Even though I have satellite service,I broke down and bought a DTV converter box. So starts the adventure. Here's the story.

Magnavox from Walmart:
No analog pass through and couldn't hold on to a signal to save it's life.....even when connected
to my huge Winegard roto-antenna on the roof. When scanning, it wouldn't even find my local channels with towers only about 10-15 miles away.Back to the store it went.

Apex from Bestbuy:
First of all, shame on Bestbuy for selling this junk. Took it out of the box, tried to hook it up and the TV out RF connector broke. Just spins around. So I use composite.Scanning is SLOW. I mean REAL SLOW. So is channel changing. It's like it has to think about it first. Got more channels than the Magnavox, but got so hot it quit working. Went to disconnect the antenna and the other RF connector broke. Very poor build quality.Bye Bye.

Zenith from Sears/Kmart:
FINALLY got a good one. This really shines.Excellent picture and build quality. Picked up all my locals and a few Canadian stations that are already in digital. Has analog pass and nice menu. Scans very fast...about 20 sec it was done..Keeper.


Hint: The Zenith and the Insignia brand at Bestbuy are identical. Made by LG. Insignia is 5 bucks more.

I can attest to that Apex being junk. I got one for free when my neighbor had to be placed in a rest home. I thought it would be a good quality box since it's in a metal case. I have a digitalstream, a mganavox, and an apex. The apex is the worst one. The Magnavox (funai) is not much better. The digitalstream, which cost $10 more, is by far the best of the 3. One day, I may buy one of the channel master boxes; but, I don't have an extra $70 to spend at the moment.

I have three of the Insignia boxes that have been in service for about a year and there are no problems with any of them. The build quality is good and performance is excellent. The scan all channels easily and change channels without the usual digital delay. They don't have analog pass-through but that doesn't matter anymore.

I have the Insignia's as well. The later ones with pass through though. Great stuff, I did a lot of reading up and these seemed better than most of them and they do not run hot at all like some do. I am pleased with them for what they are and running cool they may last.


Carl

I have two of the Zeniths purchased months ago from Circuit City :-P
One is now working reasonably well in the family room (except that I cannot get channel 5, which is the only channel we really watch with any regularity).


Not sure if we'll ever get enough DTV signal strength upstairs (with an indoor antenna) to see much of anything, though.

I've got an Insignia myself and have been using it for over a year with no problems whatsoever. It even performs slightly better than the Channel Master CM7000, with a lot simpler onscreen menu - easier to navigate from across the room.

The Magnavox converter is just plain bad. The one I have is as deaf as a brick unless I feed it with my attic-mounted antenna. Even then, it's still not too hot.

I've set up DTVPals for relatives, and they seem to perform well. I like the on-screen guide display - much better than the typical 'now-next' guides.

-Jim

I've got a Maggotbox for a year now but I'm lucky enough to have it connected to a roof antenna with an inline amp. I can't complain much; I can only get one less station with it than I did with analog, but I get a lot more total channels to watch. It does run hot, though.

All apex stuff is shit. Same with equinox.

I have the Craig model I bought from CVS.

It works decently with rabbit ears since I live in the city.

Ron

I have several RCAs (Walmart) and a Zenith (Circuit City). Both types seem fine, but the Zenith is physically nicer. Easier controls (in my views), and the case is METAL. So I have it on my metal-cased 1972 Zenith color set :)

Charles

I bought a Digitalstream and a Zenith (both from Radio Shack) and have no complaints with either. The Zenith was pulling in with a little less interference when I was using rabbit ears - haven't tried the Digitalstream again since erecting the rooftop antenna.

Four Insignia's running for over a year now!!!

These work great!!

Digging up an old thread to add some recent experience (today). One of my Zenith-Insignia boxes apparently mis-fired at startup. No response to remote while in this state. Had to unplug it to turn it off and reset. Then all OK.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=176855&stc=1&d=1352663667

The Blue Screen of Death! Glad to hear it rebooted OK.

I had something similar happen to my TV back a few years ago during a momentary power failure, it glitched and froze with lines on the screen, a reboot fixed it though.

I think anything that uses a Processor is capable of crashing under the right circumstances but power glitches really seem to wreak havoc so a UPS is hooked to everything now.

If your box does it again maybe you should pop the cover and check the Caps?

Couple of weeks ago, I had to pull the plug to reset my Channel Master unit... but this was after multiple power glitches caused by a line down arcing and starting a small fire about a block away. Sounded like several Tesla coils running at once Zap! Vorp! Buzz!... repeat for at least a half hour before the power company arrived. Fire Department and Police were standing by.

