RussTC3 - Seeing that you currently have a 27" 4:3 Samsung CRT, if your viewing distance is less than 15 feet, you might be somewhat overwhelmed by a 60' screen. If you're too close to a set that large, you're going to REALLY notice the flaws in any sub-standard source. Putting aside lines of resolution and pixel counts, what exactly is it about the Sammy's picture that you find lacking? Not to dis your set or anything, but many people (myself included) seem to find Samsung's CRT's picture somewhat on the soft side. If you're looking for more sharpness, detail and realistic "looking through a window" effect, but still prefer a conventional CRT, than go for a Sony - they are head and shoulders above the rest. If you've ever seen one displayed with a top-notch source, I bet you'd probably find it hard to disagree. Philips and Panasonic are probably next down the line, and I'd put the Samsung's and the 16:9 Toshiba's last. As far as LCD's, the BenQ sounds good, but I don't know much about it. From what I've seen and heard about the Westinghouse, the picture is great, but the black levels are not so good, which if you watch it in the dark, you'll really notice (unless there are newer models out that I haven't seen). I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because a display is "1080p", don't just automatically assume it HAS to have the most superior picture - there can be many other variables involved. You really have to go out and look for yourself. There are mucho threads about this that you can find over in the Display section. - Steve

I bought this Radio Shack Accurian Tuner on clearance. Unfortunately when I use the tuner remote the channels will not change when I push the number buttons. The channels change fine when I use the arrow keys. When I use the channel numbers all wierd things happen--power goes off or I lose the picture and S-video or YP1 appears in the upper corner of the black screen. Also the back button on the remote does not work properly. Does this mean that this remote is not compatible with my TV, or is there is something else I can do? My TV is only two months old. It is a Westinghouse 32" LCD TV LTV-32W1. I am using an UHF/VHS antenna system.

Hi every one, I have the acccurian 6000 tuner that I am very pleased with. I previously owned the (us didgital) tuner I bought from wall-mart, it performed all most the same as the accurian, but the accurian was half the price.
My problem is the accurian remote has stopped working , even banging it against something no longer works.
My question is will the (Harmony 880) universal remote be able to control the
tuner if it doesnt have a remote to learn from.
Thanks in advance.




.

I have a Harmony 680 and it works fine with my Accurian. Did not have to do any learning from the original remote.
I tried other all-in-one remotes and none worked very good on the Accurian.

I think I remember reading in another thread somewhere that the Harmony codes didn't quite cover all the buttons they wanted to use and that it had to learn a few. Don't recall which ones, though. Not sure what model it was, either.

I bought this Radio Shack Accurian Tuner on clearance. Unfortunately when I use the tuner remote the channels will not change when I push the number buttons. The channels change fine when I use the arrow keys. When I use the channel numbers all wierd things happen--power goes off or I lose the picture and S-video or YP1 appears in the upper corner of the black screen. Also the back button on the remote does not work properly. Does this mean that this remote is not compatible with my TV, or is there is something else I can do? My TV is only two months old. It is a Westinghouse 32" LCD TV LTV-32W1. I am using an UHF/VHS antenna system.

There’s nothing wrong with your tv, it’s the remote control of the Accurian unit that is bad. A universal remote control, such as a Harmony, is the only way to solve this problem.

Hi every one, I have the acccurian 6000 tuner that I am very pleased with. I previously owned the (us didgital) tuner I bought from wall-mart, it performed all most the same as the accurian, but the accurian was half the price.
My problem is the accurian remote has stopped working , even banging it against something no longer works.
My question is will the (Harmony 880) universal remote be able to control the
tuner if it doesnt have a remote to learn from.
Thanks in advance.

Yes all of the Harmonys can control the Accurian 6000 unit, the code is under set top boxes.

I think I remember reading in another thread somewhere that the Harmony codes didn't quite cover all the buttons they wanted to use and that it had to learn a few. Don't recall which ones, though. Not sure what model it was, either.

Well I think the majority of us will just be happy with getting the channel up/down to work. :D

holl_ands
Thanks for all the extra info. :)

Steve
HDTV programming looks a little better than watching a DVD. DVD's (progressive scan) look very nice.

SD programming looks okay. It could be a little soft, but the source is Dish Network, and a lot of the problems could be attributed to them. (pixelation, etc.)

I probably sit back about 5-12ft from the TV. I didn't get a WS TV back then because I knew I wouldn't be watching a lot of WS programming, since most everything on television these days is FS. I was going to get a regular SD TV, but this TV seemed like a good deal ($699.99) and it was HD. I didn't really know any better. I just figured all HD TV's were high definition capable.

I'll probably wait a year or two, to see how the format wars goes, and then get a 40ish inch 1080p set.

No reason to pick up something that will just be obsolete in a few years.

I found that with the Acurian Remote as someone else mentioned, if you point it about 25 fegrees lower than the receiver the remote works. I think maby the IR led is aimed up. Mine is on top of my 61" TV and if I point the remote at the bottem of the TV it works normal. Although if you use a Universal remote like the Harmony it works much better. I found that you can actually point the harmony backwards and it still works. Im about 10ft from the TV and behind me is a rock wall fireplace. It must bounce off it.

I bought this Radio Shack Accurian Tuner on clearance. Unfortunately when I use the tuner remote the channels will not change when I push the number buttons. The channels change fine when I use the arrow keys. When I use the channel numbers all wierd things happen--power goes off or I lose the picture and S-video or YP1 appears in the upper corner of the black screen. Also the back button on the remote does not work properly. Does this mean that this remote is not compatible with my TV, or is there is something else I can do? My TV is only two months old. It is a Westinghouse 32" LCD TV LTV-32W1. I am using an UHF/VHS antenna system.

Does RS plan on offering or are they offerering a replacement for this Accurian? The local RS had no more and said they were not going to get a replacement. You would think that they would have a bunch of brands by now.

You would have to ask them, I would call around to any stores in your area, even in other states, most stores will ship products to other stores. I had them do that for me on an item.

I shall ask again...

Does anyone have Pronto codes for the Accurian??

Thanks a lot for starting this thread which prompted me to get three of these great OTA receivers at nearby RS last week. Now I am enjoying all the HDTV for free without a glitch. I want to share what I found about the remote. Following the suggestion of a previous post I picked up a GE remote at Target for $6.99 which worked flawlessly with this Accurian unit. All you have to do is to enter the code for Pionier cable box and it controls three devices including this one. Jim

Someone mentioned a HD signal booster. Where could I get one and what is its price? Will it mess up my analog signal or could I attach it just behind the HD tuner and bypass the analog signal entirely?

I dont have the codes but I do have a Pronto. Im using a Harmony now.
I suppose I could learn the codes into the pronto for you, send me a private email. larrylwillATgmail.com
replace the AT with @

Thanks a lot for starting this thread which prompted me to get three of these great OTA receivers at nearby RS last week.


Where are you located? I can not find this receiver anywhere.

[Where are you located? I can not find this receiver anywhere.]

I am located in Atlanta. I found them in two stores near downtown area, which surprised me a little bit as well considering it being on clearance for a while. Jim

[Where are you located? I can not find this receiver anywhere.]

I am located in Atlanta. I found them in two stores near downtown area, which surprised me a little bit as well considering it being on clearance for a while. Jim

Chris, you better have Jim get you one and ship it to you. :D

Where are you located? I can not find this receiver anywhere.

You need to hunt around, and also have your local Radio Shack do a search for any other stores in or around the Chicago area that still has any. The last two I found in the Chicago suburbs, and that was about a month ago. One of them was in a Chicago store by Midway Airport on Cicero Ave, and the other in one was in a Northlake store on North Ave. And that one was a customer return. Which also netted me a extra 10% off the clearance sale price, and also a doubling of the 90 day warranty up to 180 days. Because Radio Shack now seems to automatically double the warranty time on any open box or return items you may decide to buy. I don't know about now, but when I hunted those two down just about a month ago, there was a few stores somewhere actually in Chicago that still had at least one left. But I would guess by now that may no longer be true. So just ask your local store to check and see if any are left in Chicago, and ask them if they will also call and verify any store that does show any, if they still actually do. If they do, they probably can be persuaded to put it on the side for you to come and pick it up.

Anyone experience lockups with the 6000 unit? I usually average one an evening on different channels. I use an indoor set top antenna and signal strength is above 80% for most channels. I power down the box and power it back on and everything goes back to working.

Thanks,

Mack

Anyone experience lockups with the 6000 unit?


It seemed to lockup more when I ran the unit in "auto"
time mode... now I switch to auto time just to grab the
current time after a power failure, then switch back to
manual...
use a station with good time... stations with EPG data
seem to have the closest time in this area...

Ed / wd8kct / North Canton, Ohio

Look at the yellow addendum sheet that came with the instructions that explains the time issue. Also the red sheet explains the default password problem.

Anyone experience lockups with the 6000 unit? I usually average one an evening on different channels. I use an indoor set top antenna and signal strength is above 80% for most channels. I power down the box and power it back on and everything goes back to working.

Thanks,

Mack

There is a known issue with this box locking up on certain FOX affiliates around the country. I had the issue with the Shreveport FOX. Others have reported the problem in Arkansas, Florida, Chicago, and North Carolina.

I emailed the station about the problem several weeks ago, and have not had the problem since.

There are posts about this earlier in this thread.

I've found it! I finally had to drive to Dalton to get one. Its about a 50 mile drive, but I think I got the last one in Chicagoland. The RS website really is no help. You have to keep on plugging in different zip codes. When you find stores that say they have availability, you have to call them because they really don't. I finally found a store that had a return, and got the doubled warranty.

I read the yellow paper, but did not get a red one.

What is the information on the "RED" paper?

I can't find it at the moment but I think it was the default password not being all 0's. It's all something else, I want to say 8's or 9's but I don't recall. If this doesn't help, let me know and I'll try to look this weekend.

I've found it! I finally had to drive to Dalton to get one. Its about a 50 mile drive, but I think I got the last one in Chicagoland. The RS website really is no help. You have to keep on plugging in different zip codes. When you find stores that say they have availability, you have to call them because they really don't. I finally found a store that had a return, and got the doubled warranty.

I read the yellow paper, but did not get a red one.

What is the information on the "RED" paper?

I had two yellow "Addendum" sheets, no red. One addressed the time issue, use manual vs automatic. (Which I ignored w/o any problem yet.) The second was the master pin is "8888" instead of "0000".

If there is a red addendum sheet I'd be interested in what it said. Maybe a warning that the remote suks?? :rolleyes:

I had two yellow "Addendum" sheets, no red. One addressed the time issue, use manual vs automatic. (Which I ignored w/o any problem yet.) The second was the master pin is "8888" instead of "0000".

If there is a red addendum sheet I'd be interested in what it said. Maybe a warning that the remote suks?? :rolleyes:Ha ha ha ha! I think you just had different colors paper. The two addendums are the one about the time and the one about the PIN codes.

My JP1 URC-9910 remote works -perfectly- with this receiver.

The RS website really is no help. You have to keep on plugging in different zip codes. When you find stores that say they have availability, you have to call them because they really don't.


Tell me about it......... ;)

I don't know why they just don't do like almost everyone else does with zipcode search option, where you can enter a zipcode and also tell them how far you are willing to travel.

I must have "located" at least 10-12 stores that showed them on the website "zipcode lookup" function, and only 1 of them still had 1 left when I actually called them to verify it. But at least one of the stores that I called that was out, also looked for any other stores that did actually have any, while I was still on the phone with him asking about it. But that worked out pretty good for me, because that was the one where I got the returned unit for even less money and with double the warranty. And as for the reason it was returned, the silly remote problem of course...

Update:

Went to turn mine on and nothing. Green light comes on but no picture. No channel info on the front of the unit.

Tried to take it back (within 90 days) and am having trouble.

so much for that deal.

I just got the last one in my immediate area; it turned out to be a unit someone returned, but everything works fine.

Just for kicks, I hooked up an old-school set top antenna (the old telescopic VHF kind) and was surprised I was actually able to get 6 local HD channels. Hopefully, that's a good sign about how many I'll get after I hook up an outdoor antenna!

It seems like a decent tuner otherwise, with a pretty good on-screen display/menu, in my opinion. The signal strength meter is nice, as noted by others here.

I also had the addendum noted here regarding using manual instead of automatic for the time setting.

Update:

Went to turn mine on and nothing. Green light comes on but no picture. No channel info on the front of the unit.

Tried to take it back (within 90 days) and am having trouble.

so much for that deal.

That happens to me at least once a week. If I power off and then power back on it works. I don't know if it's a timing issue between the TV power on and the set top box or a problem with the OTA signal that causes the brain cramp on the box. So far I have always been able to recover. I hope it stays that way.

That happens to me at least once a week. If I power off and then power back on it works. I don't know if it's a timing issue between the TV power on and the set top box or a problem with the OTA signal that causes the brain cramp on the box. So far I have always been able to recover. I hope it stays that way.

