Digital to analog TV signal converter - which one?

[Wayne Tiffany]

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for $60,
and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

WT

 

[msg]

Wayne Tiffany wrote:

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for $60,
and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

I have been testing the Insignia STB; I am very pleased with its multipath
mitigation processing. Using various antennas and antenna locations and positions
I find that it produces consistently unbroken reception from signals that
on an analog set show noise and ghosting, especially on UHF. In my area,
the antenna farm concentrates dozens of towers and high power radiators on
a high hillside, creating an RF soup, and multipath is a problem due to
topography. This STB exceeded my expectations and is far superior to one that
I tested from a first-gen batch from another maker. FWIW, I have been using
the STB as a local NTSC sync source to genlock other gear and it is continuously
powered and provides a reliable signal.

Michael

 

[Rich Webb]

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:31:18 -0600, "Wayne Tiffany"
<wayneRMVJNKtiffany@MOREJNKasi.com> wrote:

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for $60,
and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

I ended up with the Insignia NS-DXA1-APT. Works fine with just a loop
antenna from about 20 miles out from the antenna farm (and looking
across The World's Largest Naval Station (TM)). YMMV and probably will.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

 

[UCLAN]

Wayne Tiffany wrote:

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for $60,
and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

The Samsung unit is *NOT* a converter, but is a full-function HDTV receiver.
It has digital outputs - including HDMI - and is meant for delivering SD and
HD digital signals to a digital monitor that is lacking a tuner. This unit
should *NOT* be presented along with the digital->analog converters.

 

[Jerry Peters]

UCLAN <nomail@thanks.org> wrote:

Wayne Tiffany wrote:

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for $60,
and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

The Samsung unit is *NOT* a converter, but is a full-function HDTV receiver.
It has digital outputs - including HDMI - and is meant for delivering SD and
HD digital signals to a digital monitor that is lacking a tuner. This unit
should *NOT* be presented along with the digital->analog converters.

I have an Insignia from BB and a DigitalStream from RadioShack. They
both work acceptably well in a hilly, multipath prone area with an old
outside antenna. The major difference is the remote - the Insignia
came with what I consider a crummy remote. It's too small and all of
the buttons are black. The DS remote is larger and has various colored
buttons which makes it much easier to use.

Jerry

 

[Joerg]

Wayne Tiffany wrote:

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for $60,
and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

Out here it was "get it while there is stock". Seriously, the clerk at
Walmart told me that if I am not there minutes after the truck has been
unloaded it may be too late. So, no dice there, too long a drive. Unless
you'd camp out with a thermos when there is a hunch the truck might
arrive tomorrow.

So, we bought two Insignia $60 boxes. They work fine. Keep in mind that
these (at least ours) do not have analog pass-through. Meaning you will
not have any analog channels after you pipe it in. Later I heard they
had some with pass-through but since those cards expire in three months
we had to buy the millisecond a shipment showed up. Any shipment.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Gizmofiddler]

"Wayne Tiffany" <wayneRMVJNKtiffany@MOREJNKasi.com> wrote in message
news:4925acf5@news.x-privat.org...

The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for
$60, and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

WT

The Insignia is OK (I have one - bought at Best Buy), but I believe the main
difference among the boxes is the TV programming guide options. The Insignia
shows only the next few hours of programming - other brands will show much
more in advance with alot more features. Try to view the boxes in action and
play with the menus before buying.

No pass thru? No big deal, I just switch connectors if I have to - is pretty
much irrelevant after Feb unless you have some sort of DVD - VCR setup that
requires it.

 

[Joerg]

Gizmofiddler wrote:

"Wayne Tiffany" <wayneRMVJNKtiffany@MOREJNKasi.com> wrote in message
news:4925acf5@news.x-privat.org...
The time has come here in the midwest USA for me to finally get with the
program and decide on a converter before my "gift" card expires. A quick
search of Best Buy web site brings up three: Apex for $50, Insignia for
$60, and Samsung for $180.

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? Any reason not to grab the
cheap one? I know Apex isn't a high quality brand, but is Insignia any
better than Apex? I'm not spending $180 on a converter - not worth it to
me.

WT


The Insignia is OK (I have one - bought at Best Buy), but I believe the main
difference among the boxes is the TV programming guide options. The Insignia
shows only the next few hours of programming - other brands will show much
more in advance with alot more features. Try to view the boxes in action and
play with the menus before buying.

Menus are wrong a lot anyhow. The topper: I was looking forward to a
western and a different movie played. Some stupid thriller. The menu
still showed the western while (!) the wrong and totally unannounced
movie played. Not worth it IMHO.

No pass thru? No big deal, I just switch connectors if I have to - is pretty
much irrelevant after Feb unless you have some sort of DVD - VCR setup that
requires it.

Unless you have small community broadcasters who are exempt from digital.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I bought a Zenith earlier this year, based on some Web reviews. It's a snap
to set up (it does almost all the setting up for you), EZUU, and the picture
quality is good.

However, as others have pointed out, digital is not a panacea for any and
all reception problems. You have to have a strong, reasonably clean signal.

 

[Roger Blake]

On 2008-11-20, Wayne Tiffany <wayneRMVJNKtiffany@MOREJNKasi.com> wrote:

Are there opinions out there as to reasons to pick one of these, or
something else not found here, or whatever? ...

