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Archive for December, 2008

Zenith (LG) DTT901

December 26th, 2008 12 comments


Rating: ★★★★☆

This is one of the best DTV converter box available on the market. Picture quality is excellent although Consumer Reports ranked it among second tier in picture quality. Operation is simple and straight forward. Price is a little high but overall, this is an excellent product. Highly recommended.

Picture Quality:

Excellent picture quality that’s close to what you get from DVD. The quality is actually on par with Channel Master CM-7000 but for some reason Consumer Reports ranked this converter under second tier in picture quality.

Audio Quality:

Decent sound quality, definitely an improvement from analog signal.

Operation:

Above average programming guide with current program title and run time.

Technical Specification:

Feature  
Analog pass-through Yes
Smart antenna No
Closed captions Yes
EPG Yes
Outputs RF output
Composite video
Resolutions 480i

User Manual & Set-up Instruction

Price (after $40 coupon):

$25.99 (Meritline)

Channel Master CM-7000

December 26th, 2008 No comments


Rating: ★★★★★

This is one of the best DTV converter box available on the market. Consumer Reports ranked this device within the best picture quality group. In reality, its picture quality is actually the best among that group. If there is another group above best picture quality, this device will definitely be on it. The price on this device is a little on the high side though and it’s noticeably bulkier. This is highly recommended.

Picture Quality:

Excellent picture quality that’s close to what you get from DVD. In fact, this device has the best quality among its peers and rated A+ in many other reviews.

Audio Quality:

Decent sound quality, definitely an improvement from analog signal.

Operation:

Menu is clear and easy to use. Programming guide is clean and very responsive. The menu implementation on this device is above average.

Technical Specification:

Feature
Analog pass-through No
Smart antenna No
Closed captions Yes
EPG Yes
Outputs RF output
Composite video
S-Video
Resolutions 480i

User Manual & Set-up Instruction

Price (after $40 coupon):
$8.65 Summit Source

Sunkey SK-801

December 25th, 2008 24 comments


Rating: ★★★☆☆

This device has excellent picture quality. However, the operation of this device is not very user friendly. People who are not very familiar with technology may need help to do the initial set up.

Picture Quality:

Excellent picture quality that’s close to what you get from DVD.

Audio Quality:

Decent sound quality, definitely an improvement from analog signal.

Operation:

The menu on this device is very basic and not very user friendly. It may be difficult to set up by people who are not very technically savvy.

Technical Specification:

Feature
Analog pass-through Yes
Smart antenna No
Closed captions Yes
EPG Yes
Outputs RF output
Composite video
Resolutions 480i

Price (after $40 coupon):
$10.99 with antenna (Meritline)

Sansonic FT-300A

December 25th, 2008 1 comment


Rating: ★★★★☆

Consumer Reports ranks this converter as one of the top quality converter. Picture quality is excellent. User reviews on this product is generally positive.

Picture Quality:

Excellent picture quality that’s close to what you get from DVD.

Audio Quality:

Decent sound quality, definitely an improvement from analog signal.

Operation:

This device provides current programming title and run time. Although it has a programming guide, it only provides current programming. It does not provide upcoming programmings.

Technical Specification:

Feature
Analog pass-through No
Smart antenna No
Closed captions No
EPG No
Outputs RF output
Composite video
Resolutions 480i
480p

User Manual & Set-up Instruction

Price (after $40 coupon):

$0.00 (Summit Source)
$8.99 (Meritline)
$15.99 for 2 (Meritline)
$12.99 with antenna (Meritline)
$19.99 with antenna (Meritline)
$24.99 for 2 with antennas (Meritline)

Tivax STB-T8

December 24th, 2008 2 comments


Rating: ★★★★★

This is an upgraded model from Tivax STB-T9 with the addition of analog pass-through feature. Other than this, it’s the same DTV converter box.

Technical Specification:

Feature
Analog pass-through Yes
Smart antenna Yes
Closed captions Yes
EPG Yes
Outputs RF output
Composite video
Resolutions 480i

User Manual & Set-up Instruction

Price (after $40 coupon):
$13.99 (Meritline)
$19.99 for 2 (Meritline)
$15.95 (Consumer Electronics Group)