I so wish that was the case with mine. I powered it up and down, same thing. I unplugged it and plugged it back in, same thing.

I left it sit unplugged for a day. Same thing.

Its annoying because all I really wanted was an affordable HD receiver. Although it appears this Radioshack store is maybe going to do something. Lost the receipt / didn't keep it so I hosed myself I suppose, plus it was cash.

flood222, I may be able to help you out! Where are you located.. I'll PM you!

Anybody using the Winegard PR-4400, DB4 or CM 4221/3021 antenna with this unit?

Anybody using the Winegard PR-4400, DB4 or CM 4221/3021 antenna with this unit?I've got a CM 4221 it works great. Much better than my old Samsung SIR-T151.

looking for one of these (STS 6000) in the DV/MD/VA area. anyone?

The EPG is extremely slow and cumbersome to navigate. Is there someway to speed-up the process? Maybe someway to get the data to load when the unit is not in use? It just seems like the only time it loads data is when you wish to view it!

Also, Is there a way to manually add channels? The box I had previously allowed me to program in stations that it did not find during an auto set-up. I have one station that comes in on rare occasions and I'd like to add it.

Also, Is there a way to manually add channels? The box I had previously allowed me to program in stations that it did not find during an auto set-up. I have one station that comes in on rare occasions and I'd like to add it.

I'm not near my set; but there is an 'add channel' button on the remote I believe. Tune in the number of the digital station & then press the button. I believe that is how I added a couple of marginal channels when I was fussing with antennas.

The EPG is extremely slow and cumbersome to navigate. Is there someway to speed-up the process? Maybe someway to get the data to load when the unit is not in use? It just seems like the only time it loads data is when you wish to view it!

Also, Is there a way to manually add channels? The box I had previously allowed me to program in stations that it did not find during an auto set-up. I have one station that comes in on rare occasions and I'd like to add it. See post #355 of this thread.

See post #355 of this thread.

Sure, that works for the immediate channel and a couple of other stations within a close time frame. I was wondering if anything could be done about the guide as a whole. Once the data is loaded, if you scroll off what is offered, the guide needs to load further information. Isn't there a way to load a larger block of information? Is this the way all of these systems work, or do I have a problem? It appears that the system is capable of retaining greater amounts of information once it is loaded.

I once had a Samsung SIR T-351 and the guide behaved the same. It always seemed to load in real time. Once with the RS box I was surfing every channel then I brought up the guide and it came up immediately. That seems to indicated that it does retain guide information for a while but I don't know how long it will retain it. I responded to your other post for guide info and I use www.titantv.com.

Once the data is loaded, if you scroll off what is offered, the guide needs to load further information. Isn't there a way to load a larger block of information? Is this the way all of these systems work, or do I have a problem? It appears that the system is capable of retaining greater amounts of information once it is loaded.
It is a problem for me, too. I use it very sparingly, hardly at all. It would be nice if there were a fixit for it.

Anyone using the Accurian receiver and having problems with channel remapping? I picked up one of these a few days ago and it seems to work fine, except for the channel remapping on WNBC-DT in NYC. When you do a channel scan, it does not seem to find 4.1, 4.2, etc. If you punch in CH 28 on the remote it will receive 4.1, but the readout will show 28.1 and I dont get the other subchannels. All the other NYC DTV stations are remapping properly, so I dont know if it is something with WNBC's PSIP data, or a bug in the Accurian firmware.

Does anyone else notice this with the Accurian, or is it only my box?

It is a problem for me, too. I use it very sparingly, hardly at all. It would be nice if there were a fixit for it.This slow guide problem you speak of is part of the HDTV system. Both boxes I have used had the same problem - took forever to load the channel guide for just a few channels. www.titantv.com is a lot more useful.

looking for one of these (STS 6000) in the DV/MD/VA area. anyone?A few weeks ago when I got mine, the Radio Shack web site listed one in the McLean Radio Shack. That was my backup in case the one in Leesburg didn't come through.

Anyone using the Accurian receiver and having problems with channel remapping? I picked up one of these a few days ago and it seems to work fine, except for the channel remapping on WNBC-DT in NYC. When you do a channel scan, it does not seem to find 4.1, 4.2, etc. If you punch in CH 28 on the remote it will receive 4.1, but the readout will show 28.1 and I dont get the other subchannels. All the other NYC DTV stations are remapping properly, so I dont know if it is something with WNBC's PSIP data, or a bug in the Accurian firmware.

Does anyone else notice this with the Accurian, or is it only my box?

I had two different Accurian units where the same thing happend on the local Fox station . Usually I wait a day or two, rescan and it goes back to normal.

Disregard the horizontal resolution when you select the resolution from the STB output to your TV and you are using component video connections. Your TV instructions will state whether 480p, 720p, or 1080i or any two or all three are accepted.

Horizontal resolution refers to the maximum number of (alternating dark and light) dots in a row that can be shown and distinguished. Vertical resolution refers to the maximum number of dots in a column that can be shown and distinguished. Vertical resolution is up to the number of scan lines or rows of pixels or the number as in 1080i or 720p etc. but less than ideal electronics or optics or dot pitch can make it less.

So I don't even have an HDTV? What the heck is the point of saying it accepts 1080i signals (1920x1080) when in reality it only does 800x600?This kinda blows. I knew I should have waited.
But it does accept 1080i signals. Your 27 inch CRT is an HDTV because it is displaying 1080 unique scan lines and, given an appropriate test pattern, you can see that it can display a single dot at any one of the 1920 possible positions along a scan line that 1080i provides. However the electron beam may be no less than 1/600'th the screen height or 1/800'th the screen width in fatness and finer picture details close together may thus be blurred together.
However, I'm seriously beginning to wonder if my unit is defective. The picture quality is great, but I think what I'm looking at is a 480p picture. So on to what the point of my post is.

I've been watching Football tonight on my local FOX (720p), and now Baseball. I have the switch at 1080i and just for the heck of it, I moved the switch to 480p (after turning off the unit). Am I suppose to notice a difference between these two settings (1080i and 720p)? Because if there is a difference it's extremely minimal and barely noticeable.

So I'm thinking that my component is actually outputting at 480p.

Is there ANY way to find out if what I'm seeing is a 720p signal upconverted to 1080i, instead of a 720p signal downcoverted to 480p, which I'm pretty sure is the case?.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but some 720p to 1080i conversions and a lot of 1080i to 720p conversions normally leave you with just 540 lines of resolution. I don't know about this STB. Someone would have to suggest a particular scene in a particular show that has source detail that will reveal this. Do any stations broadcast a test pattern before or after their broadcast day?

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/vidres.htm

Just set up the in-laws 30" Olevia with the Radioshack HTS6000 ATSC tuner and a Terk AM/FM Tower AF9330. About $20. This is not usually recognized as an HDTV antenna but it worked great with CBS HD & PBS HD & UPN DT. Decided to try it out on Xmas day and the sucker worked great thru the 75 ohm connector. Totally unobtrusive format not like the Silver Sensor. The towers are about 10 miles from the home with no major obstructions in the path - Salisbury MD.

A few weeks ago when I got mine, the Radio Shack web site listed one in the McLean Radio Shack. That was my backup in case the one in Leesburg didn't come through.

I wound up going with a (defunct) VOOM STB (Motorola unit) as my ATSC tuner. there's still some activated units on ebay. very happy with it.

I wound up going with a (defunct) VOOM STB (Motorola unit) as my ATSC tuner. there's still some activated units on ebay. very happy with it.

I just threw 3 of them out right before Xmas, all of them were still activated. But they are so kludgy for use as a HD tuner, that I seen no point in keeping them. And I'm not that cheap, that I would put up with using them in that way.

Blech...another desperate attempt to obtain flight from lead-filled wings...

Get something you'll be proud of...just a suggestion :)

Installpro

Over the Holidays, I was able to obtain the Accurian STB
from a remote RS store. The unit was returned byt somebody
and even though the store had claimed to have all the
accessories, component cable was missing from the box.

I would like to offer following tip about the remote control. I too had lot of problems with the remote control unit. But I used semi-transparent Scotch tape
over the LED and now it works pefectly! I would also like to confirm that Zenith brand universal remote can be programmed via selecting Pioneer Cable code (the very first one in the list) to contol the Accurian. Interestingly, Zenith remote does NOT interfer with the Apex DVD/VCR unit whereas native Accrian Remote key #5 acts also as a Power button for the Apex :-)

Given that these units are so hard to come by, I still
purchased the STB. I also purchased Radio Shack antenna
15-2160, UHF 40" 3-boom unit and installed it in Attic. I live
in Boston DMA, Westford MA to be precise. As per
antennaweb, it is about 22miles to the antenna farm. Initially,
I was able to get all i.e. 2,4,5,7,25,38,56,66,68 channels.
However, once I mounted the antenna to rafter I lost channel 4.
When I moved the direction to get 4, I lost 25. I then moved
the antenna back to the old location but the reception did
not improve. Currently, I have got both 4 and 25 but can not
get 56. I wonder if I can put inline amplifier or pre-amp
to improve the signal strength. Can somebody recommend a
cheap amplifier?

I would also like to connect this STB to Infocus 4805 and
would like to pick up requisite adapter and cable from
monoprice.com. Can someone who has done this give me the
exact part numbers to be ordered?

Thanks,
- Vikas

P.S. Just bumping this. Yesterday, I got both Ch56 and Ch25 for a while but later Ch56 went out.

Over the Holidays, I was able to obtain the Accurian STB
from a remote RS store. The unit was returned byt somebody
and even though the store had claimed to have all the
accessories, component cable was missing from the box.

I would like to offer following tip about the remote control. I too had lot of problems with the remote control unit. But I used semi-transparent Scotch tape
over the LED and now it works pefectly! I would also like to confirm that Zenith brand universal remote can be programmed via selecting Pioneer Cable code (the very first one in the list) to contol the Accurian. Interestingly, Zenith remote does NOT interfer with the Apex DVD/VCR unit whereas native Accrian Remote key #5 acts also as a Power button for the Apex :-)

Given that these units are so hard to come by, I still
purchased the STB. I also purchased Radio Shack antenna
15-2160, UHF 40" 3-boom unit and installed it in Attic. I live
in Boston DMA, Westford MA to be precise. As per
antennaweb, it is about 22miles to the antenna farm. Initially,
I was able to get all i.e. 2,4,5,7,25,38,56,66,68 channels.
However, once I mounted the antenna to rafter I lost channel 4.
When I moved the direction to get 4, I lost 25. I then moved
the antenna back to the old location but the reception did
not improve. Currently, I have got both 4 and 25 but can not
get 56. I wonder if I can put inline amplifier or pre-amp
to improve the signal strength. Can somebody recommend a
cheap amplifier?

I would also like to connect this STB to Infocus 4805 and
would like to pick up requisite adapter and cable from
monoprice.com. Can someone who has done this give me the
exact part numbers to be ordered?

Thanks,
- Vikas

P.S. Just bumping this. Yesterday, I got both Ch56 and Ch25 for a while but later Ch56 went out.

Are all the towers in the same area, or are they spread out? A rotator might be an option for you also.

All of the towers are at the same degree. But they do have different output power.

- Vikas

i checked the radio shack website today
and it wont come up anymore?
how will i locate one now :-(

i checked the radio shack website today
and it wont come up anymore?
how will i locate one now :-(

Maybe Ebay?

Maybe Ebay?

there going for about $40- 50 more
and most arent even new

there going for about $40- 50 more
and most arent even new

Well, that's kind of the way ebay works. Items on ebay are often work out to be more to the sellers advantage, and not the buyers. And since it looks like you finally can't get them anymore from Radio Shack, that is the price you will maybe need to pay if you really want one. They have been discontinued by Radio Shack for going on 4+ months now. So it's surprising that the supply of them that they did still have, actually lasted as long as they did.

I would like to repeat my question regarding the HDMI output from this STB. Are there any known issues in terms of hooking this up to InFocus ScreenPlay 4805 projector? Also if anybody had purchased the correct cables/adapters from monoprice.com for this setup, I would appreciate your input. Do you believe is it worth to go from Component to HDMI? Correctly, I am using my Pioneer 1014 receiver to do the switching and I will lose that and will have to use projector remote to do it switching aside from using Pioneer to switch the audio.

- Vikas

I would like to repeat my question regarding the HDMI output from this STB. Are there any known issues in terms of hooking this up to InFocus ScreenPlay 4805 projector? Also if anybody had purchased the correct cables/adapters from monoprice.com for this setup, I would appreciate your input. Do you believe is it worth to go from Component to HDMI? Correctly, I am using my Pioneer 1014 receiver to do the switching and I will lose that and will have to use projector remote to do it switching aside from using Pioneer to switch the audio.

- Vikas
I am using my Radio Shack Tuner through my 4805. I bought my adapter from Monoprice and it works fine. I do see a difference between component and HDMI but not that much of a difference. I use the component switching on my Denon AVR receiver for some devices and have a Harmony remote that is programmed to automatically switch between component and HDMI on the 4805. Works well.

