O K boys,,I have 2, z dtt 901 ,all is good ?,same on two (dif),wired,,T Vs,,,BUT,,,, I lost 11 of 15 very good channels,,from Analog,to digital,,not good,,,,T V FOOL thinks I should get 50 stations,,???,,,,I 'm in fairfield ct.06824,, w/ a 50 + mi antenna on the roof,160 ft. above sea level,,,and a R SHACK 8 db amp,( that works very good w/ both,,poor w/ out)...would a CM7777,,,help,,,get the stations back,,or what would ? I'm using the rca cables,,,I get no signal,or poor,,,on the rest..can you lock on full screen ? or do we have to play all the time...what box is better,,and,to get back the range ? or to lock in on channels...thx

Try looking for a forum local to your area, similar to:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=793003&page=87
Local HDTV Info and Reception
Denver, CO - OTA

Analog tuners can cope with weaker signals (snowy or fluttery pictures).
Digital tuners cannot.

My Zenith DTT901 works well for me. There is only one important station that has not finished locating their Digital Broadcast antenna for me to receive their DTV signal.

I have a Zenith DTT900 in my home office.

The antenna seen in the first photo is a Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna. (There are larger sized Staples models but the conductor is too large for the center hole in the Zenith's "in from antenna" fitting.) The Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna is priced at $2.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas. (Office Depot offers an indoor antenna of similar design priced at $3.99 for a box of 1,000 antennas.) To save space and maintain the low cost of packaging, the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna comes folded and packed loose in a small paperboard box.

Here are the set-up instructions for the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna:

1-Select and remove the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna from its box.

2-Unfold and straighten the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna, except for the last end-fold. That end-fold should be adjusted to a 90 degree angle, see the first photo for a correctly adjusted Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna.

3-Insert the shortest end of the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna into the "in from antenna" fitting on the Zenith.

During operation keep the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna from contacting other metal objects. Do not ground the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna. Do not use the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna (or an antenna of similar design) in circumstances where local or national codes require antenna grounding.

I am located line of sight less than five miles from the antenna farms in Portland Oregon. In my home-office, with windows facing the broadcast towers, the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna provides nearly the same signal strength as with other Zenith CECBs connected to a RCA ANT111 and a Philips SDV2270/17 elsewhere in the house.

The Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna may also be used as a paperclip when left in the folded position, see the second photo.

Ah, good picture, to see the exact positioning of the SSSIA. I guess it's assumed we will not use outdoors or near water, right? :-)

Ah, good picture, to see the exact positioning of the SSSIA. I guess it's assumed we will not use outdoors or near water, right? :-)

You are correct. I knew there was something I forgot to mention. Thank you! :-)

Addendum: I've just added a second photo to the original post for those interested in seeing the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna in its original folded configuration.

You are correct. I knew there was something I forgot to mention. Thank you! :-)

Addendum: I've just added a second photo to the original post for those interested in seeing the Staples #1 Standard-Sized Indoor Antenna in its original folded configuration.

What is that coming off near the top of your S1SSIA in the photo. Looks like string or another arm.

What is that coming off near the top of your S1SSIA in the photo. Looks like string or another arm.

That is the "D" from the name "Dell" on the side of my computer.

Golly, the SSSIA photo does look confusing. Here is another photo that shows how simple it is to connect a DVD recorder. In this photo the Zenith DTT900 and the SSSIA are seen at the bottom of the photo to the left of center.

Eek! :eek:

DigaDo,

Have you considered having that SSSIA antenna gold plated? That should be good for at least another 10dB.

These antennas are amazing! I connected an off-brand SSSIA (you're just paying for the brand name anyway...) to my TR-40 and was able to receive almost every station I could with my $250 160" roof-top antenna setup.

I'm thinking about taking my huge roof-top antenna down now. Maybe I'll stop receiving death threats from the neighbors. Maybe.

I had purchased two DTT900s with my coupons before they expired at the end of May. I am actively using one of them and the other is still in the box. I got two coupons for my mother-in-law that expired 9/1/08. Before I used them, her second TV (first one is on cable) bit the dust. So I shredded one of the coupons and used the second to purchase a July build DTT901.

When I get around to it, I'll try the 900 and 901 on the coax input to my JVC DVDR and keep the one that works best. The other will go to my mother-in-law after XMas (the wife wants to buy her an "inexpensive" 32" LCD HDTV for XMas) for her "second" TV.

I couldn't find enough reason to purchase any other CECB than the DTT901, so I just went with what I know is a good CECB a couple of days before the coupons expired. BTW, the stack of DTT901s at my local CC store was huge. I get the feeling that most of the folks who understand the issue and need a STB for DTV have purchased a STB or bought a new TV. I think that future sales of the CECBs will be very slow until next February, when the procrastinators and unknowing discover that analog OTA TV no longer works. Just my 2 cents.

I had purchased two DTT900s with my coupons before they expired at the end of May. I am actively using one of them and the other is still in the box.......... I get the feeling that most of the folks who understand the issue and need a STB for DTV have purchased a STB or bought a new TV. I think that future sales of the CECBs will be very slow until next February, when the procrastinators and unknowing discover that analog OTA TV no longer works. Just my 2 cents. Yesterday at a Circuit City store in Bellevue, WA, a very large stack of DTT900 and DTT900 units. I wonder if CC will have a "close out" discount on the remaining stacks of the DTT900, or simply wait until the last-minute rush in February 2009?

I bought two of these at circuit city. They're great boxes.

My search skills are failing me tonight...

Can some kind soul please remind me how to program the DTT900 remote to turn my TV on/off?

I know you have to hold a button and press another button to search, but I forgot the combo! And I can't find the manual!

My search skills are failing me tonight...

Can some kind soul please remind me how to program the DTT900 remote to turn my TV on/off?

I know you have to hold a button and press another button to search, but I forgot the combo! And I can't find the manual!

1-While pressing and holding down the TV POWER button, press the CH+ or CH- repeatedly until your TV is turned on or off.

2-Release TV POWER button when your TV is turned on or off.

Oh thank you! Now my GF won't kill me!

I'm going to attach a sticky note to the side of the TV *grin*

My search skills are failing me tonight...

Can some kind soul please remind me how to program the DTT900 remote to turn my TV on/off?

I know you have to hold a button and press another button to search, but I forgot the combo! And I can't find the manual!

Press the TV Power button on the upper left of the remote and at same time press the CH button either up or down as you would change channels. If the TV is off, keep clicking the CH button until the TV turns On. Don't go too fast. If the TV is On then keep clicking until the TV goes Off. Then check again, click the TV Power and see if it works.

It's good to see a thread on the DTT900/901. Last week I received three of the DTT901 units and hooked two of them up (the third is a spare). Out where we are there are no "local" stations so not much to choose from, but the one station I receive reliably is very good on DTV.

While I've had good luck with Zenith TVs over the years, this is the first Zenith branded LG product I've gotten. Besides the oft mentioned small remote, the box itself is attractive and very easy to use. While I think I'll be satisfied with the DTT901, I'm curious if there are any other models that might be considered "better" especially in a weak signal environment such as I'm in.

Out where we are there are no "local" stations so not much to choose from, but the one station I receive reliably is very good on DTV . . .

I'm curious if there are any other models that might be considered "better" especially in a weak signal environment such as I'm in.

The Zenith DTT901 is as good or better than others for use in your location. Looking at the map I see that you are some distance from population centers.

In your situation a good outdoor antenna is important. Have you visited tvfool.com or antennaweb.org and entered your zip code for information about what you might expect to receive?

Golly, the SSSIA photo does look confusing. Here is another photo that shows how simple it is to connect a DVD recorder. In this photo the Zenith DTT900 and the SSSIA are seen at the bottom of the photo to the left of center.

That switch box next to the Zenith DTT900 and the SSSIA, to the bottom right of the picture, is that an A-B-C-D switch ? If so, what is the make and model ?

thanks.

That switch box next to the Zenith DTT900 and the SSSIA, to the bottom right of the picture, is that an A-B-C-D switch ? If so, what is the make and model ?

thanks.

The pictured switch is a Pelican HD System Selector PL970 purchased at Circuit City for less than $20 in June 2007. I have four DVD recorder composite outputs connected to it, with a single composite output to a Dynex LCD HD TV. (The Dynex also had a direct component feed from the Philips 3575 and a direct coax feed from Comcast.) The Pelican also has four S-Video inputs and a single S-Video output, three sets of component inputs and a single component output, and three network inputs and a single network output. Along the top are four buttons that switch the signals. Also included were one set of composite A/V and S-Video cables, one set of component cables and ten plastic snap-on nameplates for the front panel.

I found this item on the Circuit City website where it was listed in stock at my nearby CC store. I printed out the description and took it with me to the store. I couldn't find the product after searching the TV accessories section. Two sales associates, after looking in all the same places I looked, couldn't find it. Then, one of the associates found it in the Gaming accessories department.

The Zenith DTT901 is as good or better than others for use in your location. Looking at the map I see that you are some distance from population centers.

Around here a town of 25,000 (Beatrice, NE) is the population center. ;)

In your situation a good outdoor antenna is important. Have you visited tvfool.com or antennaweb.org and entered your zip code for information about what you might expect to receive?

Yes. TVFool is fairly accurate, but not completely. For example it shows almost no chance to receive KAAS 18, but I receive it reasonably well.

Antennaweb is useless as it simply tells me there is no TV in my area. No duh! Rabbit ears don't even get taken out of the packing around here. Each of those sites are guesstimates at best and the only thing a person can do is try. TVFool would be a bit more accurate if antenna gain figures could be included.

I have a Winegard 7084P at about 50 feet with a new run of RG-6 (I wish I could find a combo antenna that is more rugged as a bird bent an element within 48 hours of installation :( ). At this point I'm holding off on a preamp until after the cutover to see how things turn out and once the siding project on the house is done I'll shorten the RG-6 some.

My clock setting is off by 1 hour on both my Zenith tuners on every station but one (where it is correct).

The listings of the shows in the guide are correct though. For instance, last night at 8:30 the guide for NBC from Richmond said SNL, and on NBC Charlottesville it said 9:30 SNL.

The time zone setting is correct.

My Samsung DVD recorder with tuner shows all the channels with the correct hour.

Set the Daylight Savings to On from Auto. That should fix the one hour time difference.

Set the Daylight Savings to On from Auto. That should fix the one hour time difference.

I thought that someone said the 900 doesn't have that feature. I'd be curious to know if it does or not. I know that it is available on the 901.

Samsung has a 6th generation chip out, so I assume they may sell a new full HDTV tuner soon using that new chip. I might buy that if it gets good reviews. I am on the first floor of a 4 story building with a metal roof, and I am surrounded by trees and other buildings. I need the best tuner I can get.

IB

Please inform of the sixth gen.

I thought that someone said the 900 doesn't have that feature. I'd be curious to know if it does or not. I know that it is available on the 901.

I'll check when I return home tonight...although I'm wondering why all but 1 station would be an hour behind?

Does the Staples antenna receive VHF channels 6 through 13? Or is it strictly for UHF? It looks kinda small for VHF. Attached Images
File Type: jpg HOW TO CONNECT A DVD RECORDER.jpg (142.1 KB, 147 views). This is why I only connect two devices at a time (DVD on rear panel and VCR on front panel). It makes life simpler. Also my television only has two connections.

Set the Daylight Savings to On from Auto. That should fix the one hour time difference.

The 900 does not have the DST setting.

The 900 does not have the DST setting.
Thanks for confirming that.

I also noticed about a week ago that the time on my DTT900 was off by -1 hour (on all channels). I guess once we go off DST in a few weeks, it will be correct. Interesting. :confused:

I generally leave my DTT900 on most of the time during the heavy recording season (when prime time shows are new). It's hooked up to my DVR so that I can record the widescreen versions of the shows we like, most of which come on at 10 PM when we're typically asleep.

