Argh.. This is a very long thread. I read ALMOST every posts. So now the question is, should I buy? I'm buying it for my parents. They aren't very tech savvy. They can operate a VCR after a few days of training. I just want to know if it's easy for them to operate. Someone tell me please. :)

Meritline has it for $11.99 shipped. Is this the cheapest? I found a couple reviews that rated the STB-T9 highly. Don't know if they are trustworthy.

dtvconverterboxes.blogspot.com/2008/07/reviews-ratings-and-comparisons-of.html

dtvconverterguide.com/reviews/tivax-stb-t9

I wouldn't recommend your sole buying criteria be price alone, unless it has to be. Many boxes can be purchased from $10 to $20 locally with coupon and can be mail ordered for $20 to $30.

If they have strong signals for all stations and no multipath (reflections) then lots of boxes may work. If they have weak or reflected signals then some are better than others.

If they want to do unattended VCR recording (set one or multiple shows to record when not watching) then you have few choices of boxes, Zinwell (zat-950, zat-950a, zat-970, zat-970a), Dish Network (dtvpal, dtvpal plus), Echostar (tr-40 cra). The Dish Network and Echostar models are for most respects identical to each other. You can find discussions on each of those boxes in this forum.

You need to supply more criteria to get a recommendation. For just sit and watch tv with a strong quality signal the stb-t9 will work fine. Other factors may make other boxes a better choice.

There are many CECB's on the market and some can be had for "FREE." Take a look at this thread for what users of this forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029256&page=10) think should be the "BEST" CECB.

Bottom line though, is that it all depends upon your needs and location. Not all CECB's do everything, so you'll have to compromise on something.

Thanks for the quick reply.

They have very good analog reception in their area currently. I checked AntennaWeb, digital reception should be excellent. They live in a high rise apartment by the way.

Sorry I didn't stated my criteria clearly. Basically, I am looking for a cheap box that's easy to operate. No bells and whistles needed. It just need to be extremely simple to use. Programming guide is not necessary and analog pass-through is definitely optional. Smart antenna will be a nice to have (they are used to adjusting antenna manually already).

I am thinking about getting the STB-T9 because of all the good reviews and there are a lot of people talk about it on the net. I figure if I encounter any issue, I can find answer easily over the web.

Just an FYI, this forum discusses every CECB that has come along and there is already lots of information here. In my opinion, what ever issue or question you have about the CECB's will be answered here better than anywhere else.

Basically, I am looking for a cheap box that's easy to operate. No bells and whistles needed. It just need to be extremely simple to use. Programming guide is not necessary and analog pass-through is definitely optional.Zenith DTT-901 from Kmart.

I agree that the Zenith from Kmart or Circuit City or the identical Insignia model from Best Buy is an excellent choice.

I just mentioned Kmart because it's $10.00 cheaper there. ;)

The Tivax STB-T8 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box is $9.99 total (Free Shipping) with the coupon at Amazon.com. Deliver is two to three weeks though.

I've used an analog TV with a Guide+ on screen EPG for years, and having just unpacked my STB-8 and used the EPG, I think the Tivax program guide sucks.

Am I missing something? As far as I can tell you have to tune to the channel first, then hit "Guide" and then you can see the current and upcoming shows, but only for the one channel. To see other channels: first tune to channel, hit "Guide", etc.

This is a far cry from a proper EPG where you can see a grid of all available channels and scroll around to see what is going on.

Hopefully I've missed something and there is a better way of doing things. Please let me know.

Otherwise, I agree that the picture quality is excellent.

I also just got a DTVPal Plus. Its picture quality is not even as good as my best analog channels, but is much better that my worst ones. The DTVPal has an excellent EPG, and evidently can pass through TVGOS to my TV. The feature set is truly astounding.

Pity one cannot get a combination of the great picture quality and the excellent feature set in one box.

Red

Looks like this is a great unit. One question. I have a Sony 20" will I notice a difference of using the composite video since the converter does not have a S-video. My TV does have a S-video.

The DTVPal has an excellent EPG, and evidently can pass through TVGOS to my TV.Unfortunately, that doesn't work (at least yet. Hopefully sometime in the near future, when they *supposedly* start broadcasting the proper data stream that they say the Pal needs).

Looks like this is a great unit. One question. I have a Sony 20" will I notice a difference of using the composite video since the converter does not have a S-video. My TV does have a S-video.

I know some people will disagree with me, but my experience is a 25 inch or less should look find with composite or the RF out. I remember one member noting that he like the RF out better because the dot crawl problem wasn't present then. Dot crawl is inherent to composite signals. As far as resolution on a screen that small, I think you would have to be within a foot of your screen to really tell the difference. At normal viewing distance it shouldn't make a difference. I would recommend trying the RF out as well and see which you think is better.

Overall the Tivax STB-T9 performs well. Good picture quality, good sound, easy setup, ability to scan for additional stations, well constructed, doesn't get hot... all positive points. The major deficiencies I see are the lack of automatic aspect ratio and the inability to change the color scheme of the menu and program info. The blue text on a black background is NOT an eye friendly choice.