I am using my Radio Shack Tuner through my 4805. I bought my adapter from Monoprice and it works fine. I do see a difference between component and HDMI but not that much of a difference. I use the component switching on my Denon AVR receiver for some devices and have a Harmony remote that is programmed to automatically switch between component and HDMI on the 4805. Works well.

Thanks! What switch position do you use on the Radio Shack Tuner (720 vs 1080)? Are there any issues during channel surfing? Also can you tell me if you are using single HDMI-M1 cable or HDMI-HDMI cable + HDMI-M1 adapter? Unfortunately, monoprice is out of either solution until the end of this month.

I do not want to buy DVI cable as I am afraid I might have problem snaking that through my ceiling. HDMI connectors look little less wider and I might be able to push that cable without much trouble.

For other people who are still looking for OTA HD Tuner, activated Voom tuners on Ebay are going even cheaper than the this one used to be. If I had missed the Radio Shack tuner, I would have seriously considered the Voom from Ebay. You still will need good antenna though.

- Vikas

Thanks! What switch position do you use on the Radio Shack Tuner (720 vs 1080)? Are there any issues during channel surfing? Also can you tell me if you are using single HDMI-M1 cable or HDMI-HDMI cable + HDMI-M1 adapter? Unfortunately, monoprice is out of either solution until the end of this month.

I do not want to buy DVI cable as I am afraid I might have problem snaking that through my ceiling. HDMI connectors look little less wider and I might be able to push that cable without much trouble.

For other people who are still looking for OTA HD Tuner, activated Voom tuners on Ebay are going even cheaper than the this one used to be. If I had missed the Radio Shack tuner, I would have seriously considered the Voom from Ebay. You still will need good antenna though.

- Vikas

I imagine 480p or 1080i would better match to the 4805's native resolution, but you really have to switch among three to find out which one is best for you. when it comes to HDMI vs DVI size, you will find out it is irrelavent because the diameter of the ferrite cores at the two ends is much larger than either one(on Monoprice cables at least). so what is stopping you from snaking thru the ceiling is going to be the thick ferrite core if at all.

Thanks! What switch position do you use on the Radio Shack Tuner (720 vs 1080)? Are there any issues during channel surfing? Also can you tell me if you are using single HDMI-M1 cable or HDMI-HDMI cable + HDMI-M1 adapter? Unfortunately, monoprice is out of either solution until the end of this month.

I do not want to buy DVI cable as I am afraid I might have problem snaking that through my ceiling. HDMI connectors look little less wider and I might be able to push that cable without much trouble.

For other people who are still looking for OTA HD Tuner, activated Voom tuners on Ebay are going even cheaper than the this one used to be. If I had missed the Radio Shack tuner, I would have seriously considered the Voom from Ebay. You still will need good antenna though.

- Vikas
I have mine switched for 1080. No issues at all channel surfing. Actually, I am using a HDMI-DVI adapter and a DVI-M1 cable to the projector. I also use the cable for my HTPC output and am just waiting for the AVR manufacturers to catch up and realize that today you can run more than 2 sources digital (I have 4). And I don't want to pay for a Gefen switch!

Question for everyone who has the Accurian. I am interested in linking mine to my DVD Recorder. Is there a way to set a timer on the Accurian that will allow me to record off air signals? Otherwise, what is the best way to record, especially if I want to record multiple shows on different channels.

i just purchased a voom box
ill check it out when it gets here
but what do people think of the menus and tuner sensitivity
im about 9 miles from transmission

Question for everyone who has the Accurian. I am interested in linking mine to my DVD Recorder. Is there a way to set a timer on the Accurian that will allow me to record off air signals? Otherwise, what is the best way to record, especially if I want to record multiple shows on different channels.

You can set a power on time and a power off time for once or daily but thats it. No way to change channels. You may want to ask in the DVD recorder thread. I see people over there talking about controlling their cable boxes with an IR blaster. I know very little about it but it sounds like the recorder sends an IR signal to the tuner that powers it on and changes it to the correct channel. I don't have that feature on my recorder.

You can set a power on time and a power off time for once or daily but thats it. No way to change channels. You may want to ask in the DVD recorder thread. I see people over there talking about controlling their cable boxes with an IR blaster. I know very little about it but it sounds like the recorder sends an IR signal to the tuner that powers it on and changes it to the correct channel. I don't have that feature on my recorder.

Thanks for the info. I might be up a creek as my recorder has no IR blaster. Plus with the trouble those here have had getting universal remotes to work with the Accurian, it might be a nightmare for me even if my recorder had IR technology. Oh well.

The Panny E85 recorder's IR blaster will change the channels on the Accurian using a pioneer cable box code. As far as setting the receiver for on and off times, I have only been able to get it to work when it's set to work one way or the other, meaning "on" or "off". Usually I have it set to go "on" first, and it will do that, but for some reason, it will ignore the second "off" setting. But I can always just leave it on and have the recorder change the channels, if so desired.

Question for everyone who has the Accurian. I am interested in linking mine to my DVD Recorder. Is there a way to set a timer on the Accurian that will allow me to record off air signals? Otherwise, what is the best way to record, especially if I want to record multiple shows on different channels.
Since the Accurian responds to Pioneeer IR codes, you should be able to use a Universal Remote Control
(usually with Learning) that also has an EVENT TIMER capability.
Most R/C's don't do this, although most of the Sony R/C's do, incl the older (and hence inexpensive) RM-VL1000.

Careful: A SLEEP TIMER only shuts equipment OFF.

I have an RM-VL900 Sony remote - do you know if it has this capability offhand? Exactly how does it work?

Just my luck, late to the party again.

I've called more than 10 bigger stores around a 100 mile radius in S.Cal to no fruition. NE1 know of a store with stock in the So.Calif area?

Since the Accurian responds to Pioneeer IR codes, you should be able to use a Universal Remote Control
(usually with Learning) that also has an EVENT TIMER capability.
Most R/C's don't do this, although most of the Sony R/C's do, incl the older (and hence inexpensive) RM-VL1000.

Careful: A SLEEP TIMER only shuts equipment OFF.

Great idea. Thanks! I'll try this and report back if I can get it to work. If anyone else has success with the EVENT TIMER capability on their R/C's please let me know.

The Panny E85 recorder's IR blaster will change the channels on the Accurian using a pioneer cable box code. As far as setting the receiver for on and off times, I have only been able to get it to work when it's set to work one way or the other, meaning "on" or "off". Usually I have it set to go "on" first, and it will do that, but for some reason, it will ignore the second "off" setting. But I can always just leave it on and have the recorder change the channels, if so desired.
I've noticed that too at first,that it doesn't go off,only on,but lately it's been shutting off correctly at the programmed time.Has anyone else been experiencing the minor annoyance of the channel display remaining in the upper right corner,instead of scrolling up and disappearing after a second or two.At first it happened on only on channel,but now it's occuring on more channels with more frequency.I can get rid of the channel display by hitting the SEL button.

i just purchased a voom box
ill check it out when it gets here
but what do people think of the menus and tuner sensitivity
im about 9 miles from transmission


If you mean the VOOM box, it's better than my DirecTV DTC 100 that I was borrowing from a friend.

I have an RM-VL900 Sony remote - do you know if it has this capability offhand? Exactly how does it work?
NO. First pre-requisite would be a clock display...
Then you could investigate whether a R/C supported EVENT TIMERs.

========================================
Sony RM-VL1000 is about $30 reconditioned and $60 new, per Froogle and eBay.

It isn't the easiest to operate or program....
My biggest gripe is a lack of individual component select buttons.
You have to hit one button to pull up the component list then select desired component from
four on Menu Page1 or if not, scroll through next two pages.

Then you can control that device....until repeat to control next device.
I set it up so that Receiver volumn/mute and Cable CHUP/CHDN keys never move.

It doesn't have many of the current pre-set codes...it's even missing many popular Sony products...
So you'll have to learn a bunch of keys from your existing R/C's.
It takes awhile to scroll through the alphabet, labeling each menu item, character by character.

But once it is set up, other than the component mode select hassle above, I've found that it is very convenient to use.
It is small and lightweight (unlike the new, big Sony R/C's) and there are many programmable keys
readily at hand for quick actions, rather than searching through a bunch of menus.

The newer Sony R/Cs are easier to set up....

=======================================================
There are some very expensive R/Cs that support EVENT TIMER, but very few affordable ones, other than Sony.

R-S used to carry the R-S 15-1996 VCR Programmer, a very inexpensive R/C with an EVENT TIMER to do one and only one thing:
turn on Cable STB and VCR and start a specific length recording.
But since it doesn't have learning capability and only accepts certain VCR and Cable STB codes, I don't think it will control the Accurian.

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for Logitech to come out with a Harmony model that will support EVENT TIMERs.
PS: Although Harmony has nifty turn on/off smarts, it is still difficult to switch between different component control modes.

I tried to use the www.remotecentral.com search engine, but they couldn't sort by this feature...
To investigate other options, you'll have to read the individual reviews...

If you mean the VOOM box, it's better than my DirecTV DTC 100 that I was borrowing from a friend.

Yeah maybe so, but do you have any idea of how old a DTC-100 is? That is one of the very first HDTV boxes made. Almost anything would be better and more up to date than one of those.

From all the posts I've ever read here, the VOOM tuners are one of the best out there. So it's gonna be better than a lot of tuners it's compared to no matter what there age.

Yet another remore question. The manual says to use Pioneer cable box codes.
I'm trying to program my Panny AE900 remote. I set for TV/Tuner, and choose cable box. Code 0144 will turn off the unit (when I cycle through the codes), but it doesn't turn it on OR change the channels.

Does anyone have the code to input on the AE900 remote to make it control the HTS-6000?

thanks,

Brian

0144 0533 0877 tell me which one of the last two works...

Sattelite 1159 does on/off and channel up/down which is good enough for me.


Brian

From all the posts I've ever read here, the VOOM tuners are one of the best out there.

If they were, I never would have thrown the 3 of them out that I did have....

The stock remote for the Panny CT-26WX15 will control the RS 6000 (Accurian) STB. The remote code for the Pioneer cable box (201) works, but its just the basic functions (on/off, channel up/down and manual channel input).

If they were, I never would have thrown the 3 of them out that I did have....
Then you made a mistake.

Then you made a mistake.

Only that I did not put them on ebay instead.

well after searching most of the surrounding states, I broke down and got one off ebay for $130. Now to pickup a HDMI cable.

Only that I did not put them on ebay instead.


That could've been almost $400 bucks in your pocket by now.

That could've been almost $400 bucks in your pocket by now.

Yep, oh well. And to think, it was not that long ago that you could hardly even give away one on ebay for $40.

HD3150PLUS at Circuit City appears to be identical to Accurian STB, perhaps explaining why R-S discontinued that model.

Pro Brands HD3150PLUS adds HDMI port to the earlier Digital Streams/Pro Brand HD3150 and is available from C/C for $230:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetailReview.do?oid=136560&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&BV_UseBVCookie=No

It appears to be very similiar if not identical to the R-S Accurian, which was manufactured by Digital Streams (see photo of circuit board):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6155877&#post6155877
Also note that (except for omission of HDMI port) the HD3150 Owners Manual is page-by-page identical to the Accurian Owners Manual:
http://www.eagleaspen.com/products/products_1.php?id=44
Note that they have not yet updated their site to show the HD3150PLUS model, along with an updated Owners Manual.

HD3150PLUS at Circuit City appears to be identical to Accurian STB, perhaps explaining why R-S discontinued that model.

Pro Brands HD3150PLUS adds HDMI port to the earlier Digital Streams/Pro Brand HD3150 and is available from C/C for $230:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetailReview.do?oid=136560&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&BV_UseBVCookie=No

It appears to be very similiar if not identical to the R-S Accurian, which was manufactured by Digital Streams (see photo of circuit board):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6155877&#post6155877
Also note that (except for omission of HDMI port) the HD3150 Owners Manual is page-by-page identical to the Accurian Owners Manual:
http://www.eagleaspen.com/products/products_1.php?id=44
Note that they have not yet updated their site to show the HD3150PLUS model, along with an updated Owners Manual.

Good find!

Good find!great find!

Nice to know it's still a current ~$300 model. This Accurian is a much better receiver than the one it replaced in my house, an old Gen 1 Toshiba 151. The Toshiba is on an old Sony 27" TV now and HD looks suprisingly great on that set!

If anyone wants to get one of those receivers that are on clearence you can still get one if you call your local district manager in your area and give them the catalog number. as a side note please don't call the store and ask them if they will do it as they will say no. They take a loss on each unit.

Good find!This was known and posted months ago.

