What's a good coupon eligible Digital Converter Box? There are so many now.

[KeepItSimple]

Hello I got my cable box coupons but there are so many $50-70 boxes out there I don't know which one to get, where's the best price or how to get it (CC/Best Buy etc vs. Online).
Anyone have any opinions?
This website has a number of coupon eligible boxes:
http://www.solidsignal.com/dtv2009/
Thanks!

[rumplestiltskin]

I bought the "eligible" Zenith at CircuitCity. Send away for the $40 coupon (you can request up to two) from the Feds. The net cost is around $25 (you pay the sales tax for the entire $60 cost).

I connected the unit to my TV using the RCA (yellow/red/white) plugs because the RG-coax connection didn't produce good audio (might be a defective unit; probably will return it for another). Using the RCA connectors, however, the picture and sound are flawless.

You must have a good antenna. Here in El Paso when the wind blows, the reception gets lousy. I thought this was due to my antenna (and it may be partially to blame) but others who are using inside antennas are reporting the same problem so I think the broadcast antennas at the top of the mountain are not securely positioned and wiggle which causes the drop-outs.

I ended up installing DirecTV and can use both satellite (SD) and OTA (HD) - the latter when the wind isn't blowing. (No wind issues with DirecTV in spite of what the cableTV provider claims.)

[jjeff]

I'd vote for the Zenith also. It's only downfall for me is it only has the NEXT/NOW program guide. I also have a Digital Stream 9000( I think). It has a 30 hr EPG but seems cheaper in overall build quality, although it's remote will control certain TV's vol, input and power. The Zenith is know for audio problems but my March unit works fine. I'd never use the RF out on these boxes. First it's not stereo and second the PQ really lacks using RF.
CC sells the Zenith while Radio Shack sells the DS box. Both $59 B4 coupon.
If you want a little bit better box, maybe with S-vid out the Channel Master 7000 would be good. It runs about $20 more. Very few of the first gen boxes have analog/passthru, I guess we'll be seeing more in the future.

[samijubal]

The Zenith works fine and doesn't get hot. Very easy to set up.

[jjeff]

I forgot to mention that too, the metal cased Zenith runs cool while the plastic case on the DS runs quite warm.

[KeepItSimple]

Has anything changed since last month, such as the Echostar being released or are these the same recommendations? I have to use my coupons by June 19. Thanks.

[jjeff]

I think you might be out of luck for the Echostar with your June 19 coupons. Mine are dated June 23rd and I'm sweating it. I did purchase a Channel Master CM-7000 a few weeks ago(didn't use coupon since the store didn't take them). The big advantage of the CM is its PQ using its S-video output. I am able to make quite good recordings (WAG 20% better than Zenith) by outputting the CM's S-video to my analog Panasonic DVDR.
The CM also has a 24 hour EPG in the same class as the Digital Stream box. The downside of the CM would be its price. At $79 retail (got mine for $69 and I guess Frys runs them on sale for $59(although do not take coupons) they are probably the most expensive CECB to date.
The CM runs "warm". Not as hot as the DS or as cool as the Zenith. It also has a nice build quality and metal case.

[cal_tony]

Have a RCA DT800. Works very good on easy to pick up stations. However, one station that is iffy will cause it to sometimes loose audio and video. Other wise works very good and has the easiest to use remote. Also have the new 9950 Digital Stream with analog pass thru. This unit works amazingly well. much better than the RCA and has many more features. With the additional features also comes a more difficult to use remote. It's not confusing but for most of the features you actually have to look at the remote to see where the buttons are. The RCA has just a few large buttons. The TV buttons are on the right, the Device buttons are on the left.

In many locations the Analog pass thru wont be important after the changeover. Where I'm at half the stations I receive over the air are going to to remain Analog well into the future.
Since all the units seem to work as designed, my suggestion to anyone in an area like mine with no scheduled Analog transmission cutoff date is to get a unit with Pass thru, other wise you will have to keep removing the input to the device and plug it into the RF input on the TV manually each time you want to view an Analog station.

Tony

[handyguy]

I have my eyes on the Sling box, $39.xx before rebate, but it's not out yet. I think they changed the name to TVPAL.

What happens if you plug in regular cable to the box? Improved picture?

[jjeff]

No picture, none of the CECBs decode QAM. Also the latest is $60 for the DTVPal. Time will tell.

[samijubal]

If your coupons are about to expire, just have a friend who doesn't need a converter apply for new coupons. I let my second coupon expire. I'm just going to have my sister, who doesn't have any need for a converter, apply for the coupons when the free Echostar box comes out.

[SmokieStover]

In many locations the Analog pass thru wont be important after the changeover. Where I'm at half the stations I receive over the air are going to to remain Analog well into the future.
Since all the units seem to work as designed, my suggestion to anyone in an area like mine with no scheduled Analog transmission cutoff date is to get a unit with Pass thru, other wise you will have to keep removing the input to the device and plug it into the RF input on the TV manually each time you want to view an Analog station.

Tony

I bought and installed a Zenith DTT900 (April 2008) on a second TV for relatives who live 2 miles NE of Virginia, IL. The lack of analog pass thru was a bigger problem than I thought, made worse by the fact that the audio thru the RF output was rather poor and very low in volume (TV volume must be turned to 90% plus). They have Sat TV but use antenna for the local channels.

Good news is the OTA digital signals pass thru a 1998 Sharp Hi-Fi VCR....with VCR on or off, recording analog timed or live, and recording digital timed or live...AS LONG AS THE VCR IS SET TO TV. The TV has RCA inputs which is also good news.

