order to balance the equation. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/8 "2010-09-27T01:27:06Z")
Excellent. The check is in the mail to your “friend.” (It was 100 bucks for her to give you that converter box, but I’m out 20 because I bet you’d pit the cursed thing, not MPSIMs it (or whatever)). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/9 "2010-09-27T01:35:01Z")
Little do you know, we’re splitting your 100 bucks. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/10 "2010-09-27T02:24:43Z")
you should have taken it to Goodwill or similar, someone could have used it. a black screen is the result of not a good enough antenna or having the antenna not adjusted right. no signal is a black screen. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/11 "2010-09-27T02:30:51Z")
No. No signal is the “No Signal” box dancing across my screen. It was as though I never turned the thing on at all. The thing worked, and then it didn’t. In any case, it’s in tiny bits in a paper bag now. I have no regrets. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/12 "2010-09-27T02:31:17Z")
Quick! Break the antenna! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/13 "2010-09-27T03:52:19Z")
God Lord! What happens if MOL thinks a man is “unsatisfactory”. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/14 "2010-09-27T04:07:26Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > 1. I’m a humanitarian, you know. All this means anymore is that you eat people. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/15 "2010-09-27T08:37:19Z")
You know what sucks? There seems to only have been that one wave of boxen for sale. Okay, if freakin’ Radio Shack doesn’t have 'em, who would? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/16 "2010-09-27T13:51:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Quick! Break the antenna! 😃 You’re next if you don’t quit sassing me. > [@astro](#): > > God Lord! What happens if MOL thinks a man is “unsatisfactory”. I’d tell you to ask them yourself, but they can no longer speak. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/17 "2010-09-27T14:59:25Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > You know what sucks? There seems to only have been that one wave of boxen for sale. Okay, if freakin’ Radio Shack doesn’t have 'em, who would? in the USA the coupon eligible converter boxes were tuners only, with the intent of keeping working tv sets prematurely out of landfills where used for over the air tv. there were and are digital tv tuners with more features than tuner only at a higher cost. tv sets are usable for video display from lots of video sources so they can find a full useful lifetime with someone. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/18 "2010-09-27T15:22:13Z")
> [@astro](#): > > God Lord! What happens if MOL thinks a man is “unsatisfactory”. Do you think they should ask for a deposit before agreeing to date? ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/19 "2010-09-27T15:28:24Z")
You do realize you’ve missed a golden teaching moment? You could have taken the converter box to you former gym and asked the desk-guy for help 😃 ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161/20 "2010-09-27T17:04:46Z")
I did a similar thing to a CD/alarm clock that was a total PITA to set the alarm on. There was some sort of weird bug in its programming that caused the nap timer to turn on every. single. time. you wanted to change the regular alarm time, and the nap timer instructions in the manual did not work at all. This meant every time I wanted to change the alarm time I’d spend 15 minutes fussing with the thing until I’d hit some magic series of buttons that disabled the nap timer. It never seemed to be the same series twice. One day I’d just had it with the thing and I wound up and smashed it on the floor. It was _very_ satisfying. I found bits of plastic from it for weeks afterward - and each time it was like getting a little piece of that feeling back. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tore-my-digital-converter-box-to-shreds/555161.md?page=2)