A couple of months ago my RadioShack Accurian tuner in the basement was working fine but I noticed recently that my family wasn't using it anymore. When I tried to switch channels it would lock up whenever I tried to change from WVIT NBC channel 30. I managed to successfully trigger a complete re-scan by cycling the power with the antenna disconnected then re-connected. When I cycled through the stations it got stuck again once it received WVIT. It receives 30 fine but freezes as soon as I try to change the station. I discovered I can get it off of channel 30-1 by cycling power and changing the station before a picture appears on 30 but my wife will never put up with having to do that; so right now I have removed 30 from the channel list. Has anyone had this problem with the Accurian? It seems different than the S-Fla Fox problem that locked up the Accurian while receiving the tuned station.

I'm in S. Fla and had the "Fox" problem with mine. But I also found that signal strength and antenna positioning will cause this unit to lock up when a station is just on the threshold of being received but not enough info to display a picture. I would have to power down and then change channel as soon as it started up to get off that channel, too. Careful alignment of my antenna has solved my problem. It has not happened again.

Chuck

The Fox lockups have been reported by several people in different parts of the country, including myself, but methinks that this is a known issue with the engineers running these stations. I started having the lockups with the Shreveport Fox after Hurricane Rita knocked them off the air for a week. I emailed the station about the problem, and have not seen it since.

I was never able to solve the problem by repositioning the antenna. The received signal was always strong, around 80.

I've had my Accurian since late Sept. '05 and so far I have not experienced those lockups. I have had the same problems that many others have had with FOX61 though, regarding PSIP, but those aren't tuner related.

How close are you to the WVIT towers?? I have heard instances where signal overload could occur:

HDTV Reception (http://www.tvtower.com/hdtv_antenna_and_reception.html)

I'm about 6.5 miles from the WVIT towers and receive it at 85-95% with an amplified indoor ant.......

I've had my Accurian since late Sept. '05 and so far I have not experienced those lockups. I have had the same problems that many others have had with FOX61 though, regarding PSIP, but those aren't tuner related.

How close are you to the WVIT towers?? I have heard instances where signal overload could occur:

HDTV Reception (http://www.tvtower.com/hdtv_antenna_and_reception.html)

I'm about 6.5 miles from the WVIT towers and receive it at 85-95% with an amplified indoor ant.......
Thanks for the answer. I was wondering if others with the Accurian had this issue with WVIT. I am near Norwich so WVIT overload is not a possibility. I have two strong PAX stations (26 & 69) and WEDN is also strong so there is a chance that intermod products exist in the receiver but WVIT is by far the easiest of the Hartford stations for me to receive; it just locks the receiver when I try to change from it. The NTSC version of WEDN was off-the-air when I did my original check out so maybe an overload issue has since been created- I will experiment a bit when I get the chance to see if that seems to be the case.

Originally posted by deconvolver

Thanks for the answer. I was wondering if others with the Accurian had this issue with WVIT. I am near Norwich so WVIT overload is not a possibility. I have two strong PAX stations (26 & 69) and WEDN is also strong so there is a chance that intermod products exist in the receiver but WVIT is by far the easiest of the Hartford stations for me to receive; it just locks the receiver when I try to change from it. The NTSC version of WEDN was off-the-air when I did my original check out so maybe an overload issue has since been created- I will experiment a bit when I get the chance to see if that seems to be the case.

I am having the same issue with WVIT here in Old Lyme. Having it with both 30-1 and 30-2 (WVIT Weather). It's making me crazy... :(

I am having the same issue with WVIT here in Old Lyme. Having it with both 30-1 and 30-2 (WVIT Weather). It's making me crazy... :(

deconvolver / badcrazy,

When I posted last Friday I hadn't watched HD in a few days. When I got home that night I put Leno on and of course when I tried to switch to Letterman my receiver locked up too, exactly as you described.

I sent an email to the engineering director at WVIT. I'll post back if/when I get a reply.....

deconvolver, badcrazy, ckramer

:mad: I am having the same problem. I thought it might have been caused by the loss of electricity while the unit was on and tuned to WVIT, but I guess that wasn't the case. The only solution I found to work was to delete 30-1 and 30-2.

My guess is that it's just another new PSIP problem. I have a LG 3510a that works fine on 30-1 and 30-2.

I live in Silicon Valley and have had my Accurian for a few months. I'm about 40 miles from the major broadcast tower in San Francisco, but my Silver Sensor (on the second story) was sufficient for pulling in the UHF stations with signal strength in the low 70's. I recently spent a few hours recabling my rooftop antenna to bring it to the STB and am thrilled to find readings in the 80's and 90's, including the VHF stations. I can't find a way to also get the San Jose stations which are 90° from the San Francisco stations, but I'll post that in another thread.

Meanwhile, when I hit the EPG button I get "receiving guide data" (or something like that), but never actually get any information from any of the channels I've tried (including all the major networks). Any ideas what might be wrong?

As mentioned in the previous post, I got my roof antenna cabled to my HT this weekend. I realized I'd also like to see if this will improve my FM reception. I don't see any elements on the antenna (came with the house) other than VHF and UHF. Two questions:

If the antenna has no specific FM element will it still provide some benefit (relative to ineffective powered indoor antennas)?
Can I just use a splitter and run one lead into the STB and the other into the antenna port of my receiver? Or do I need to get a specific splitter that pulls out the FM frequencies?

Thanks!

FM is VHF. The FM band is at the top of the VHF-Low band, just above channel 6. If your antenna is a combo VHF/UHF, then it should pickup FM just fine.

A regular splitter will work. Just realize that the coax is like a water pipe. If you split it, half power goes out each port, so expect to see lower signal levels on your STB. This won't be a problem unless you have some digital channels that have a borderline signal to begin with.

As mentioned in the previous post, I got my roof antenna cabled to my HT this weekend. I realized I'd also like to see if this will improve my FM reception. I don't see any elements on the antenna (came with the house) other than VHF and UHF. Two questions:

If the antenna has no specific FM element will it still provide some benefit (relative to ineffective powered indoor antennas)?
Can I just use a splitter and run one lead into the STB and the other into the antenna port of my receiver? Or do I need to get a specific splitter that pulls out the FM frequencies?

Thanks!
The FM band is the next 20 MHz above VHF CH6, so most VHF antennas should also have gain for FM.

A standard VHF/UHF Diplexer (aka VHF/UHF Joiner or Splitter) would remove the VHF channels
going to your STB via the UHF port if you used the VHF port to feed your FM Receiver.
If this is acceptable, the insertion loss for either port should be less than 1 dB.

I am unaware of any TV-FM Diplexers, other than from Europe (try Google search).
Beware of using one of those cheap three-way VHF/FM/UHF Dongle devices,
because they can have unknown losses....which are probably very high....and they are unshielded.

Any standard RF Splitter will do the job, although with a 4 dB loss on each port.
If you are using a Preamp, this is not a concern, as long as the splitter is not
inserted between the Preamp and it's Power Insertion Module.

I can't say for sure Talkstr8t, but I can tell you both my Accurians are extemely slow with epg. I generally go to my PC and pull up titantv.com instead.

A standard VHF/UHF Diplexer (aka VHF/UHF Joiner or Splitter) would remove the VHF channels going to your STB via the UHF port if you used the VHF port to feed your FM Receiver. If this is acceptable, the insertion loss for either port should be less than 1 dB.

This method will only work if all of the desired digital channels are UHF.

I am unaware of any TV-FM Diplexers, other than from Europe (try Google search).
Beware of using one of those cheap three-way VHF/FM/UHF Dongle devices,
because they can have unknown losses....which are probably very high....and they are unshielded.

Analog cable systems used to install TV/FM diplexers when they had cable FM. I still have one left over from when I was a customer on Arlington, TX Telecable back in the 80's. However, I am not sure if they are still manufactured.

Meanwhile, when I hit the EPG button I get "receiving guide data" (or something like that), but never actually get any information from any of the channels I've tried (including all the major networks). Any ideas what might be wrong?It's possible that the stations are not broadcasting this information. At my location, some stations send EPG data, some don't.

My one beef with the OTA HDTV spec is that it takes forever to download the EPG data. This has been the same on my Samsung and my Accurian receivers. On the Samsung it had a neat Mini-guide that brought up the guide for one station, and it was instant. I haven't seen anything like this on the Accurian.

wow...21 pages? i think ill just ask my questions here

does this compare to those high quality $200-$300 top sets?
do you need an external antenna?
wut cables come with it? (composite, component, hdmi?)
does it have one of those switches for the output? (480p, 720p, 1080i)
can someone post some pictures of it? (like front and back)

Well if you can fine one.....

wow...21 pages? i think ill just ask my questions here

does this compare to those high quality $200-$300 top sets?
Not sure but I think the picture looks pretty good to me.

do you need an external antenna?
Yes you will.

wut cables come with it? (composite, component, hdmi?)
Component and RCA audio cables.

does it have one of those switches for the output? (480p, 720p, 1080i)
Yes it does.

can someone post some pictures of it? (like front and back)
Sorry, can't do that as I bought this unit for my dad. Don't have it here.

thanks patrol. now i gotta see if i can find one near me

Here's a good review and picture of one:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/accurian_sanyo.htm

These things were in the high 200 dollar range originally. If you can still find one, they are a bargain!

Here's a good review and picture of one:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/accurian_sanyo.htm

These things were in the high 200 dollar range originally. If you can still find one, they are a bargain!

haha..i was just about to post that. thanks though

Here's a good review and picture of one:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/accurian_sanyo.htm

These things were in the high 200 dollar range originally. If you can still find one, they are a bargain!
Cool link, I added that to my bookmarks. Where did you find that at?

I just did a search on google for accurian + review. I bought mine at Radio Shack sometime back. I'll bet they're getting a bit rare now.

Here's a good review and picture of one:

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/accurian_sanyo.htm

These things were in the high 200 dollar range originally. If you can still find one, they are a bargain!
Didya notice that Peter perpetuated the myth that the ACCURIAN works on cable systems up to CH130???

Since Accurian doesn't do QAM, it is limited to those extremely few cable systems that do 8-VSB modulation.
The only system I've ever heard of is in Taiwan...and they are switching to DVT-C, the European cable standard.

wow...21 pages? i think ill just ask my questions here

does this compare to those high quality $200-$300 top sets?
do you need an external antenna?
wut cables come with it? (composite, component, hdmi?)
does it have one of those switches for the output? (480p, 720p, 1080i)
can someone post some pictures of it? (like front and back)
With respect to multipath performance, the Accurian is about as good as the best 4th generation OTA STBs....
But it doesn't have all of the features of an LG.
Thus far, there are no 5th generation OTA STBs, only built into the latest HDTV, some PCI cards and some of the new Satellite Receivers.

Here are some more pics:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6155877&highlight=jpg#post6155877

It turns out my time/date were incorrectly set, so as can be expected, no data was showing up for March of 2000! Once I set it correctly things worked as expected (which is to say slow, but functional).

so no other place has it but radio shack....and now they might not even have it? this sucks because around christmas...i was looking into one, but i didnt think i had enough.

If you are in NH/MA area, there is still one shown in Geoffstown, NH location. Enter 03054 as the zipcode to search on radioshack webpage

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191

Has anybody tried to get back the twenty dollar after the price drop? I could not find specific policy on RadioShack regarding price protection.

- Vikas

I could not find specific policy on RadioShack regarding price protection.
It's 30 days, same time limit as the return policy.

I don't know how long this clearance sale will last but the Radio Shack 16-3499, the Accurain HST 6000, is on sale for less than $90. Picked one up about one hour ago and so far much better than the Sammy SIR-T351.


Sorry I'm so stupid, but could someone please briefly explain what the RS 16-3499 is and what it does? I'm assuming this is some kind of switching circuit, and it may be what I need for my system.

Thanks,
Jim Cate

Sorry I'm so stupid, but could someone please briefly explain what the RS 16-3499 is and what it does?

You can almost always just enter a Radio Shack part number in the search box on the Radio Shack home page to get the product description. The Accurion HTS 6000 uses part number RS 16-3499.

Well, I just got it and the total price was $97.00! Didn't hook it up yet but I'll let you all know the results.

dmand: Your right, no RBG. Too bad. But for the price, I think we can be forgiving. ;)

Note: Beefy component and audio cables!


Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the information on the Radio Shack site, the 16-3499 unit apparently doesn't output standard TV, which is of interest to me. If so, what other receiver-tuners at moderate prices might be appropriate for both HDTV and STV? I am looking for one that would provide a clean progressive output, preferably 720p, from both HD and NTSC. (I am getting the Sanyo Z4 FP, which apparently doesn't do very well in processing and scaling STV.) What about the PHD-101 unit?

Thanks,
Jim Cate

I get sdtv. I don't know where you get that information. No hdtv or projector does a good job with sdtv.

He means that the STB does not tune analog channels, only digital.

v/r,
C-F

The R-S Accurian only does digital ATSC....no analog NTSC or QAM.

Unfortunately, the Official HDTV STB thread doesn't say which units support NTSC:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=179095

But here's an older OTA STB thread that does:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=508883
Note that the older Sylvania 6900DTD model might have received NTSC,
but the current Sylvania/Funai 6900DTE model does NOT.