Hooked it up as follows:

RF out from Sat Box (Antenna tied in somehow) in other room to ANT in on VCR

RF out from VCR to RF in on Zenith Box

RF out from Zenith Box to ANT in on TV

RCA out from Zenith Box to rear RCA in on VCR

RCA out from VCR to RCA in on TV.

Can use the VCR to watch and record the OTA analog channels (11 that come in all the time), watch and record the Sat Channels, and to watch and record the OTA digital channels (only 5 channels at this time). Can also record an analog or Sat Channel while watching a digital channel thru the RF out from the Zenith. As I said the Zenith audio thru its RF out is rather poor, but it will do in a pinch.

Analog pass thru, programable channel changing, a good RF output, and S-Video out is what I am looking for in a DTV converter box.

I have another coupon that expires July 7 but I'll let it expire if I can't find something better. Plenty of family that can request new ones.

[samijubal]

In many locations the Analog pass thru wont be important after the changeover. Where I'm at half the stations I receive over the air are going to to remain Analog well into the future.
Since all the units seem to work as designed, my suggestion to anyone in an area like mine with no scheduled Analog transmission cutoff date is to get a unit with Pass thru, other wise you will have to keep removing the input to the device and plug it into the RF input on the TV manually each time you want to view an Analog station.

Tony

made worse by the fact that the audio thru the RF output was rather poor and very low in volume (TV volume must be turned to 90% plus).

Set the audio output on the box to mono instead of stereo. You're getting mono through the RF anyway and the volume level is a lot higher on mono.

[SmokieStover]

In many locations the Analog pass thru wont be important after the changeover. Where I'm at half the stations I receive over the air are going to to remain Analog well into the future.
Since all the units seem to work as designed, my suggestion to anyone in an area like mine with no scheduled Analog transmission cutoff date is to get a unit with Pass thru, other wise you will have to keep removing the input to the device and plug it into the RF input on the TV manually each time you want to view an Analog station.

Tony

made worse by the fact that the audio thru the RF output was rather poor and very low in volume (TV volume must be turned to 90% plus).

Set the audio output on the box to mono instead of stereo. You're getting mono through the RF anyway and the volume level is a lot higher on mono.

I did try setting the TV to mono and that didn't help. The RCA audio from Box to TV and Box to VCR to TV was louder and better quality, but I still rate the analog audio straight from antenna to TV or thru the VCR to TV as better......more power, body and clarity. Three sets of ears all heard it the same way. The VCR records the BOX RCA audio and video very well as it is now....the tape plays back a bit louder or with a slight boost, which is typical with that model VCR. I took a test recorded tape (SP and all the digital channels that were reliable) home and transferred to PC and then to DVD using a Mitsubishi S-VHS vcr and a Hauppauge PVR 250. I think that was the best transfer I ever made from VHS to DVD......excellent audio, black was black and white was not clipped.

Next time I am over there I will try setting the Box to mono and see how it works thru RF to the TV and RCA to the VCR.

[usually_quiet]

I have my eyes on the Sling box, $39.xx before rebate, but it's not out yet. I think they changed the name to TVPAL.

What happens if you plug in regular cable to the box? Improved picture?

Good question. I have been looking at that converter box as well. It has analog pass-through, so analog cable might still go through.

[jjeff]

Yes you want to set the Zenith box to MONO. Doing so will increase the volume output level, or at least in my box it does. Very noticeably. I only use the line audio output so I can't comment about the RF output.

[SmokieStover]

Yes you want to set the Zenith box to MONO. Doing so will increase the volume output level, or at least in my box it does. Very noticeably. I only use the line audio output so I can't comment about the RF output.

I can confirm that setting the Zenith DTT 900 to MONO does increase the volume on both the RCA and RF outputs. The RF audio is not only louder but much better sounding as well. For recording to VHS or watching TV live, using the RCA outputs with the box set to STEREO works best of all. Some DTV channels are a bit lower in volume as compared to others and they are all lower in volume as compared to their analog twin, but I never need to turn the TV volume above 50%. Also seems best to set the Zenith volume control to 100% and leave it there.

I don't have a DVD recorder to use in comparing recordings from the DTT 900 off antenna with recordings from analog Cable, but a VCR confirms the mental comparisons that I make:

1) Local Cable Company doing a good job on the Video side when converting the local Digital signals to analog, but regardless of the broadcast format (480i, 720P, or 1080i) the audio is too weak and rather poor for the programs with 5.1 sound.

2) DTT900, in stereo mode, produces very good audio, period. This is not a big surprise because I have always found analog antenna audio to be noticably better than the same channel retransmitted over our analog cable where every OTA channel ends up mono all the time.

3) DTT900 does a fine job on the video side with 480i and 1080i, but 720p is not impressive. Stationary horizontal and diagonal lines get the jaggies real bad with fast horizontal and vertical camera pans such as are seen in Basketball games. The jaggies produce a flashing affect or an affect where solid lines become oscillating dashed lines.....especially distracting when the Zenith box is set to crop the 16.9 image.

But hey, if you are a sports nut go HD.

[SmokieStover]

I thought our local cable company was doing a good job converting Hi-Def OTA broadcast to analog. But that all changed this afternoon after seeing about 10 minutes of Indy racing from the Iowa Speedway. It was on WICS (ABC) and was cropped to 4:3. Iowa is a very short track which means almost continuous high speed camera pans. The picture was horrible....simply unwatchable! The only clear pictures came from car mounted cameras pointed to the rear shooting objects that had very little motion relative to each other. I have seen similar programming retransmitted at a 16.9 ratio and it wasn't great, certainly not as good as the analog broadcast, but at least it was good enough to watch.

If ABC doesn't put up a SD digital signal for WICS to simulcast after the analog cut-off, they will lose a ton of viewers.