I have cable on the TV's in my home but not out in the shop, so when they first came out I bought a Zenith box and use it out there for repair work: it works great and picks up a number of channels steadily on just rabbit ears.

I have had my Digital Stream crash one time, the TV show kept playing in the background, but the OSD froze corrupted.

The Magnavox I have works OK, but the remote is dying. I can't scan channels or do mkuch else except use the power button and the channel up/down buttons.

If you want one that really works buy a Channel Master.

I have had my Digital Stream crash one time, the TV show kept playing in the background, but the OSD froze corrupted.

My oldest Digital Stream failed during a power interruption. Bad electrolytic in the power supply. Works perfect again.

I'd buy a Channel Master, if I could afford it. I can't even afford a drive to work right now.

Actually, my checking account hit negative this morning. :(

I had a magnavox for a while, but it ran so hot I was afraid to leave it plugged in.

In my area I get the same 4 channels regardless what box or modern-digital-tuned-tv I try.

Never got one..But I know Apex stuff ain't really worth bringin' home..

I have an APEX TV from 2001. 20", and it sucked.

It had good picture, but it's OSD didn't genlock right and would start shaking after the TV warmed up, and the picture's rotation was off, on only the bottom. On the top it was fine though. Odd. And on top of that, it did some kind of weird AGC that would cause the black level to brighten and darken depending what was on the picture.

The CRT itself was Samsung though.

I've thrown out two apex DTV boxes with low hours on them. Both had symptoms of bad power supply capacitors; but, that was not the problem.

I've thrown out two apex DTV boxes with low hours on them. Both had symptoms of bad power supply capacitors; but, that was not the problem.

I have an Apex I'm going to try to repair.
Magnavox's and their clones are totally useless without the remote.
Lucky thing I was able to use an RCA universal remote.

Don't forget Coby boxes! Junk!
Best DXer is Digital Stream, then Insignia (LG), then Channel Master.
What gets me is the Coby has S video out and the box is garbage! It runs so hot you can keep coffee warm on it.

My channel master has been in the shop about 5 years now, left on through power blinks and extreme temperatures. Many channels (even some skip-DX from DC and NYC) have been scanned in but finally its power on LED "went red" indicating a fault. Leaving it un plugged for weeks dint help. Guess I need to look at the caps.

BTW, I have a Tivax in my attic that seems to operate as well as my LG-Zenith and Digital Stream boxes with different OSd's. My father in law got the coupons, went to walmart and came home with 4 Magnavox boxes before I could set him straight.

I have an Apex. It was the only box I could find that had S Video out. It is a crummy box with slow channel change. And if the signal is marginal, it will lock up and need rebooting.

However, the benefit of Apex over all other boxes is that it was the only box I could find which allows you (from the S Video) to extract the luminance (black and white) signal without the interleaved chroma. This is especially important with early sets employing full bandwidth 4 MHz response like my late '40's RCA sets. It means that the black and white image will not have the crawling dots: its just like going back to the old fully black and white days!

I also have a Zenith DTT901. It was one of the first boxes to automatically format the image to a 4x3 screen using the broadcast signal AFD (Active Format Descriptor). If the broadcaster is sending the signal out correctly (many do not) then the DTT901 will automatically format full frame 16x9 and 16x9, 4x3 "pillarbox" video to the screen.

Isn't that how svideo is supposed to work?

However, the benefit of Apex over all other boxes is that it was the only box I could find which allows you (from the S Video) to extract the luminance (black and white) signal without the interleaved chroma. This is especially important with early sets employing full bandwidth 4 MHz response like my late '40's RCA sets. It means that the black and white image will not have the crawling dots: its just like going back to the old fully black and white days!


The Channel Master box also has S video. And I use the luma portion for my B&W sets as described above. I modified my Channel Master CM7000 to produce B&W without chroma from its RF modulator:
http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=167111&d=1273091337
Here I made the chroma switchable, so I can have color or B&W as I want.

I have both the Zenith DTT900 and DTT901 boxes. I've noticed a common problem with the DTT901 boxes is that when cold, often times the box will turn off after being turned on. (Power light goes blue, than goes back to red). On extreme occassions the box locks up and needs to be unplugged to reboot it. With the weather get colder, this has been happening more frequently. Has anyone else observed this with the DTT901 boxes?