My local CellShack.. Sorry, I meant "Radio Shack" now has the DTX9900's in stock. They were still in the back and I had to ask for it. Hope to get to test it tonite.

Saw it at my closest one too - can you check on analog passthrough ?

Not surprised that RS is carrying it, since their Accurian ATSC tuner was just a rebadged Digital Stream.

Guided set up is simple and easy. Box works very well.

No analog pass thru. No external update port. No S-Video. Typical cheap, small, remote, Bigger than others, but still small. Granny doesn't like that.

Excellent video quality. And, the OSD is HUGE, bigger than most. Granny likes that. EPG shows 5 events at a time. Better than the others so far. Aspect ratio defaults to zoom, all other settings available. Handles multiple audios just fine. Caption works fine. Nice big signal meter, but no audible feedback like the Zenith-Insignia.

Has a selection for cable tuning, but it is ONLY for ATSC on cable,
which is extremely rare. It did NOT see any of the clear QAM channels here.

Hard to test RF here, with my outdoor square shooter it gets the exact same channels as the other 3 I have tested. I need to bring home a silver sensor and try the boxes with the antenna inside.

So far, my pick is the Zenith Insignia, only because of the remote. I like the big OSD and EPG better on this box. One beef with the EPG tho.. It does NOT show the V-Chip rating of the events.

Nevermind - I didn't read close...

What does "clear" QAM mean? If you scanned the ATSC cable band with an antenna hooked up would you pull any ATSC broadcast channels on the "cable" band? I have done this on my NTSC QAM and got analog TV stations to scan on the QAM as "cable".

And, the OSD is HUGE, bigger than most.


What does "OSD" mean?


Caption works fine.


Is there a CC button on the remote control? If yes, what shows up when you press the button? The menu for the CC button of the Insignia is badly designed since it steps through EVERYTHING before it goes to "off." That means six "Services," four "CCs", four "Texts." In contrast, the CC button for my Sharp HDTV gives me: "On, Off, On with Mute." Either that kind of menu or the interactive menu for the digital captions would make better sense, I think.

Are there digital captions available with this converter box? This box probably automatically passes through CC data to your analog TV; that's not the same as the digital captions you can set up from the Insignia CB, for example. The Insignia offers 8 fonts, but some of them are thin and a strain to read. Font 6 from the Insignia is terrible, for example, but fortunately there are a couple of decent font choices.



So far, my pick is the Zenith Insignia, only because of the remote.

What's the difference in the remote controls between the two? All converter boxes are supposed to come with one.


Dana

"Clear QAM" - on cable systems, the modulation that cable is using for most digital is QAM. However, most "cable" type channels are encrypted. "Clear" QAM is usually the local digital stations.

OSD - On Screen Display - like of the EPG (Electronic program guide) and other features (like signal meters).

got a dtx, but it seems the zenith dtt900 is better?
the dtx is certainly ugly design for the box.

how does a return with the radio shack work if one used a $40 coupon?
or is it even possible?

got a dtx, but it seems the zenith dtt900 is better?
the dtx is certainly ugly design for the box.

how does a return with the radio shack work if one used a $40 coupon?
or is it even possible?

Can you say why it's better? Better at channel surfing? Better at receiving signals?

i dunno, avsforum peeps seem to think the lg chipset is better? if not better they just gush over it i guess.

i have no idea. it does work ok, and on the 27" inch and image quality looks fine. i guess i'll probably keep it and wait before i use my second coupon.

i have a roof antenna, and i gotta say,the digital reception is superior to the analog by far. even the clearest of my analog channels didn't really touch the digital level of clean image. now its like everything is a dvd:P plus every channel has a buncha subchannels which is quite nice.

the only thing that ticks me off is there is no passthrough for vcrs and such.
but i guess the zenith/insignia doesn't have it either.

my current problem is finding the correct code for the remote so it can turn the tv on. the pdfs on the radioshacksite are only very basic setup

Mostly gushing....ALL CECB boxes have 6th Gen chips that can run circles around most HDTVs....

We're still waiting for enough boxes to hit the street to do meaningful comparison tests...
I think we're only seeing those few boxes that were quickly rushed to stores to meet
NTIA's photo op schedule...

ok my silly test:)

using the trusty ol kill-a-watt

off= 0~ watts
on =5 watts regardless of channel type

its not a power hog:)
guess it deserves its energystar rating!

got a dtx, but it seems the zenith dtt900 is better?
the dtx is certainly ugly design for the box.

how does a return with the radio shack work if one used a $40 coupon?
or is it even possible?

I can't say for sure the Zenith is better... because I have not tested the DTX, but I do know the Zenith works very well.

However, if you feel you'd be happier with the Zenith, Radio Shack sells both boxes, it's only a matter of finding a Radio Shack with a Zenith in stock. Take the DTX with your sales slip and your should be able to swap out for the Zenith without any real cost difference.

Bob Diaz

damn, hope the echo star comes out sooner
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/22/echostars-tr-40-dtv-converter-box-not-available-til-june-jul/
it has pass through

well i returned exchanged for a real zenith.
the difference is a bit stark in overall presentation.
the zenith is metal case instead of plastic, decently styled and packed with a bit of care. has composite cables and coaxial instead of just coax, and the remote uses 1aaa instead of 2. the remote is more narrow but it is better labeled whereas the digital stream just seemed like an odd generic product which would be fine, except they are charging the same price as the zenith/insignia. plus theres a setup wizard for the zenith, not that big a difference but its probably helpful for some. and the program schedule data is better. program info is better, the subtitles are better, and the signal meter is better. the sleep timer/autoshutoff is convenient. its just more polished in general.

be careful where you spend your coupon. there are no returns, just exchanges.if they don't have the model you need at that store you are a bit up the creek.

The last several years, I have had little to no interest in OTA reception (except by necessity, such as during power outages). Nevertheless, I was very curious to see what could be done with DTV on a minimal budget in a situation with more minuses than pluses. (A summary that could well describe many of the folks who will be dealing with the transition.) Having a small 13” analog set by my bed (used primarily for viewing DVDs), I figured if I could also access the area DTV signals, that could give me something else to help pass the time during my frequent spells of insomnia.

The TV is a several years old Durabrand that was originally purchased for about $60 on sale. The DTV converter is a Digital Stream DTX9900, purchased with a $40 coupon at Radio Shack, so total outlay there about 24 bucks with tax. (I wanted the Zenith, but the local RS stores haven't gotten them yet. I figured to take a chance on the DTX9900, and planned to just exchange it if there were problems.) And the antenna is a $10 Philips passive UHF/VHF combo with a 12-position “fine tuning” knob. Yup – we are really talking “on the cheap” here.

The main advantage to my location (suburban Orlando, Florida) is that I am less than 20 miles from the vast majority of the local DTV transmitters, and most of them also lie in the same direction. There is also, however, a major disadvantage. I am in a 55+ mobile home community (I live here as caretaker for my elderly mother) that borders another mobile home community. So, we are talking a sea of metal as far as the eye can see.

The antenna was set up in my bedroom window, which faces just about due north. Most of the area transmitters are on about a 60 degree heading, so they are at least within view of the window.

First, about the DTX9900. In general, it seems to perform well, and is fairly easy to setup and use…..IF you are of average to moderate intelligence. I can see how some aspects might be confusing to, say, an elderly person, or perhaps a person with little education. The remote gives one-button access to such features as the EPG, CC, signal meter, etc. The signal meter is a horizontal bar graph showing a scale of 0 to 100, divided into three areas of red (poor signal), yellow (acceptable), and green (best). In most cases, I find a reading of at least 40-45 (solidly in the yellow) is needed to produce a stable signal. Below about 40 you start to see some pixelization, and when you get down to about 30 or less, you’re totally SOL. The meter is a bit slow, lagging a few seconds behind what you see happening on the screen.

I set up the unit, and let it do a scan for signals. The results were almost exactly what I had predicted based on research (TV Fool and other sites) and having previously observed the strength and stability of the DTV “snow” displayed on the analog set. You can then edit the list of found channels through the menu. You then subsequently may do a new rescan, wiping out these saved channels, or an update that will only scan the previously unlogged channels to look for new signals (leaving what you have already saved intact). It does NOT, however, let you manually enter an RF channel as do several of the other brands of converters – this is one of the only features lacking on this box that I would have liked to have had. (The DXing crowd won’t like this box as a result…)

The result is 12 stations (transmitting a total of about 30 sub-channels) that are stable enough to watch on a regular basis, covering almost all the commercial networks (ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox/CW/MyTV), an independent, three PBS stations (more on that later) and a few religious channels (of no special interest to me). 2 or 3 of these have some occasional light breakups, but can be remedied with the “fine tuning” knob on the El Cheapo antenna. (Fortunately, it seems to have a “sweet spot” of 3 adjacent positions that handle all the stations I want to view.) The only area stations that are unusable are the ones I predicted – the ION affiliate (fortunately, I can live without seeing the umpteenth rerun of “Mama’s Family”) and the Telefutura affiliate can’t be found at all, no doubt because they lie in a more southeasterly direction (i.e., right through the mobile home) and are a bit more distant. The Univision affiliate lies almost due north, but is a bit further than the others and not terribly high power. (The signal is “found” by the unit, but just can’t be stabilized enough to watch.) If they increase power come 2/19/08, I may be in luck; else I will just have to rely on cable if I want to practice my Spanish skills watching the telenovelas. :p

Several stations come out WAY ahead in the analog vs. digital race, chiefly because of better transmitter sites for their DTV facilities. One example is WESH, the NBC affiliate licensed to Daytona Beach. Because of the restrictions that place their analog site about 30 miles distant (to be closer to Daytona and also protect WPBT in Miami), as well as the usual combo of ambient electrical noise and summer skip that plagues the lowest channel, WESH has traditionally been a wash for those using bunny ears in Orlando. The digital transmitter, on ch. 11 (the only VHF DTV around here) and located closer on one of the same antenna “farms” as most area stations, puts a good solid signal in here. Likewise, two fringe PBS stations – WCEU (licensed to New Smyrna Beach) and WBCC (licensed to Cocoa) -- while both available on cable, have almost no presence here on indoor antennas. Their digital facilities, like WESH relocated to the local farms, provide excellent signals.

Picture quality is excellent – certainly far better than even the strongest and most stable analog signal. HD programs look great, even downconverted to 480i. Aspect ratios can be changed “on the fly” with a dedicated button on the remote. (I prefer full 16:9 where available – I don’t mind the borders, and I prefer seeing the entire image.) Haven’t really played much with the CC option yet, so I can’t comment on that. The EPG is minimal, but somewhat useful; that is, when the station uses it. (WMFE, the local PBS, doesn’t have it programmed yet. Neither does a certain favorite subchannel that will be mentioned later.) :mad:

Yes, even a small, simple antenna stuck even 10-15' up outside would probably clear up what few minor reception issues there are. But I don’t have the money (we are quite “economically challenged”) nor the physical aptitude (bad feet, bad knee, etc. -- ladders and I don't get along) to bother messing with it right now. This setup is not bad considering the low expense and effort involved. Overall, my experience has been just about what I expected.