Most of what I record is from CBS, so I leave the tuner tuned to our local CBS affiliate. This week, a glitch happened.

GLITCH: For some reason, sometime between Tuesday at 11 PM after the conclusion of WITHOUT A TRACE and Thursday at 9 PM before the start of CSI, the DTT900 got into some weird mode. The picture that recorded for that CSI showing was a static image looking like half of a CBS closing credit (with the yellow border), with blocks of black text on blue background looking like numbers.

The sound recorded just fine, but the picture was just that static "glitch" image.

Once I discovered it, I tried turning the unit off, but neither the remote nor the front switch worked.

I ended up unplugging it from the power socket, and once it was turned on again, things seemed fine.

I'm wondering if perhaps a random power blip might have caused the error.

Harry

Most of what I record is from CBS, so I leave the tuner tuned to our local CBS affiliate. This week, a glitch happened.
Our local CBS transmission has been suffering severe digital growing pains. There have been frequent (and annoying) audio and video glitches since the network sent new equipment to them a few weeks ago. The timing was terrible. Premiere week was a mess and the glitches are still happening on a regular basis. Just a few days go, I experienced a frozen image with no audio on the CBS RTN subchannel. Since other channels were fine, I figured it was the them and not the box and indeed it was. Not saying that is your case but it's something to consider.

Please inform of the sixth gen.

I suppose you know the Zenith DTT900 & DTT901 are supposed to be sixth gen.

Both the Zenith DTT901 & DTT900 can remember it's settings w/o power for over 2 weeks (at least).

The sound recorded just fine, but the picture was just that static "glitch" image. Sounds identical to when I was watching NASCAR on Fox using the Zenith coupon box. Apparently it received some garbage, and that garbage made the video processing computer freeze.

Hi,

I was experiencing the "glitch" on several of the zenith and insigna boxes. I found out that you have to turn off and on the boxes at least every 5 days. I usually do it one to two days apart. It is the box that is having the problem.
:(

Hi,

I was experiencing the "glitch" on several of the zenith and insigna boxes. I found out that you have to turn off and on the boxes at least every 5 days. I usually do it one to two days apart. It is the box that is having the problem.
:(

Thanks for that tip. I'll try powering it down once a week or so. It happened again this past week.

Harry

5 days == 1 Terabyte (base 2) of downloaded data. I wonder if that's just coincidence, or if there's some kind of "counter overflow" inside the Zenith's computer memory?

This morning I was expecting to find my 900 showing the correct Pacific Standard Time. It wasn't. So I set it for Alaska Standard Time.

This afternoon the Alaska Standard Time was one hour too early. So I set it for Pacific Standard Time and all is well.

Hi,

I was experiencing the "glitch" on several of the zenith and insigna boxes. I found out that you have to turn off and on the boxes at least every 5 days. I usually do it one to two days apart. It is the box that is having the problem.
:(

Please define this glitch. I have been running my Zenith DTT901 (April 2008) 24/7. It is controlled by my TiVo. I think it has been working well.

Same Here. I've had a 900 box (Nov 08) running for 11 months on a ReplayTV w/WiRNS ...no problems.

This morning I was expecting to find my 900 showing the correct Pacific Standard Time. It wasn't.


Sunday morning my DTT900 still showed daylight savings time until I tuned to a PBS station. After a minute or so on PBS, I pressed INFO and found that the 900 had reset to standard time.

A J

What universal remotes seem to work best with the DTT900?

What universal remotes seem to work best with the DTT900?

The inexpensive Philips remotes (priced in the $5-$10 range) use code 0267 for all the Zenith/Insignia converter box models.

Some of these remotes lack the "-" button but that is no real problem in selecting sub-channels as one merely presses the channel number and moves the cursor down to the desired channel and wait a second or so or press ENTER, or use the Channel up or down to select the desired sub-channel.

Thanks for that tip. I'll try powering it down once a week or so. It happened again this past week.

Harry

I had wondered if the glitch, which I've called a crash, was caused by turning on digital captions and having an interaction with a station sending out problematic captions. I haven't had a crash since I turned the digital captions off even though I've left my Insignia box on a long time.

However, if people have seen these glitches without having had digital captions on, that would disprove that particular theory. Please let us know if that was the case.

(P.S. I just remembered I heard of one person having had a crash without having turned on the captions. However, from my experience, it still seems that turning on the digital captions may somehow increase the likelihood of a crash. My Insignia DTT900 is a March 2008 model.)

Dana

http://www.slashgear.com/gallery/data_files/2/7/8/LG_Zenith_DTT900.jpg For those long-term users who've used their "vintage" DTT900s for a few months, have you had any new issues to report?

In addition to the occasional patch of audio distortion, the only periodic problem I've experienced has been with some channels dropping out of the channel scan. Example: upon losing signal on virtual channels 5.1 and 5.2, (RF 48), 5.1 and 5.2 seem to be erased from the channel memory or (in some cases) show up as 48.3 and 48.4.

Given the cost parameters, at least I can vouch for the DTT900 apparently being relatively durable.

Example: upon losing signal on virtual channels 5.1 and 5.2, (RF 48), 5.1 and 5.2 seem to be erased from the channel memory or (in some cases) show up as 48.3 and 48.4.Hi Seatacboy,

I have seen my unit exhibit this behavior; but it has always been caused by a malfunctioning PSIP decoder at the TV station. We have 1 station here that has a defective PSIP decoder, and the channel display rapidly jumps from channel 1 to channel 47. The station has been on the air for at least 2 months, and still has not fixed the problem.:confused:

I am still very pleased with the DTT-900. It has much better selectivity than the CM-7000 in a strong signal environment.:)

For those long-term users who've used their "vintage" DTT900s for a few months, have you had any new issues to report

My February 2008 build DTT900 is exhibiting no new issues.

My DTT-900 (purchased in May, not sure of build date) is toast. Crashes after about 10 minutes of use - screen fills with hex dump and box locks up. I only used it a few times the first 3 months until I replaced my antenna. After about a month of regular use it started crashing.

My May 2008 build DTT900 is working fine after 6 months of very light use.

I stopped by my local CC this evening and was surprised to see that they had at least a dozen 900's on the shelf (some with April 2008 builds).

I just checked my flakey DTT900. It's a Jan 08 build.

I still haven't decided on a replacement. Should I try a DTT901 or go with a Digitalstream? I have a DS 9000 that I've been using on my primary TV since the Zenith died.

Please note that my best TV is an old RCA 31" CRT, so ultimate PQ is simply not in the equation for me. I say this because others have said that the 901 has slightly better PQ than the 9550. The fact is, on my set, they both look great.

That said, I really like my 9550, so much so that it displaced the 901 into the bedroom. The remote is better in several respects. First, it's larger, and doesn't seem to disappear between any possible gap in the couch like the 901's. The program guide is better. The volume control works much faster, and the remote can control both the box volume and the TV volume, unlike the 901. It also can control the Input selection on your TV, although I couldn't find a code that would enable that function on mine.

I got both at Radio Shack, which had a rare sale recently at $54.95 each. One advantage to RS, IMO, is that a 1 year replacement extended warranty was just another $7 each. Yeah, that's a lot, percentage wise. But it's pretty cheap for a whole year of hassle-free replacement privileges, given that these things are still a long-term unknown.

The 9550 is the one I'd personally recommend to my "normal" friends.

Well, I just plugged in my DT900 after sitting unplugged for 2 months, and it has been working now for about 3 hours. But since I have another coupon coming thru a friend, I think I'll pick up another Digitalstream.

I agree the DS remote is better and PQ seems equal. But I like the Zenith guide's 'multichannel' format. I wish DS had the option of both formats. That and the ability to disable some of the CC options would make it just about perfect.

It seems the older Zeniths have serious issues and I think they should at least offer to replace them free.

I bought a March build 900 a little more than 8 months ago and am pleased to report no problems. I didn't know it would automatically get new subchannels. I didn't have to rescan when two locals added .2 and .3.

I have one of my DTT900s (mfg date April 2008) connected to a Phillips 27" TV using only an RF cable. The Phillips setup menu indicated that the decoded RF sig out from the converter is only mono although the sig direct from the ant to the Phillips came in as a stereo signal.

I called the Zenith help line and was given a run around (obviously going from a script, never actually using or testing the box). They tried telling me that some stations aren't sending stereo digital signals yet. Yeh, right! I tried the R-W-Y leads...got stereo but would get an annoying "buzz" on the signal (through my home theater receiver and especially the subwoofer) sometimes when there was a camera or scene change. So I went back to the RF cable which didn't produce this buzz...of course no stereo.

Today, I tried another DTT900 (mfg date April 2008) on another TV with the same results. This time a call to Zenith resulted in them admitting that the RF out sig was only mono not stereo. This isn't directly covered in the manual. They do have a small note that says that the decoder should be set to mono when using RF.

Soooo...are the R-W-Y leads the only way to get stereo on a DTT900? Are there any good converters that do produce a stereo RF sig out?

There was a well-documented audio glitch similar to what you are describing with the DTT900. It was fixed with the DTT901. Search this thread and you will find plenty of info about it. As I remember, using mono output was the only way around it.

The DTT900 models with audio problems were discussed among many owners earlier in this thread. The general view was that the very last of the DTT900 production in April 2008 corrected or reduced most of the earlier audio problems but did not equalize the variation of gain between the stereo and mono settings. The earliest April DTT900 production would have a serial number of 100001 and the last of the DTT900 models would have a serial number in the 287000 to 340000 range. Older posts may narrow down that number range somewhat. I have an April DTT900, with a production code of "1089" a serial number prefixed "SHYD" with the 287000 sequence number range.

At some point during April 2008 production the DTT900 was discontinued and transitioned to the DTT901 analog RF pass through model that corrected the audio gain variation between stereo and mono settings. My most frequently used DTT901 is from April 2008 production, with a production code of "0946" and a serial number prefixed "SHUB" with the 446000 sequence number range.

I have one of my DTT900s (mfg date April 2008) connected to a Phillips 27" TV using only an RF cable. The Phillips setup menu indicated that the decoded RF sig out from the converter is only mono although the sig direct from the ant to the Phillips came in as a stereo signal.

I called the Zenith help line and was given a run around (obviously going from a script, never actually using or testing the box). They tried telling me that some stations aren't sending stereo digital signals yet. Yeh, right! I tried the R-W-Y leads...got stereo but would get an annoying "buzz" on the signal (through my home theater receiver and especially the subwoofer) sometimes when there was a camera or scene change. So I went back to the RF cable which didn't produce this buzz...of course no stereo.

Today, I tried another DTT900 (mfg date April 2008) on another TV with the same results. This time a call to Zenith resulted in them admitting that the RF out sig was only mono not stereo. This isn't directly covered in the manual. They do have a small note that says that the decoder should be set to mono when using RF.

Soooo...are the R-W-Y leads the only way to get stereo on a DTT900? Are there any good converters that do produce a stereo RF sig out?

To answer your basic question, AFAIK, none of the CECBs will provide stereo out from RF in. I raised the issue of stereo from RF on the general CECB thread almost a year ago and the experts concluded that it could be done, but wouldn't given the additional production cost and the low price point of CECBs. The only answer is to use the R/W stereo out cables with any of the CECBs.

As to the Zenith DTT900, the stereo hiss problem was supposed to be fixed with the April production run; however, as many have found, some April DTT900s still have the problem. If you are still in warranty, you should press Zenith/LG to replace or "fix" your DTT900.

Thanks for clarifying CECBs don't provide stereo RF out - :( If R/W connections were clean, it wouldn't be a problem. Will see what I can do about replacing hissy box.

I bought a March build 900 a little more than 8 months ago and am pleased to report no problems. I didn't know it would automatically get new subchannels. I didn't have to rescan when two locals added .2 and .3.


My DTT900 is also March production which I bought last April and have used daily. Never a problem (knock on wood!). If it has the audio glitch, neither my wife nor I have ever heard it.