Also checkout the CEA's latest OTA STB spec summary for those that can tune analog NTSC (don't believe MSRP):
http://www.ce.org/PDF/settopdecoders.pdf
Note that the LG LST-3410A is also a 120 GB DVR with IEEE-1394 FIREWIRE output:
http://us.lge.com/download/product/file/1000000112/LST3410A.pdf

This older Samsung unit not on either list (but the ATSC performance isn't the best):
http://www.samsung.com/Products/DigitalSetTopBox/ArchivedHDTVTuners/SIRT165XXAA.asp?page=Specifications

Fol. Macro Image Tech. model not on the CEA list has IEEE-1394 FIREWIRE output:
http://www.mitinc.co.kr/mitinc/e_site/prod/prod_mdr200_new.jsp
http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/video/mdr200.asp

And probably the best ATSC OTA STB is the hard to locate LG LST-4200A:
http://us.lge.com/download/product/file/1000000269/LST-4200A_Brochure.pdf

Try www.pricegrabber.com, www.froogle.com and eBay cuz most are not current models.

====================================================
Of course, if your HDTV (or even a VCR) has a built-in tuner, you could use it instead.
Letting your Sanyo do the sophisticated Faroudja™ signal processing and scan upconversion
processes on an S-Video or composite video signal might result in a better picture than the
digitized and upconverted SD output on an STB.

I managed to snag 2 of these, one quite by accident when my US Digital/Hisense/WallyWorld STB bit the dust (it *was* very promptly replaced by US Digital under warranty, they are actually a very helpful bunch of folks).

After doing a search on this forum to turn up a recommendation for a quick emergency unit while I was waiting to get the USD replacement, I got one right here in my town, a display model for the first clearance price. Then I happened to walk into another store while on the road last week, and found another demo unit for the second clearance price. Pretty good bang for the buck, IMHO. I don't think RS has a price protection policy, couldn't find any info either, and as it was I had to explain the RS double-warranty policy on demo units to the clerk at the second store, he was dubious until his manager came over to tell him about it.

Some problems as noted previously re the weak remote - I checked the LED output and it's definitely weak as well as being off-axis, so pointing down at about a 35 to 40-degree angle does help some. Unfortunately, the remote is also slapped together without screws so you can't replace the LED with a better one without breaking the case.

The other odd/strange behavior (also prevously noted) is the lockup on stations that fall just below the 70 (green) level on the meter, resulting in a sudden drop to steady reading of 49 with SNR around 17%. I suspect that may be more a function of multipath than signal strength, since I have been able to see stations at lower levels with no lockup. If you watch the meter on a *really* weak station, it will tell you to adjust your antenna, not just stay steady at 49.

The front end is not quite as sensitive as the USD box using the same signal source, but for the money (two Accurian boxes for less than the price of one USD box), it will do the job on the OTA channels I watch most.

One cautionary note: the Accurian firmware will probably never be updated if something changes or bugs develop, since RS has dropped this product. Not so with the US Digital box, they are very happy to send you a USB key with firmware updates at no cost if you ask politely. I am now on the 4th revision of the USD firmware, and the newest version is miles ahead of the old in features.

so what is so great about NTSC?

whats the difference between QAM, NTSC, and ATSC
and is this a good STB? PrimeDTV PHD-101 (http://www.epvision.com/)

I can't locate one using atleast 20 zips near me. I guess I will call RatShack tomorrow and see if they can help me find one. I would be willing to drive an hour or so but so far, no luck. My cable company, Time Warner in High Point NC is in the middle of a pissing contest with local ABC affiliate stations and don't offer ABC in HD. I am a lifelong Steelers fan and I refuse to watch the Superbowl on my Sony HD tube TV on a crappy analog cable channel. Any suggestions?

NTSC is analog TV that's been around so long, we old guys watched the tiny green screen when we were kidz.
About time it's due to be completely shut down by 17Feb2009....

ATSC is the new digital television (DTV) that can provide Hi-Def TV.

QAM is what the cable companies use for their digital channels.
But since most OTA STBs don't have a CableCARD, you can only receive the unencrypted local digital stations
and maybe TNT-HD and/or DISCOVERY-HD.

=======================================================
The good news about the PrimeDTV PHD-101 is that the manual copyright date is 2005 (pdf file create date is 20Dec05)
and it is using the relatively new ATI 300 MHz XILLEON display chip.....so it seems to be NEW!!!!!
If and ONLY IF it is also using the relatively new ATI THEATER ATSC Decoder chip, it would be BIG NEWS, since ATI claims that it meets
the ATSC A/74 Receiver Guidelines and there are very promising results posted in the "5th Generation ATSC Chip" thread.

Maybe someone can peak inside and let us know if they can see the big rectangular chip either on the motherboard
or peaking through the RF Tuner Modules "tin can".....

The fol retail website as well as the downloadable manual says that it can do ATSC and QAM (but not NTSC????)....
and Closed Caption from analog NTSC stations....and also picks up program guide information from either ATSC or NTSC stations:
http://www.epvision.com/

But neither explicitly says anything else about whether or not it receives NTSC stations....
Indeed everywhere you would expect them to discuss NTSC in the manual...they don't.

On the other hand, the fol. manufacturer website page says the PHD-100 (note different number) DOES receive NTSC:
http://www.primedtv.com/products/dtvsettop.html

And here's a blurry picture or their "reference design" showing how it can support ATSC/QAM, DVB-T (Europe) and DVB-C (China) piggy-back boards:
http://www.primedtv.com/products/referencedesign.html
Note that they left off NTSC....but maybe it has an NTSC/PAL/SECAM chip on the motherboard???
I guess we won't find out for sure until someone tries it....

PS: Did you see in the manual where they admit that the STB can lock up with weak signal???
At least they admit it in the manual, something the Accurian and some LG boxes wouldn't admit to.....

after looking at some specs, and deciding that im pretty sure i wont get getting the accurian, i decided on either the primedtv, or the humax hfa 100 (http://www.humaxusa.com/products_HFA100.html)

I'm seriously considering the PrimeDTV PHD-101 for my STB. However I'm wondering if I will have compatibility issues between this and my new Syntax Olevia HVX hdtv ready tv? This tv will only recognize channels 1 - 125.

I won’t be using a dish satellite or be subscribing to cable for right now. I just need a good tuner that will pick up my local stations and maybe some other stations with HD programming. I'm assuming that I will need both NTSC and ATSC for my needs, is this true? (I may subscribe to cable later). Also is the $159 msrp a reasonable deal or can I do better for what I need?


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You guys are saying you don't receive ntsc signals, but I do and it even says sdtv, edtv, or hdtv as I surf channels. I am only using this thing for the super bowl. I just have to see it on my 130 inch screen using my hd projectors native resolution.

I don't think you will have any problems with that tuner since you won't be using it with sat/cable. Your local hdtv channels don't use that many channels from the get go. I would consider the radio shack version though. It's cheap and it does a great job! I'm very happy with my purchase!

I'm seriously considering the PrimeDTV PHD-101 for my STB. However I'm wondering if I will have compatibility issues between this and my new Syntax Olevia HVX hdtv ready tv? This tv will only recognize channels 1 - 125.

I won’t be using a dish satellite or be subscribing to cable for right now. I just need a good tuner that will pick up my local stations and maybe some other stations with HD programming. I'm assuming that I will need both NTSC and ATSC for my needs, is this true? (I may subscribe to cable later). Also is the $159 msrp a reasonable deal or can I do better for what I need?


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
The OTA STB plugs into either a Component Video, DVI or HDMI port on your HDTV, which ever is available.
It has nothing to do with what channels the Olevia's internal NTSC tuner can tune.

You'll find very few OTA STB's (of ANY kind) for less than $230, retail or on-line (plus shipping).

The Accurian discount price of under $70 is/was a fluke....if you can find any....and it doesn't do NTSC, so you'll have to use
an RF splitter to feed the Olevia's NTSC Tuner, thereby suffering a 4 dB loss of sensitivity for both ATSC and NTSC.

http://hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/accurian.html

contains a good review

You guys are saying you don't receive ntsc signals, but I do and it even says sdtv, edtv, or hdtv as I surf channels. I am only using this thing for the super bowl. I just have to see it on my 130 inch screen using my hd projectors native resolution.
Which STB? The Accurian or the PrimeDTV PHD-101???

Analog NTSC would never be called any of the above three labels---they all contain "d" for DIGITAL.
What is generating these displays? Your HDTV???

For the purpose of this post:
SDTV = Standard Definition Television
EDTV = Enhanced Definition Television
HDTV = High Definition Television

The Accurian will not tune SDTV broadcast in the Analog NTSC signal format.
It will tune SDTV (or EDTV I guess) broadcast in the Digital ATSC signal format.
Some stations here are broadcasting 480i/p over the ATSC digital channels.
Some are upconverting 480i into 720p/1080i.
PBS sends 480i/p in the day with 2-3 480 subchannels, and 720p/1080i at night.
(mostly from memory so I never remember the exact formats for each station).

So you can run into SDTV on the digital ATSC signal.

A cut down example version of AntennaWeb.Org (http://www.antennaweb.org)
The Accurian tunes all of the DTV channels.
Your TV tuner should tune the other channels.
DTV Callsign Chan NWK City ST Freq
WDAF 4 FOX KC MO 4
* WDAF-DT 4.1 FOX KC MO 34
KCTV 5 CBS KC MO 5
* KCTV-DT 5.1 CBS KC MO 24
KMBC 9 ABC KC MO 9
* KMBC-DT 9.1 ABC KC MO 7
KCPT 19 PBS KC MO 19 <- NTSC SDTV channel
* KCPT-DT 19.1 PBS KC MO 18 <- 1 ATSC HDTV channel
3 ATSC SDTV channels in 480
KCWE 29 UPN KC MO 29
* KCWE-DT 29.1 UPN KC MO 31
KMCI 38 IND LW KS 38 <- NTSC SDTV channel
* KMCI-DT 38.1 IND LW KS 36 <- 1 ATSC HDTV channel
showing mostly upconverted SDTV content
KSHB 41 NBC KC MO 41
* KSHB-DT 41.1 NBC KC MO 42
KPXE 50 i KC MO 50 <- NTSC SDTV channel
* KPXE-DT 50.1 i KC MO 51 <- 4 ATSC SDTV channels in 480
KSMO 62 WB KC MO 62
* KSMO-DT __._ WB KC MO __

v/r,
C-F

I can't locate one using atleast 20 zips near me. I guess I will call RatShack tomorrow and see if they can help me find one. I would be willing to drive an hour or so but so far, no luck. My cable company, Time Warner in High Point NC is in the middle of a pissing contest with local ABC affiliate stations and don't offer ABC in HD. I am a lifelong Steelers fan and I refuse to watch the Superbowl on my Sony HD tube TV on a crappy analog cable channel. Any suggestions?

I got the last one in NC a few months ago. At least that's what RS told me. Can't you just hook an indoor antenna up to your TV? The ABC affiliate here is at full power and you shouldn't have a problem getting a signal.

These tuners were closed out months ago. New ones are probably long gone by now. The Humax, the ProBrand (from CC) and the Sylvania (from BB) are all good tuners. And there's always the Samsung SIRt-451. The ProBrand Plus is the same tuner as the Accurian.

Actualy, there was one at a store in NC just last week. It sold the day before I saw that it was in stock. However, it was likely a return, as that store did not have any the week before. At that time the price had dropped to the current $69.97 on the RS website.
There also were 2 listed in 2 different Roanoke, VA stores, but they are no longer in stock there either. It's strange how these do pop up once in a while at a store, but I'm guessing they are mostly retuns from someone who wanted something better once they got a taste of HD. Also, I have seen these going on eBay for significantly more than the reduced price they were selling for at RS last August or whenever it was they went on sale/were discontinued. I wouldn't pay those eBay prices for one, but I'm sure some people are happy with them.

Yeah, on the minus side, the guide is virtually useless. But on the plus side, at least for me, the tuner is really sensitive. So, as far as that goes, the $90.00 was worth it for me. Probably would have never tried it at full price though.

I get sdtv. I don't know where you get that information. No hdtv or projector does a good job with sdtv.



That statement is not correct.

I have been watching standard ntsc from OTA broadcasts on a Zenith 64-inch integrated RPTV HDTV (IQB64W10W) for over five years, and the picture from OTA STV programming is EXCELLENT, and far better than the same programming as seen on CRT analog sets. The picture is clear, crisp, and without noticeable artifacts, though of course not in 16:9. It's not as good as 1080i HDTV (OTA or from Dish), but still very good.

Jim

I was running all over yesterday to get this. They were closing out at $70. My folks needed one for their tv for the game on sunday. I ended up getting it for $59 because it was out of box and no remote. Works just fine with a tv top antenna. Was able to compensate for the lack of remote using the pioneer cable box codes to use a universal remote.