Oh, and one subchannel will be getting a lot of viewing from me. WRDQ (the local indie) recently put RTN (Retro Television Network) on a subchannel. High quality prints of classic 60’s and 70’s shows – comedies, dramas, all the QM detective shows, etc. It’s kind of like what TVLand used to be. Being a middle-aged dude who just turned 50, these shows are very comforting nostalgia to watch as I plunge headlong into my old age. ;)

Nicely written review, Stanislav. Though I do object strenuously to you referring to yourself as plunging headlong into your old age, especially since you seem to be within a year of my own age! :D

I do hope you'll let us know whether the digital closed captioning has a caption preview that immediately shows the changes you make in the captions, what you think of the legibility of the different caption fonts, and what pushing the CC button actually does (i.e., what kind of menu it brings up).

If you can post on that here, then I can link to it from the other thread I've set up on "Evaluating digital to analog converter boxes for users of captioning" at:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=997022

Your input would certainly be valued there as well, of course.


Dana "forever younger than you are" Mulvany ;)

Since we don't know what chip and tuner is used in the DTX-9900, could someone remove
the cover and let us know the part numbers for the biggest chip(s) and "tin-can" tuner?

Pictures wouldn't hurt either....incl rear panel...

damn, hope the echo star comes out sooner
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/22/echostars-tr-40-dtv-converter-box-not-available-til-june-jul/
it has pass through
The Maxmedia will have pass through. i was e-mailed the info from them directly

Turns out you CAN directly enter an RF channel on the DTX9900. (You just have to read the fine print in the manual.) :rolleyes: Good thing I did, because it is not obvious and is quite cumbersome. The number pad has a dot/period button that is used as a dash when you want to go directly to a particular subchannel. If you hit the dot FIRST, then a channel number, it will tune to that RF channel. If it finds a signal, it will add it to the channel edit list, but not automatically enable it to be selected with channel up/down -- you have to deliberately "add" the channel from the edit list. If you want to then delete that channel from the edit list, it appears it won;t go away until you do a new scan. Ay yi yi.

If anyone with the Digital Stream owns a recorder with an IR blaster, will you check and see if the tuner can be controlled using a Pioneer cable box code like the last HD tuners they made could be?

There are a few people here looking for that ability, and they would sure be interested in knowing if the DS is capable or not.

I Have pictures Of the DTX9900. I Just Bought from Radioshack. Here is a link to see them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/sets/72157604087943747/show/
OK I've updated some photos so that there not so blury

BTW, just to update my review above.....once I played with the antenna placement and adjustment, I find that although it is the weakest signal I can resolve (peaks in the 30-40 range on the 0-100 scale), the Univision affiliate (WVEN) is viewable about 90% of the time, plus they carry co-owned WOTF (Telefutura) on a sub-channel. (I assume the reverse is true of WOTF itself, which I cannot pick up -- the two transmitters are at opposite ends of the market, so perhaps they hedge their bets by placing both networks on both stations). So I can still practice my Español, heh. After finalizing the antenna position and which of the "fine tuning" settings work best, I rarely experience any dropouts on the other channels now. So actually a total of 14 stations with a total of 34 main and secondary channels -- not bad for a $10 antenna in the window of a mobile home. (Of course, to be honest, not ALL subchannels are created equally -- MyTV affiliate WRBW has just color bars on its second channel, WCEU has a "test" channel with nothing on it yet, etc. But, still...) A few of the locals hover in the 90+ range on the signal strength meter -- again, we're talking absolutely minimal antenna power and about 17 miles from most of the transmitters. On analog, of these 14 channels, with the same antenna, maybe half a dozen are strong, 2 or 3 others weak and/or beset with ghosting and multi-path, and the rest unwatchable. On digital, they are all rock-solid.

The various functions of the remote and the menus become second nature once you have used them for a few days. The box itself is well-ventilated (lots of holes on top) and only becomes moderately warm after several hours of use, so there hopefully won't be any overheating problems as has been reported with some other brands. My only complaint about the remote is that is is supposed to be able to also control the TV set on/off and volume, but after trying all the codes (you cycle through about 150 of them to find the right one), none of them seem to work with my set. (I believe someone else reported the same problem.)

The picture quality is far superior to any analog signal, whether OTA or on analog cable -- basically DVD quality which is plenty good enough for me. (Higher definition is, to me, overkill -- I really don't need to see every pore on Katie Couric's face.) :rolleyes:

I Have pictures Of the DTX9900. I Just Bought from Radioshack. Here is a link to see them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/sets/72157604087943747/show/
Verry blurry...does your camera have a macro mode?
And the more light the better (e.g. outdoors is good).
If you use a flash, angle it off to the side a little to
prevent flash from bouncing right back at the camera.

I guess you're reluctant to pop the cover off....
Maybe someone else can jot down the big chip/tuner part numbers....

I Just added new photos so recheck them out

Verry blurry...does your camera have a macro mode?
And the more light the better (e.g. outdoors is good).
If you use a flash, angle it off to the side a little to
prevent flash from bouncing right back at the camera.

I guess you're reluctant to pop the cover off....
Maybe someone else can jot down the big chip/tuner part numbers....

I wish I could answer you question about what chip, but the girlfriends doesn't want here the box broke after she just paid $74.00 to get the box. & I know about the $40 coupon & haven't recieved it yet.

I have just purchased one of these units at RS. After popping off the cover, I have found an LG chip in it. The details are:

LG Electronics
LGTD1111D
0744
P33738.00

The tuner (silver box) details are:

UBA00AL
LOT FUK0
SANYO

Since I do not have anything better than a cheapie webcam, a photo may not be of much help. BUT, I will try.

Now, After installing this box, and setting the output to channel 4 (Here in St. Pete/Tampa we have WEDU on channel 3) I do not even get the OSD. I know the box sees the IR from the remote, as the indicator flashes. My problem is like Stanislav's, not much of a budget. So, I wonder, does the unit need to have an antenna connected, and go through an initial channel scan before the OSD shows up. Any one???

After some experimentation, I have a few photos. They were taken with s $20 web cam, so please do not flame me for the quality.

I left a couple of posts on this unit. It seems that my uploaded pictures don't show up!

Send me an email to bfilipiak at gmail dot com (do not need to be spammed anymore) and I will send them to you. Total size about 1.3 mb

I left a couple of posts on this unit. It seems that my uploaded pictures don't show up!

Send me an email to bfilipiak at gmail dot com (do not need to be spammed anymore) and I will send them to you. Total size about 1.3 mb
have you tried uploading them to a flickr account?

So has anyone tried to find out yet if a Pioneer cable box code will control this tuner like it did Digital Stream's last, HD ATSC ones?

This info would be very important to know for those with old recorders with IR blasters.

Anyone with a universal remote out there willing to take a few minutes and try?

I left a couple of posts on this unit. It seems that my uploaded pictures don't show up!

Send me an email to bfilipiak at gmail dot com (do not need to be spammed anymore) and I will send them to you. Total size about 1.3 mb

Since you have a Gmail account, you can easily download Picasa software from http://picasa.google.com, use your Gmail account info for your new Picasa account, and upload the pictures to an online public album at your new online account. I use Picasa myself and find it quite useful.

Check out this review.....................

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/DTVconverters.html

:) Good job on the reviews, guys. Just wanted to ask a favor of the Digital Stream DTX-9900 owners. Can someone do a quick test of receiving a digital channel broadcasting Digital Dolby 5.1 audio (typically Prime Time network shows). IIRC, the DTX-9900 appears to have the same chip as the Zenith/Insignia CECBs.

LG Electronics
LGTD1111D

The Zenith/Insignia owners have reported that the left audio channel has some "distortion", ONLY when receiving Digital Dolby 5.1 sound. The right channel appears to be fine. I know it's a different design, but this may eliminate the chip as the problem. Thanks in advance for your efforts. :D

I just used my first coupon to pick one of these up from Radio Shack in 18603, PA, USA. Last/only one they had too. Sadly, when monkeying with it at my in-laws, I left the remote behind; now that I am home, I can do nothing but sit and look at the red power light until my wife gets done repainting the kitchen with her mother (oh joy!) and brings it home with her.

In what little playing I did there (and again here at home), I would have to say that I'm liking it more than I thought I would. I was turned off by the Now/Next only EPG, I wanted one with more than that but didn't want to wait. Nice and small, but it does feel flimsy being all plastic. OSD I find nice, especially in that it says "Weak Signal" if you decide to be goofy and just scroll the RF channels (Thanks Stanislav for the direct tune tip!).

My in-laws are on satellite, so they have no need, and nothing set up as antenna; I was playing around with a raw section of co-ax dangling about their living room as an antenna and having the box find 'weak signal.' I can't wait to try it with the rabbit ears my wife and I use now!

We're not big TV people, but there are a few shows she likes - I mainly use the TV for games.

There's a minimum number of posts (Q: how many?) before you can post urls & attachments.

And when you get to the attachment upload menu, you'll see there are SIZE limits.

First, thanks to dmulvaney for pointing me toward Picasa. I have created an 'album' of 6 photos (sorry but one is a duplicate). For each one, there are comments, but not always a caption.

Second, thanks to DigitalTorque, I read that review. IMHO, the GE/Jasco unit only brings "design (appearance) to life". (Swipe at GE ad tagline - we 'bring things to life').

Third, for those who wish to see what the inside looks like, here is the public folder:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900

Last, to holl_ands, I did notice the size limit (500KB) the 1.3 Mb mentioned is how much space the photos took on my hard drive.

The DTX 9900 board looks just like the picture of the Zenith box posted elsewhere. That Hynix chip is the RAM.

I would say that it appears that all 3 boards are coming off the same assembly line - just differences in the F/W ROMs

can you check on analog passthrough ?

DTX 9900 does NOT pass-thru analog. Neither did the Bestbuy Insignia that I bought.

:) Good job on the reviews, guys. Just wanted to ask a favor of the Digital Stream DTX-9900 owners. Can someone do a quick test of receiving a digital channel broadcasting Digital Dolby 5.1 audio (typically Prime Time network shows). IIRC, the DTX-9900 appears to have the same chip as the Zenith/Insignia CECBs.

LG Electronics
LGTD1111D

The Zenith/Insignia owners have reported that the left audio channel has some "distortion", ONLY when receiving Digital Dolby 5.1 sound. The right channel appears to be fine. I know it's a different design, but this may eliminate the chip as the problem. Thanks in advance for your efforts. :D

I didn't notice any when listening to Saturday Night Live with my wife last night, but I wasn't really trying too hard either. I'll check again in more detail today sometime if I can find a show that's coming across in DD.

So LG also makes the Digital Stream?

So LG also makes the Digital Stream?

Based on the pictures from BFilipiak ( http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900 ), my guess is yes. Same assembly line, different firmware / case.

Or Digital Stream (a well known Korean STB manufacturer) is making the boards....

I just purchased the Zenith DTT900 from Circuit City yesterday, and removed the case a few moments ago to compare the boards to the images posted for the Digital Stream.

Though the big LG chip inside of the Digital Stream unit appears to be the same chip that is in the Zenith, both the main and power supply boards are noticeably dissimilar. For starters, the large LG chip is directly to the right of the tuner in the Digital Stream box. That same chip is above, and to the right, of the tuner in the Zenith converter. Audio/video out jacks are almost much closer to the tuner in the Zenith converter, and placement of other components is vastly different as well, in both the main and power supply boards.