I've settled on the Digital Stream converter for "live" TV viewing
as it works well and has a decent program guide. The very first converter
I purchased was a Zenith, which also works very well but has a minimal
program guide.

For taping/time-shifting I'm using Zinwell ZAT-970A converters which
have a timer feature useful for VCRs. You can set up to 8 timers to
automatically wake up the converter if it on standby and tune in the
desired channel. (Though the ZAT-970A is otherwise pretty bare-bones.)

Dish Network's DTVPal supposedly offers it all -- comprehensive
program guide, timers, etc., but those units have suffered from a
large number of problems and Dish Network's support of them has
been horrid. Supposedly the units with the latest firmware are
OK, but it really seems to be "caveat emptor" with that outfit.
See the following for DTVPal horror stories:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=7fcb37af224a0f4fb74bf5935bbd528b&t=1001979

The problem you'll find with all of this is that the digital signal
does not degrade gracefully. Where before you might have gotten a
little snow or ghosting you will now get freezing, pixelization,
audio dropouts, and bad lip synch, all of which conspire to make
programs unwatchable.

After installing a Winegard pre-amp on our rooftop antenna and new
RG6 cabling, reception is mostly OK but there are still annoying
dropouts at times. Rotating the antenna sometimes helps, but it is
difficult to find a position where all of the digital stations will
work acceptably well. (None of this was a problem with analog reception.
I personally believe digital TV to be a dirtbag technology but we are
unfortunately stuck with it.)

My $0.02 worth...

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10s for email. "Google Groups" messages killfiled due to spam.)

 

[Wayne Tiffany]

"Roger Blake" <rogblake10@iname10.com> wrote in message
news:slrngid9r8.t3s.rogblake10@otaku.freeshell.org...

On 2008-11-20, Wayne Tiffany <wayneRMVJNKtiffany@MOREJNKasi.com> wrote:

For taping/time-shifting I'm using Zinwell ZAT-970A converters which
have a timer feature useful for VCRs. You can set up to 8 timers to
automatically wake up the converter if it on standby and tune in the
desired channel. (Though the ZAT-970A is otherwise pretty bare-bones.)

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10s for email. "Google Groups" messages killfiled due to spam.)

That's what I was hoping for - a converter that would still let me use the
programmed vcr. Does anyone know of others out there?

WT

 

[Joerg]

Roger Blake wrote:

[...]

The problem you'll find with all of this is that the digital signal
does not degrade gracefully. Where before you might have gotten a
little snow or ghosting you will now get freezing, pixelization,
audio dropouts, and bad lip synch, all of which conspire to make
programs unwatchable.

We've adopted the habit of recording things and then spooling forward
almost to the end to see if the recording stuck. Nothing is more
aggravating in TV watching than having a great movie pixelate and drop
out after having seen half of it. So, you end up recording stuff you
normally would watch live, meaning all that DTV is being rendered in
good old low-res NTSC just like before. Progress? Yeah, right.

After installing a Winegard pre-amp on our rooftop antenna and new
RG6 cabling, reception is mostly OK but there are still annoying
dropouts at times. Rotating the antenna sometimes helps, but it is
difficult to find a position where all of the digital stations will
work acceptably well. (None of this was a problem with analog reception.
I personally believe digital TV to be a dirtbag technology but we are
unfortunately stuck with it.)

I tend to agree. Beaucoup dropping out of the signals out here. It's
like "Hey, clouds are rolling in so we might as well forget watching
that movie tonight and do something else".

[...]

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Roger Blake]

On 2008-11-21, Wayne Tiffany <wayneRMVJNKtiffany@MOREJNKasi.com> wrote:

That's what I was hoping for - a converter that would still let me use the
programmed vcr. Does anyone know of others out there?

The only other one that I am aware of is the Dish Network "DTVPal"
line of converters, and as previously mentioned there have been a lot of
problems both with the converters and Dish Network's abysmal support.

The Zinwell converters have had a few issues documented, but nothing
real serious -- they basically "just work." Solid Signal has the ZATs
for $45.99 each, plus shipping:

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=ZAT-970A

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10s for email. "Google Groups" messages killfiled due to spam.)

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Joerg wrote:

Gizmofiddler wrote:

The Insignia is OK (I have one - bought at Best Buy), but I believe the main
difference among the boxes is the TV programming guide options. The Insignia
shows only the next few hours of programming - other brands will show much
more in advance with alot more features. Try to view the boxes in action and
play with the menus before buying.


Menus are wrong a lot anyhow. The topper: I was looking forward to a
western and a different movie played. Some stupid thriller. The menu
still showed the western while (!) the wrong and totally unannounced
movie played. Not worth it IMHO.

That may have been the station's fault. Last minute program changes
have happend since the earlist use of a film chain. Sometimes their
automated system doesnt record the program. or the storage media fails.
They cant have an hour or more of no programming, so something the right
length is substituted. BTDT, and got the angry phone calls about it.

No pass thru? No big deal, I just switch connectors if I have to - is pretty
much irrelevant after Feb unless you have some sort of DVD - VCR setup that
requires it.


Unless you have small community broadcasters who are exempt from digital.

http://www.grimmy.com/comics.php Look at the 11/20/08 strip. ;-)



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