Rating: ★★★★★
This converter is among the best quality converters group on Consumer Reports. Both picture and audio quality are excellent. It also has an excellent programming guide that makes this one of the more popular converters on the market. 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:
Excellent audio quality and among the best sounding DTV converters on the market.
Operation:
Above average programming guide with current program title and run time. Closed caption’s font and size are customizable.
Technical Specification:
User Manual & Set-up Instruction
Price (after $40 coupon):
$9.95 (Consumer Electronics Group)
$11.99 (Meritline)
$17.99 for 2 (Meritline)
Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is an upgraded model from Artec ATSC Model T3A Pro with the addition of analog pass-through feature. Other than this, it’s the same DTV converter box.
Technical Specification:
User Manual & Set-up Instruction
Price (after $40 coupon):
$0 (Consumer Electronics Group)
$14.99 (Meritline)
Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is one of the cheapest DTV converter box on the market. Despite its cheapness, this device actually provides quite a few features such as a programming guide and analog pass-through.
Picture Quality:
Picture quality is decent but not great compare to top tier DTV converter boxes such as Tivax STB-T9.
Audio Quality:
Audio quality is an improvement from analog signal.
Operation:
The menu is very basic and very easy to navigate. It provides a basic program guide, title and run time.
Technical Specification:
User Manual & Set-up Instruction
Price (after $40 coupon):
$0.01 (TigerDirect)
$0.01 (CompUSA)
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Generally positive reviews among users. Picture quality is not the highest you can find on the market.
Picture Quality:
Picture quality is a little lower than top tier converter boxes but it’s still an improvement compare to analog signal.
Audio Quality:
Excellent sound quality that’s way better than TV sound coming from analog signal.
Operation:
This device provides an excellent programming guide and quite a few customization including changing of closed caption font and size. It has an external 12V DC power supply, so potentially it can be used in an automobile. One interesting feature is that it provides brightness, contrast and hue adjustments.
Technical Specification:
User Manual & Set-up Instruction
Price (after $40 coupon):
$11.99 (Meritline)
Rating: ★★★★☆
This is one of the highly rated DTV converter on the market. Consumer Report rated this converter among the best picture quality players. User reviews on this product are generally positive. Operation of this converter is extremely simple. While it lacks a lot of bells and whistles that you find in high end converters, the picture quality and the ease of use make up for it.
Picture Quality:
Excellent picture quality that’s close to what you get from DVD.
Audio Quality:
Decent sound quality but numerous users report that the RF output is noticeably lower than the RCA outputs.
Operation:
Very simple operation with basic run time and program title. It’s lacking programming guide to browse upcoming shows though.
Special Note:
Despite many web sites said this device provides analog pass-through feature. This is in fact not true. This converter DOES NOT have analog pass-through feature.
Technical Specification:
User Manual & Set-up Instruction