Have seen photos of the Zenith converter elsewhere on this group, but for convenience and easier comparison I've attached one that I took to this message.

I didn't notice any when listening to Saturday Night Live with my wife last night, but I wasn't really trying too hard either. I'll check again in more detail today sometime if I can find a show that's coming across in DD.

Try watching the Tonight Show (Jay Leno) or The Late Show w/ David Letterman, if you're looking for 5.1 audio. :cool:

Well, when watching Big Bang Theory on WYOU-DT, I noticed a distinct "chirping" with higher pitches coming out of left channel only. I backed the DTX volume down until the chirping stopped, and then I needed to turn up the TV until the volume level was usable again. The chirping was still there.
I'm using the RCA connection for audio/video.

I also opened up the box (bottom screw and thin blade into side slots. No stickers were harmed) and it does have a different board and layout despite similar components. Mine gives a date code Jan08. What is the header to the rear of the box with vcc gnd and tx and rx? Looks like a USB port. Also wired to empty connector pads on the rear. The resistors and caps are on the board. Would be cool to dump the stream into my computer. Still havent found much on the the LGDT1111D but did see something about it being a 3304 with some more of the external stuff intigrated in.
Can't leave well enough alone.
Seems to receive well. I was suprised how much I could knock the signal down before it would start jerking. As soon as I got over the fact that RF wouldn't pass through or do stereo, I just split the antenna to the VCR and STB. The stereo outputs are clean with good program material, but some local channels aren't up to par yet. I have about 40 channels here in Los Angeles area, half of which I zapped (shopping channels, other languages).

Info re LGDT1111 was posted earlier:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13258622&#post13258622
TV System-On-a-Chip (SOC) Incorporates LGDT3304 6th Gen ATSC Decoder function:
http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/516849

LG announcement re 6th Gen ATSC Decoder:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200612/200612280032.html
With blow up of 6th Gen (left) and 5th Gen LG ATSC Decoder chips:
http://english.chosun.com/media/photo/news/200612/200612280032_00.jpg

I also opened up the box (bottom screw and thin blade into side slots. No stickers were harmed) and it does have a different board and layout despite similar components. Mine gives a date code Jan08. What is the header to the rear of the box with vcc gnd and tx and rx? Looks like a USB port. Also wired to empty connector pads on the rear. .

Possibly an optional connector for a smart antenna?

It's probably an RS-232 serial I/F (or maybe USB) for uploading F/W & test.

Smart Antenna connector is 6-pin.

Well, when watching Big Bang Theory on WYOU-DT, I noticed a distinct "chirping" with higher pitches coming out of left channel only. I backed the DTX volume down until the chirping stopped, and then I needed to turn up the TV until the volume level was usable again. The chirping was still there.
I'm using the RCA connection for audio/video.

Good job, aethyrmaster! Assuming the DTX box has a different design (and manufacturer) than the Zenith/Insignia box, the only connection may be that they use the same chip (LG Electronics LGTD1111D). :confused: hmmm...

The Digital Stream box has the exact same audio problems as the Zenith/Insignia box. I've tried both kinds of boxes and can confirm this. See the thread on the Zenith box for a detailed discussion of this problem.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13414667#post13414667

I saw the comment about the header and solder pads, so I snapped a couple of more photos with that cheapie camera. Pen points to header and pads. For those who are reluctant to open up your box, the header is located to the right (viewing the unit from the back) of the channel 3/4 switch. The pads are just behind the case back, and the header about 5/8" (14mm) behind the back. The header is noted CN400 and the pads are CN401. Also, on the front of the circuit board, I noticed a pair of pads, labeled SW400. They are at the right (viewing from the front) edge of the circuit board, in front of the tuner.

So far I haven't found them for sale anywhere yet, but the Digital Stream D2A1D10 (& D2A1D20) DTV Converter Box seems the best available now. It has an S-Video output, others don't. It, as most all others also don't have, a QAM tuner or analog pass-thru.
ezdigitaltv.com Digital_STREAM_D2A1D10.html

What I would like know is why all these converter boxes are being designed to have yet another remote? Seems to me that no remote is necessary if they just design to convert UHF channels to the old VHF channels.

wouldn't matter if it has s video if the chirp is still there.

Chirp? What's that?

So far I haven't found them for sale anywhere yet, but the Digital Stream D2A1D10 (& D2A1D20) DTV Converter Box seems the best available now. It has an S-Video output, others don't. It, as most all others also don't have, a QAM tuner or analog pass-thru.
ezdigitaltv.com Digital_STREAM_D2A1D10.html

What I would like know is why all these converter boxes are being designed to have yet another remote? Seems to me that no remote is necessary if they just design to convert UHF channels to the old VHF channels.
The guys at ezdigital may have access to more recent info, but be advised
Digital Stream website does NOT list S-Video in D2A1D10/D20 spec list:
http://www.dstreamtech.com/english/product/product_detail.asp

Until we receive more definitive info, I'll update spread sheet with "Yes?".

PS: We also don't know what chip is used in these D-S models....
it might not be LGDT1111 as in DTX9900.

=========================
In their infinite stupidity, the CECB specs apparently prohibited boxes
including an analog NTSC capability...which would have meant a
converter box could have been used just like any HDTV or cable/SAT box,
using a single R/C to enter desired NTSC/DTV channel.

However (either with or without pass thru), if you want to watch either
DTV or NTSC, you have to switch between controlling the converter box
or your old TV. An integrated R/C makes this a little bit easier.....

===========================
BTW: The converter boxes don't simply convert from UHF to VHF...they are
advanced digital receiver systems that convert DTV to the old analog TV formats.
Today, the new DTV channels are on both UHF and VHF...with only some of
them taking over the old VHF channel position by Feb2009.

Because I had 2 coupons, I decided to set up a side-by-side comparison of the video outputs of the Zenith DTT900 and the Digital Stream DTX9900. Did a pretty extensive comparison of the 2 boxes. The killer issue for me was the fact that for some strange reason, the DTX9900 blanks the bottom 10 lines or so of a converted HD-image ( our local PBS station broadcasts in HD ). I was viewing the pair of converters on a 4:3 TV (using the A/V outputs from the converter boxes), so the picture appeared in letterbox form and the missing 10 lines at the bottom on the DTX9900 were clearly (not) seen. Not a very bright idea by Digital Stream, since many in-picture subtitles and other text occupy the bottom of the screen. Fiddling with the various zoom settings on the DTX9900 did NOT cure the problem.

On more general issues, the Zenith is a very nicely styled piece of gear and the text resolution of the menu displays are far superior to those of the
DTX9900.

My DTX 9900 was returned for exchange with a second DTT900.

Are there any other tests, photos, or things that people would like to know about the DTX 9900? I'm willing to pop it open as well.

One thing of note - in the TV controls on the Remote, the TV volume up is on the LEFT, and down is on the RIGHT - kind of backwards.......?

Are there any other tests, photos, or things that people would like to know about the DTX 9900? I'm willing to pop it open as well.


Have you played around with the digital closed captioning? A couple of people have had trouble with it but I think they might have accepted the default digital closed captions, which would be too small, rather than experimenting with user-controlled font styles and sizes and making the captions large sized. (Different font styles will differ in how large they make the captions.)

It would be great if you could take pictures of the default digital closed captions and then contrast that with large size captions (and the analog caption font provided by the box).

In other words, the box probably is designed to pass through the closed caption data (EIA-608) to the analog TV automatically. If you turn on the digital closed captions without changing other settings, you'll see the default for the digital captions issued by the broadcaster (which apparently is very small and poor quality---but I haven't seen any photos of them). What I haven't heard about is whether it's possible to get usable captions by choosing a better font style and large size.

I have a thread set up for evaluating the captioning provided by converter boxes at:

Evaluating Digital-to-Analog Converter Boxes for Users of Captioning

aethyrmaster,
I would like to know the FCC ID of the DTX9900

I would also love to see more photos like the ones BobDiaz did for the Zenith.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13222298#post13222298
Squeezed (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Squeezed.jpg), Letter Box (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Letter_Box.jpg), Cropped (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Cropped.jpg), Channel List (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Channel_List.jpg)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13233193#post13233193
Setup Screen (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Menu_Setup.jpg), Option Screen (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Menu_Option.jpg), Lock Screen (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Menu_Lock.jpg), Signal Strength (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Signal.jpg), Program Information (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Display.jpg), Program Guide (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Guide.jpg)
Particularly a photo of the Program Guide, I keep hearing it is a 8-hour and would like to see what it looks like compared to the Zenith Now/Next EPG

Also, post some photo's of the Menu Screen's so far I have only seen one from HDTVexpert.

So far the only screen shots that I have seen have been from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2323842866/in/set-72157604087943747/

Front of the retail box (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2323044763/in/set-72157604087943747/), Back of retail box (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2323852058/in/set-72157604087943747/),
Front of the box (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2330268624/in/set-72157604087943747/) Better than HDTVexpert's photo, Back of box with connections (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2330268890/in/set-72157604087943747/),
Weak Signal (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2323027339/in/set-72157604087943747/), Signal Strength (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2323843684/in/set-72157604087943747/), Program Information (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2323842866/in/set-72157604087943747/), Remote (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2330292294/in/set-72157604087943747/), and No Program (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96342344@N00/2330292898/in/set-72157604087943747/)
http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900

Tuner Part and lot #'s (http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900/photo#5178046210858218226), Hynix Chip (http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900/photo#5178046932412723970), Motherboard (http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900/photo#5178047082736579346), Power Supply (http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900/photo#5178047447808799538), LG Chip (http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900/photo#5178047563772916546), and Interisting (http://picasaweb.google.com/bfilipiak/DTX9900/photo#5180611840082803106)

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/DTVconverters.html

Front of box with remote (http://www.hdtvexpert.com/images_b/converters_1a.jpg), Program Information (http://www.hdtvexpert.com/images_b/converters_3a.jpg), Channel Input Screen (http://www.hdtvexpert.com/images_b/converters_4a.jpg), Video Quality (http://www.hdtvexpert.com/images_b/converters_5a.jpg)
One thing of note - in the TV controls on the Remote, the TV volume up is on the LEFT, and down is on the RIGHT - kind of backwards.......?
You are talking about the buttons at the top of the remote in the white ellipse that are a Power button, ? button, Vol +, and Vol -

What is the Second button that is shaped like a TV with a arrow out of it for?

Thank You :)

Does anyone know the FCC ID of this box?
I would like to do a search and learn about the other boxes that Digital Stream will be releasing.

Is there a manual (.pdf or .html, nothing fancier if avoidable) on line for the DTX-9900? · I've been unable to locate one and don't want to ask Radio Shack to open a unit. · (Darn thing comes sealed: the Zenith DTT900 doesn't, so I didn't hesitate to ask them to open that and let me see the manual; I bought it anyway but I'll need several converters.)

Thanks.

Also, they did have a floor model out (but nobody knew where its manual was), and I saw the remote. · What's that odd button for that was, IIRC, between TV power and the volume controls? · It had an icon of a rectangle with a V on top, probably representing a television with rabbit ears, but an arrow pointing to the right came from the center and broke through the right side of the rectangle. · What is that for? · (Of course, if there's a way to read the manual, it would answer that.)