Its ability to automatically handle sub-channels as they are added or eliminated is nice (don't know if other CECBs do that, or not). Additional sub-channels have appeared on a couple of stations and two PBS stations recently went from 5 OTA sub-channels down to 3 and the box adjusted to that with no input from me.

The GE 5-in-1 learning remote I bought at Target last April for $12.95 is also still working great. No extra learning was necessary with my Sanyo TV, Sanyo VCR, and RCA DVD player. The DTT900 and my Phillips DVD recorder each took about a half hour to learn all the various buttons. I've used nothing but that GE remote for all 5 units for 11 months.

I picked up the tip about that learning remote on this forum and also, decided on the DTT900 from what I read here. Thanks!

A J

The picture size on my TV while using the Zeneth converter is smaller than the screen. It appears to be letter box. Is this normal? Makes my TV seem smaller by not filling up the screen. How come there is no info about the screen size? I would have not gone this way if I knew the picture would be smaller.

Use the zoom button on the Zenith's remote. You should find a mode to fill up your TV screen.

Zooming to cropped doesn't work if the station's setting won't let you change aspect ratio. There are a few times when that happens and the picture does not fill the screen, but usually it's the other way around, and I'm stuck with cropped.

This is not Zenith specific, when the Zenith's aspect ratio can't be changed, it's exactly the same for my other CECBs. I don't tend to watch except during prime time, and it's never a problem there.

If it's a 720p/1080i channel, you can change the aspect ratio. The only ones you can't do it on are the 480i ones.

Actually, it is the 480i broadcasts that look really good on an old CRT TV using a CECB for DTV. Everything else requires some picture size adjustment to make it fill all or most of the screen and that causes the PQ to deteriorate. If you can tolerate watching shows broadcast in 16x9 ratio HD in a letterbox format, the PQ is pretty good (though I see an image flickering that I don't see with pure 480i DTV) and about the same as 480i DTV PQ (full screen). When you Zoom it you lose part of the picture and a lot of the PQ.

I think that many people are going to be dissatisfied with watching DTV on CRT TVs using a converter box and will opt for a new DTV if current finances allow. I know I'm less than thrilled with what I'm seeing on my #4 TV, which has that setup.

...
I think that many people are going to be dissatisfied with watching DTV on CRT TVs using a converter box and will opt for a new DTV if current finances allow. I know I'm less than thrilled with what I'm seeing on my #4 TV, which has that setup.

It's generally understood by the AVS crowd, but not discussed in nearly any of the DTV transition promos, that we're entering an era of TV programming with a wide mix of aspect ratios. There's new HD programming in 16:9, old and new 4:3 programming/commercials in SD and HD (though new 4:3 will dry up as the percentage of 4:3 displays in circulation declines), 14:9 for programmers trying to straddle the wide-screen vs. std display audiences, and, of course those old movies in various wide-screen formats.

Letterboxing, pillar boxing and window boxing will be an everyday reality for some time. Heck, the old 4:3 TV programs will be shown for years to come, so black bars may be with us for a very long time indeed.

Those using 13-inch class 4:3 CRTs will find the letterboxed 16:9 images pretty unsatisfying. Images will suddenly be ~12% smaller on their existing TV for the sake of progress.

Since 20-inch class 720p LCDs are regularly in sales circulars for $199 or less, and 32-inch ones for less than $350, we might expect to see more and more folks abandoning their old CRTs before long.

Thanks guys for the info about small screens from converters.

Until they get LCD scanning to 240 Hz or more (and around $150 for 32"), I don't see purchasing one (unless my Toshiba CRT, Flat-Screen, Black Mask "Monitor" dies).

Definitely keep all your old analogs - because everything digital looks good on those (other than the really bit-starved subchannels, such as ION Life, which looks awful on any set. Sharp as a tack - but macroblocking hell). At least OTA.

On an HD display, the SD will often not look as good. Especially on an LCD, which is the only thing you're gonna get right now in HD if you want small (borderline-quality SD will look considerably better on most plasmas. Some LCD fanboys will argue, but that's not been my impression).

Definitely keep all your old analogs - because everything digital looks good on those ... On an HD display, the SD will often not look as good....
Your only hope for decent quality on upscaled/SD content is to pay the extra bucks ($) for major name brand sets. (no Korean, Chinese, or House Brand TVs qualify)

In the past, if you saw licensing by Faroudja or Pixelworks then you could expect quality deinterlacing and scaling. I don't know what the current equivalents are but the major players are capable of designing their own circuitry if they don't choose to license someone else's. Deinterlacing and Scaling determines the quality of anything that's not full HD to begin with.

Your only hope for decent quality on upscaled/SD content is to pay the extra bucks ($) for major name brand sets. (no Korean, Chinese, or House Brand TVs qualify)

In the past, if you saw licensing by Faroudja or Pixelworks then you could expect quality deinterlacing and scaling. I don't know what the current equivalents are but the major players are capable of designing their own circuitry if they don't choose to license someone else's. Deinterlacing and Scaling determines the quality of anything that's not full HD to begin with.

Check out the Consumer Reports' ratings of HDTVs and CNET's ratings also. CR lists a PQ rating for HD, DVD, and SD for all HDTVs. CNET usually comments on SD PQ in their reviews. You will see that Samsung typically has the highest SD PQ ratings on their middle and upscale HDTVs, especially their LCDs. I purchase based on those ratings and my Samsung LN-T3253H has better SD PQ, especially with an OTA SD DTV signal, than did the 27" Sony Trinitron it replaced. CRT PQ has already been equalled and in most cases exceeded by the new technology, but there will always be those hangers-on. After all, there are still some that think 8-track was the best music source.

Check out the Consumer Reports' ratings of ...
Well, I've been a TV repairman for 37 years, and obviously it's only my opinion, but on every item that I have had technical knowledge of, Consumer Reports has been absolutely wrong. On technical details it's been painfully obvious that they do not employ anyone capable of looking at circuitry and manufacturing designs and reliably predicting it's future performance or reliability.

Samsung is probably the classic example of the comment that "It looks great on HD but terrible on SD". I've seen a Samsung and a similar Sony side-by-side on upscaled signals and I see the Sony as obviously better. Regardless of my opinion of Korean manufacturers, however, a part of SD conversion problems will be beyond the ability of any TV to fully compensate for since it may be done upstream from the TV.

And of course, there are numerous cheats used in comparisons. (most common, this year's XX vs last year's YY, or comparing a 16:9 with a 4:3 based on diagonal measurement instead of screen height) The most famous one was the one on Sharp TVs having a better picture than Sony. It turned out they compared the latest Sharp with a 15 year older Sony.

8 Track, no: 4 Track maybe; Same specs as Reel-to-Reel without the pinch roller slippage of the 8 Tracks. :D

To my knowledge, Consumer Reports has always used surveys to determine reliability. So what they typically show is the repair record for the manufacturer, not a particular model. The only item where they show the reliability of a particular model is autos. In this case, that is because the current generation of the auto has been sold for a few years already. When there is a redesigned vehicle, Consumer Reports will list the reliability as "NEW" because there are no user surveys to give it a rating. They will also decline to give a reliability score if they do not have enough user data.

Definitely keep all your old analogs - because everything digital looks good on those (other than the really bit-starved subchannels, such as ION Life, which looks awful on any set. Sharp as a tack - but macroblocking hell). At least OTA.

On an HD display, the SD will often not look as good. Especially on an LCD, which is the only thing you're gonna get right now in HD if you want small (borderline-quality SD will look considerably better on most plasmas. Some LCD fanboys will argue, but that's not been my impression).Long live the analog CRT's. SD looks so much better on a high end CRT than any plasma or LCD I have seen; especially with S-Video.:)

To my knowledge, Consumer Reports has always used surveys to determine reliability. So what they typically show is the repair record for the manufacturer, not a particular model. The only item where they show the reliability of a particular model is autos. In this case, that is because the current generation of the auto has been sold for a few years already. When there is a redesigned vehicle, Consumer Reports will list the reliability as "NEW" because there are no user surveys to give it a rating. They will also decline to give a reliability score if they do not have enough user data.

This is correct. They do not attempt their own technical evaluation of a product's expected reliability. They use survey data from their readers plus recall notices and other public records of problem-prone products. The main knock on their reliability ratings is that they don't reveal the sample size for a given evaluation. This doesn't affect items that are merely rated by type and manufacturer, but it really squews their auto reliability ratings because they may only have 2 or 3 readers report on a given model for a given year.

For televisions, CR gives good reliability marks to Samsung HDTVs as do consumers. They aren't the largest seller of LCD HDTVs by accident.

Long live the analog CRT's. SD looks so much better on a high end CRT than any plasma or LCD I have seen; especially with S-Video.:)

I hope you mean that especially with s-video to the CRT because s-video to an HDTV will not give you a high quality picture. OTOH, a digital feed to an LCD HDTV (OTA DTV or HDMI/DVI from a digital receiver), on a good LCD, will give you every bit as good a PQ for SD as any CRT. Maybe you weren't aware that even graphics designers have long since pitched their CRT monitors (these units were far superior to any CRT TV available to consumer), in favor of LCD monitors (good ones to be sure).

Well, I've been a TV repairman for 37 years, and obviously it's only my opinion, but on every item that I have had technical knowledge of, Consumer Reports has been absolutely wrong. On technical details it's been painfully obvious that they do not employ anyone capable of looking at circuitry and manufacturing designs and reliably predicting it's future performance or reliability.
:D

As I and another poster noted, CR uses reported problems from consumers to rate reliability of products. They don't attempt to guess at a products expected reliability in the field.

Samsung is probably the classic example of the comment that "It looks great on HD but terrible on SD". I've seen a Samsung and a similar Sony side-by-side on upscaled signals and I see the Sony as obviously better. Regardless of my opinion of Korean manufacturers, however, a part of SD conversion problems will be beyond the ability of any TV to fully compensate for since it may be done upstream from the TV.
:D

Obviously you have a problem with Korean products and an over-inflated adoration for Sony, but the facts are that Samsung has produced video products that equal to or out-perform Sony products. This is why Samsung has become the world's largest seller of LCD HDTVs, while Sony has lost billions and is laying off staff.

You don't have faith in CR or apparently CNET, but others do. During Christmas of 2007 I purchased a Samsung LN-T3253H to replace a 27" Sony Triniton in our master bedroom. I based the selection on CR's and CNET's ratings, which both put it on top in that size group and both rated it's SDTV PQ as excellent. I can tell you that the SD PQ on that set, displaying SD DTV from its on-board ATSC tuner, is superior to anything I ever saw on the Sony Triniton from any source to it. With the SD source being an SD channel on my Dish DBS receiver, they were almost equal with the Samsung being slightly better due to fact that its feed is an HDMI cable, while the Sony's highest input level was limited to s-video.

Technology is constantly advancing and the products do get better. My challenge this year is to figure out how to get a 35" RCA console TV (1993) out of my basement playroom so I have a place for my 2003 Samsung DLP HDTV when it is replaced by an new LCD HDTV later this year. The DLP is a 50" widescreen, but the wife and I can easily carry it downstairs (75#). But the 35" CRT console is over 300#s. It took 4 guys with pulleys and packing belts to get it down there. Now I have to get it out. Get the drift here, CRTs pretty much maxed out at about 36" because of weight and picture distortion.

on a good LCD, will give you every bit as good a PQ for SD as any CRT. I strongly disagree. My neighbors 52" Sony XBR does not display SD as well as my 15 year old Hitachi Ultravision.(Not even close) His set is hooked up to Verizon FIOS via HDMI. HD on the XBR is excellent.

