Experiences with converter boxes?
 

I just checked the status of my coupons, they've been mailed! :banana: From what I've read on here the Zenith/Insignia seems to be the better box. But when I went to BestBuy's site to read about the Insignia box it doesn't get very good reviews. Which seems to be the one to get?

When I hit Wal-Mart next week, I'm heading straight for a Magnavox. The Zenith and Insignia models reviewed in Consumer Reports had some interference that the Magnavox box does not display, even with the Magnavox's slightly clunkier remote.
Tom

I bought two Insignia's about a week ago and have had nothing but good experiences!


Seem to have good sensitivity and features.

Good luck :thmbsp::banana:

Zenith DTT900
 

Just got the Zenith DTT900 today (actually 2--one for the future!). It's great for about $20 after the rebate card.

Box is a bit bigger than I would have wanted..but not a real problem. I went from 7 or 8 stations (some blurry) on my in-the-attic antenna, to about 50 perfect reception channels. Plug it in, turn it on, and there's a menu that pops up, to guide you through the language, etc., then hit Auto find, and viola!

There's even a Guide (from over-the-air reception to this--Wow) to show what most stations offer. And, no problems, interference, etc.

Looks good, seems to work perfectly. I'd recommend it--but haven't tried any of the others. This even controls the TV volume, and I can Mute the TV from the box. The only thing I didn't realize ahead of time, since I bring the coax down from the antenna to 3 sets, this only allows one TV channel at a time, and you'll need a separate box for each TV set, unless you want them all to see the same station.

What type of antenna are you using?

:yikes: 50 channels?!
I wanna know what antenna you got as well!!
Tom

Seriously, thats amazing! I got the DTT900 (2 also) and they work nicely. But I only got 23 channels with an indoor antenna on the third story of my house. On the 1st I got 7 lol.

Complaints:

The Zenith/Insignia (they're identical) have a really low audio output level (even at 100% volume setting). When watching them, if you switch to something else (OTA analog, cable, VCR/DVD, etc) the volume blasts if you forget to turn it down first.

The Zenith/Insignia does not pass-thru the antenna when powered off.

My Digitalstream makes a high-pitched whistle when powered off. It's subtle but you can't sleep in a silent room with it plugged in. Anybody else notice this?

The Digitalstream case is cheap plastic. The power-indicator LED is unattractive. The whole thing looks cheap.

The Philco does not have a volume control (you need two remotes to use it).

The Philco case is large and white-plastic gaudy (all the others are subtle and black). Plastic case is sturdier than Digitalstream but still not great.

The four I have (Zenith, Insignia, Digitalstream, Philco) are all made in China. Anybody have one that's NOT made in China?

Pros:
Zenith and Insignia are in sturdy metal boxes.
Zenith/Insignia have better reception.
Zenith/Insignia power-indicator LEDs are stylish.
Philco passes thru the antenna whether it's on or off.
Philco audio is at same level as other sources (no volume-control issues).
Digitalstream passes thru the antenna when off.
Digitalstream is physically very small (takes up least room).
Zenith/Insignia and Digitalstream have field-strength meters.
All of them have user-friendly (and similar) setup.

Of the four I have I like the Zenith best. Only better than Insignia because of the Zenith logo. I found it at Circuit City in Grand Rapids Michigan. I will try to find a Magnavox next. Wal-Mart maybe?

Wish I could find one labeled "Farnsworth"...

Wal-Mart, yes. I do believe they have an RCA as well.
Tom

I really like the Insignia. One thing I noticed on it (that doesn't seem to be present on my DVD recorder/DTV receiver) is that the Insignia has a TV guide function which will show upcoming programming and you can scroll through it to see information on what other channels are airing. The signal strength meter is good too. I got a lot more channels using the outdoor antenna in the barn...here is a video of an RCA Mural TV with Insignia/outdoor antenna:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_wHV9bT8DU

I just got a Zenith from Circuit City, and I'll compare it to the RCA I got with the first coupon. Insignia is the house brand for Best Buy; identical to the LG-built Zenith.

I like the fact that the Zenith is in a metal case, and is heavier. The remote is nicer to hold than the RCA too. Only downer is that the RCA is $10 cheaper than the others, so if it performs the same, then I can't see spending the extra $10. After all, most of us will hide these boxes and pretend they aren't there with our vintage sets :banana:

Charles

Plenty of RCAs at the WalMarts here in SoCal... However, the Magnavox (also $49) is never in stock.

Charles

Thanks everyone :thmbsp: ...looks like the Zenith/Insignia will be the one to get. Well, my wife will have to get it! Can't wait to get back and tinker with my 'new' old TV.

I have a friend who has a 9" under-cabinet digital-tuner LCD TV, and it makes a high pitch squeal, if I remember right.

I asked for coupons so long ago I forget where I did it. How do you find out about your status?

My two insignia boxes are top notch. Make sure you change the audio to MONO for our old TV's or the volume level will be low. Once you select "cropped" mode all wide screen shows are full screen. Looks good on roundies!!