Is there a manual (.pdf or .html, nothing fancier if avoidable) on line for the DTX-9900? · I've been unable to locate one and don't want to ask Radio Shack to open a unit. · (Darn thing comes sealed: the Zenith DTT900 doesn't, so I didn't hesitate to ask them to open that and let me see the manual; I bought it anyway but I'll need several converters.)

Thanks.

Also, they did have a floor model out (but nobody knew where its manual was), and I saw the remote. · What's that odd button for that was, IIRC, between TV power and the volume controls? · It had an icon of a rectangle with a V on top, probably representing a television with rabbit ears, but an arrow pointing to the right came from the center and broke through the right side of the rectangle. · What is that for? · (Of course, if there's a way to read the manual, it would answer that.)

The unit comes with a bilingual install guide of two pages and a 16 "page" multifolded sheet "Owners Manual" in English only. The button with the TV with rabbit ears and the arrow is the "TV Input" button, "Press to select TV input options (TV Antenna, AV 1, Av 2, etc.). Claims to have 150 codes and gives IR code listings for vendor code 1234 and hex codes for all the button. Most complete in that area of the 4 boxes I own (Insignia,Magnavox & RCA)

The button with the TV with rabbit ears and the arrow is the "TV Input" button, "Press to select TV input options (TV Antenna, AV 1, Av 2, etc.). Claims to have 150 codes and gives IR code listings for vendor code 1234 and hex codes for all the button.

So that key, like the TV power key to its left, controls the television, in case you have an additional source connected to it?

Thank you.

http://lh6.google.com/TimMalouff/R-y1a5Wmd2I/AAAAAAAAAFI/ch26GKYzHpo/s144/TV_Keys.JPG.jpg
The button with the TV with rabbit ears and the arrow is the "TV Input" button, "Press to select TV input options (TV Antenna, AV 1, Av 2, etc)You have said that functionally it is the #2 box, what didn't you like about it?

Can you post a picture of the EPG?

[QUOTE=Malouff;13494031]http://lh6.google.com/TimMalouff/R-y1a5Wmd2I/AAAAAAAAAFI/ch26GKYzHpo/s144/TV_Keys.JPG.jpg
You have said that functionally it is the #2 box, what didn't you like about it?

Can you post a picture of the EPG?
I will post a guide pic tonight

according to this chart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units

The digital stream has Analog pass through. Is this true?

Also Can you manually add Tv staions that the automatic scan missed?

The digital stream has Analog pass through. Is this true?No. Not the DTX-9900. Read closer.

No. Not the DTX-9900. Read closer.
oh ok So the only digital stream available now and for the coupon is the dtx-9900?

I am so confused with all the models I see.

oh ok So the only digital stream available now and for the coupon is the dtx-9900?Yes. All the ones in that list will apparently be eligible, but that's the only one out thus far.

You can rescan for new channels without losing the old ones with this model. I saw some screenshots of the menu and guide somewhere (sorry guys, can't remember where), and it appears very similar to the last, HD Digital Stream/Accurian tuner that was out. Same with the features. I have that box, and I really like it, so I'd imagine that if everything else works OK on it, it's very good (some people here are even saying that it's more sensitive than the LG's).

I haven't gotten my coupons yet, but I'm tempted to try one beforehand myself, because of my positive experiences with the older one. I would like pass thru, but I could live without it if I liked the box in every other way.

analog passthrough is important to me since some low power stations will not convert. Seems this box is coming out soon and will have that feature
http://www.microprosesystems.com/dtv.htm

Whomever comes out with analog passthrough before y coupon expires I will buy

If passthru is important to you - check out the Philco TB100HH9 http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=TB100HH9

Note - the price jumped up $20 since I got mine. OTOH - there are no funky issues with it either, and the analog passthru works when configured / unit is powered on. However, to use this, you would use the RCA outputs to your TV.

If passthru is important to you - check out the Philco TB100HH9 http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=TB100HH9

Note - the price jumped up $20 since I got mine. OTOH - there are no funky issues with it either, and the analog passthru works when configured / unit is powered on. However, to use this, you would use the RCA outputs to your TV.

I heard that philco must have the settings changed in the menu to have analog. My aunt would have a hard time with that.

I just saw today that microprose will have passthrough. I think I wait for that
http://www.microprosesystems.com/dtv.htm
I will all them and ask how the passthrough works. If you can just turn off box and have analog that would be great

(also posted in similar form in ATSC converter box comparison thread)

Volume level is higher than zenith as a comparison. Converter box has smaller depth.

The DS box overscans vertically, so it chops off lines at the top and bottom. I especially notice on weather sub-channels with scrolling text.

The tuner sensitivity is excellent, even slightly better than the zenith. I was getting drop-outs on CBS tonight, and there is noticeably more dropouts on the zenith. Just for fun, I watched the video from the DS, and listened to the audio fromt the zenith, and vice-versa, the Zenith drops-out more often (with multi-path interference it cannot overcome).


I recorded the setup (video is sped-up double time[1:00]):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtf9EtNDu6Y

Digital Stream DTX-9900 EPG(0:21):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc3RRT7a-_I

Digital Stream DTX-9900 menus (sorry so fast), and check out the Air/Cable selection(0:25):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABR0GfZqVaE

http://lh6.google.com/TimMalouff/R-y1a5Wmd2I/AAAAAAAAAFI/ch26GKYzHpo/s144/TV_Keys.JPG.jpg
You have said that functionally it is the #2 box, what didn't you like about it?

Can you post a picture of the EPG?

Looks like someone not only beat me to a pic of the EPG but did it in video as well. Puts my poor 200K jpg to shame!!
I don't see any FCC ID on the box either externally or on the packaging and guide.

DrBri99 thank you for taking the time of making and posting those videos.

Like dmulvany from the ATSC converter box comparison thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13502408#post13502408)
Could you take a picture of the Digital Stream chopping off the top and bottom lines,
and possibly another with the Zenith to compare?
Does this chopping happen in all the display modes? You have it set to Letter Box in your videos.

You have also said the tuner sensitivity is slightly better than the Zenith.
HDTVexpert said that it was about 1 dB better than the GE 22730

They also said
One quirk of the DTX9900 is that its channel menu includes a setting for Air or Cable reception. This setting is superfluous, as there are no cable TV systems sending 8VSB signals through their plant (and no, this converter box doesn’t receive QAM, either).

w0en I would also like to thank you for taking the time to report on the FCCID and remote.
I would also recommend to post your screenshot for those users with dial-up.
Again why functionally is it the #2 box, or has that changed?

More Questions:
How does the Video Quality Compare to the Zenith?
HDTVexpert said it is quite a bit better then the GE 22730

Does it have a Channel List (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f103/KQ6WQ/Channel_List.jpg) feature like the Zenith?

Are they any other interesting pictures that you can think off to share with the forum?

You both have this and the Zenith can you do a comparison of the two?
DrBri99 said
Volume level is higher than zenith as a comparison.
Converter box has smaller depth than zenith
Tuner sensitivity is slightly better than the zenith
w0en said
Most complete IR code listings
Signal meter stays on screen when you call it from the menu
Adding unscanned channels not as easily as with the Insignia/LG

Does the Digital Stream have the Zenith Audio Bug?

Do you know of any other bugs that the Digital Stream has?

Again Thank you both and all contributing early adopter owners.

analog passthrough is important to me since some low power stations will not convert. Seems this box is coming out soon and will have that feature
http://www.microprosesystems.com/dtv.htm

Whomever comes out with analog passthrough before y coupon expires I will buy


Hey lexus2108 - I emailed Microprose to see if you lose the channels picked during autoscan, if you have to move antenna to pick up more station to be added. Will see what they say. Regards
:rolleyes:
Dave E
NLRock AR

I picked mine up at RadioShack, I kept searching their website, and finally on Friday morning it said one local store had the DS box. Previously all 5 stores in a 20 mile radiusl had the Zenith, but not the Digital Stream.

I'll have to reconfigure my setup to have both boxes available to my video capture device, but I'll try to provide pics in the future.

The Digital Stream overscans the bottom of the picture (bottom cut off). It doesn't matter if you choose 16x9 letterbox or 4x3 full screen. I was switching between analog, zenith, and DS looking specifically at the logo on the PBS station. The logo was slightly lower with the zenith box, and about 1/2 inch lower still with the DS box. Looking at the top of the image, and it appears similar on both boxes.

The DS also has the option of 14x9 display.

The manual is poster sized (so not easily scanable), but if someone wants to see a certain section, let me know.

In the menu under Channel>Autoscan you get two options:
Rescan - deletes previously stored channels
Update - updates channel list with newly found channels

I will try the channel update tonight, there are 2 distant channels I sometimes get if conditions are right, I'm wondering what will happen when I select the true RF number and I get a lock, if it will automatically add the channel or if I need to do rescan.

The video quality is good, I'm using the RCA connector. I tried the RF input, and had some interference (hard to describe).

I cannot detect any audio issues, although it wasn't until someone posted the audio clip from their zenith that I could hear the same defect on mine.

The DS does not have a channel list (like the zenith) appear when typing the channel directly.

You must put the "." or "-" in the channel, with the zenith you could type 62 and 6-2 would come up.

Typing 6 will bring up 6.1 though.

I might have to revise my thoughts on the tuner sensitivity, when I was watching CBS this morning, it was dropping out on both boxes, and the DS momentarily displayed "No Program" while the Zenith display was mildly pixelated. So, it is a toss up, and probably depends on different "Field Ensembles".

Other random observations:
The menus aren't as sharp as the zenith.
The box is plastic, but doesn't seem cheap.
The warranty is 6 months parts and labor.

DrBri99,
Thank you for all of the impressions/recommendations you are giving us.
I also really appreciate all of the time you are taking with the screenshots and videos.

On a side note:
I asked John aka Mosquito from FreeDTVShop.com what was the difference between the Digital Stream DTX9900 and the DSP7500T was:
Both boxes have a plastic housing.
They are roughly the same size. I would say that the 7500T is a bit "sleeker," but not a huge difference.
I opened up one of each to see what was inside, and they are absolutely identical.
The 7500T had a revision 1.2 circuit board and the 9900 was a revision 1.1.
That was the only difference between them. Same tuners, same mpeg decoders.
The remotes are identical except for color.

I really don't think there's a difference other than aesthetics

So has anyone tried to find out yet if a Pioneer cable box code will control this tuner like it did Digital Stream's last, HD ATSC ones?

This info would be very important to know for those with old recorders with IR blasters.

Anyone with a universal remote out there willing to take a few minutes and try?

So far I have been unable to control my new (bought today with coupon) DTX-9900 using any of the Pioneer cable box codes known to my Panasonic DMR-EH55 DVR/DVD recorder.

The user manual with the DTX-9900 documents the remote control IR codes as follows:

Vendor Code: 1234

00FF - Power
08F7 - CH_UP
09F6 - CH_DOWN

and so forth. However, my DVR only accepts manufacturer names when specifiying a cable box for control. Any idea if Vendor Code 1234 is also used by a cable box vendor?

DrBri99
Could you take a picture of the Digital Stream chopping off the top and bottom lines,
and possibly another with the Zenith to compare?
Does this chopping happen in all the display modes? You have it set to Letter Box in your videos.


Long time hawker, now I have a old samsung hdtv directv receiver, that I use for OTA recording.
Yes Digital Stream chops few pixels off the top and a lot more on the bottom.
Hope these unaltered pics will be of help.