:mad: I can not believe Comcast in Seattle! I just want a Set Top Box to tune into local channels in HD ( I don't watch alot of tv and usually rent movies that I like) Therefor, I'm not in the market to watch alot of Cable TV.

Anyway, In order to get the Set Top Box I will need to pay $5 per month for the box pluse $10 installation fee AND subsribe to A Digital Cable Pakage anywhere from $40-100 per month! - That will include an additional $27 installation fee.

Heck, I just payed for a new HDTV Ready TV (Syntax Olevia 26" HVX) and I'm not ready (or even wanting) to get extra channels in HD - Unless it's FREE over the air HD channels. So please, does anyone have advice on a good set top box that will bring in local and free HD channels? I'm a little leary of the PrimeDTV PHD-101 as the manuel is poorly written and no reviews on this tuner.

Also will I need a tuner that carries NTSC signals or can I get around this? I'm not interested in a RF splitter if it means loss of sensitivity for both ATSC and NTSC.

Please someone recommend a tuner that I should check out < $200. or close to this price point.
Thanks. :)

Well, I just ordered the PrimeDTV box just out of curiosity. If I don't like it, they have a 30 day return policy sans shipping costs. I'll report back with how it compares to the defacto standard, the LG LST-4200a when it comes in. I'll also take lots of pictures and my review will be in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=638769

"Well, I just ordered the PrimeDTV box just out of curiosity. If I don't like it, they have a 30 day return policy sans shipping costs. I'll report back with how it compares to the defacto standard, the LG LST-4200a when it comes in. I'll also take lots of pictures and my review will be in this thread"

Great. I'd be interested to know how this tuner works.

Well Wal-Mart has this one (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2216232) but I could have sworn they had one for less with an HDMI output. hmmm....

Radio Shack still has this one (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191&cp=&kw=hdtv+receiver&parentPage=search) on their website though. You might want to call around to see if you can get one. I don't know.

The radio shack deal has long been gone in my area (though still advertised online- no one can seem to find one) and there will probably never be such a deal again being that this model has been discontinued. The Wallmart deal (?) This RCA tuner is way over what I'm willing to spend on a tuner at $388. But thanks anyway.

I might pull the triger on the PHD 101 as long as I can take it back if it does'nt take in local channels. Also no mention of surround sound on this tuner. But I'm not sure if that matters much if I'm going to set up a Home theater w/ surround sound?

:mad: I can not believe Comcast in Seattle! I just want a Set Top Box to tune into local channels in HD ( I don't watch alot of tv and usually rent movies that I like) Therefor, I'm not in the market to watch alot of Cable TV.

Anyway, In order to get the Set Top Box I will need to pay $5 per month for the box pluse $10 installation fee AND subsribe to A Digital Cable Pakage anywhere from $40-100 per month! - That will include an additional $27 installation fee.



This doesn't right, I've never heard of a Comcast system that requires a Digital tier subscription to get the locals in HD. They come automatically with a Basic sub. I'll bet the CSR was thinking of a DVR which does usually require the minimum digital tier. I would call back and try again.

This doesn't right, I've never heard of a Comcast system that requires a Digital tier subscription to get the locals in HD. They come automatically with a Basic sub. I'll bet the CSR was thinking of a DVR which does usually require the minimum digital tier. I would call back and try again.


I ordered on line, (1) one set top box (not the DVR). On the next screen I'm now told to chose between two installation charges one for $10 or $15 depending on weather I will need a secound visit or not. After confirming my order of (1) One set top box and a (1) $10 installation fee, I'm now directed to an instant chat with a CSR to finallize the order. The CSR named Cindy (or something like that) says "you must also chose a Digital Cable Pakage through Comcast in order to complete your order" I say "What?" she says " I suggest you go back through the ordering process and chose a Digital Cable Pakage there in order to complete your order" I say "Thanks. Good bye."

I also know that if you get a pakage there is a $27 installation fee with that. (the prior $10 MAY be waved if your total intallation fee exceeds $19.95)

Should I contact the BBB?

Any advice?

(The CSR specifically stated that I needed to order a DIGITAL cable pakage.)

Any advice?

(The CSR specifically stated that I needed to order a DIGITAL cable pakage.)
I would go to the local thread for your area and post these 2 posts there. I'm sure someone there will be able to answer your questions. My advice would be to call on the phone, or go to the Comcast office. I would not do it online or through a CSR chat.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7038707#post7038707
Seattle, WA - Comcast - AVS Forum

Thanks Keenan. I'lll do that. Good luck to those that scored the Accurain HST 6000 deal at Radio Shack.

deconvolver / badcrazy,

When I posted last Friday I hadn't watched HD in a few days. When I got home that night I put Leno on and of course when I tried to switch to Letterman my receiver locked up too, exactly as you described.

I sent an email to the engineering director at WVIT. I'll post back if/when I get a reply.....

Same problem here in Manchester. Ever hear back from engineering?
If no other brand of unit is having problems, I doubt we'll get any action on their end. Fortunately I can pull in 22 out of Springfield.

I tried two different times a couple of months apart to get local channels in HD from comcast in Knoxville, TN (Once over the phone and another time in person). Both times I was told that I would have to upgrade to a digital package. This would be about an extra $40. I gave up on comcast and got the RS unit last fall when they first started closing them out. Good luck...

anyone have an extra of the RS accurian hts-6000 for sale? it's oos @ all RS in southern CA. thanks

Same problem here in Manchester. Ever hear back from engineering?
If no other brand of unit is having problems, I doubt we'll get any action on their end. Fortunately I can pull in 22 out of Springfield.

No luck. No response to the email, or VM I left him either. At least WVIT works fine, it's just the hassle involved when it locks up.....

There is one HST-6000 listed in Robbinsville, NJ.

Don't try and buy it though (like I did). It's broken (No video out).

They are getting two or three calls a day for it, know the stock number by heart, but can't sell it 'cos its broken, and can't fix it 'cos it's not worth it to fix, just to sell for $70.

Radio Shack seems to have set up a standard 'story' about HST-6000 availability. Came across a board yesterday mentioning two R.S. East-coast stores with the tuner supposedly in stock. Both told me their tuner was broken and out for repair. Seems like pretty flaky marketing, discontinuing a low-cost tuner that apparently works for tough HD reception just as it becomes popular. -- John

I am not sure that is a fair assessment. I believe that RS made the discontinuation decision for a poor seller and subsequently lowered the price from the $200+ MSRP they were selling it for - down to the discounted price that created the surge in popularity. I am sure that RS would have doubled their stockages if they could purchase and re-sell this item for $89 at anything close to the normal mark-up.

v/r,
C-F

help needed-- hooked my accurian up putting it thru the panny 900 projector and ran the other wires to speaker and it worked great for superbowl- used the HDMI but right afterwards was wanting to watch Greys anatomy and the center channel wasn't putting out anybody's words only heard the music from the speakers-- what happened????

Check with your local thread. I know at 4:55PM CST ABC lost the center channel for about a minute. It may be what happened to you after the game. Our NBC station loses their center channel a lot. It also happened on ABC last week during Lost, all you could hear was crashing surf-made me have to go to the bathroom.

As seen on the Radio Shack site, it's back, at $69.97, in store only. Go get'um.

WOW (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191&cp=2032057&pg=3&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032057&categoryId=2032057&kwCatId=2032057&kw=tuner&parentPage=search)

Ditto - maybe they fixed the guide and the remote problems.

It's the same unit, they probably reduced the price even further to get rid of the few they may have left somewhere.

As seen on the Radio Shack site, it's back, at $69.97, in store only. Go get'um.
That price has been on the site for a couple of weeks. I called their customer service no. two weeks ago. There isn't a store in the country with one (according to the CS person who did a country wide inventory search). I called every Shack in So Cal for nada, why they keep it up on the site I don't know. They're going on eBay for twice that :o

I just got a new Accurian yesterday from the shack...it works quite well! It was actually shipped from another store out east. If you play dumb and are nice you can get a manager to get it shipped for the same price ...know it is only a in store item. Here in Minneapolis,MN I got my ear chewed out by the manager cause he said it's a "LOSE LOSE" situation for him...no could've just said no but none the less I GOT IT!!!:)

IIt was actually shipped from another store out east. If you play dumb and are nice you can get a manager to get it shipped for the same price ...know it is only a in store item.
I'd be interested to know how the manager was able to find one at another store and their corporate office couldn't. The rep I talked to was very helpful and spent about 10 minutes looking through the inventory records. :confused:

I'd be interested to know how the manager was able to find one at another store and their corporate office couldn't. The rep I talked to was very helpful and spent about 10 minutes looking through the inventory records. :confused:


The two I bought were from the store not far from you in Chino Hills. The manager, a good kid, looked them up from the computer and had them sent in. He said the same thing about losing out but he did it anyway for the goodwill of it.

Update:

Went to turn mine on and nothing. Green light comes on but no picture. No channel info on the front of the unit.

Tried to take it back (within 90 days) and am having trouble.

so much for that deal.


My just started this same think last week. I've unplugged it and repowered but no luck. Green light, no picture (menu). No channel information. Nothing. Did you ever solve this issue? :confused: I've had the unit about six months. Any help would be appreciated.

Which store did you buy this at? I'm looking for one.

I have been using a Harmony 676 remote with my Accurian STB without any problems until recently. The remote stopped working (no response from the STB to on/off, channel change) from where I'd sit, and I'd occasionally get it to work by pointing it from within a few inches of the STB. The same remote continues to work fine with all my other devices.

I changed the remote batteries, just in case the STB IR receiver needed more power than the IR receivers of the other devices. That made no difference.

I opened the Accurian's front cover, and wiped off the transparent window, as well as the IR cover, just in case dust was the source of the problem. Once earlier when the remote wasn't working, I found a piece of hair/fuzz in front of the Accurian IR receiver. Removing the hair solved the problem. But in this case there was nothing there, and wiping the window and the inside cover made no difference.

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I don't believe that the coffee filter approach would work here because
1) I am using a Harmony remote
2) the remote was working perfectly before and still works with other devices

I guess it is possible that IR receiver on the Accurian has gone bad but I have never seen that happen on any device.

My just started this same think last week. I've unplugged it and repowered but no luck. Green light, no picture (menu). No channel information. Nothing. Did you ever solve this issue? :confused: I've had the unit about six months. Any help would be appreciated.


Any help availalbe?

For those of you in the Hartford CT area that had this box lock up on CH 30, WVIT, give it a try now. The manufacturer of the encoder for this channel came up with a fix. I have tried CH 30 and the problem has been resolved. The true professional engineers still care about viewers. Andiamo! Torino is waiting.

For those of you in the Hartford CT area that had this box lock up on CH 30, WVIT, give it a try now. The manufacturer of the encoder for this channel came up with a fix. I have tried CH 30 and the problem has been resolved. The true professional engineers still care about viewers. Andiamo! Torino is waiting.

Thanks for the update!! I'll try it when I get home tonight.

Do you work at WVIT?? I tried calling and e-mailing the engineering dept. last month about this issue but never got a response.....

Has anyone been able to get this unit to work once the channel number disappears? The green light comes on but nothing else works. Unplugged for several days. Same thing. Can see red diodes are lit, but nothing works. I've had it for about six months and then this. So much for the great deal.

Any suggestions?

Has anyone been able to get this unit to work once the channel number disappears? The green light comes on but nothing else works. Unplugged for several days. Same thing. Can see red diodes are lit, but nothing works. I've had it for about six months and then this. So much for the great deal.

Any suggestions?

If you haven't already tried it, I would unplug the antenna and the power, and then power back up with no antenna-just in case you are getting corrupted data stream from the currently tuned station that is hosing the box.

Thanks. Moxie. I have tried that.

Completely disconnected everything and power on. Nothing. Completely connected and power on. Nothing. Power on and then disconnect and reconnect antenna. Nothing.

It appears the box is dead.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Take advantage of the warranty. If you bought it on the closeout then it's got an extra year. I'm actually curious how they're going to deal with this. From what I've been told by a couple store manageres, they can't get any parts to repair these units :) (both had non-functioning units at the store).

Maybe a shiney new receiver is in your future!

I got mine in time, yay.

Better hurry up though, it was just announced today that Radio Shack will be closing between 400 to 700 stores.
It appears a CEO Lied about his college degree and the stores profits are down in the 60% range.
I just scanned the story in my morning paper this morning but that was the jist of it.

I got mine in time, yay.

Better hurry up though, it was just announced today that Radio Shack will be closing between 400 to 700 stores.
It appears a CEO Lied about his college degree and the stores profits are down in the 60% range.
I just scanned the story in my morning paper this morning but that was the jist of it.


No it was announced last Thurs. the 16th. Your financial news source must have taken the weekend off. :D

No it was announced last Thurs. the 16th. Your financial news source must have taken the weekend off. :D

Yea. My paper is not know for its scoops. :)

Take advantage of the warranty. If you bought it on the closeout then it's got an extra year. I'm actually curious how they're going to deal with this. From what I've been told by a couple store manageres, they can't get any parts to repair these units :) (both had non-functioning units at the store).

