Digital Converter - Which one?

[dtuomi]

Okay, so my little $40 credit card styled coupons came in the mail to get a converter, so that my Portacolor can watch digital broadcasts. So, does anyone know which one's are any good?

David

[markthefixer]

I was pleasantly surprised by the Digital Stream DTX9900 from Radio Shack. It is a Korean company, and manufactures (where else??) in China....

Radio Shack has the Digital Stream and the Zenith DTT900. Same price.. I wrote my impressions in another post: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...al#post1766184

But I suspect that getting a second remote might be difficult.

[zenith2134]

Yeah gonna be tough to score another clicker I bet.

My portacolor looks funny with the converter...All the menus are cut off slightly around the edges. No adjustment so I'm leaving well enough alone

EDIT: I got two of the Zenith DTT900's

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Yeah gonna be tough to score another clicker I bet.

My portacolor looks funny with the converter...All the menus are cut off slightly around the edges. No adjustment so I'm leaving well enough alone

EDIT: I got two of the Zenith DTT900's

I have the Insignia box hooked up to the Porta-Color that I just fixed, those menus fit nicely on the screen. The only problem I have is the one everyone has mentioned about the Insignia, Intercarrier buzz in the audio due to the RF signal being too strong. Do you get "the buzz" with the Zenith box?, if not I'll try one. The picture looks great with the Insignia and I like the signal meter, the volume control and the remote is nice too, but that buzz is annoying!

[zenith2134]

No way... Not only is the Z's output not strong... it is too weak for many sets, so i've read.

You must switch the menu to MONO to even get a decent level out of this one at max volume...

[zenithfan1]

LOL! maybe they are all crap! But, we have to use 'em pretty soon so hopefully we can find a good one. When do you think they will quit making these? They already want us to throw out our sets and get some HD {horrible disgrace} set.
Maybe they suck on purpose.

[radotvguy]

where do they sell the zenith convertor box . I bought one box already which is a Magnavox at Walmart , however i have one coupon left , would like to get a Zenith Box

[kbmuri]

Got my Zenith at Circuit City. Rumor has it they're also sold at Radio Shack, but I've tried Radio Shacks in several midwest cities and they all say no. Maybe in NJ it's different. Midwest Circuit-City stores always have them.

I have 5 brands now, just got the Magnavox from Wal-Mart last Sunday.

The Zenith and Insignia work great on my late-model analog TVs. I don't think they had us AK'ers in mind when they designed the RF out though. They're for crap on an antique TV. Poor audio, and also digital RF interference (shows up as white sparkles on-screen) if you set the box too close to the VHF tuner. No audio and lots of sparkles on my 1965 and earlier sets, but a couple of '90s sets are fine. I have nothing in-between.

The Magnavox (and its twin brother Philco) work fine on the old TVs.

[zenith2134]

Got mine at Circuit City too

[Carmine]

I am appreciating these reviews... My guvment-welfare-tv coupons showed up this week. (So glad MY tax dollars will be used to buy more Chinese crap from multi-national corps that lobbied our gov for this mandated phase-out and guaranteed payday for themselves)

But anyways...

I would like to know which one of these works best, especially on older sets. Things like audio buzz, screen cut-off, etc.

I've never been so glad to live close to Canada. Canadian TV is awesome, and analog! (For a while at least)

[OvenMaster]

I got a Magnavox TB100MW9 from Wally World. I think it's pretty good, overall. It's buzz-free, and there are three screen settings: widescreen, zoomed, full (which will squash widescreen pix). The only problem is that you gotta drill down through a menu to change that. The remote also controls only the box. No volume level or TV controls. So if you use a VCR with it like I do, you've got three remotes to juggle!
Tom

[zenith2134]

The Zenith box has a pretty good remote IMO (not a space command, but whatever!)

It controls other units and also volume and Zoom have their own buttons for quick switching. I also like the signal button on the clicker which displays a realtime signal level and also beeps. The More rapid the beeping, the better the reception.

To be fair to the Zenith, the menus only cut off (very slightly) on the portacolor. It's the tv's fault. The menus are NOT overly big, etc. It gets pretty good reception, and doesn't require a large antenna IME.

For you DXers-- I haven't heard which box is better for ATSC dx, but I tried mine out and one good feature is that it allows the user to manually select channels even if there's no signal (thank god)

Good luck!

[TV Engineer]

The Zenith and Insignia boxes are EXACTLY the same. Different branding only.

I have not experinced any audio problems (buzz,etc) with these boxes hooked up to a 1980 Philco (Sylvania) 13" portable, a 1977 Magnavox T991 19" table model, or a 1967 Magnavox T931 stereo theatre. If you are experiencing intercarrier buzz, try backing off on the AGC and tweaking the sound detector coil.

If that fails, and you feel the problem is the RF output level on the convertor, pad it down.

[NowhereMan 1966]

I have two Zenith boxes, one is on a 1964 (well, it was made in the mid 1960's) Sony B&W portable set so FWIW, the Sony being older, it works OK. Love having a remote control, B&W, DTV. I do get a little bit of buzz but not too much. My 1975 RCA B&W set has similar results. Even though it is B&W, it is a beautiful picture. I have theo ther hooked to a Commodore 1702 monitor and it has a great color picture and I get a great picture with the main 1982 Zenith System 3 we have.

TX DXing, not really but I do get signlas as far as Johnstown, PA 80% of the time and can get Channel 27, WKBN out of Youngstown if I have God on my side, the wind at my back and some good karma to go along for the ride.

[JohnAdams]

I have 2 Zenith boxes and no problems. I tried one in my 5th wheel RV in a comparison against the digital tuner in my Viewsonic 23" HDTV. The Zenith won out. It locked on to 1 station the Viewsonic could not unless you turned the antenna.