Thank you for the pictures saywhat.

I think that the weather pictures showed it best and I do have to agree.
Digital Stream chops few pixels off the top and a lot more on the bottom

I did notice however that the weather forcast boxes for each day of the week appear to be the same size.

So does it cut the text off scrolling along the bottom of news alerts then?

is the basketball pictures form a video game because they don't look like real people?

is the basketball pictures form a video game because they don't look like real people?

Its because picture is squeezed to record on DVD at anamorphic format (720*480) rather than native 16:9 (854*480). And the weather picture stretched from native 4:3 (640*480) to DVD resolution.

I did notice however that the weather forcast boxes for each day of the week appear to be the same size.

So does it cut the text off scrolling along the bottom of news alerts then?

No there are no news alters, its just the graphics (+ signs on blue background) surrounding the white boxes on the bottom.

Attached are some altered screen grabs.

I can only capture 320x240, so the quality isn't great.

I added the red line showing where my tv overscans the image.

If I make an educated guess using the pixels, my TV overscans about 7 percent.

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

Even with the zenith box, my TV cuts off text. NBC's weather plus has the text very low in the screen.

I wasn't able to do a screen grab of the Basketball game, but with the DS box (and my TV), it cut off the bottom of the score watching an SD channel. The HD CBS channel had the score higher in the field.

So, it will cut off scrolling text depending upon how low the text is in the field and what percent overscan your TV has. (how is that for a disclaimer?)

I'll try taking a picture of the TV with the digital camera later this week.

I noticed the logo from Fox Richmond was cut-off in letterbox, you can see the small red part which says "Richmond" in the anamorphic pic.

Wow! My apologies for getting behind the curve! I only just today got an email saying there were new posts in the thread - guess I'll have to rely on me, instead of auto emails :-)

Anyway, what is said is true, it does chop top-bottom pixels - but only on some channels. I noticed that in my area, CBS and NBC are broadcasting VHF digital, and FOX, PBS, and ABC are UHF. If I manually adjust the picture ratio (16:9,14:9,etc), I can get rid of the overscan/line chopping

Except on the VHF channels.

I don't know if it's something in the way they broadcast, or what - but all the other channels let me select, and I can watch the screen change. When I try with those two, however, it flashes the OSD that says it's in 14:9 and doesn't change. I'll try and cap a small vid of this tonight after work.

Hey aethyrmaster = you have to visit the thread daily to get auto-email notices of new posts.

Regards

Dave E

Just got this box tonight after trying a Magnavox and being disappointed with the tuner. This box is MUCH better. The tuner is very good, and the EPG is easy to read. The remote is also much better than the maggotbox.

So does this box also have the Zenith Audio Bug (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13440642#post13440642)?

Can you adjust the Hue, Brightness, and Contrast with the Digital Stream?

troydog sharred a photo showing that the Artec T3A Pro can.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/troydogtvtv/Picture027.jpg

No audio bug with this box. The sound is superior to the Magnavox, and it has a volume control built in.

Can't adjust picture hue, brightness etc...

I haven't found any picture adjust controls. jspENC, if you have it on RCA out to your TV, and a stereo TV, turn the box volume all the way up to 20. On a show in DD, see if high-pitched sounds produce a cricket-like "chirp" on the left channel. I don't have the Zenith Warble, but I do have a DTX Chirp.

Tonight when the shows come in with DD 5.1 I'll check again just to be sure. I do have the RCA cables hooked up.

aethyrmaster, Can you record a sample of this DTX Chirp?

So does this only happens with the F-Type Connector (RF Output)?
Does it also happen with the Composite Video and Stereo Audio Output?

Is this Chirp only in Stereo and the left channel like the Zenith?

Does this only happen when the volume is all the way up to 20?

Thank You.

aethyrmaster, Can you record a sample of this DTX Chirp?
I'll try tonight, but it may not happen until the weekend.

So does this only happens with the F-Type Connector (RF Output)? Does it also happen with the Composite Video and Stereo Audio Output?
Haven't tried the F connector, only composite.

Is this Chirp only in Stereo and the left channel like the Zenith?
Only in left channel, don't remember if I tried mono mode or not.

[/QUOTE]Does this only happen when the volume is all the way up to 20?[/QUOTE]
No, I noticed it from 14 to 20. Below that, I have to turn the TV volume up to levels that I consider "unacceptable" - as in, when I switch to my 360, unless I turn the TV down first, it comes out loud enough that I fear blowing the built in TV speakers.

And it was still there too - but that may be because the TV was amping everything pretty hard. TV is a Sanyo DS27930.

I also opened up the box (bottom screw and thin blade into side slots. No stickers were harmed) and it does have a different board and layout despite similar components. Mine gives a date code Jan08. What is the header to the rear of the box with vcc gnd and tx and rx? Looks like a USB port. Also wired to empty connector pads on the rear. The resistors and caps are on the board. Would be cool to dump the stream into my computer. Still havent found much on the the LGDT1111D but did see something about it being a 3304 with some more of the external stuff integrated in.

Well, I was going to say that it was definitely USB, but I can't give that assurance now. For USB (standard, GND and VCC+ (which should be 5 volts) are at opposite ends, and TX and RX are the center connectors. They may have re-arranged it though just to be proprietary.

http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
http://pinouts.ru/SerialPortsCables/usb_cable_pinout.shtml

So that key, like the TV power key to its left, controls the television, in case you have an additional source connected to it?

Thank you.

Yes. There are four buttons in a row which control the TV: Power; Input selection; Vol up; Vol down). The volume rocker lower on the remote controls volume out of the box and I keep that at the highest position.

I received two coupons yesterday and used one to buy the DTX-9900. It's all my local RS had in stock and my goal is electronic experimentation -- a long story (related to travel use).

I have it set up temporarily and connected to a spare input of my HD monitor and the DTX-9900 seems to work fine and give reasonable reception, considering I'm using an (amplified) indoor antenna and 31 miles from the nearest transmitters; a roof antenna would do much better, of course.

It definitely does not have analog pass-thru (not a surprise) and I will get such a box if I can when I use the second coupon (expires on June 19).

Given the price, I didn't expect much and I'm pleasantly surprised with this Digital Stream unit -- features, size and performance.

Phil

There are four buttons in a row which control the TV: Power; Input selection; Vol up; Vol down). The volume rocker lower on the remote controls volume out of the box and I keep that at the highest position. ...

It definitely does not have analog pass-thru (not a surprise)Two sets of volume control buttons?  I hadn't known that before.  The Zenith DTT900 (the only box I have so far) has one, and it controls the box output, not the television.  The only button on it that sends a code to the TV is "TV power."

But if the DS box controls the TV input, then if you can get decent analog reception with an indoor antenna, you can simulate analog pass-through without a splitter: connect the DS decoder to the RCA inputs, connect a second antenna to the TV's RF in for analog signals, and use the box's TV input control (or heck, the TV's own input control) to switch between RCA for digital channels and RF for analog bypass.

The remote for this box is universal, in that you can program it to turn the PWR on and off to the TV, switch INPUTS, and control VOL. There are no direct numeric codes in the directions, however, if you just hold down PWR and press the menu UP button until the set turns OFF indicating you have the correct code for your particular set. Nice feature, so no need to juggle two remotes all the time.

The remote for this box is universal, in that you can program it to turn the PWR on and off to the TV, switch INPUTS, and control VOL. There are no codes however, you just hold down PWR and press the menu UP button until the set turns OFF indicating you have the correct code for your particular set. Nice feature, so no need to juggle two remotes all the time.

If we want to nitpick, there are codes. The remote has an internal database of about 150 codes. If none of them work for you, tough - there's no way to get additional codes into the remote. If one does, great!

It works for me with a Sanyo. Only annoyance is that volume UP is on the LEFT and DOWN is on the RIGHT.......:confused:

Two sets of volume control buttons? I hadn't known that before. The Zenith DTT900 (the only box I have so far) has one, and it controls the box output, not the television. The only button on it that sends a code to the TV is "TV power."

But if the DS box controls the TV input, then if you can get decent analog reception with an indoor antenna, you can simulate analog pass-through without a splitter: connect the DS decoder to the RCA inputs, connect a second antenna to the TV's RF in for analog signals, and use the box's TV input control (or heck, the TV's own input control) to switch between RCA for digital channels and RF for analog bypass.

Yes .. it has four controls for TV (it controls my Sony just fine) and there is a separate Vol rocker on the remote which controls the audio output from the box (as well as a mute button). The remote also has a meter button, so you can have a signal strength gauge for adjusting the antenna.

At this point I'm using it with a 7-input HD monitor and a cable box on one of the component inputs and an upconverting DVD player on the DVI/HDMI input -- so I don't need the pass-thru. My long-term use will be for travel and I may want pass-thru on my second converter; so I'll be watching.

Phil (aka w7ox)

p.s. -- accidentally created a second ID on AVS forum a year ago and just recaptured my original one by searching the User list.

I haven't found any picture adjust controls. jspENC, if you have it on RCA out to your TV, and a stereo TV, turn the box volume all the way up to 20. On a show in DD, see if high-pitched sounds produce a cricket-like "chirp" on the left channel. I don't have the Zenith Warble, but I do have a DTX Chirp.

I've got the Dig. Stream wide open and I don't hear any chirping. I think it sounds as good as anything I've heard before... Hope this helps.

Was it on a show in Dolby Digital? It only occurs on DD broadcasts.

I own a Panasonic DMR-EH55 Recorder. It records analog braodcasts to a hard disk (like Tivo but without the monthly fee). It does not have a digital tuner. To keep using DMR-EH55 after the Feb 2009 conversion, I purchased Digitalstream DTX9900 convertor today. My thought is I would convert the digital signal to analog, then feed that signal into the DMR-EH55 for recording. But here's the rub...I get "weak signal" displayed when I hooked up the DTX9900. The antenna signal strenght fed directly to my tv is strong. But when I try it on the DTX9900, it shows weak. Bad box? Bad idea? Any suggestions?

I own a Panasonic DMR-EH55 Recorder. It records analog braodcasts to a hard disk (like Tivo but without the monthly fee). It does not have a digital tuner. To keep using DMR-EH55 after the Feb 2009 conversion, I purchased Digitalstream DTX9900 convertor today. My thought is I would convert the digital signal to analog, then feed that signal into the DMR-EH55 for recording. But here's the rub...I get "weak signal" displayed when I hooked up the DTX9900. The antenna signal strenght fed directly to my tv is strong. But when I try it on the DTX9900, it shows weak. Bad box? Bad idea? Any suggestions?

Check it and make sure your antenna is feeding the antenna in and not the RF out.

For the record, aethyrmaster and spudnk are correct: the DTX9900 definitely has the same audio problem as the Zenith/Insignia boxes. There is a distinct "chirp" in the left channel when the broadcast is in Dolby 5.1.

I bought this box yesterday, and I've been watching it a lot today. I must not have come across any 5.1 broadcasts until I turned on the NCAA on CBS, but when I did, the chirp was obvious. You'd have to have serious high-frequency hearing loss not to hear it. Extremely annoying.

It must have to do with the networks audio levels, because I am hearing a high pitched sound and what I would call "feedback" after a word is spoken by commentators... Slurs etc. make a high pitch and it is very aggravating. I haven't noticed this until tonights game.