As I and another poster noted, CR uses reported problems from consumers to rate reliability of products. They don't attempt to guess at a products expected reliability in the field.
They don't need to guess. The technology used in current TV has been around for quite a while and the failure modes (and frequency) is pretty well known to anyone that does component level service. Unfortunately no one (Manufacturers, Retailers, Reviewers) tracks failures after about the two year point.
Obviously you have a problem with Korean products and an over-inflated adoration for Sony...
Sony is one example of a major manufacturer. Hitachi, Panasonic and Mitsubishi do a pretty good job also. There are 6 basic aspects of TVs: price, performance, features, reliability, serviceability, and durability. If you emphasize the first three enough, then some people will forget about the last three. I have problems with any company that ignores the last three.

Unfortunately no one (Manufacturers, Retailers, Reviewers) tracks failures after about the two year point.

Actually, CR does. I know because I've been a subscriber for many years and I fill out their surveys each year.


Sony is one example of a major manufacturer. Hitachi, Panasonic and Mitsubishi do a pretty good job also. There are 6 basic aspects of TVs: price, performance, features, reliability, serviceability, and durability. If you emphasize the first three enough, then some people will forget about the last three. I have problems with any company that ignores the last three.

I find it interesting that you have such a distaste for Korean CEMs, but are posting your comments in a thread about a Korean CECB (the Zenith brand name was bought by LG, a Korean company that has produced one the best ATSC tuners over the past few years based on AVS Forum posts and threads). The Zenith DTT900 and 901 are essentially Korean consumer electronics products, which I guess you don't have a problem with.

Actually, CR does. I know because I've been a subscriber for many years and I fill out their surveys each year.
I meant to intimate that they have never surveyed the people who actually work on the sets and who know why they broke.
I find it interesting that you have such a distaste for Korean CEMs, but are posting your comments in a thread about a Korean CECB (the Zenith brand name was bought by LG, a Korean company that has produced one the best ATSC tuners over the past few years based on AVS Forum posts and threads). The Zenith DTT900 and 901 are essentially Korean consumer electronics products, which I guess you don't have a problem with.
The Koreans offer products with a lot of the price, performance, and features that the US market desires. This is perfectly acceptable for items that don't need to be repaired if they break in 3 years. There's a huge difference between a dead converter box and a $4000 TV.

Goldstar was a significant step up in quality for Zenith TVs. (LG originally stood for Lucky-Goldstar)

I meant to intimate that they have never surveyed the people who actually work on the sets and who know why they broke.

For the most part, consumers don't care why their products malfunction, they mostly care if their products are prone to malfunction, which is primarily the information that CR is trying to collect and publicize. The CEMs OTOH, get a good reading of chronic weaknesses in their past designs from both the demand for specific replacement components/modules and from the their higher level technical support group, which supplies technical information to the field service repair people.

The Koreans offer products with a lot of the price, performance, and features that the US market desires. This is perfectly acceptable for items that don't need to be repaired if they break in 3 years. There's a huge difference between a dead converter box and a $4000 TV.

A lot of those $4K TVs have the same ATSC tuners from LG in them, including many past Sony models. Have you been getting a lot of calls for malfunctioning ATSC tuners in those nice $4K TVs?

Goldstar was a significant step up in quality for Zenith TVs. (LG originally stood for Lucky-Goldstar)

Do you mean that Goldstar improved on the Zenith TVs? Maybe in recent times that is true, but in the 60s and 70s, Zenith was as good as it got. Now that LG owns the Zenith brand, they use it as their lower level brand, while their main line gets tagged as LG.

I was well aware of LG's Lucky-Goldstar heritage. I have to give the south Koreans lots of credit. When I was their in 68/69, they couldn't even build a highway, now they produce quality consumer electronics and automobiles, and, as a nation, are far more internet broadband connected than is the U.S. Smart, hard working folks those Koreans.

The early Zeniths were only as good as the other American brands. When the Japanese showed up (~1968) their shortcomings became apparent. When they went to 100% Mexican manufacturing they went downhill fast. Other American companies updated their TVs but Zenith stuck with a failed design.They sold off every profitable division trying to keep the TV part alive. They brought Goldstar in as a partner. After bleeding money, LG exercised their option and took over the company, turning the name into a marketing tool.

Tuners are not a particularly good example for quality comparisons. The tuner divisions appear to be separate from the rest of the business. Tuners are a vendor item (developed and sold independently) and there are only a few manufacturers in the world. Philips and Mitsumi are a couple of others. I suspect LG would use Philips tuners if they outperformed the LG versions.

I was one of those Factory Authorized "field service repair people" from 1972 through 2005. There was no technical information for much of anything over a couple of years old. Panasonic even refused to issue service bulletins for known problems. (they even had the gall to tell us that) Sony was better than most but they dropped good support around 2002 when they switched from board repair to board replacement. I had the Sony Technical Representative ask for my personal help on some sets because there was no internal help available. The Manufactures do not track failures out of warranty. Parts used cannot be tracked since most can be obtained from dozens of independent parts distributors and a given part may be used in numerous brands. Probably 70% of big screen TVs use the same convergence ICs.

If something fails in warranty, they know about it and will correct it in the next model. (Panasonic is really good about this) If something fails out of warranty, they don't want to know about it and it may never get fixed. They still use "fish-caps" in TVs despite the huge problems they cause in warm environments.

The early Zeniths were only as good as the other American brands. When the Japanese showed up (~1968) their shortcomings became apparent. When they went to 100% Mexican manufacturing they went downhill fast.

I have to strongly disagree with your opinion regarding early Zenith TVs. Having used a Zenith TV from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, I can reliably inform you that Zenith TVs in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s were consider the best American TVs available. TV repairmen of that era would always recommend to customers to go Zenith on their next TV purchase. My last Zenith was purchased in 1973 and was the first generation of all solid-state Zenith color TVs. It performed quite well for me for over 10 years without repair. I sold it to a friend to use as their kid's TV and it ran another 10 years without repair. It was not assembled in Mexico.

The biggest thing that the Japanese brought to TV was cheap manufacturing labor and, for Sony, aperture grille CRTs, a superior CRT screen technology that I had on all of my past computer monitors.

Tuners are not a particularly good example for quality comparisons. The tuner divisions appear to be separate from the rest of the business. Tuners are a vendor item (developed and sold independently) and there are only a few manufacturers in the world. Philips and Mitsumi are a couple of others. I suspect LG would use Philips tuners if they outperformed the LG versions.

Most major components are "vendor items", like the LCD panels that, up until recently, were mostly made in a handful of manufacturing plants, then used by several name brands. That's why from about 2004 on for a several years, you were getting the same LCD panel in Sony as in a Samsung, because Sony was buying the panels from a Samsung subsidiary. I suspect you don't find tuners to be a good example because they don't support your pre-conception of poor quality Korean consumer electronics.

I was one of those Factory Authorized "field service repair people" from 1972 through 2005. There was no technical information for much of anything over a couple of years old. Panasonic even refused to issue service bulletins for known problems. (they even had the gall to tell us that) Sony was better than most but they dropped good support around 2002 when they switched from board repair to board replacement. I had the Sony Technical Representative ask for my personal help on some sets because there was no internal help available. The Manufactures do not track failures out of warranty. Parts used cannot be tracked since most can be obtained from dozens of independent parts distributors and a given part may be used in numerous brands. Probably 70% of big screen TVs use the same convergence ICs.

If something fails in warranty, they know about it and will correct it in the next model. (Panasonic is really good about this) If something fails out of warranty, they don't want to know about it and it may never get fixed. They still use "fish-caps" in TVs despite the huge problems they cause in warm environments.

Replacement of boards and modules has been pretty much the status quo in consumer electronics and home computers since the mid-90s. Nothing wrong with that. Saves time and money. Not many repairs are done replacing individual ICs, at least not for the past dozen years or so, so the manufacturers do get a reading on demand for boards and modules that are unique to a given manufacturer and model(s).

I speak to this from recent personal experience. Last summer, weeks before a 5-year extended warranty ran out on a Samsung HLN series DLP HDTV, I had a fluke problem occur that didn't debilitate the TV, but messed up some of its functions. Using one of my areas largest authorized repair services, which was referred to me by the warranty company, I got to deal with 4 different repair people over 6 weeks and half a dozen house calls. The first couple of visits were a waste of time as the personnel chose to ignore my details regarding the problem and defaulted to video board replacement, without consulting Samsung technical support. Of course that failed and I had a harsh exchange with the service company's ownership. After that, the new techs first listened to my details regarding the problem, then observed them for themselves, then contacted a high tier in Samsung technical support. An analog module was replaced, then the whole light engine assembly. Those latter techs indicated that contacting their Samsung technical support contact number was SOP when dealing with issues that didn't have an obvious cause, so apparently Samsung supports repair of 5 year old sets, even if you found that Sony doesn't.

The Samsung HLM and HLN series DLP HDTVs had several chronic problems that were essentially due to bad design of certain elements of the set. Not too surprising as those were the first two years of Samsung DLPs (i.e., totally new technology). Those chronic problems didn't all surface in the first two years of ownership, some were typically emergent in the third through fifth year. All of those problems are noted in various threads in this forum going back to 2002. By the release of the HLP series in 2004, most of the chronic failure issues (e.g., color wheel; video/audio sync; color spots/clouds) had been corrected with the Samsung DLPs and I've never seen anything posted for later models regarding the longer term chronic failure issues (e.g., "freeze-melt" video; horizontal lines through analog video). I can only assume the designs were changed to correct the problems as Samsung is still selling color wheel DLPs. And Samsung either based the need for those design changes on their warranty, technical support, and replacement item experience or they read about them here in AVS Forum. No matter which, they did chose to improve their product.

Replacement of boards and modules has been pretty much the status quo in consumer electronics and home computers since the mid-90s.
No, it wasn't. I was a factory authorized servicer for Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi during that period. Board replacement was not an option for us. If a servicer was unable to repair the board, he might be able to talk the Factory reps into supplying a replacement board. It required special authorization and a demonstrated failure to repair the original board.

TVs were redesigned during the 2000 - 2004 period and board replacement then became the norm on the new designs. Since no manufacturer builds new boards for old sets, virtually all replacement boards supplied after about 2 years are rebuilt.

The DLP light engine is built and supplied by Texas Instruments. Samsung uses it (and Mitsubishi, etc), they don't build it. They do build circuits peripheral to the light engine. TI was responsible for fixing light engine problems and they extended coverage to correct problems (for numerous business reasons).

The Japanese TVs of the early 70's were the most expensive sets on the market. A 19" Sony cost almost a grand. When the Sanyo's, Sharp's, and Toshiba's came along, they were the cheap Japanese products.

We've probably hijacked this thread long enough. I don't like the quality control of Samsung and LGE from personal and professional experience over a couple of dozen years. They have not improved much but the competition has deteriorated, so the gap is shrinking. I don't have a problem buying Korean as long as I don't have to fix it.

I have a DTT900 attached to a 12" Zenith B&W TV that I bought when I was twelve years old. It still works fine in B&W. By the way, I will be 55 years old next month. I would say that Zenith sets built in the 60's were pretty relaible.

I have a DTT900 attached to a 12" Zenith B&W TV that I bought when I was twelve years old. It still works fine in B&W. By the way, I will be 55 years old next month. I would say that Zenith sets built in the 60's were pretty relaible.

Doesn't matter what you think, zaphod7501 already knows it all.

doesn't matter what you think, zaphod7501 already knows it all.
ouch!!

I hate to get this thread back on topic but I'm going to anyway.

It looks like the Zenith box in no longer being offered so has anyone heard about a replacement for it or should I just try and find another box?

I hate to get this thread back on topic but I'm going to anyway.

It looks like the Zenith box in no longer being offered so has anyone heard about a replacement for it or should I just try and find another box?

where did you look for it and find it not available.

Look for DTT901

I hate to get this thread back on topic but I'm going to anyway.

It looks like the Zenith box in no longer being offered so has anyone heard about a replacement for it or should I just try and find another box?

Which Zenith box?
First thing, the MODS or the thread creator should edit /amend the thread title to reflect the DTT900's replacement is the DTT901.
(DTT901 fixed?/addressed audio problems.)