Some additional Menus: (Accessible via remote when "Mute" is enabled)

Key_Sequence Screen_Output
9878 FE Information
9877 Hardware Version
9876 Factory Set Menu

I just got my boxen in today. I've finished building my antenna from some copper wire screwed on to a 2x4. Next step, get MythTV to control the boxen via the serial port.

Has anyone tried this yet?

I don't think they've tried that, but the commands to change the channel are available, as long as you can get MythTV to send them in the proper format. Dig back through this thread and the "Hacking the CECB's" thread - it's in one of those two.

Overall the Tivax STB-T9 performs well. Good picture quality, good sound, easy setup, ability to scan for additional stations, well constructed, doesn't get hot... all positive points. The major deficiencies I see are the lack of automatic aspect ratio and the inability to change the color scheme of the menu and program info. The blue text on a black background is NOT an eye friendly choice.

I found a couple of major annoyances with this converter box. First, my local PBS station is transmitting four video signals and one audio only. I don't want the audio only so I set it to "not viewable". Unfortunately after a day or two the setting reverts to "viewable" and I have to go into the manual channel setup again. I wish I could delete the channel from the list and be done with it.

Second is the menu colors. It's stupid that the closed caption font and color can be changed but the menu colors can't. The blue text on black background is NOT eye friendly.

Some additional Menus: (Accessible via remote when "Mute" is enabled)

Key_Sequence Screen_Output
9878 FE Information
9877 Hardware Version
9876 Factory Set Menu

factory reset will fix when you "set" the wrong variable and get a looping error. handy for the extended channel search option: ie. set 35 1 (0 is default for channels 1-69, 1-4 for different forms of channel search 1-135 with digital subchannels (hrc/irc/catv/qam) you will get a looping error on the rs232 port after but onscreen channel search will work. factory reset fixes this and anything else that gets saved via the onscreen menu save or CtrlArrayManualSave from rs232. fe info shows what demodulation it is set for.

Ok - read about all 9 pages. Have a coupon about to expire and figure I might as well use it. Went to K-Mart today hoping to find the Zenith but they were OOS on all converters. Seems like lately most places are out of stock. Channel Master tough to find.

Should I go with the TIvex. And only a $1 more for the T8 with Pass-Thru but isn't Pass-Thru useless since all stations broadcast digital???

Any chance the serial port can be used as tv-out from box to pc?

Should I go with the TIvex. And only a $1 more for the T8 with Pass-Thru but isn't Pass-Thru useless since all stations broadcast digital???

Any chance the serial port can be used as tv-out from box to pc?

I would get the STB-T8 myself, even if you don't use the feature it is nice to have just in case.

The serial port can't send picture data, also I haven't found a way to turn on the unit over the serial port either.

For $1 it really doesn't matter. Where I live I couldn't get analog signals reliably anyway. And now there isn't much analog to speak of. So for me purchasing the T9 made perfect sense.

You might try Sears to see if they have any Zenith units in stock but, as you wrote wrt Kmart, I fear they are all but OOS everywhere on CECBs. However going with the Tivax instead would be very reasonable. PQ is very good, better than the Zenith, and tuner sensitivity is fine too. My only quibbles with it are:

- the remote, while quite nice, is somewhat directional. I have to concentrate too hard in pointing it from the right spot for it to work. Nonetheless it is very usable.

- doing a number of operations is a bit slow compared to the Zenith, most notably in changing channels and doing a channel scan. Just a little annoying.


_Lazza

I went with the T8 from Amazon. I just did not feel like go store hopping. I also have an Artec. Had to buy something cuz the coupon expired end of July. Right now I have cable but once I get an adequate pc-pvr setup working I plan on canceling the cable and just keeping the internet. Then I will need to put one of the boxes in use.

the iNet SSR 1921
is the same as the tivax t8- just rebranded with a slightly different front panel.
and you can get it for free (no shipping if you get 2) with the govt. coupon
ezdtv.com/gallery1.htm

no- i am not affiliated with them, i used my coupons there though. shipping took 3 days. not bad at all. very pleased with the converter. one to use and one to hack. looking at the schematic pdf that was posted, the settings might be changeable if you open the box and change some jumpers. i'll check later.

the iNet SSR 1921
is the same as the tivax t8- just rebranded with a slightly different front panel.
and you can get it for free (no shipping if you get 2) with the govt. coupon
ezdtv.com/gallery1.htm

no- i am not affiliated with them, i used my coupons there though. shipping took 3 days. not bad at all. very pleased with the converter. one to use and one to hack. looking at the schematic pdf that was posted, the settings might be changeable if you open the box and change some jumpers. i'll check later.

Its says limited time free shipping, does not mention 2. Too late for me, I spent my $10 extra at Amazon but good deal. If you look at the image of the back you can tell its the Tivax.