I just bought this box yesterday and I am quite pleased with it. The tuner gets every digital station in my area . It also pulls in a channel 5 -1 vhf low band with no problem.

I am confirming too that the DTX9000 has the bug. I picked up mine today from Radio Shack and sure enough, there it is. And it's really annoying.

You can set "Audio Out" to either Ch3/4 or Line Out in the menu. Changing this doesn't change the noise. I am assuming this changes the audio out from Stereo to Mono... If you plug into the left audio connector, you will hear this noise.

Ch3/4 mode seems to be louder too ... maybe a byproduct of the stereo to mono conversion.

It's pretty crappy that all of these boxes do this too. Just so shoddy.

The rest of the box is cool. The sensitivity is so much better than the built in tuner on my Sony 34XBR960... but the TV is from 2004 so the tuner in it is old.

I am going to use the box at work on a mono TV, so the audio bug is no bit deal to me.

OH, I plugged my cable TV wire (Which has unencrypted QAM on it) into the box, set it to cable and started a scan.

Cable mode scans channels 1 through 125 -- but obviously QAM is disabled because it doesn't find any channels...

I made some very High-res pics of the DX9900. Couldn't find a FCC ID anywhere for this box now could I find it by searching the database for TV converters. (I found others like the Zenith/Isignia and a few others.)

Front and back of the PCB, plus one angle shot to see the main chip better.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianblack/2394475058/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianblack/2393646939/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrianblack/2394480440/sizes/l/in/photostream/

A little info:

SW400 (just below the tuner) is a reset switch.

The little 4-pin header (CN400) is sending out 3.3v on the VCC pin. So that's not USB. (Which is 5v.) The pads close to the back of the board right next to the 4-ping header is actually a replication of the 4-pin header. (It's labeled CN401)

It could be a little 3.5mm plug connector that could go there that would replicate these pins. I can only assume that would be for programming...

I put my old 30mhz o-scope on the TX pin and there was activity. It would do a bunch when you turned it off and on and also when you push buttons. Someone needs to put it onto a protocol analyzer to see what its really doing. It would be interesting if it were a "console" mode of sorts available.

The little 4-pin header (CN400) is sending out 3.3v on the VCC pin. So that's not USB. (Which is 5v.) The pads close to the back of the board right next to the 4-ping header is actually a replication of the 4-pin header. (It's labeled CN401)

Back in the early days of USB, there was what was knows as 'powered' and 'unpowered' ports. Powered ones could supply 5V at 500 mA, and unpowered ones were just 3.3V "standby current" at 100 mA.

Dunno if that means anything for these critters or not.:confused:

A little info:

SW400 (just below the tuner) is a reset switch.

The little 4-pin header (CN400) is sending out 3.3v on the VCC pin. So that's not USB. (Which is 5v.) The pads close to the back of the board right next to the 4-ping header is actually a replication of the 4-pin header. (It's labeled CN401)

It could be a little 3.5mm plug connector that could go there that would replicate these pins. I can only assume that would be for programming...

I put my old 30mhz o-scope on the TX pin and there was activity. It would do a bunch when you turned it off and on and also when you push buttons. Someone needs to put it onto a protocol analyzer to see what its really doing. It would be interesting if it were a "console" mode of sorts available.

It would be interesting to interface the the four pin header to a serial com port on a computer. Basic serial communications only uses three lines, RxD, TxD, and GND. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_port

Tim

If the 4-pin header is really serial, this is probably all that is needed to hook it up to a serial port on a PC:

http://sodoityourself.com/max232-serial-level-converter/

Something like that....

Here is an interesting read about serial converters on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Serial_Programming:MAX232_Driver_Receiver

I bought one of these for my mother over the weekend. I hooked it up to two different TV's, two different ways. Her G.E. brand 25" TV only has RF input, so I hooked it up that way. No problem with the "audio bug" that I could hear, and the remote was able to find her TV code with no problem. The picture had a lot of dot crawl, especially on the basketball game. The tuner worked very well, however. One channel, especially, was very impressive because massive multipath makes the analog channel unwatchable. Clear as a bell with the box.....no dropouts, no pixelization. Her other TV, a Magnavox 20", has A/V inputs, so we hooked it up that way. Still no audio problems (switched to A/V mode in the menu, which I guess is "stereo"). I'm sure the audio bug is more prominent if you hook up to an A/V receiver, but I really didn't hear it at all, and I was listening for it, especially on DD5.1 shows. The volume is louder in RF mode, BTW. Much less dot crawl when using the A/V inputs, but that TV probably has a comb filter. HOWEVER, the remote would NOT control this TV (this was a bummer, because the "universal" remote was one of the main reasons for choosing this unit over some others). :(

General Observations:

I'm impressed with the speed of channel changing - it's faster than my E* DVRs and most TV's with integrated tuners that I'm familiar with - I'd say about a half-second picture-to-picture. For viewing on a small 4:3 TV, I'd say the best aspect choice is the 14:9 - you see the whole picture vertically (very small bars top and bottom) and the sides are cut off some, but it's a good compromise. If you have a large 4:3 TV, "letterbox" would be fine. If you have 16:9 TV, "anamorphic" would be the best choice, using the stretch mode on your TV. Setup is very straightforward, and the channel scan only takes a couple of minutes. It found all of her stations with no problem (antenna in attic with preamp, all stations 20-30 miles away in different directions). Not a bad little box, IMO. :cool:

Brad

I tested a Zenith DT900 head-to-head with a Digital Stream DTX9900. I looked at both reception and features.

Set-up and Connections: I’ve got a CM 3671 VHF/UHF antenna on a rotator feeding a CM 7777 amp. In the house, the signal is split with one coax going to the test location. At the test location, I split the signal again just ahead of the CECB’s. I fed the AV output of the CECB’s to a single TV displaying PIP. In case there was a difference in the losses at the final splitter and coax section, I also tested reception with each box connected to the other coax.

Reception: My method of evaluation was to look at the state of reception (either too weak to lock/display, displaying broken picture, or displaying full picture with no break-up) for the same channel at the same time. I have 3 stations for which I’ve been able to rotate the antenna to a direction with marginal reception so that the signal moves in and out of lock. (I could probably remove the amp and do the same for some other stations, though). The stations are at RF 10 (79 miles), 14 (36 miles), and 16 (64 miles). It would be nice to test at some other frequencies. Sometimes I am able to pick up more of the Nashville, TN stations (~70-85 miles) and the Chattanooga stations (~65-70 miles) but since I’ve had these boxes the atmosphere hasn’t been cooperative. My local stations are out of Huntsville, AL (21-23 miles) but I can’t get them to go marginal with the amp in place.

When transitioning between signal states, I would estimate that the 2 boxes are in sync at least 90-95% of the time. When not in lock-step, it is usually when transitioning from no picture to a broken picture. Less often there are differences when transitioning to/from a broken picture from/to a good picture or from a broken picture to no picture. Usually when one or the other box transitions quicker it’s only by a second or two. Sometimes it’s the Zenith. Sometimes it’s the DS. I’ve not seen a case where one box held signal for a significant time while the other had either no signal or a broken signal.

When transitioning from a broken picture to no picture, it’s more difficult to evaluate because both boxes will freeze elements of the picture for some time until the signal is either re-gained or completely lost. The DS holds the frozen elements a little longer, which may be less objectionable if you’re only suffering a temporary loss on an otherwise good channel.

On average, for my boxes, I would say the Zenith’s reception is very slightly better (but insignificantly so). Based on what I saw, I would not make reception a deciding factor between these 2 boxes.

As a side note, I also did a side-by-side of the Zenith against my Sony Projection LCD TV (~1-1/2 years old). The CECB achieved slightly better reception, though fairly insignificant and not what I was hoping for. The Sony does pretty well.

Features that Zenith has but DS doesn’t:

- Mult-channel guide (see display/info/guide/EPG comparison).
- Sleep button on remote (DS has in menu only).
- TV aspect ratio selectable to 4:3 or 16:9 (but does not, by rule, output HD).
- Output selectable stereo/mono.

Features that DS has but Zenith doesn’t:

- 45 hour or better EPG (see display/info/guide/EPG comparison).
- TV Input Selection on remote
- TV Vol +/- on remote
- Better Direct RF Tuning: On DS, simply enter “.” + channel number. Zenith can do direct tuning via the remote control only if a PSIP is not sharing the same channel mapping as the RF channel you want to tune. However, Zenith will allow to direct RF tuning via the menu.
- DS has output channel switch (3/4) on box. Zenith output channel is controlled via menu.
- Input - Air/cable (why?)
- Preferred connection – AV/coax – Not sure what this is for but selecting AV causes the audio level to go very low on both outputs. Coax output appears to be mono. AV output is stereo even if coax is selected as preferred.
- Menu opacity setting.
- Menu timeout setting
- Emergency Alert – Medium/Low (what is this?)
- Factory Reset

Other Functional Differences:

- Signal/Meter – Strength is indicated on 3 zone horizontal bar. Zenith has audible tones (increasing frequency for better signal). DS has numerical indicator.
- Sleep Timer – (DS can be accessed via menu). Zenith cycles 1-2-3-4-Off. DS cycles 15-30-60-120-Off.
- Zoom – For 16:9 programming, both have Letter Box [16:9], Cropped [Zoom], and Squeezed [Anamorphic]. Zenith has “Set by Program”. DS has “14:9”. If Zenith is set for a 16:9 TV, then for 4:3 programming, it cycles “Zoom” - “Set by Program” – “16:9” – “4:3”.
- Closed Caption – On Zenith, cycles Off-Service1..Service4-CC1..CC4-Text1..Text4-Off and so on. On DS, cycles Off-CC1-CC2-Text1..Text4-CS1..CS6-Off and so on.
- Auto Off [Power Down] – Zenith cycles Off-1-2-3-4. DS cycles 0-1-2-4-8.

Comparison of Display/[Info] fields displayed:

Both Display:
Current Time
Current Date
Current Day of Week
Channel and Sub-Channel Number
Station Call Letters
Program Title
Program Start Time
Program End Time
Closed Captioning Indicator
Rating

Zenith Displays:
Aspect Ratio Indicator
Program Description

DS Displays:
HDTV Indicator
Stereo Indicator
Second Audio Indicator
Dolby Digital Indicator
Signal Strength Graphic

Comparison of Guide/[EPG] information displayed:

Zenith provides info for current and next program only but for all channels (if recently tuned to capture information). DS displays info for current channel only but includes current program and programs starting up to at least 45 hours out. Fields included for all programs:

Both Display:
Current Time
Current Date
Current Day of Week
Channel and Sub-Channel Number
Program Title
Program Start Time
Program End Time

DS Displays:
Station Call Letters
Program Description (must select detail)

Common remote control buttons (DS name in [] if different from Zenith):

TV Power
Power
Menu
Up/Down/Right/Left
[OK]
Signal [Meter]
SAP [Audio]
Zoom
Display [Info]
Guide [EPG]
CCD [CC]
Fav
Exit [Back]
Mute
Vol +/-
Ch +/-
Recall [Prev]
0-9
- [.]

