DCT700

Over the past few months we have been having some problems with the TV in our bedroom. Intermittently the signal was dropping and it wasn't the normal pixelization that you sometimes see on the digital boxes. This isn't my High Def TV where I have the DVR installed. It is just a basic 27" Panasonic tube that I have owned for over 10 years. I was really hoping it was the TV that was going as I would love to get an LCD for the bedroom but I just couldn't justify it if the TV was still working fine.

So I figured the problem was most likely with the box so I popped over to the local Comcast office to get a replacement box. I was a little surprised when the tech brought out one of these:

It is another Motorola box: model number DCT700. What surprised me about it is the size. It is 5-1/2 inches wide 6-1/2 inches long and under 2 inches high. The specs say that it has the same features as the larger basic digital boxes. The obvious difference is there is no readout on the front for channel or time which has taken us a little getting used to as we used our cable box as a clock in the morning. I also noticed that the box emits a high frequency buzz. I can hear it but my wife cannot so maybe it is just me.

Overall though I am pretty happy with it. The size allows us to save some space on the shelf and I am not having the signal dropping problems that I was having with the old box. So I guess I am stuck with my 27" tube for a few more years.