On the Zenith DTT901's , etc being in short supply, or being N/A.

Here's the deal:

The original DTV transition cut-off date was supposed to be Feb 17, 2009, and it being changed is causing some shortages. While some may argue differently I'm of the mindset that most retailers based their orders on THAT date, the projected date the coupons themselves were projected to run out. (Projections showing coupons would run out in Jan-2009 +/-, with the last of the coupons "expiring" 90-days past that.). The last part of the puzzle retailers trying NOT to "overstock", weighing past sales rates- against coupons that were still "valid", etc.

In a nutshell you have retailers looking at it like hey, I don't want to be stuck with "dead" inventory, the tide has come and gone... You for sure don't want to be a retailer stocking items that come in boxes that have "This item qualifies for a $40 off coupon on them if the cut-off date has come and gone, projected sales are in a downward spiral, all the coupons are gone, and the customer standing before you does not have a coupon. :-(

To put it another way- (Once the coupons are gone- I bet you sales drop big-time... Especially if the buyer is aware of how "limited" these (SD) CECB's are....

Once the CECB's go to full "retail pricing", the cost of a new TV that already has a ATSC tuner built-in becomes more cost effective, people looking at it like- Heck this TV is so old and it could die anyday, and more than likely a new tv will use less electricity, it will be HD /widescreen so why waste $60-$70 on a "tuner"...


To add insult to injury- (low stock) there has been a surge of "last minute" shoppers... In my area for example 2-3 of the primary analogue NTSC channels broadcasting info about DTV 24 /7 now... and the regular programing has gone away on those channels...



On the Zenith DTT901, K-Mart carries it.

NOTE: UPC code and Kmart item # is the SAME. When calling ask them to verify UPC, search via UPC to confirm stock in their computer.

Zenith DTT901
UPC 7-1919217340-8

PRICE $49.99- minus coupon, Tax being applied on "pre-coupon" amount.

Translation: ($9.99 plus tax in most areas after $40 coupon is applied)


PS: RADIOSHACK last time I checked was stocking the DTT901, (abit at a higher price that K-Mart) That said some stores may NOT be stocking them due to store / corporate management not wanting to be stuck with "dead" inventory.
(Sales I imagine were projected to fall off after the "original" Feb 17-2009 DTV transition / cut-off date..... Since the date has be "moved" it has really caught retailers with their pants down so to speak... In some cases...)


So far as finding units, about the only thing you can do is call around with the UPC code in-hand:

UPC 7-1919217340-8


FIND A RETAILER HERE, TYPE IN ZIP:

https://www.dtv2009.gov/VendorSearch.aspx

Oh, one last thing... when calling ASK them:

1: If the item is still showing as a "stocking item". (Keep in mind the clerk may NOT know. As a example I called my local store last night- and the lady said they had NO Zenith, Nor DTVPal Plus units. Called another store with UPC and I asked the girl to search other stores via their computer to see what was showing in the system. She said my local store was showing a couple of units in stock so this morning I went over and picked up a couple of units at the store that the lady just the night before had said they had ZERO UNITS at..)

2: Ask them when they are re-stocked.... K-Marts in my area getting about a case per week, stock running on Monday- Wednesday, OR Tuesday- Thursday.

3: Ask the clerk to hold one back for you.


Hope the above helps...


Oh, one last thing- if you can't find the Zenith DTT901, try BestBuy- the SAME unit is sold under the Insignia brand as the Insignia NS-DXA1

Both are manufactured by LG Electronics.

FYI: Zenith DTT901 / Insignia NS-DXA1 are EXACTLY the same except the price at BestBuy is $10 MORE than K-Mart... (BestBuy I think wants $59...)


.

The DTT901's not passing 5.1 audio never mattered to me since I didn't have them hooked through an audio receiver. But now one of them is, so do any converter boxes receive 5.1 audio and have comparable tuner sensitivity to the Zenith?

First thing, the MODS or the thread creator should edit /amend the thread title to reflect the DTT900's replacement is the DTT901.
(DTT901 fixed?/addressed audio problems.)

there are a few threads, biggest is

Zenith DTT901

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1032622

last posted to on the 4th

there are a few threads, biggest is

Zenith DTT901

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1032622

last posted to on the 4th


What I was trying to convey is it would be nice if there was a way to amend threads when a product is obsoleted.

It would be "nice" on threads if a short note was put in saying something to the effect- when models are phased out:

NOTE: The Zenith DTT900 was released February/March 2008 and was replaced April /May-2008 by a new model, the DTT901 due to audio issues. Please click here for info on the new model:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1032622


.

Doesn't matter what you think, zaphod7501 already knows it all.

CEB II,

Q: How many years did you do component level service?
Zaphod7501 said he has 37 years in the field doing such.

You talk about consumer reports /owning certain sets for many years- You being happy with them... (EG a consumer) Zaphod7501 on the other hand has 37 years in the field doing component level repairs.

Component level service for those that don't know is repairing items by repairing /replacing individual components on a board /assembly.... instead of swapping out the WHOLE board /assembly.

They will for example R&R a 30-cent component on a board that has gone bad... replacing that part ONLY - Instead of swapping out the board at a cost of several hundred (or thousand) dollars.

To put it another way- Most so-called "techs" these days may know what has gone bad in a general sense- but cannot affect repairs to that item. Their only recourse is to replace the WHOLE board which is going to cost the consumer many hundreds or thousands of dollars- instead of replacing a 30-cent part which has gone bad.


PS: I was the top producer at a shop for many, many years that got stuff from other shops /factory authorized dealerships within a 5-state surrounding area (and beyond) that they couldn't fix. (Lucky me.) I had to figure out what was wrong, and effect repairs (on a component type level) -Instead of just throwing whole sub-assemblies $$$$ at the problem...


.

You talk about consumer reports /owning certain sets for many years- You being happy with them... (EG a consumer) Zaphod7501 on the other hand has 37 years in the field doing component level repairs.

PS: I was the top producer at a shop for many, many years that got stuff from other shops /factory authorized dealerships within a 5-state surrounding area (and beyond) that they couldn't fix. (Lucky me.) I had to figure out what was wrong, and effect repairs (on a component type level) -Instead of just throwing whole sub-assemblies $$$$ at the problem...


.

Here we go again. I was going to let this whole thing die, but you've prompted me to attempt to summarize my problem with Zaphod7501's posts from the beginning in this thread. Having the skill and expertise to be able to remove and re-solder ICs, resistors, capacitors, etc. to a circuit board is wonderful. But, it hardly qualifies one to denigrate all the CE companies of a given nation or make pronouncements on the statistically verifiable product quality and reliability of the products of given CE manufacturers. It also doesn't provide any insight into to engineering design or quality assurance (which includes feedback) of any of those CE manufacturers. I don't profess to have that knowledge either, but I am willing to accept the information available from those sources that have endeavored to survey or test or do industry research at a professional level.

Regarding component repairs versus component/board replacement, I don't care, I want the method that is least costly to me and ensures the highest probability of success. Obviously manufacturers have found it more cost effective to replace components and boards that are manufactured by cheap, third world, labor for pennies (or at least for only a few dollars) and incur only the limited labor charge for the short time it takes to do the replacement, instead of paying high wage rates for hours of testing and hand repair. It's just the way it is; better economics. You may have noticed that auto repair moved to the same business model; at least dealership warranty repair.

So now let's end this old-timers peeing contest and get back on topic.

Here we go again. I was going to let this whole thing die, but you've prompted me to attempt to summarize my problem with Zaphod7501's posts from the beginning in this thread. Having the skill and expertise to be able to remove and re-solder ICs, resistors, capacitors, etc. to a circuit board is wonderful. But, it hardly qualifies one to denigrate all the CE companies of a given nation or make pronouncements on the statistically verifiable product quality and reliability of the products of given CE manufacturers. It also doesn't provide any insight into to engineering design or quality assurance (which includes feedback) of any of those CE manufacturers. I don't profess to have that knowledge either, but I am willing to accept the information available from those sources that have endeavored to survey or test or do industry research at a professional level.

Regarding component repairs versus component/board replacement, I don't care, I want the method that is least costly to me and ensures the highest probability of success. Obviously manufacturers have found it more cost effective to replace components and boards that are manufactured by cheap, third world, labor for pennies (or at least for only a few dollars) and incur only the limited labor charge for the short time it takes to do the replacement, instead of paying high wage rates for hours of testing and hand repair. It's just the way it is; better economics. You may have noticed that auto repair moved to the same business model; at least dealership warranty repair.

So now let's end this old-timers peeing contest and get back on topic.

Re: CEB II as a consumer, Zaphod7501 as a component level tech with 37 years experience.


CEB II,

I agree with you to some extent, but you are coming from a position in which you are a consumer, instead of someone who has been in the field for many years on the front line.

Most techs these days are not "techs", they are parts replacers. Most don't know what the heck they are doing. They are dependent on a factory hot line on anything that is "weird".... and are clueless on sets that have any age on them at all.
(Not that it matters as the chances parts are N/A increases greatly if set is out of warranty. See below:)

On swapping out a board, vs doing component level repair. Both have there pro's and con's. Yes it is more cost effective to repair /test components in a shop in which that is all you do. Then again I'd rather have a person that does know component level repair working on my set...


PS: I purchased a Toshiba HDTV several years ago- it was DOA / was last years model when I bought it...

Was under warranty- So off to the shop it went.

Guess how long it took to get a digital convergence board and this was ONLY by calling the Executive offices of Toshiba multiple times?

All told took about 6 months to "get" the board,.... Sad thing is the factory tech hotline, the local tech did not do the proper testing before they installed that board, nor followed procedure...

Net effect? Repair was sub-standard- Set failed two days later.

Total time I was without a "working-set"?

Finally got the set swapped out... and a working set in my possession-

Total time right at 8-9 months....

On the auto dealerships- there are very few mechanics at the dealer, or should I say "stealer".

Better call your banker to see if you can get a loan before arranging service as they have the cost no object parts swap mentally.
(EG: Throw enough parts at the problem- and something is bound to fix it.)


.

I am gratified that there are others that look at something other than "Price, Performance, and Features" but we need to move away from antagonizing each other. We just look at things from different perspectives. Unfortunately for some of us, the Manufacturers prefer CECB II's view over mine, so we get products with a 5 year design life and poor quality control along with unrepairable circuitry. (I just singled out the ones that were the worst in my experience)

Replacing boards is only cheaper because they never have to stock any repair parts and anything over 2 years old is therefore unrepairable. They went that route because the Dealers insisted upon it and customers wanted in-home repair. (Dealers have no technicians and component level repair is not possible on the living room floor) That's why extended warranties skyrocketed in cost. A broken three year old LCD is a "Picture Frame" (used to be called "A Doorstop") and must be replaced by the warranty company.

As to repair costs; replacing a high voltage transformer is a $200 job (about as major as it gets), replacing the whole board (for any failure) is $400 - $600.

As a Factory Trained and Authorized servicer I had a lot of info on design and quality control. Did you know that the solder problems on early TVs built in the USA by foreign companies was caused by the refusal of American workers to wear gloves when assembling circuit boards? (since most were women it was declared sexist): and that the high voltage transformer failures were caused by a Texas based vendor that met spec but not quality control?

On a lighter note, the "K" in Sony model numbers stands for "Color". A high ranking Japanese employee mistranslated the word and no one would contradict him.

[B]NOTE: The Zenith DTT900 was released February/March 2008 and was replaced April /May-2008 by a new model, the DTT901 due to audio issues. Actually, the DTT901 was released in June/July 2008. Late-build DTT900s (April 2008 and later) incorporate the audio fix.

The DTT901 incorporates analog pass-through which the DTT900 lacks. Both of these LG-designed Zenith CECBs work reasonably well for their intended purpose of enabling OTA digital TV viewing on typical mass-market legacy NTSC TV sets.