Both boxes also have following similar menu functions:

- Add/delete channels (affects operation of up/down tuning)
- Add/delete favorite channels (for a short list of channels).
- Time zone
- Menu language
- Audio language [audio preference]
- Ratings (I didn’t explore/compare details)
- Closed Captioning settings (I didn’t explore/compare details)
- Auto Tuning [Auto Scan]
- EZ Add [Auto Scan Update]

Other Notes:
- DS cuts off some of bottom lines when in 14:9 or 16:9 display mode. Does not cut or cut as much in zoom and anamorphic.
- Neither box has pass-through but similar Zenith box is apparently due out with pass-through.
- Apparently both boxes suffer from the audio issue as discussed elsewhere but, to be honest, I haven't been able to detect it on my set.

Sorry if posting too much info. Not trying to re-write the manuals but hope it may be helpful to someone.

10frog
You can never post too much info!
I find it helpful as do others.

I also want to thank you for your comparisons so we can learn about what feature is most important to us and get the appropriate box.

...
As a side note, I also did a side-by-side of the Zenith against my Sony Projection LCD TV ... The Sony does pretty well.

I second Malouff and am encouraged by the Sony results; my only ATSC tuner is a 200 lb CRT, but it does pretty good. Once I get a CECB, we'll see how good!
Frank

Digital Steam DTX9900 Is this a good BOX in a nut shell? They are coming out with analog passthru April 16th according to FreeDTVshop.com

So I am wondering if everyone is happy with existing box?

Digital Steam DTX9900 Is this a good BOX in a nut shell? They are coming out with analog passthru April 16th according to FreeDTVshop.com

So I am wondering if everyone is happy with existing box?

It's one of the more preferred boxes, yes. However, it still has some sort of "audio bug" for left channel, when displaying a DD 5.1 broadcast in stereo sound output.

It's one of the more preferred boxes, yes. However, it still has some sort of "audio bug" for left channel, when displaying a DD 5.1 broadcast in stereo sound output.

I'm almost thinking now the audio bug may only show up on certain channels. I noticed it on KCBS and KNBC here in Los Angeles. It was so apparently, you would not miss it. But since people are reporting not hearing it on DD5.1, maybe some transmissions don't cause the bug to be heard?

And a note on the "Zoom" modes of this box:

4:3 source video is always displayed in 4:3, no matter what you have zoom set to. Zoom only affects 16:9 content. This is nice -- so if you set 16:9 to zoom, which is especially good for 4:3 content unconverted with bars on the HD signal. It remembers the last zoom setting you were using when going between 16:9 to 4:3 and back to 16:9.

It would be interesting to interface the the four pin header to a serial com port on a computer. Basic serial communications only uses three lines, RxD, TxD, and GND. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_port

Tim

My serial converter board has been shipped so I should be able to see what I can read out of the serial port on the DTX9900 soon.

I'm almost thinking now the audio bug may only show up on certain channels. I noticed it on KCBS and KNBC here in Los Angeles. It was so apparently, you would not miss it. But since people are reporting not hearing it on DD5.1, maybe some transmissions don't cause the bug to be heard?

And a note on the "Zoom" modes of this box:

4:3 source video is always displayed in 4:3, no matter what you have zoom set to. Zoom only affects 16:9 content. This is nice -- so if you set 16:9 to zoom, which is especially good for 4:3 content unconverted with bars on the HD signal. It remembers the last zoom setting you were using when going between 16:9 to 4:3 and back to 16:9.
Perhaps you can correlate it against the "Missing Center Channel" problem.....

Perhaps you can correlate it against the "Missing Center Channel" problem.....
need some help here- i picked up a digital stream at the local rat shack but can't get the audio output to work any sugguestions people. thanks.

I'm trying to figure out why the audio is better when the channel 3/4 selection is made when using the RCA pins? When I select "Line OUt" the sound gets much lower. The directions say to select "Line OUt" when using that connection, but the sound output sucks, so I'm sticking with chan. 3/4 option.

I'm trying to figure out why the audio is better when the channel 3/4 selection is made when using the RCA pins? When I select "Line OUt" the sound gets much lower. The directions say to select "Line OUt" when using that connection, but the sound output sucks, so I'm sticking with chan. 3/4 option.
now we have two questions but no answers.

I picked up a DigitalStream DTX9900 this afternoon after having used first the Insignia and then the Zenith CECBs. I didn't use a coupon to buy it since I wanted to evaluate the closed captioning it provided first.

I find the DS remote control annoyingly difficult to use; holding it down for more than a pretty short time is processed as pushing the button more than one time though the visual response to the button is slow. It's difficult to gauge exactly how long to hold the button down. For example, pressing 26 easily gets converted into 266 or 2266, so one has to wait out the incorrect number and then start again. When in the menu system trying to change the captions, one winds up exiting the menu sooner than one had wanted to and having to start all over again.

When you press the EPG button, you can't press it again to turn it off even though there's no other use for the EPG button; you have to find the Menu button instead to turn it off. The Zenith/Insignia remote is more efficiently designed to use the same button you just used to exit out of the selection.

The Favorite button only advances to the next "favorite" channel, whereas the Zenith/Insignia shows a list of your channels and allows you to pick which one you want.

The DS has a sleep function that is separate from the power off function; the sleep function would be a one-time setting while the power off would be permanent.

The "info button" is redundant since pressing the "OK" button brings up the same information. (This should have been replaced with a Sleep button instead.)

The menu isn't very well designed; some of the options in the menu are unnecessary since there are designated buttons for it.

The menu for the captions is atrocious; there is no caption preview and the font style choices are only called "Style 1," "Style 2," etc. so you have no idea what the captions look like until you dig yourself out of the menu and wait for a caption to show up. All the captions are too small, even when set to "large" and four of the font styles look very much like each other.

The DS's EPG is certainly more substantial and detailed than the Zenith's, but the Zenith's permits quick and easy navigation with its much more responsive remote control.

The DS doesn't allow you to choose a channel that hasn't already been identified by the auto-scan, whereas the Zenith/Insignia does.

As a practical matter, I already use online TV guides to plan my TV watching, and they provide more information than the EPG does and much more quickly and easily. With all its flaws, the DS doesn't have much appeal for me, and it'll be going back to the store.

Just picked up one of these today. Radio Shack was sold out of the Zenith's and just got a shipment of these in, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Out of the box, the unit feels a little light and is made of plastic, but most things are now. I wouldn't have minded a metal casing, but since nothing will be stacked on top of it, it didn't really matter much.

Unlike some others, the remote has grown on me. The layout is very easy to remember, and overall it reminds me of a scaled-down Tivo remote. It's fairly responsive and the universal option worked instantly on the 15+ year old TV it is hooked to.

Turning the unit on, the auto-setup works fast. It only took about two minutes to cycle through all of the channels and lock in all of the networks. I only lost a couple very weak stations, but that doesn't bother me. Instead, we picked up four others (our NBC affiliate weather station and 3 more PBS). This was done with a simple set of 2-mast rabbit ears. With an amplified antenna, we may pick up a couple more.

The menu system seems to be fairly well laid out, with the categories using images and the sub-categories using text. It only took me a couple minutes to familiarize myself with it and set the unit up just how I wanted it. The signal meter is also a great design. Using a color-coded strength bar and numbers, it's a no-brainer.

The main drawback to the layout is the fact that the program guide only works for the channel you are watching. Being used to DirecTV, I like being able to watch something and find out what else is on at the same time, but since this is a secondary TV it's not a huge deal. Also, from what I have read, there is no manual-tuning option for this set. That is a pretty big drawback for me since I cannot search for weak stations on the fly and adjust just to see what I can get, but again, secondary TV so I will live with it.

Comparing the video, there is absolutely no contest. Analog cannot touch the picture this TV has now. Every station comes through perfectly clear without the snow and constant adjusting like before. The only problem is with the screen size choices. While the majority of the stations work fine in anamorphic, the ones broadcasting in HD have too much of the sides cut off. Switching to 16:9, that station is fine but then others have black bars on the sides. Switching is easy, but a nuisance nonetheless.

Since this is just a mono TV, there is no 'chirping' that some have with DD 5.1. Otherwise, the volume comes in loud and clear with no popping, screeching or any other high pitched noises.

So far, this unit has far exceeded my expectations.

I find the DS remote control annoyingly difficult to use
I actually liked the DS remote better, primarily because the layout is easier to use both visually and by feel. I didn't find responsiveness and functionality to be a problem. Personal preference I guess.

The DS has a sleep function that is separate from the power off function; the sleep function would be a one-time setting while the power off would be permanent.
This is also true for the Zenith isn't it?

The "info button" is redundant since pressing the "OK" button brings up the same information. (This should have been replaced with a Sleep button instead.)
Agree

some of the options in the menu are unnecessary since there are designated buttons for it.
I thought this about both boxes.

The DS doesn't allow you to choose a channel that hasn't already been identified by the auto-scan, whereas the Zenith/Insignia does.

On DS, if you want to go to channel 10 (RF), just enter ".10" on the remote. It will tune to RF 10 and look for a signal. On the Zenith (unless I missed something), you would enter "10-". If there's an existing scanned channel with PSIP 10.1, it'll take you to whatever RF channel that 10.1 is on, not necessarily RF channel 10. In that case, you would have to go through the menu to tune to RF 10.

need some help here- i picked up a digital stream at the local rat shack but can't get the audio output to work any sugguestions people. thanks.
I haven't seen any User Manuals posted anywhere...not even www.radioshack.com

There should be audio output level control(s) for RF Coax and/or RCA L/R I/F.
Don't set them to max output...try maybe 75% and tweak to minimize noise & distortion.

Also, from what I have read, there is no manual-tuning option for this set. That is a pretty big drawback for me since I cannot search for weak stations on the fly and adjust just to see what I can get, but again, secondary TV so I will live with it.


To direct tune to a channel that auto-scan didn't pick up, enter decimal followed by the channel number, such as ".10". The screen will display "RF" and the channel number entered.

You can also go into the menu, select "Auto Scan", then "Update" to add receivable channels not found on a prior scan. If "Update" is selected, it will not delete prior channels found.

For a particular channel you're more likely to have success with direct entry as the box will keep trying to tune it as long as you don't change the channel. You can display the signal meter and play with your antenna until you find it. Once found, the box will store it in memory. With Auto Scan, you've only got a second or two window for attempting to tune each channel. As some channels come and go, you may not get lucky.

I haven't seen any User Manuals posted anywhere...not even www.radioshack.com

There should be audio output level control(s) for RF Coax and/or RCA L/R I/F.
Don't set them to max output...try maybe 75% and tweak to minimize noise & distortion.

The remote has volume controls for box and for TV. The box volume control will display an on-screen graphic for the level.

As mentioned before, if in the menu, the "preferred output" is set for AV, volume levels on both the coax and AV will be weak. If set to coax, level will be much stronger.

Digital Steam DTX9900 Is this a good BOX in a nut shell? They are coming out with analog passthru April 16th according to FreeDTVshop.com

So I am wondering if everyone is happy with existing box?

I like it better than Zenith although that's obviously the more popular box. EPG is big factor.

I would like to have the pass-thru as that will give me more hook-up options for setting up friends and relatives. BTW, pass-thru isn't just about OTA analog channels. I distributed Dish's satellite output throughout my in-laws' house and they have several old TV's. The pass-through is better than a switch for them. Dish has 2-tuner receivers so I have two channels going out. One is channel 3 and the other is selectable. (I selected 37 just because no stations may use that channel). I could use a combiner for 37 but not 3. If I can't make it simple, they won't use it.

