drh4683
11-29-2008, 12:17 PM
I've bought numerous models of converters to see which is the best one. I went to the infamous fry's electronics over here in Downers Grove, who basically will never restock anything once it sells out.
Fortunately, I spotted a full shelf of converters. I never saw the channel master one before. It seemed to be the highest quality of the ones I've seen. Its in a white metal case, with a transparent lens that fits over the control panel. Here was a selling feature right off the bat: It was NOT made in China! It was made in Bulgaria of all places which took me by surprize. The remote control actually was of good design, not some unergonomic piece of crap. The channel master is a model CM-7000, made on 6-16-08. Very nice info display, not a bunch of weird colors and stupid crap designs like it was to fascinate some little kid. Pressing the "info" button reveals the TV station call letters, info on the station and the signal strength as shown on a bar scale (0-100%).
I do like the fact that when you first turn this box on, it simply says "Channel master digital to analog converter" thats it. Unlike the Access HD box which tricks you into thinking your TV just lost color sync with all the weird flashing color bars when you first turn it on. Another tangible feature that I like about the CM box is the fact that its got some mass to it. This is unlike the other ones that are so light that the weight of the coax cable will pull it off your TV, sending the converter to a hard hit on the floor only to be completely destroyed.
Only design flaw with the CM box is that the channel number is displayed in the upper left corner, so it gets cropped off by any of the older TV's, even the older rectangular tube sets with the rounded off corners. Its not a problem though, as if you press the "disp" button, the channel number you are watching is displayed in the center of the screen as a reference. Its highlighted and also shows a list of the other channels that you can scroll up or down to select. Since its still easily useable, I consider it the best one. It also has memory for storing the picture display. I believe the zenith and insignia boxes do the same. Some of the other boxes do not, I have to press the zoom button every time I go back to a channel so I can get it to fill out the screen for 4:3 display.
Ive slowly started to accept this digital converstion. Having a good quality converter box makes me feel a bit more comfortable about it. Here in chicago area, I can receive 51 channels. I can receive rockford perfectly if my antenna is properly aimed. Its great having the rotating antenna. I do receive stations that were near impossible to receive via analog.
As far as DX'ing is concerned, Id rather watch a snowy picture than a pixelating one with intermittent audio. In that regard, digital is crap.
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Fortunately, I spotted a full shelf of converters. I never saw the channel master one before. It seemed to be the highest quality of the ones I've seen. Its in a white metal case, with a transparent lens that fits over the control panel. Here was a selling feature right off the bat: It was NOT made in China! It was made in Bulgaria of all places which took me by surprize. The remote control actually was of good design, not some unergonomic piece of crap. The channel master is a model CM-7000, made on 6-16-08. Very nice info display, not a bunch of weird colors and stupid crap designs like it was to fascinate some little kid. Pressing the "info" button reveals the TV station call letters, info on the station and the signal strength as shown on a bar scale (0-100%).
I do like the fact that when you first turn this box on, it simply says "Channel master digital to analog converter" thats it. Unlike the Access HD box which tricks you into thinking your TV just lost color sync with all the weird flashing color bars when you first turn it on. Another tangible feature that I like about the CM box is the fact that its got some mass to it. This is unlike the other ones that are so light that the weight of the coax cable will pull it off your TV, sending the converter to a hard hit on the floor only to be completely destroyed.
Only design flaw with the CM box is that the channel number is displayed in the upper left corner, so it gets cropped off by any of the older TV's, even the older rectangular tube sets with the rounded off corners. Its not a problem though, as if you press the "disp" button, the channel number you are watching is displayed in the center of the screen as a reference. Its highlighted and also shows a list of the other channels that you can scroll up or down to select. Since its still easily useable, I consider it the best one. It also has memory for storing the picture display. I believe the zenith and insignia boxes do the same. Some of the other boxes do not, I have to press the zoom button every time I go back to a channel so I can get it to fill out the screen for 4:3 display.
Ive slowly started to accept this digital converstion. Having a good quality converter box makes me feel a bit more comfortable about it. Here in chicago area, I can receive 51 channels. I can receive rockford perfectly if my antenna is properly aimed. Its great having the rotating antenna. I do receive stations that were near impossible to receive via analog.
As far as DX'ing is concerned, Id rather watch a snowy picture than a pixelating one with intermittent audio. In that regard, digital is crap.
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