-
Matt Davala

https://www.dtv2009.gov/CheckStatus.aspx


it said mine were mailed already, we'll see if it speaks with forked tongue...

btw it's NOT coming first class mail....

Zenith HD converter Box
 

Still love the box!

Was trying to watch a local HD broadcast through the box, on a normal format LCD TV. The picture was too thin and too long! So I hit Zoom on the Zenith, and the message said, ' Format set by Program', and it wouldn't give me a nice nearly-square image (4:3).

However, went back to the station, and realized that if you hit Zoom several times, then it does over-ride the Program Format Setting, and it does Crop & fill in my screen type....gotta love those electronic thingamabobs!

I found the RCA box performance to be a much poorer than the Zenith. Using same antenna and TV, RCA got 2 stations, Zenith 5. The Zenith comes with more cables for the extra $10.00.

The Zenith can select the various picture aspect ratios, by channel or program. It can always fill a 3:4 screen with no distortion.

My In-the-attic antenna w/Zenith DTT900
 

I just spotted the questions after my first posting on the Zenith box.

About 6 years ago, I bought a medium price Radio Shack antenna (about $80) and I put a twin-lead to coax downlead (long before HDTV was imminent). I ran coax through the walls, and to the livingroom TV, and then to the little Office LCD TV. The antenna has 4 larger pairs of bars, and 8 smaller pairs of bars--if that helps. Oh, and looking at the photos online, I might have it pointing Away from the signal...hmmm...I guess I'll have to find the directions :scratch2:

On the old analog signal, I used an Archer 10db amp, and aimed it due East to Manhattan (I'm about 15-20 miles from the transmitters).

I could get Channel 2 poorly, and about 6 or 8 other channels..well.


With the new Zenith HD box, I disconnected the amplifier, and still get about 30 or 40 channels (some are sub-channels of course), and all seem to be excellent reception.

I picked up a Magnavox TB100MW9 at Wal-Mart last night for $50. There was a stack of 14 of 'em sitting there, with no other brands available.

I've got a small RatShack TV-FM combo up on a 25 foot mast, with a rotator and inline amplifier. I connected the converter with RCA patchcords to my Sanyo VCR, using the VCR as an RF modulator, because this setup will enable me to videotape converted DTV programming.

For NTSC programming, I was able to pick up a maximum of 13 channels, with only six or seven of them able to be classed as "average" or better. Most of the others were always ghosting, or snowy to some degree. Some were consistently downright awful.

With the converter, I can pick up 16 DTV channels (including subchannels) with no effort at all, and all look great. I don't even have to spin the antenna around! There is one CW channel I really wanted to get that's about 40 miles away because of religious programs on Sunday, but their DTV channel is a no-show. :( Their analog signal was rarely better than fair in the past, and I'm sure it's because of signal loss due to the hilly and heavily-treed terrain between the transmitter and my antenna. Living in a valley is also an issue.

So overall, I'm content. Not thrilled, but content. To thrill me, the box would pass the analog signals through with the power off. It doesn't. :thumbsdn:

Tom

I also noticed how much better a signal I get with digital... We normally get a snowy NBC station from Los Angeles, and a snowy KTLA, and a snowy ABC from Santa Barbara. But with digital, I can get about 30 channels!

Charles

I wish that I could get extra DTV channels around here. So far only PBS has actually used the subchannels. The only other subchannel used is for continuous weather. Otherwise it is the same as the analog broadcast channels.

In NJ we have a Jesuscaster on channel 29, with about 10 SDTV subchannels...

In our area, WTOK has 3 total channels: ABC, FOX, and CW. There are 3 PBS channels from WMAW. There are no subchannels on the WMDN (CBS) or WGBC (NBC). There is one analog channel 47 that broadcast Christian programming. I don't know the call letters or where the transmitter is located. I have not found a digital channel for them. Maybe they are a low power station that will remain analog, will go digital later on, or stop broadcasting when the anaolg cutoff date arrives.

Picked up 2 Magnavox boxes last week and they perform great. I live just S.E. of Muskegon Mi. and I was really surprised to see the CBS affiliate HD signal. Their analog is on 3, with all the noise you'd expect from a lowband channel 50 or more miles away(north of Kalamazoo). Their HD is on 2 with 6.8kw and I thought I would not see it but there it was, hovering around 50 on the signal meter and a perfect picture. They have the CW on a subchannel. I have a big V/U antenna with a pole mounted amp about 35 feet up and the NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, local god squad and even a god squad out of Kalamazoo are all there. When the weather warms up I'll get a couple branches out of the way so I can do some rotating and see what else shows up.

Just finished with the set up on the Zenith from CCity , pleased with the performance so far . 13 channels in my market , did have to set each channels aspect ratios for best picture . Using a simple set of Rabbit ears .
Wmart was $10.00 cheaper with the Magnavox ......

Are we going to have to claim the rebate on our TAXES next year ????

Was this needed for better TV or to sell band width to cell phones ?