While modifying the thread title to include the phrase "discontinued product" would be appropriate, this "old" thread should be retained for reference by folks who acquire the DTT900 either as a closeout, used item, or as a gift.

Actually, the DTT901 was released in June/July 2008. Late-build DTT900s (April 2008 and later) incorporate the audio fix.

No, actually the DTT901 was released in April 2008. I have one.

Zenith started using a different tuner for the 900 in mid-April. If you have a 900 April build, it's easy to tell which tuner you have by looking through the top vents with a flashlight. The earlier Sanyo has a green sticker, the later tuner has a white sticker. I do not recall anybody saying they got a 900 with a build later than April, but by then everyone I know was focused on the 901s.

No, actually the DTT901 was released in April 2008. I have one.

Zenith started using a different tuner for the 900 in mid-April. If you have a 900 April build, it's easy to tell which tuner you have by looking through the top vents with a flashlight. The earlier Sanyo has a green sticker, the later tuner has a white sticker. I do not recall anybody saying they got a 900 with a build later than April, but by then everyone I know was focused on the 901s.

I have a 900 and 901, both of which were produced in April 2008. The 900 has a serial number in the 287xxx range; the 901 has a serial number in the 446xxx range. Somewhere between those number ranges the production line switched from 900 production to 901 production. Earlier in this or the 901 thread there is a post where the switchover is narrowed down more precisely.

The 900 of April 2008 production largely corrected the audio sibilance, but not the disparity between the mono and stereo gain. That modification was implemented with the beginning of 901 production in April 2008.

The 900 models were submitted for FCC certification with both Sanyo and LG tuners. Sanyo tuners were phased out, probably during February or March 2008 production. If memory serves me I believe that there were no reports of Sanyo tuners found in 900 production of April 2008. The 901 model was submitted for FCC certification with an LG tuner. There are no 901 models with a Sanyo tuner.

Sanyo tuners were phased out, probably during February or March 2008 production. If memory serves me I believe that there were no reports of Sanyo tuners found in 900 production of April 2008.

Our memories disagree about the timing for the switch to LG tuners inside the Zenith 900. I remember people having trouble with April manufacture, buying an April build thinking April was safe, and then finding they got Sanyo tuners, which is why everyone started looking inside by flashlight for the April builds. At this time, nobody was sure what S/N was safe.

So I looked back in this thread, and here's the proof that both tuners existed in the April build. [I'm talking about the 900, not the 901. If you thought I was saying the 901 ever had a Sanyo, I didn't. The 901 went through FCC approval with only one tuner, the LG H151F, not to be confused with the 900's LG H051F. ]

Ref. post 1530, by pioneerdat:

I just exchanged two of the April builds in the 84E01084 series-noticed that one of the had the Sanyo UBA00AL tuner while the other had the LG H051F. There was a mixture of the two tuners in the remaining April inventory at cc (about 20 boxes), all April builds in the "1084" series. All the April "1082s" had the Sanyo tuners.

Our memories disagree about the timing for the switch to LG tuners inside the Zenith 900. I remember people having trouble with April manufacture, buying an April build thinking April was safe, and then finding they got Sanyo tuners, which is why everyone started looking inside by flashlight for the April builds. At this time, nobody was sure what S/N was safe.

So I looked back in this thread, and here's the proof that both tuners existed in the April build. [I'm talking about the 900, not the 901. If you thought I was saying the 901 ever had a Sanyo, I didn't. The 901 went through FCC approval with only one tuner, the LG H151F, not to be confused with the 900's LG H051F. ]

Ref. post 1530, by pioneerdat:

TalkingRat,

Thank you for correcting my misinformation. My recollection was defective.

I just snapped this photo of the main board with LG tuner in my April 2008 DTT900:

My recollection is getting ever more defective. But I had April fused into my brain, so if I see a spare CECB at a garage sale, I know which ones to be careful about. ;-) After April it's a blur on the 900, because I jumped ship to the 901s.

My recollection is getting ever more defective. But I had April fused into my brain, so if I see a spare CECB at a garage sale, I know which ones to be careful about. ;-) After April it's a blur on the 900, because I jumped ship to the 901s.

I have "geezer moments" on a frequent basis.

My DTT900 is back in its box.

On behalf of my immediate and extended family I purchased six DTT901 models of April through September 2008 manufacture.

My DTT901 is in daily use feeding a Panasonic DMR-ES15 analog tuner DVD recorder set up under the table in this photo:

It's always rather seemed to me almost pointless to have an onscreen guide if you always have to tune to every channel before it will tell you what's on. I mean, once I tune it in, can't I pretty much see what's on at that point? Anyway, the thought occurred to me that since the box only consumes about 4 watts or so when on, what if I just left the box on? Would it constantly update the guide? Turns out nope. The next morning, it was asking, no telling me, that I had to again tune to the channel in order for the guide to tell me what's playing. Does the guide only stay active for an hour or two, even if you leave the tuner on?

Yes, it does require refreshing now and then, but it has never been a big deal to me, because I get to do it at my convenience. At the start of a commercial, I run through the stations, pausing about 2 seconds on any one subchannel per station, and it's updated. Then I can go back to the channel I'm watching, and look through the now/next list without missing my show when it starts up again. I'm not even sure how often it needs to be refreshed, it seems to vary.

A peculiarity of the Zenith is that now/next is defined by the clock of the station you are on when you press the guide button. I used that to my advantage to see next/next+1 a few minutes before the hour, since I had one station that ran a few minutes fast.

It's always rather seemed to me almost pointless to have an onscreen guide if you always have to tune to every channel before it will tell you what's on. I mean, once I tune it on, can't I pretty much see what's on at that point? Anyway, the thought occurred to me that since the box only consumes about 4 watts or so when on, what if I just left the box on? Would it constantly update the guide? Turns out nope. The next morning, it was asking, no telling me, that I had to again tune to the channel in order for the guide to tell me what's playing. Does the guide only stay active for an hour or two, even if you leave the tuner on?


Now and Upcoming type guide is better than nothing- I'll take that over no data beyond a channel number. Nice to get "details" on programs- to ascertain if the program is a repeat /worth watching.. (without having to view the program)

On the guide requiring updating- I have several different units- from different manufacturers and they require the unit to be run thru the channels to get guide data refreshed.

Apex DT502's
Zinewell ZAT-970A /950A's
Zenith DTT901's
DTVPal Plus's

PS: My favorite unit out of all the CECB's I have is the DTVPal PLus, for it's guide. Very happy with them so far....


.

As a Factory Trained and Authorized servicer I had a lot of info on design and quality control. Did you know that the solder problems on early TVs built in the USA by foreign companies was caused by the refusal of American workers to wear gloves when assembling circuit boards? (since most were women it was declared sexist):

First I've heard of it. I know there was a lot of bad solder caused by the transition to water-soluble flux and more by the switch to RoHS (Ptui!) solder. With the old flux I'm surprised a little bit of finger oil made any difference.

I just repaired a Sony TV manufactured around 1988. One capacitor -- an electrolytic that was part of an always-on rectifier circuit -- failed. Other than that and a broken plastic cover, it's working great. Not bad for a 20 year old set.

No, actually the DTT901 was released in April 2008. I have one.

Zenith started using a different tuner for the 900 in mid-April. If you have a 900 April build, it's easy to tell which tuner you have by looking through the top vents with a flashlight. The earlier Sanyo has a green sticker, the later tuner has a white sticker. I do not recall anybody saying they got a 900 with a build later than April, but by then everyone I know was focused on the 901s. Duly noted. It appears April was a transition month, with some DTT900s and DTT901s being being manufactured. Most retailers didn't offer the newer model until June.

FYI here's a newly-discovered review of the original DTT900 from Audio Audition (http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=4027). Curiously, there's no mention of the audio problems (sibilance and shrillness) which occasionally afflicted the original DTT900 in real-world use.

You may have been thinking about the Insignia -APT unit. I believe I have one of the first and it's got a manufacture month of June, 2008.

You may have been thinking about the Insignia -APT unit. I believe I have one of the first and it's got a manufacture month of June, 2008. DTT901s with an April manufacture date didn't show up in retail distribution in April. The first sightings were in late May and early June. Even as DTT901s showed up at retailers, many stores like Circuit City still stocked DTT900s alongside DTT901s right up until January 2009.

BTW, most DTT900s bought by early adopters (February and March 2008) were manufactured in November/December 2007. There was some lag time in importing and distribution these Chinese-built units. This thread is chock-full of discussion of these fine points.

At least in the Portland area, Circuit City was the one we blamed for the slow introduction of 901s. Zenith apparently gave CC first priority on 901 orders, and CC got themselves a storeroom full, ~138,000, and denied their existence. We knew about the 901s because a store clerk forgot to log off their computer, and somebody looked up the inventory. ;) CC wanted to clear out all the 900s first. Meanwhile stores selling the 901s at discount (BiMart) ordered 200/week but got only 5-10, selling out within an hour of delivery.

CC sat on the 901s for awhile before people started demanding they get the 901s in as a special order. Because they came in lots of 5, one person's special order was how they finally started trickling into CC stores. I am now remembering that Zenith did not make the official announcement right away that they were stopping production of the 900. Even in June CC was selling 900s with the sound problem. Haha, I remember the store clerk told me that was all they had, because it was all the government would send them. He swore their buyers had nothing to do with what CECB they got, it's the government that buys them and sends them to the store. Uh huh.

At least in the Portland area, Circuit City was the one we blamed for the slow introduction of 901s. Zenith apparently gave CC first priority on 901 orders, and CC got themselves a storeroom full, ~138,000, and denied their existence. We knew about the 901s because a store clerk forgot to log off their computer, and somebody looked up the inventory. ;) CC wanted to clear out all the 900s first. Meanwhile stores selling the 901s at discount (BiMart) ordered 200/week but got only 5-10, selling out within an hour of delivery.

CC sat on the 901s for awhile before people started demanding they get the 901s in as a special order. Because they came in lots of 5, one person's special order was how they finally started trickling into CC stores. I am now remembering that Zenith did not make the official announcement right away that they were stopping production of the 900. Even in June CC was selling 900s with the sound problem. Haha, I remember the store clerk told me that was all they had, because it was all the government would send them. He swore their buyers had nothing to do with what CECB they got, it's the government that buys them and sends them to the store. Uh huh.

That brings back memories. The hunt for the DTT901 got pretty intense. Here are four posts of mine that relate to Circuit City's practice of holding back DTT901 models.

This post describes my 6/18/2008 visit to the Jantzen Beach CC where I first learned that more than 13,000 DTT901 models were being held back:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14112022#post14112022

I actually scored my first DTT901 at the Jantzen Beach CC on 6/20/2008 as reported in this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14127216#post14127216

Here is a dumb statement from the Tigard CC reported 6/20/2008:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14128562#post14128562

Two days later I visited the Jantzen Beach CC again. This is when I was able to find out that exactly 13,368 DTT901 models were being held back in the Portland area CC warehouse. Notice my comments concerning the CC "business model" in this 6/22/2008 post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14137949#post14137949

It was 6/28/2008 when I was able to score the second DTT901 at the Gateway CC store:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14180931#post14180931

Four more DTT901 models for my immediate and extended family were purchased by me at BiMart and Kmart.

Ah, Diga, so you were the 13,368 sleth!! Note by ginormous exaggeration, recalling it as 138K boxes. I'm truly ROFL here. Well, it did have a 1 and a 3 and an 8. I'm getting a good laugh over this.

Makes me feel like an old timer, distant memories of the 900 vs the 901. With MaxMedia vaporware thrown in. I found my 901 at BiMart with a couple hours to spare.

Well it finally happened to my March 2008 DTT900 box, a "blue screen of death", or rather a register dump to the screen and subsequent hang-up. It was quite exciting, to say the least. Wasn't there to see it happen, as it is on continuously and feeds the VCR.