Maybe a shiney new receiver is in your future!


Took the unit into RS yesterday. Althought the receipt did not indicate there was a 1 -year warranty, there was a sticker on the outside of the box indicating that the unit was a close out with a 1-year warranty. The RS representative in Hunt Vally, MD showed the sticker to me and there was no problem at all with the unit being under warranty. They are going to send it back for repairs. When asked, the RS repesentative wasn't sure what whould happen if it couldn't (or wouldn't) be repaired. Worse case is I would be refunded my purchase price. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

I got mine in time, yay.

Better hurry up though, it was just announced today that Radio Shack will be closing between 400 to 700 stores.
It appears a CEO Lied about his college degree and the stores profits are down in the 60% range.
I just scanned the story in my morning paper this morning but that was the jist of it.
Is this true, will RS be closing stores?

Is this true, will RS be closing stores?
Yes it is. But it don't mean that they will be closing anywhere even near all of them. Just a few, like the 400-700 or so of them, that are really losing a lot a money for them. Just here in Illinois they probably must have at least 200 or more stores now. So even if they were to lose 500-700 or so, if they spread that out all over the US when they do it, there probably will still be a lot of them left. But there won't be a bunch of them within say a 10-20 mile radius like there is now. I bet I can hit at about 30 different store all within a 10-15 mile radius from me. And probably at least 6-8 of them are all within 5 miles or less.

These are still available at various RS stores at distant suburbs. The current price is $70.00. Check the RS web site for item # 16-3499 and search store availability.
For example none are available in New York City/Long Island, but they show as available in various RS stores within 50-100 miles of NYC especially to the North-NE-NW.
You should be able to have them shipped to your nearest store.

I have two of these. One was purchased a couple of weeks ago in South Bronx.
The other a couple of months ago in NYC. This one developed frozen MPEG decoder problems (frozen picture) and will be repaired by RS under warranty.
Without warranty it would have cost about $150.00.

These units appear to work well but they are of flaky quality.
Quality control of the units themselves and of the remote leaves a quite a bit to be desired. But if you have a unit that works well they have a great picture and they pull in a great signal.
Using the remote it helps to point it at a steep angle, if not vertical. It doesn't always work horizontally.
Just hope that the MPEG decoder doesn't die outside the warranty period. But if you purchased it with a credit card that doubles the warranty period, like AMEX, and you got the RS premium warranty you're covered for year, 6 months RS and 6 months credit card. Good luck!

I purchased the Accurian HTS-6000 at Radio Shack yesterday after much looking around the Northeast for one. I found a demo unit in mint condition and they had it shipped to my local Radio Shack. I also found a discontinued indoor antenna (Radio Shack#:15-1880) to go with it.

The combination works well, but I can't receive a few channels I thought I would get. I'm thinking about returning the unit and the antenna. I'm also considering selling both of them. Is anybody interested? Also, what do you think is a fair price?

what do you think is a fair price?



What ever you paid for it must have been a fair price. Otherwise you would not have purchased it. ;)

Yeah, and if your looking to make a big profit off of it, over and above what you paid. Take it to ebay.

I'd try a better antenna first. Receiver wise I don't think you'll do any better with one that cost twice the price. If not, eBay if you want to make some cash.

A quick check on eBay shows *completed* listings for these receivers selling for well over $125 ! There's only three that I see that sold for $105 to $115.

Need some advice. Radio Shack said that they could not repair or replace this unit (since none are available anywhere that work), but would give me a refund at the current price ($69.99). I paid $89.99 for the unit just six months ago and the unit had a 1 year warranty. I think they should refund my purchase price.

Has anyone had any experience with refunds from RS? I would appreciate your advice. Thanks.

I'd look at the warranty. They gave us all extended warranties for purchasing floor models. Most warranties I've ever read say they will replace with similar unit if unit can't be repaired and original not available or something to that effect. If this is the case I'd push for the new unit of equal or better quality. IF forced into a refund, I'd never take less than I payed.

I'd look at the warranty. They gave us all extended warranties for purchasing floor models. Most warranties I've ever read say they will replace with similar unit if unit can't be repaired and original not available or something to that effect. If this is the case I'd push for the new unit of equal or better quality. IF forced into a refund, I'd never take less than I payed.

Thanks. Warranty basically says they will repair/replace at their (RS) discretion. Doesn't really mention refunds. They do not have any new units (don't think they carry any other HDTV receivers). I'll use your approach though I'm not sure RS has any HDTV recivers. I also think the refund should be for the purchase price, not the current price for recievers that they do not have.

Repair/Replace implies to me you get a functioning box. I'd point out that they can purchase you one from someone else. Stand firm, at least for now. Escalate to the region. I think someone posted the number earlier in this thread.

I got the entire price paid refunded, about $98.00, unit+tax.
I had original receipt with premium warranty stated on it. Unit died 2 months after purchase. If you do not have original receipt you'll get latest sale price refunded.

If you purchased the unit with a credit card that doubles manufacturer's warranty, like amex, you should talk to the credit card company if RS does not resolve your case.
Apparently the quality of many of these units is so-so.
2006, I think, is the year that all HDTVs sold must have a built-in HD receiver. There will be no need for external receivers soon. HDTVs without them will be heavily discounted.

I got the entire price paid refunded, about $98.00, unit+tax.
I had original receipt with premium warranty stated on it. Unit died 2 months after purchase. If you do not have original receipt you'll get latest sale price refunded.

If you purchased the unit with a credit card that doubles manufacturer's warranty, like amex, you should talk to the credit card company if RS does not resolve your case.
Apparently the quality of many of these units is so-so.
2006, I think, is the year that all HDTVs sold must have a built-in HD receiver. There will be no need for external receivers soon. HDTVs without them will be heavily discounted.

I have original receipt and the 1 year warranty was on the box (Local Radio Shack confirmed the 1 year warranty was on the box when I returned the unit and indicated that the unit had a 1 year warranty parts and labor on the receipt for the repair). The local RS manager said that the warranty was only for twice the original warranty (180 days) and since that has passed they can only refund at current price. I would not accept a refund for less than what I paid. I told him the warranty was for 1 -year and that the unit was given to him for repair before the 180 days expired (They still have not returned the unit and have had it for 47+ days). Also, what does current price mean when there are no units to sale? I have called the RS consumer service and sent the issue to the Regional Manager. I'll keep this site posted on the results.

2006, I think, is the year that all HDTVs sold must have a built-in HD receiver. There will be no need for external receivers soon.

I believe that rule only applies to TV's 27" or larger. I wish that was the requirement for all TV's but I don't think it is, yet. :)

I have original receipt and the 1 year warranty was on the box (Local Radio Shack confirmed the 1 year warranty was on the box when I returned the unit and indicated that the unit had a 1 year warranty parts and labor on the receipt for the repair). The local RS manager said that the warranty was only for twice the original warranty (180 days) and since that has passed they can only refund at current price. I would not accept a refund for less than what I paid. I told him the warranty was for 1 -year and that the unit was given to him for repair before the 180 days expired (They still have not returned the unit and have had it for 47+ days). Also, what does current price mean when there are no units to sale? I have called the RS consumer service and sent the issue to the Regional Manager. I'll keep this site posted on the results.

I spoke with Lee of RS consumer services. He says that RS will not refund the original price, just the current price. He said that I would need to contact the manufacturer about additional warranty or full replacement price. I reminded him that Accurian is the RS brand (there is no other manufacturer). He said yes that is correct; therefore, they will only refund the current price. I told him I would accept a repalcement HDTV receiver (another brand) if available. He is to check on this. Does anyone (besides me) think this is a bad way to do bussiness? Maybe this is why RS is closing so many stores.

I still have the credit card route to follow as a last resort.

When is a warranty not a warranty? When it is a Radio Shack warranty.

RS is not going to do a full purchase refund on this item. Their stance is that the "Premium" warranty doubled the manufacturer's warranty from 90 days to 180 days. The original warranty was to repair/repalce the defective unit. Since the units can not be repaired and there are no existing units to replace the defective units then RS doesn't have any further obligations. RS says they are being generous in offering a refund at current cost for this item. Looks like anyone who still has a warranty in effect will be subject to this policy.

If I were you, I would contact your state attorney general's office, and file a complaint. Depending on where you live, you may have rights under your state law that preclude anything RS has to say on the matter.

I was told the extended warranty added an extra year to the original warranty. I thought it even said that on the receipt. My wife files those receipts and I'll have her check.

I also encourage you to contact your State's AG.

Radio Shack CAN repair these units if they choose to order the parts from whatever factory in Asia that built these units for RS.
From what I was told an entire board inside the unit must be replaced. The cost of that repair is about $130-$150, parts & labor.
Radio Shack will simply not buy the parts to do the repairs given the cost above.
In your case they are being a bunch of weasels. In my case, after insisting on a full refund, they did the right thing. But then again this is the city and state of NY with very strong attorney general and consumer agencies.
In your case RS is being stupid since the Attorney General in your state can probably force RS to repair the unit. It is cheaper for RS to refund your purchase price than be forced to repair the unit. Also, a smart and hungry law firm can take this one step further, to class action status.
RS may be in pretty desperate financial condition to resort to such customer alienation tactics.


As far as the HD tuner requirement, beginning March 1st 2006 all HDTV sets larger than 25" must have an integrated HDTV tuner, and by December 31st 2006 all HDTV sets larger than 13" must have an integrated HDTV tuner.
It has been posted here:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-259245A1.doc

More info here:

http://www.dtv.gov/inthenews.html

Here is some more info for some from this link http://www.dtv.gov/DTV_booklet.pdf

Analog televisions will work with a digital television set-top box.
If you receive TV programming over the air, you will be able to purchase a set-top box (sometimes referred to as a digital-to-analog converter box) to enable your analog TV to continue working after February 17, 2009. Beginning in 2008, your household may be able to receive up to two coupons worth $40 each toward the purchase of set-top boxes.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has
responsibility for administering the coupon program, and will issue rules regarding the coupons in the future. Additional information can be found at
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/.

Radio Shack CAN repair these units if they choose to order the parts from whatever factory in Asia that built these units for RS.
From what I was told an entire board inside the unit must be replaced. The cost of that repair is about $130-$150, parts & labor.
Radio Shack will simply not buy the parts to do the repairs given the cost above.
In your case they are being a bunch of weasels. In my case, after insisting on a full refund, they did the right thing. But then again this is the city and state of NY with very strong attorney general and consumer agencies.
In your case RS is being stupid since the Attorney General in your state can probably force RS to repair the unit. It is cheaper for RS to refund your purchase price than be forced to repair the unit. Also, a smart and hungry law firm can take this one step further, to class action status.
RS may be in pretty desperate financial condition to resort to such customer alienation tactics.


As far as the HD tuner requirement, beginning March 1st 2006 all HDTV sets larger than 25" must have an integrated HDTV tuner, and by December 31st 2006 all HDTV sets larger than 13" must have an integrated HDTV tuner.
It has been posted here:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-259245A1.doc

More info here:

http://www.dtv.gov/inthenews.html

Here is some more info for some from this link http://www.dtv.gov/DTV_booklet.pdf

Analog televisions will work with a digital television set-top box.
If you receive TV programming over the air, you will be able to purchase a set-top box (sometimes referred to as a digital-to-analog converter box) to enable your analog TV to continue working after February 17, 2009. Beginning in 2008, your household may be able to receive up to two coupons worth $40 each toward the purchase of set-top boxes.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has
responsibility for administering the coupon program, and will issue rules regarding the coupons in the future. Additional information can be found at
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/.

Thanks, Mr. D. I have contacted the Maryland Attoney General's Office about this on April 14, 2006. Maryland, like New York has very strong consumer protection laws. Haven't heard back yet.

UHG, my Accurian just went out last night. In the middle of watching a program the picture froze. It still receives the signal strength for each channel but only shows a black picture and no sound. I tried rebooting and switching it to another outlet with no luck.

Has anyone had luck with getting these serviced? I have the extended warranty. Also, any good deals/recommendations on an OTA receiver with DVR? This may be the time to upgrade for me.

UPDATE: I called them earlier. They said to drop off the unit and they'll have it repaired. the original warranty is for 90 days and since this was a demo I got an extra 90 days on top. I just made it within a few weeks! Hopefully they won't give me a song and dance later about not having the parts anymore since it's been discontinued.

Good luck with this. I am still dealing with the Maryland AG's office about this. No updates to previous post avilable.

Well, I went to drop it off last night. They said my extended warranty hadn't been registered yet so they took my receipts to fax it in. I need to wait another 48 hours for that task to be done. I told them I was concerned that this well get too close to the end of my warranty, but they assured me if I had any problems with the warranty claim the store manager would send it in with their other damaged merchandise for repair without any charge to me.