Barney

Technically it is a "taking" since our Analog TV's are loosing value / functionality.

If they didn't have the rebate program, it is strongly debatable that each individual affected could sue for damages under constitutional grounds.

By having the program, then it's your fault for not taking advantage....

And it's NOT income, it is compensation for a loss. Thus no taxes...

Did you see how MUCH money they made auctioning off the rights to use those frequency bands??? A BUNDLE...

Magnavox - Joliet, IL
 

My coupons arrived yesterday, and before picking up dinner, I scurried down to the local Wal-Mall to pick up a Magnavox. I figured I'd start off with a cheap box, as previous attempts at DTV reception here (USB HDTV tuner stick) were less than dismal. According to coverage maps, this area is supposed to be 'in a hole' as it were for DTV reception.

Got it home and set it up on the 1965 Admiral in the living room, and plugged a set of VHF/UHF rabbit ears into it. Setup was pretty simple - there is a choice for output type, daylight savings time, and aspect ratio. Once setup is finshed, the autoscan feature can be used to populate the channel list.

I was able to receive the local Fox station (WFLD 32) solidly with about a 25/100 signal strength as registered by the internal signal meter. Other stations were pixelated or non-existent until I moved the antenna off of the top of the box. It's currently on top of a radio in front of the living room window pointed in the general direction of the Sears Tower and Hancock Building.

I can now receive NBC (WMAQ 5), WGN 9, WTTW 11, WYCC 20, WCIU 26 (and their 2 subchannels, ME-TV and Me Too), and WPWR 50 with this setup. One thing that struck me was the picture clarity. I've lived in the Chicagoland area all of my life and have had many TVs with indoor antennas. I've never been able to get a picture that I would classify as 'great' - even the satellite receiver which normally feeds this set produces a picture that I would call average (compression artifacts, etc). But the digital OTA signal is razor-sharp, without any compression artifacts.

I'll probably wait a while on the second box, as I see what models and features are out there, but this one seems to work pretty well for the $10 price tag.

I was playing with an audio-spectrum analyzer and took a couple of readings of the whistle. It's a near-perfect sine wave at 10.360 kHz:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/att...4&d=1208297786

Here's a comparison of it vs the 15.750 Horizontal Oscillator whine that some people here can hear (and tell that their HO is working):

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/att...3&d=1208297786

It's almost as loud as the Horiz Osc in my '64 Zenith console, but at a lower pitch. It's annoying enough that I wouldn't want it plugged in all the time.

Just FYI. I was playing with the analyzer for another reason (http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...03#post1792603) so while I had it going I thought I'd satisfy my own curiosity.

I have a digital stream converter and it is silent.

If I were you I would exchange it ASAP, while they are still available and the warranty period definitely hasn't expired... for the minimum wage clerk, don't just say it whistles, say that after 30 minutes it conks out... don't put up with defective equipment, IT will DEFINITELY die, the only question is how long it will take.

Before you accept the exchange unit, see if IT whistles....

There's probably a loose winding in the dc:dc converter's high frequency transformer, mechanically resonating at a submultiple of the switching frequency. They DON'T use 60 hz iron anymore, they rectify the line (yes, they handle 300+v just fine) , charge up a cap and drive a high frequency switching power supply.

I would expect that eventually the transformer WILL fail due to metal fatigue in the loose winding.

I have ACTUALLY seen an 8 pin DIP integrated circuit (STR_A6251), that uses a few caps, diodes and transformer and IS a complete 15 watt switching flyback power supply.

Maybe some of the money received from the frequency band sale should be used to help the people mentioned in this study.

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/s...leID=207200035

From what the article says, neither converter nor digital TV will help them-they are losing broadcast TV unless something in addition is purchased (such as a better antenna).

9.2 million households sounds pretty high.

Peverett, that just ain't right. Let's see what happens....

Mark it's interesting about the flyback supplies...no wonder why the electronics have gotten consistently lighter in weight (and cheaper).... big iron equals big pricetage more often than not. So far my Zenith box has been great, just need a bigger antenna for it to be reliable.

I have an 11 foot antenna sitting on the back porch, and the rotator ready to go, all I need is to arrange a rotator cable and RG-6 downlead (for the high-uhf channels) and somehow figure how to get it UP there....

I suspect (at least in the Chicago area) that partial VHF band antennas ( VHF -HI: ch 7-13, 174-216mhz) if available will prove popular because frequency channels 2-6 (54-88mhz) will be going dark, while frequency channel 7 (174-180mhz) WILL carry what Chicagoans are used to seeing on Channel 7(WLS).. and frequency channel 12 (204-210mhz) will carry Channel 2(WBBM).

decoded - it makes for a lots smaller antenna, don't need those LONG elements...

Otherwise if the DTV channels were just on UHF(470-806mhz), it would be lots easier to have some really good, cheap hi-gain UHF antennas (could even homebrew THEM).

If that's a Kyle Farnsworth, then it won't receive any stations when
under pressure.http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/ima...es/biggrin.gif
:D