Had to unplug the device (as front panel controls were dead) and it later reset without losing any of it's programing/channel info. Nothing special, it was on a subchannel, standard def., no CC, been on that same channel for over a year. Always thought it happened to the other guy, but I guess it may be showing it's age...lol. No biggie, quick reset and it's up and running again. May need to keep an eye on it from now on. :p

Well it finally happened to my March 2008 DTT900 box, a "blue screen of death", or rather a register dump to the screen and subsequent hang-up. It was quite exciting, to say the least. Wasn't there to see it happen, as it is on continuously and feeds the VCR.

Had to unplug the device (as front panel controls were dead) and it later reset without losing any of it's programing/channel info. Nothing special, it was on a subchannel, standard def., no CC, been on that same channel for over a year. Always thought it happened to the other guy, but I guess it may be showing it's age...lol. No biggie, quick reset and it's up and running again. May need to keep an eye on it from now on. :p

Why am I thinking that, if we'd been in the room with you when you discovered this, the first words we'd have heard you say wouldn't have been "this is exciting!"?

This is a valuable reminder to us all that these CECBs aren't really intended to give long-term high-duty cycle service. We may expect to use them that way, but the folks who conjured up the CECB program likely only think of these boxes as an interim solution until folks can get around to upgrading their TVs - or subscription TV service!

Then again, who really expects that their recent model TVs will give them 30 years of service, like some of the 70's and 80's CRT TVs still in service have?

:)

Well it finally happened to my March 2008 DTT900 box, a "blue screen of death", or rather a register dump to the screen and subsequent hang-up. It was quite exciting, to say the least. Wasn't there to see it happen, as it is on continuously and feeds the VCR.

Had to unplug the device (as front panel controls were dead) and it later reset without losing any of it's programing/channel info. Nothing special, it was on a subchannel, standard def., no CC, been on that same channel for over a year. Always thought it happened to the other guy, but I guess it may be showing it's age...lol. No biggie, quick reset and it's up and running again. May need to keep an eye on it from now on. :p

I turn off my 900 and 901 models (connected to the composite inputs on a Panasonic DVD recorder) if there will be a period longer than eighteen hours between recordings. That way the Zs have a chance to catch a few Zs.

Looks like Zenith designed these thing to fail.... :(
My Feb 2008 DTT900 box is starting to go into standby intermittently. (power-off disabled) Also notice some streaking in the picture....like an analog antenna would give with a bad connection, sound is OK until it drops into standby of course.

Wonder which part of the DTT900 is failing the tuner IC that runs hot or the LG processor with flaky solder?

I reseated the power connector, from the PS board to the receiver board, @ the receiver end. My problem went away....8 hrs and still running.

Might not be the only thing malfunctioning. While I was replacing the cover, still powered on (don't recommend this) the audio dropped out several times. I used a screwdriver handle to tap around inside the box and whenever I taped on the tuner tin-can the audio would drop out. Must be something a little loose inside. If I get the nerve to pop the cover I'll report my findings.

I've been trying to decide on a CECB for a few months now. I didn't have an urgent need for one; it would serve as a backup should my Samsung DTBH260F die. Of course I would lose HD but at least I could leverage SD for my ASTC tunerless television.

In the beginning it seemed Zenith (or equivalent) LG-based CECBs were the most popular and highly regarded units. But then they became largely unavailable, or over-priced ($59 at Best Buy). Reviews of other CECBs seem to indicate that a majority are cheaply made, and often prone to overheat. Although net out of pocket for a CECB doesn't amount to much (thanks to government coupon), I didn't want to buy some flimsy device that would die an early death.

I was very close to ordering the Channel Master but I thought it was a bit pricey for my needs. I've seen many reviews bestowing accolades on its picture quality and sensitive tuner; it sounds like this unit is probably the leader of the pack. If I needed a CECB for my primary television I would have went with the Channel Master.

I also thought of the Tivax. Nice reviews, and the Smart antenna port is interesting. The price through amazon.com is also good. But today I went to Kmart. There were two Zenith units on the shelf. Price: $49.99. The manufacture date: March 2009. So with this newly manufactured unit staring me in the face I couldn't resist the purchase (I had the gov't coupon with me).

My impressions:

Firstly, this unit is very solidly constructed. It feels even more substantial than my Samsung DTBH260F which cost $150. I think if you were to whack someone over the head with the Zenith you would crack their skull rather than dent the unit. At least from its physical attributes one senses Zenith didn't rush this to market as a "throw away" item.

Secondly, its user interface, remote and displays are all very logical. Even your grandmother can work this thing.

Picture quality: compared to what my DVDR (with ATSC tuner) produces, the Zenith is comparable. At first glance I thought the picture might be a little less crisp (softer). But on a large screen viewed from several feet away the picture looks fine, probably as good as you could expect using composite video.

Tuner sensitivity: disappointing perhaps. My Samsung STB and DVDR have 5th generation tuners in them. The Zenith presumably has a tuner based on the most current technology. But I could not bring in any more stations with the Zenith; I was hoping for a little better. To be fair, it might be that my hopes were a bit unrealistic.


All the other things like CC and EPG are not of importance to me.

So at any rate, I am very pleased with the Zenith overall. It's seems to be the Toyota of CECBs (..maybe the Channel Master is the BMW?). I can suggest that folks check out Kmart to see if they are indeed stockpiling newly manufactured Zenith units.


_Lazza

Hello, I'm trying to program the Zenith DTT900 remote to turn on our SHARP TV. We had it programmed but for some reason its no responding to the controls. I misplaced our Users Guide and cant find anything online. Can someone please give step by step instructions how to progam this with the codes if necessay.

Hello, I'm trying to program the Zenith DTT900 remote to turn on our SHARP TV. We had it programmed but for some reason its no responding to the controls. I misplaced our Users Guide and cant find anything online. Can someone please give step by step instructions how to progam this with the codes if necessay.

1. While pressing and holding down the TV POWER button, press the CH up or CH down repeatedly until your TV is turned on or off. Each press of CH up or CH down button sends a manufacturer code (1-45) to your TV one after the other.

2. Release TV POWER button when your TV is turned on or off.

1. While pressing and holding down the TV POWER button, press the CH up or CH down repeatedly until your TV is turned on or off. Each press of CH up or CH down button sends a manufacturer code (1-45) to your TV one after the other.

2. Release TV POWER button when your TV is turned on or off.

Thanks for the quick response DD, :thumbup:

Were there any DTT900's with a Sanyo tuner that did not have the sibilance problem? Many users have reported that the Sanyo tuner has slightly more sensitivity than the LG tuner.

Were there any DTT900's with a Sanyo tuner that did not have the sibilance problem? Many users have reported that the Sanyo tuner has slightly more sensitivity than the LG tuner.

If I recall correctly I believe the Sanyo tuners were last reported in DTT900 production of February or March 2008. There was some mention that the sibilance was corrected during late March 2008 production but that may not have been verified.

DTT900 models produced in April 2008 no longer had sibilance issues but there remained a disparity between stereo and mono gain levels.

I recently gave away a LG-tunered DTT900 of April 2008 manufacture. The main board of that DTT900 is pictured below. The side by side photo shows DTT900 and DTT901 models, both of April 2008 manufacture.

The April 2008 DTT900 models were the last produced prior to the changeover to DTT901 production beginning in April 2008.

All DTT901 models have a LG tuner, corrected audio with no gain disparity between mono and stereo. (I have a DTT901 of April 2008 production but it is not currently in use.)

I did a side by side comparison when the 901's first came out and IMO the PQ and even reception were basically the same. Very good reception on both and good PQ on both.

Topic title changed.

I went on vacation for eight days, and when I came back, one of my two Insignia/Zenith DTT901's lost it's memory. All the unwanted channels I had blocked were unblocked, and the zoom setting was back to "normal" instead of "zoom" for my 3:2 TV. I had to go back in and deselect each unwanted channel again, and reset the zoom mode for each channel. Nobody had access to the tuner to screw it up while I was away. Anybody had this happen, or know why?

We have two BestBuy Insignia converter boxes (Zenith private label). One we leave one all the time the other is on a computer that gets turned on/off each day. Have not had any problem with them forgetting settings. Sounds like nonvolitile memory in the box got corrupted.

The only weird thing we've seen is with the remote. It can be programmed to turn TV on/off. It forgets if you need to change the battery with is to be expected but it seems to forget at other times.

/tom

Only problem I've had with one is the blue light doesn't come on any more. Which is just fine - one less distraction.

I have 2 900's .... one feeding a ReplayTV the whole system on an UPS. The other in the bedroom TV. (no UPS) Occasionally the one in the bedroom will be in the off-mode and I have to turn it on again. I can't say for sure that a power "bump" or "brown-out" causes this....but I can say after a power failure it will.

I have 2 900's .... The other in the bedroom TV. (no UPS) Occasionally the one in the bedroom will be in the off-mode and I have to turn it on again. I can't say for sure that a power "bump" or "brown-out" causes this....but I can say after a power failure it will.

I can confirm this to be a subtle annoyance with these.
I live in an area that does something with "The Grid" early every mourning that causes a very short brown-out glitch.

I had to add larger electrolytic capacitors to the internal supply to stop that annoyance.

A legitimate power outage did not cause it, only the grid switch (Or whatever they did every mourning).

They saved a penny on a larger capacitor,
and released an unstable power supply for logic board usage as result.

WeThePeople which capacitor did you replace in the power supply?

FWIW, here is a photo of an April 2008 DTT900 model's power board:

WeThePeople which capacitor did you replace in the power supply?


Sadly, both the DTT-900 and the DTT-901 would not work in my area,
even though the CM-7000 would.
hence I no longer own them (Traded one Zenith for my second CM-7000).

But if you open DigiDo's pic from the post between your question and this answer.
In the upper left part of that pic you'll see the four diodes that make up a full wave rectifier bridge.

I pulled a pair of leads off of the positive and negative terminals of the electrolytic capacitor
those diodes feed to a large computer capacitor mounted off-board.
Most likely that largest radial mount cap. to their right.

I know...overkill...

That, if I recall correctly, wasn't the service voltage of the unit.
It was a rectified version of the line current that fed a charge-pump style PWM regulator.

So note the voltage rating on that cap. to be sure...



Hope that helps.

Damn, the same DTT901 just did it again. It didn't respond to the initial power-on command. On second attempt when it turned on, it didn't lose it's channel memory, but all the zoom settings were once again panned out, forcing me to zoom every single channel again.

Damn, the same DTT901 just did it again. It didn't respond to the initial power-on command. On second attempt when it turned on, it didn't lose it's channel memory, but all the zoom settings were once again panned out, forcing me to zoom every single channel again.

I think you can reset them all at once by selecting your preference in the menu. Then you'd just need to change the aspect ratio on any channels you want a different way.

I think you can reset them all at once by selecting your preference in the menu. Then you'd just need to change the aspect ratio on any channels you want a different way.

Do you know which area of the menu? I don't recall ever seeing such a setting. Thanks.

Do you know which area of the menu? I don't recall ever seeing such a setting. Thanks.


Menu....Option....Aspect Ratio -- and then select the one you want.

I went on vacation for eight days, and when I came back, one of my two Insignia/Zenith DTT901's lost it's memory. All the unwanted channels I had blocked were unblocked, and the zoom setting was back to "normal" instead of "zoom" for my 3:2 TV. I had to go back in and deselect each unwanted channel again, and reset the zoom mode for each channel. Nobody had access to the tuner to screw it up while I was away. Anybody had this happen, or know why? If the unit is turned off and unused for a week or more, you need to restore the Zenith's memory.

OK, my Zenith DTT 900/901/Insignia boxes have been hacked/boards swapped so many times for various reasons, I lost track of what was actually in each box. Last night I noticed the guide on one of my units was off by an hour, so I went in to the menu to adjust the time. Found out that the time can't be adjusted, but the daylight savings time feature could be switched to off, which made the clock and guide correct. (It had been on "auto" which should have been correct, but...???) I also noticed the picture could be seen through the menmu screen, which was semi-transparent.