Hopefully some people still follow this thread. From what I've read in the manual, the output selector in the back should only affect the Component cables, but it seems to affect the HDMI output as well. I'd prefer my television to do my de-interlacing of 480i and 1080i if possible - does anyone know for sure if the switch affects HDMI? Unfortunately, my television doesn't seem to have a way of telling you the resolution of the input for me to verify.

The switch does affect HDMI. However, the signal is 480p not 480i over HDMI.

Your TV may have features that are activated/deactivated depending upon the signal received. I was able to confirm that I was getting 480p over HDMI when I flipped the switch because I am able to select aspect ratios and which color matrix to use. At 1080i I am not able to change aspect ratios nor select the color matrix. At 480i I would also have an additional aspect ratio to select from and am not able to change the color matrix.

So there's no way to just pass the data through at it's native resolution and let the downstream device worry about re-sizing it? Bummer. Oh well, thanks for the answer.

You could use s-video or composite connections. They pass 480i and aren't dependent on the switch position.

This box doesn't have a pass thru feature that allows you to pass the signal to the TV at the broadcast (native) resolution. Most of my digital stations are 1080i but ABC and PBS(WTTW) are at 720p. I have the box sending 1080i to my TV, it's native resolution, and it's spectacular.

I have mine passing 720p - the 480i thing was a typo on my part. I have S-Video going to my DVD-R, but wanted to let my TV handle re-sizing of the 1080i content.

moxie - which TV do you have that explicitly allows you to change the color mtrix? By color matrix, I assume you mean the difference in color standards between DTV and NTSC?

Ed

It's a Panasonic PT 47x54J CRT RPTV. It only allows you to select the color matrix, SD or HD, at the 480p setting. At 480i it is locked into the SD matrix and at 1080i it is locked into the HD matrix.

It's a Panasonic PT 47x54J CRT RPTV. It only allows you to select the color matrix, SD or HD, at the 480p setting. At 480i it is locked into the SD matrix and at 1080i it is locked into the HD matrix.This makes sense because 480p can come from either a DVD or DTV - and the color standard is different for those two. Whereas, 480i will be NTSC and 1080i will be DTV (I assume that this TV does not have HDMI which could then get upscaled DVD).

Ed

Actually, it does have HDMI. I had used an upscaling DVD player at 1080i for about 18 mos.and had never tried the 480i or 480p settings. Recently I tried the 480 settings and was amazed at the positive difference the SD matrix made. I wish the panny had the ability to choose the color matrix at 1080i. That is one of the reasons I am hesitant to purchase a BD or HD DVD player at this time. The picture may be sharp but the colors may be washed out.

Actually, it does have HDMI. I had used an upscaling DVD player at 1080i for about 18 mos.and had never tried the 480i or 480p settings. Recently I tried the 480 settings and was amazed at the positive difference the SD matrix made. I wish the panny had the ability to choose the color matrix at 1080i. That is one of the reasons I am hesitant to purchase a BD or HD DVD player at this time. The picture may be sharp but the colors may be washed out.I would assume that BD (or is it BR?) and HD DVD players would use the DTV color standard. Hard to believe that there would be this technical discrepancy. But then you'd think that the upscaling DVD players would get it correct too. :confused:

Ed

Well, they're calling my receiver unrepairable. They'll first scour the US for a replacement before offering me a refund. I hope I don't have to replace it. Any other low cost recommendations? I may want to go to a receiver with built in DVR too if anyone has a good recommendation for that I'd like to hear about it.

Series 3 Tivo will be out later this year but that's going to be an order of magnitude more expensive than this unit. Not too many standalone ATSC tuners are being built nowadays it seems.

Well, they're calling my receiver unrepairable. They'll first scour the US for a replacement before offering me a refund. I hope I don't have to replace it. Any other low cost recommendations? I may want to go to a receiver with built in DVR too if anyone has a good recommendation for that I'd like to hear about it.Look for the Sony DHG-HDD500 0r 250. Best Buy still has the HDD500 on their website. It has ATSC and NTSC OTA and cable tuners, and a cable card slot. Oh, and a free program guide (TVGOS).

low cost would be a Samsung SIR-t451 from www.refurbdepot.com for $150. I have purchased 3 for myself and family members and they all work fine.

If you throw in DVR, I'm afraid you aren't talking about "low cost" anymore.

Thanks, I'll check out that Sammy.

That DVR option sure does add a lot!

Here's another (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7259245&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03022&id=1117178265456) relatively low cost option.

Has anybody used this receiver with InFocus 4805 with monoprice HDMI-M1 cable? Does this work or am I better off running component from the receiver to the projector?

- Vikas

Has anybody used this receiver with InFocus 4805 with monoprice HDMI-M1 cable? Does this work or am I better off running component from the receiver to the projector?

- Vikas

Yes, I am using it with the 5X1 HDMI switcher and a 4805 and it works just fine.

Chuck

Thanks, Mr. D. I have contacted the Maryland Attoney General's Office about this on April 14, 2006. Maryland, like New York has very strong consumer protection laws. Haven't heard back yet.

I got a call from the Maryland AG's Office today. Radio Shack has agreed to refund the full purchase price of the unit (This was also confirmed by RS and a very nice lady, Anna Lopez, of the RS-CS said that is standard RS policy. Evidently, everyone at RS does not know the standard policy.). Should be credited to my account in 7 -10 days. Still waiting for my account to be credited.

In a side note, the store I purchased the unit from closed last week.

Hope this helps others who have had the unit fail during the warranty period.

In a side note, the store I purchased the unit from closed last week.

RS is closing down a lot of stores, they are in some real financial trouble right now.

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6354123.html

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6355200.html

I got a call from the Maryland AG's Office today. Radio Shack has agreed to refund the full purchase price of the unit (This was also confirmed by RS and a very nice lady, Anna Lopez, of the RS-CS said that is standard RS policy. Evidently, everyone at RS does not know the standard policy.). Should be credited to my account in 7 -10 days. Still waiting for my account to be credited.

In a side note, the store I purchased the unit from closed last week.

Hope this helps others who have had the unit fail during the warranty period.


The credit has been made to my account. Alls well that ends well. Just wish RS had honored their warranty without having to get the AG office involved.

Good luck to any others with this problem. Although, I assume that most of the warranties have expired by now.

RS is closing down a lot of stores, they are in some real financial trouble right now.

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6354123.html

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6355200.html

That's interesting - they effectively pulled out of the UK market a few years ago. (Over here the stores were branded "Tandy" - but sold Radio Shack branded goods. I remember the TRS 80s they used to sell in the 80s)

Sign of the times was that most of the stores were bought and became "Carphone Warehouse" shops.

When Tandy Corporation first took over what then used to be RadioShack, and they still used it some in their name until around 2000. They used to do a lot of product stuff under the "Tandy" name here in the US at one time also when they first started out.

Anybody still here? :-)

I need help with Harmony 880 setup with this STB. I just found that Harmony has favourite channel list. So I found nice bitmapped icons and programmed the remote but I ran into two problems.

1) One of my favorite channel is 2-2. Neither Accurian nor Harmony knows how to directly tune to that channel.

2) This one is driving me crazy. When I program it to go to channel "25", Harmony ends up sending "2" and "5" so slowly that the Accurian first switches to "2" and then switches to "5". I have changed the inter-key delay to 0.100 seconds (the minimum) and also tried with 0.000 seconds. Harmony still sends the sequences too slow in the auto mode i.e. when I press the bitmapped icon. Interestingly, if I press "2" and "5" on the Harmony quickly, it will send them out fast enough i.e. manually switching channel from Harmony does work.

Please help!
- Vikas

Anyone looking for one, I have one on ebay, barely used :) do a search

I'm posting this in both the Radio Shack thread and the Dallas thread.

I recently discovered (from someone else in these threads) that channel 27-1 in Dallas comes in on 36-1 on some receivers such as my Vizio TV's. On my Radio Shack Tuners I get a strong signal at 27-1 but get no sound or picture. I can view the station when I enter 36 on my remote but 36-1 does not show up in a channel scan. Any ideas on this strange behavior?

YMMV, but I have experienced a similar effect using the built in tuner of my Sony LCD. One digital channel did not pick up in a scan, but I was able to see it had good signal using diagnostics on the RF channel. I needed to enable the digital channel for viewing somehow (that I forget) and then I could see it as the (RF channel).__ instead of the [redirected] channel. Later, the channel came up in a scan, correctly mapped to the [redirected] channel.

Maybe when I get a house and my RS tuner back, I will remember to check for this.

v/r,
C-F

So if I buy a tuner like this one (the Accurian) I can get an antenna and tune OTA channels, correct?

Now if next year for example I get digital cable or satellite or something, could I still use this box for that and the OTA or would I need to rent a box from the cable//satellite company as well?

So if I buy a tuner like this one (the Accurian) I can get an antenna and tune OTA channels, correct?

Now if next year for example I get digital cable or satellite or something, could I still use this box for that and the OTA or would I need to rent a box from the cable//satellite company as well?

This box only does OTA. For satellite, you will need their box. For digital cable, you'll need a cable box or a QAM tuner (which is not in this tuner).

The Accurian is only an ATSC (OTA) tuner, and that's all. A lot of new TVs come built in w/an ATSC tuner, and others come with both ATSC & QAM. You only need this if your TV does not have an ATSC (OTA) tuner, and that's all that this tuner will decode.

This box only does OTA. For satellite, you will need their box. For digital cable, you'll need a cable box or a QAM tuner (which is not in this tuner).

The Accurian is only an ATSC (OTA) tuner, and that's all. A lot of new TVs come built in w/an ATSC tuner, and others come with both ATSC & QAM. You only need this if your TV does not have an ATSC (OTA) tuner, and that's all that this tuner will decode.

So is it really worth spending $100+ for the box and $100 for the antenna just to get 5-15 HD channels?

This box only does OTA. For satellite, you will need their box. For digital cable, you'll need a cable box or a QAM tuner (which is not in this tuner).

The Accurian is only an ATSC (OTA) tuner, and that's all. A lot of new TVs come built in w/an ATSC tuner, and others come with both ATSC & QAM. You only need this if your TV does not have an ATSC (OTA) tuner, and that's all that this tuner will decode.

The QAM tuner will only give you unencrypted stuff (basic basic cable). For digital cable as most people understand it, you'll either need their box or a cable card from them (and a compatible device).

So is it really worth spending $100+ for the box and $100 for the antenna just to get 5-15 HD channels?

You don't need to spend that much. You can buy the tuner used on ebay for less and an excellent antenna (like the Channel Master CM 4221A) new for $25.

If you have an HDTV but no tuner, a tuner is a must. There is no comparison in the picture and full surround sound between SD and HD.

If you have an HDTV but no tuner, a tuner is a must. There is no comparison in the picture and full surround sound between SD and HD.

I have a Westy 42w2 which does not have a tuner. As of now I just use it for video games, dvds, etc. I know that by August when I move I will have either cable or satellite TV, so I will get a tuner with that, correct?

Thus is it worth buying this OTA tuner now just for a few HD channels now?

If anyone is looking to buy one of these units, PM me. I no longer need mine and will let it go cheap.

Chuck

It is sold. Thanks.

I just recieved this unit and am having one small problem.

The IR codes from the tuner and my Westy 42w2 are the same apparently. Even when I programmed my HK TC_30 universal remote, the westy commands effect the accurian box and vice versa.

Any tips on how to fix this?

If they both use the same IR command codes, there is not much you can do because there is no way to fix it.

Does the original RS remote affect the westy or the original westy remote affect the RS?

If not, then it may be a problem with your HK remote.

If original remotes do affect the other equipment you are out of luck.

They share the same IR code, the reason that I sold mine on ebay, I was going to sell it to my neighbor but when I installed it, I found out that it shares the same IR code (westy)

i am having a problem with saving a channel. i did the scan when i got the unit. i see 18-2 when i go into channel edit. i add it and make it a favorite, then save and exit. i even get the confirmation that it's saving the data. when i turn the unit off and back on, it doesn't remember that as a saved channel. i have also tried to leave it on 18-2, then turn it off and back on and do the manual channel add but nothing saves even though i get the message channel added. any ideas here?

alos, any ideas on how to manually tune to 18-2 via the remote?

Have you tried unplugging and replugging in the unit?

Have you tried unplugging and replugging in the unit?

yep, that didn't reset it. still kept everything in memory. still won't save any channel additions.

Probably some problem with the PSIP data for that channel. First, try to do a complete new scan. Some problems aren't fixed by doing just a rescan. Then, recommend you visit the local HDTV forum on this site for your particular market and post your question there. It's possible other people are seeing the same type of problem.

We have a channel where I live that I had to remove from the channel list, because every time I tuned to it, it would corrupt the guide. Fortunately, it is a My Network TV affiliate and there is nothing on there that I want to watch anyway.

Also, there is no way to manually tune to a sub-channel on the Accurian. This is a major negative for this receiver.

Good luck!