What's the best TV converter box?

Digital TV converter box and antenna?

• I have a friend living in Chicago, only 4-5 miles from downtown where the TV broadcast antennas are located. He can't afford cable and wants to hook up a digital TV converter box to an older TV that doesn't have a digital tuner. What kind of antenna will be needed, given that he's probably in a pretty good reception area? Do the digital converter come with an antenna, or will a separate one be needed? Any recommendations on converters or antennas? He doesn't want to spend a lot, given his limited budget. He doesn't even have a TV at this point, but can get one from another friend who's moving and wants to get rid of one. Can an old computer monitor be hooked up to a digital converter box? He does have an old CRT computer monitor with an older style cable/plug. No HDMI or anything like that.

• Answer:

  He can get a basic rabbit ears type antenna from Big Lots for like $3; converter boxes don't have antennas included though. Probably not; my converter connects to the tv with the antenna/RF connection & most older monitors don't have those. The only other connection option on mine is composite (red, yellow, white) & they usually don't have those either, plus a tv to pc converter box isn't the same as a digital converter box so he'd have to buy that as well.