Then I went into the other room to adjust the clock on my other Zenith. I found the menu screen solid (could not see the picture through the menu) and there was no daylight savings time adjustment feature. I assume the first box was the newer DTT901, and the one without the DST adjust feature and solid menu screen is the earlier DTT900? Adjusting DST on the first one got the job done, but what about the DTT900? How do you adjust the actual clock on it, or either one, for that matter? Is it set by the incoming signal, with no way to over ride it? If so, why is the clock off by an hour, which makes the guide wrong, too? Thanks.

OK, my Zenith DTT 900/901/Insignia boxes have been hacked/boards swapped so many times for various reasons, I lost track of what was actually in each box. Last night I noticed the guide on one of my units was off by an hour, so I went in to the menu to adjust the time. Found out that the time can't be adjusted, but the daylight savings time feature could be switched to off, which made the clock and guide correct. (It had been on "auto" which should have been correct, but...???) I also noticed the picture could be seen through the menmu screen, which was semi-transparent.

Then I went into the other room to adjust the clock on my other Zenith. I found the menu screen solid (could not see the picture through the menu) and there was no daylight savings time adjustment feature. I assume the first box was the newer DTT901, and the one without the DST adjust feature and solid menu screen is the earlier DTT900? Adjusting DST on the first one got the job done, but what about the DTT900? How do you adjust the actual clock on it, or either one, for that matter? Is it set by the incoming signal, with no way to over ride it? If so, why is the clock off by an hour, which makes the guide wrong, too? Thanks.

Change the time zone. Problem solved.

I had a similar problem with my Hitachi VCR, started when the gov't moved DST dates. I think I was able to go back to Auto after all was said and done (until next time!).

Like you said. Change time zone, problem "solved."

Hello.

Does anyone know why Zenith DTT900 (4/2008) converter boxes (have a few) like to forget channels and require rescans? This is in Los Angeles, CA, USA area.

Thank you in advance. :)

Hello.

Does anyone know why Zenith DTT900 (4/2008) converter boxes (have a few) like to forget channels and require rescans? This is in Los Angeles, CA, USA area.

Thank you in advance. :)

By forget, do you mean that the "virtual" channel number is no longer there, or does the channel no longer show a picture?

Even post digital transition date on June 2009, viewers are encouraged to rescan regularly as the stations will be upgrading their transmitters, changing antenna positions, and even changing back to their "original" channel frequency. The virtual channel number will not change, so a rescan is required.

I have not heard of the NVM losing it "memory". Do you have occasional power outages or surges in your area?

The rule of the day is to resan often... or until the digital dust settles.

By forget, do you mean that the "virtual" channel number is no longer there, or does the channel no longer show a picture?

Even post digital transition date on June 2009, viewers are encouraged to rescan regularly as the stations will be upgrading their transmitters, changing antenna positions, and even changing back to their "original" channel frequency. The virtual channel number will not change, so a rescan is required.

I have not heard of the NVM losing it "memory". Do you have occasional power outages or surges in your area?

The rule of the day is to resan often... or until the digital dust settles.Well, it requires a rescan to find those missing channels. They are using connected to rabbit ears antennae. Why rescan so often?

My computer's HDTV tuner cards and dTV Pal did not require rescans since they remember them. BTW, we live in Los Angeles area.

Don't know about your tuner card, but the DTV Pal picks up and adds in new channels automatically (I've heard of at least a few CECB's that doing that - both my Pal and CM7000 do). I don't recall the Zenith ever doing that when I had one.

The rule of the day is to resan often... or until the digital dust settles.

No way :eek:! I can't imagine going through the tedious pain of having to redo my user settings every time.

Hello.

Does anyone know why Zenith DTT900 (4/2008) converter boxes (have a few) like to forget channels and require rescans? This is in Los Angeles, CA, USA area.

Thank you in advance. :)

I had a similar thing happen with a Zenith DTT901 that I set up for someone else.

It only happened once during a day when I know that the station was off the air doing antenna work.

That channel disappeared from the channel list and required a rescan to get it back.

No way :eek:! I can't imagine going through the tedious pain of having to redo my user settings every time.A rescan does not undo your other settings, unless instead of a simple rescan you redo the initial setup.

A rescan does not undo your other settings, unless instead of a simple rescan you redo the initial setup.

They said "rescan" which made me think of a total scan vs an update/add scan. They being the poster with the problem Zenith and the first replier.

Of course both scan methods will depend on the box*, some being more forgiving than others. My Zinwells add back my deleted channels and mess up my Favorites even on an update scan. My Artec is fairly new to me, I just tried the update and it did as you described (deleted channels stayed deleted but it has no favorites function); Artecs are thought to be Zentih clones. I think my CM brings back deleted channels on an update but keeps my Favorites intact.

*I know it's a Zenith thread but the replier was speaking in general terms.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbo DV8
Damn, the same DTT901 just did it again. It didn't respond to the initial power-on command. On second attempt when it turned on, it didn't lose it's channel memory, but all the zoom settings were once again panned out, forcing me to zoom every single channel again.


I think you can reset them all at once by selecting your preference in the menu. Then you'd just need to change the aspect ratio on any channels you want a different way.

Nope. It just did it again. When you go into the menu and change the aspect ration, it only changes it for the channel being viewed at the time. Real PITA, these things just keep spontaneously turning on/off by themselves, unlocking blocked channels and resetting zoom modes.

My Durabrand tv once misinterpreted very bad reception as encryption and therefore autodeleted the channel. A rescan (after adjusting the antenna) was required to get it back.

My Dad's DTT-900 box stopped working a couple of days ago. Are there any ways for a user to diagnose and repair a "dead" DTT-900?

Are there any ways for a user to diagnose and repair a "dead" DTT-900?
How dead?

1) If you are using RF out could it be as simple as the TVnot tuned to Channel 3/4?

2) Does the power light come on? If not probably bad power supply. Try plugging it into a know good outlet.

3) Could it just be the remote? Dead battery?


4) The box has both RF and composite outputs. Try the other one.

If you've tried all the above then I'd suspect either a fuse or electrolytic capacitor in the power supply. The fuse probably wouldn't be too bad to replace but the cap would require some soldering, generally caps are <$5 and closer to a couple bucks. Look for any bulging or leaking caps.
Wow, this thread hadn't been posted to for almost 1 1/2 years:eek:

If you've tried all the above then I'd suspect either a fuse or electrolytic capacitor in the power supply. The fuse probably wouldn't be too bad to replace but the cap would require some soldering, generally caps are <$5 and closer to a couple bucks. Look for any bulging or leaking caps.
Wow, this thread hadn't been posted to for almost 1 1/2 years:eek:

Here are photos of the power supply and main circuit boards found in a DTT900:

I just acquired two Zenith DTT900 (3/2008 & 4/2008) for my two old TiVo Series 2 connected to my old standard def CRT TV.
The Menu > Option settings have two prefs: "TV Aspect Ratio," which I set to "Normal TV (4:3)," and "Aspect Ratio," which can be set to one of four options:
- Set By Program
- Letter Box
- Cropped
- Squeezed
...when a widescreen program is broadcast, but when a 4:3 program is broadcast, it says "Aspect ratio cannot be changed on this channel."
My problem is that when it lands on a channel with a widescreen program being broadcast, it often, but not always, selects the wrong one, such as "Squeezed" instead of "Letter Box." I hate, hate, HATE the horizontally compressed distortion, and I'm usually not there to change it manually when my TiVo records. If I go into the Option settings and choose "Letter Box," it doesn't stick, and the next time, a channel with a widescreen program will go back to "Set By Program" and it'll often be wrong again. (Does the AFD signal from the local TV station distinguish a widescreen program between Letter Box and Squeezed?) In any event, how do I force my Zenith DTT900 to always use "Letter Box" for widescreen broadcasts?

With my Zenith DTT900's and their Best Buy twin from Insignia, if I set a channel on Letter Box (or Squeezed), it stays that way forever - UNTIL I do a complete rescan. At that point all channels scanned are reset to "Set By Program."

If I just "Add Digital Channels", the ones already scanned remain as I had set them.

Harry

I recently dusted off and used my DTT900 CECB while evaluating the Mohu Leaf antenna, and wanted to mention that this converter box really has a great combination of functionality and performance. The 480i picture quality is very good. If you are looking on the used market for a converter box, the Zenith DTT900 and DTT901 (and their Insignia counterparts) remain among the best performing units made.

Thanks, HGN2001, you seem to be saying that the Aspect Ratio setting is by individual channel, not overall. That didn't occur to me. I've just excruciatingly gone through all channels on both of my boxes and set the ones I could (widescreen programs at the time) to "Letter Box." It'll probably take at least a day to see if they hold in practice, and I'll come back here and report my findings. (Sheesh, the instruction manual is useless!) ...
Thanks again, HGN2001!

Thanks, HGN2001, you seem to be saying that the Aspect Ratio setting is by individual channel, not overall.

I have an Artec which is a Zenith clone, from what I've seen on these forums the menus are identical. Having said that I've been able to make the aspect stick for all channels in the main menu. There was something weird about making it stick and I don't know exactly what it was but I do remember I had to try it in the main menu on a few different stations before it took hold (the different stations previously had different aspect settings using just the remote's aspect button so that may be clue). Afterwards I could go back and change individual stations without affecting the other stations by using the aspect button on the remote (i.e. don't go into the main menu on a station by station basis). The manual for the Artec was useless as well.

It would be greatly appreciated if anyone could come-up with what hoops must be jumped through to get the "Aspect Ratio" setting from the main Options menu to apply overall to all channels.

Right now, if you just set it, it only affects the single channel one happens to be on at the time, which really threw me for a loop because I naturally thought, being in the main settings menu, that it was a global setting, so I was setting it to "Set By Program" — aaarrgghh! (And thereafter, as Floydage pointed out, the setting applied from the "Zoom" button on the remote control would stick only on a channel-by-channel basis.) This would greatly reduce the tedious burden after a full rescan as a starting point for reapplying the aspect ratios of the individual channels. What's the trick?

OK, the "Aspect Ratio" setting for sure gets remembered by individual channel, whether set in both the main Option settings or with the "Zoom" button on the remote control.

Still would like to know the trick how Floydage was somehow able to force an overall global setting for all channels in one fell swoop in the main Option dialog, e.g., set all channels to "Letter Box." But I guess I still would have to go through and set all the channels one-by-one, anyway.

Anyway, glad I've got it all working on a practical level now. Academically, however, I'm still curious as to why, when a channel's "Aspect Ratio" setting is set to "Set By Program," it often chooses the ugly "Squeezed" instead of "Letter Box" when a widescreen program is running. Does the AFD (Active Format Description (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Format_Description)) signal from the local TV station distinguish a widescreen program between Letter Box and Squeezed? Or does the Zenith DTT900 think it's "doing us a favor" by choosing the "Squeezed" setting for us so we don't have to "suffer" the black bars on the top & bottom of letterbox?

Academically, however, I'm still curious as to why, when a channel's "Aspect Ratio" setting is set to "Set By Program," it often chooses the ugly "Squeezed" instead of "Letter Box" when a widescreen program is running. Does the AFD (Active Format Description (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Format_Description)) signal from the local TV station distinguish a widescreen program between Letter Box and Squeezed?

My guess is this is the case. Squeezed is 16:9 for a widescreen, it's just squeezed by the converter box. Letterbox is generated by the converter box, as well as all of the settings, to fit onto a 4:3 set (i.e. letterbox isn't a widescreen mode). I think the reason they did squeezed was because some widescreen monitors did not have ATSC tuners either (although I have seen a few movies on non-network stations that reformat properly when I used squeezed). I recently acquired a Panasonic widescreen CRT and the best fit I got was when I used squeezed and set the Panny to Full; letterbox works but I can't get as good a fit and geometry.

Aha, they had to make it fit the media:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_widescreen