I'm curious about the other DS boxes. On FreeDTVshop.com, one of the others looks like the 9900 with a different front grill and what spec's are listed are the same. DS has a sorry website with no info on any of these boxes.

My serial converter board has been shipped so I should be able to see what I can read out of the serial port on the DTX9900 soon.

Nice! let us know what you find. Here is a good place to post (obviously, being about the box) but also in the "Hacking the CECB's" thread. I don't know which would be better.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1006402

I like it better than Zenith although that's obviously the more popular box. EPG is big factor.

I would like to have the pass-thru as that will give me more hook-up options for setting up friends and relatives. BTW, pass-thru isn't just about OTA analog channels. I distributed Dish's satellite output throughout my in-laws' house and they have several old TV's. The pass-through is better than a switch for them. Dish has 2-tuner receivers so I have two channels going out. One is channel 3 and the other is selectable. (I selected 37 just because no stations may use that channel). I could use a combiner for 37 but not 3. If I can't make it simple, they won't use it.

I'm curious about the other DS boxes. On FreeDTVshop.com, one of the others looks like the 9900 with a different front grill and what spec's are listed are the same. DS has a sorry website with no info on any of these boxes.

Can you expand on this comment "EPG is big factor."

Yes I am waiting till april 18th when FreeDtvshop says the new DS with Passthru will be avail. I was told the rest of the box should be similar. That is why I ask you guys if your happy with the box.

thanks

lexus2108

I think that he means that the EPG is a big factor because it is not a Now/Next.

Speaking of the EPG being a big factor.

Has anyone seen the Goodmind DTA1000 (http://www.freedtvshop.com/fdtv/converters/dta1000.php)?

This box looks like it has two modes of EPG simple and full
The simple looks like the Digital Stream.

.......The menu for the captions is atrocious; there is no caption preview and the font style choices are only called "Style 1," "Style 2," etc. so you have no idea what the captions look like until you dig yourself out of the menu and wait for a caption to show up. All the captions are too small, even when set to "large" and four of the font styles look very much like each other......

Dana, I certainly agree with this. In addition, I REALLY don't like that the dedicated "CC" button on the remote doesn't just turn captions on and off, but instead CYCLES through all the choices. Another thing that would be nice would be automatic captions on "Mute."

For the most part, I do like this box, though.

Brad

http://www.mediafire.com/?4d0olvrj3lt

I've been using the box for several days at work now and I have to say I really like it. Not having much seat time with other boxes, I can't really comment on the differences... but like a few posters said, I like the remote too.

I controls my old Zenith TV without issue and the layout is pretty easy to remember. Sure some things are redundant on it, but that's not uncommon. Even my Tivo does that -- you can push right to see the show banner, or press the info button.

And I never saw the point of the "Sleep" timer for the box. It's not like it turns off the TV. Just set your TV's sleep timer! I set the box to shut off after 8 hours so if I forget to turn it off, it'll be off during the middle of the night.

I actually like the Favorite channel button. I have 5 stations in there and can just quicky scan through them. I don't need a popup menu each time I want to pick the next favorite. I went through the main channel list and removed all the other channels I don't want.

need some help here- i picked up a digital stream at the local rat shack but can't get the audio output to work any sugguestions people. thanks.

Sounds like a bad box to me. There is nothing to it -- so if you are having trouble, try another box.

I'm trying to figure out why the audio is better when the channel 3/4 selection is made when using the RCA pins? When I select "Line OUt" the sound gets much lower. The directions say to select "Line OUt" when using that connection, but the sound output sucks, so I'm sticking with chan. 3/4 option.

People's thoughts are Ch3/4 outputs in mono -- and it gets louder because it's probably just adding R + L together.

I have mine set to Line-Out right now going through a VCR and it's not too quiet at all.... But again, that's just my take on it.

I actually liked the DS remote better, primarily because the layout is easier to use both visually and by feel. I didn't find responsiveness and functionality to be a problem. Personal preference I guess.

If no one else has a problem with the hair trigger of the DS remote, it's possible the the box I have is a bad one.

Because it took many, many pushes of buttons on the remote to look at the different caption fonts, it was especially frustrating to deal with the remote control for the box. (I assume the problem is in the box's response to the remote rather than the remote itself.) The very slow visual response to the pushes of the button made combined with the treatment of a single push as being anywhere from one to three pushes made dealing with the menu for the captions especially arduous. It put me in a bad mood! :mad:


This is also true for the Zenith isn't it?


No, I don't think the Zenith has a true sleep function. The Zenith's "sleep" button on the remote brings up the power off function and it's not temporary like normal sleep functions are. The DS provides a separate sleep function with smaller increments that temporarily overrides the permanent power-off setting. So the DS's sleep function is better for saving energy and wear-and-tear, but you have to dig into the menu to activate it, so it's not easy enough to use. Somebody was asleep when it was designed. ;)

On DS, if you want to go to channel 10 (RF), just enter ".10" on the remote. It will tune to RF 10 and look for a signal. On the Zenith (unless I missed something), you would enter "10-". If there's an existing scanned channel with PSIP 10.1, it'll take you to whatever RF channel that 10.1 is on, not necessarily RF channel 10. In that case, you would have to go through the menu to tune to RF 10.

Thanks. The Zenith had an additional, clearly explained way of adding new channels when you went into the first menu option. The DS's method of adding a new channel isn't well-explained by the menu.

FWIW, although I find the menu system for the captions extremely poorly designed and the captions are too small, most of the fonts look cleaner and better designed for analog TVs than the Zenith's/Insignia's captions are. They're legible and have good contrast without needing an "edge" added to them.

Dana

I picked up the DigitalStream DTX9900 yesterday, activated the digital closed captioning, and very late at night, about 2:33 a.m., was "treated" to some visual abnormalities when it was showing an infomercial on the local MyNetworkTV affiliate, WDCA.

Fortunately, because of having my TiVo hooked up to view the output from the CECB, I was able to back up and look at what had happened.

The visual garbage came slowly up onto the screen from the bottom and initially showed some kind of residue from the menu for the digital closed captioning, even though that hadn't been touched for a few hours. It looked like there was something that had stayed in the CECB's memory that had eventually leaked out onto the screen:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/dana.mulvany/R_40KSUoYJI/AAAAAAAAAsA/HH3zRXP00HQ/SV400017-1.JPG?imgmax=512

The visual garbage kept coming up onto the screen, though it changed over time. (My camera ran out of battery power, so I didn't take as many pictures as I might have otherwise.)

http://lh3.ggpht.com/dana.mulvany/R_4z_CUoYGI/AAAAAAAAAro/v46c_rYXG0M/SV400014.JPG?imgmax=512

http://lh6.ggpht.com/dana.mulvany/R_40PyUoYKI/AAAAAAAAAsI/AxQChuSxI4k/SV400018-1.JPG?imgmax=512

After taking lots of pictures, I changed the channel a few times and then went back to the infomercial to check what would happen. The problem had cleared up temporarily but came back on in a few minutes for the same infomercial:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/dana.mulvany/R_40qiUoYSI/AAAAAAAAAtI/VxZLO5bk_yE/SV400026-1.JPG?imgmax=512

The visual garbage stopped moving after the infomercial ended, however, though it stayed put for the uncaptioned DirecTV commercial after the infomercial. The visual junk got wiped off at 3 a.m. when another uncaptioned commercial started, and didn't happen again.

Throughout these problems from 2:33 a.m. to 3 a.m, the sound was still on, and it was still responsive to commands from the remote control, so the CECB didn't completely "crash."

I'd never seen that kind of visual abnormality with the Zenith or Insignia CECBs that I had tried out, though the Zenith had crashed four times and the Insignia five times.

I think all the CECBs I've tested so far are supposed to have the same chip from LG but the captioning and menu of the DigitalStream is very different from the captioning of the Zenith/Insignia, so I'm wondering if the captioning is handled outside of the LG chip.

Maybe I'm in a geographic area (the metropolitan Washington DC area) with quite a few stations with equipment that has some bugs with how captioning is transmitted. In order to see glitches like I've seen with the Zenith, Insignia, and DigitalStream CECB, there may need to be a "perfect storm" of:

a) Digital closed captioning enabled
b) Problematic closed captioning (insufficient attention to captioning from different sources?)
c) Commercials (with problematic captioning of their own?)

More of the pictures of this DigitalStream malfunction, preceded by photos of the DS's captioning, can be seen at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dana.mulvany/DigitalStreamDTX9900

For the moment, the DigitalStream is working normally today.


Dana

The visual garbage came slowly up onto the screen from the bottom and initially showed some kind of residue from the menu for the digital closed captioning, even though that hadn't been touched for a few hours. It looked like there was something that had stayed in the CECB's memory that had eventually leaked out onto the screen:


That is some strange stuff! I've been using my box every day this week at work and not a single problem. No lock ups, no strangeness, nothing. I would think it's time for a return.

If no one else has a problem with the hair trigger of the DS remote, it's possible the the box I have is a bad one.

Because it took many, many pushes of buttons on the remote to look at the different caption fonts, it was especially frustrating to deal with the remote control for the box. (I assume the problem is in the box's response to the remote rather than the remote itself.) The very slow visual response to the pushes of the button made combined with the treatment of a single push as being anywhere from one to three pushes made dealing with the menu for the captions especially arduous. It put me in a bad mood! :mad:


Your box must be screwed up. I would say the repeat delay is about 250ms. It's faster than typical (about 400-500ms is normal, I would say.) but still not too fast. I actually prefer it as I always set my PC's repeat delay to 250ms also. (The fastest setting on the PC.)

I find the box very responsive to remote inputs. Channels change quickly, menu navigation is near instant.

It's almost like what is happening to you if the unit isn't displaying your button push until 250ms too late so it starts repeating as soon as it appears? It sounds like a flaw but a strange one.

I would take that thing back and exchange it. You'll save yourself the aggravation. :-)

That is some strange stuff! I've been using my box every day this week at work and not a single problem. No lock ups, no strangeness, nothing. I would think it's time for a return.

Try activating the digital closed captioning and see if that causes any problems, particularly if you have it tuned to your local affiliate of MyNetworkTV, PBS, Fox or ABC.

No one other than me reported problems with the Zenith or Insignia boxes, but they didn't have the digital closed captioning turned on AND tuned to a station with problematic captioning.

Dana

A couple of small disappointments, both related to the remote: the remote's buttons need a lot of pressure to push (that is an issue if one of the viewers is an arthritic nonagenarian) and the TV input key doesn't work for a Funai TV (but the other three TV keys do).

It's difficult to compare its performance to that of the Zenith DTT900 I bought two weeks ago, because while I go from one to the other the signal levels could have changed, or there could be something different in the televisions or the antennas; it's hard to know what differences to attribute to the converter.

Try activating the digital closed captioning and see if that causes any problems, particularly if you have it tuned to your local affiliate of MyNetworkTV, PBS, Fox or ABC.

No one other than me reported problems with the Zenith or Insignia boxes, but they didn't have the digital closed captioning turned on AND tuned to a station with problematic captioning.

Dana

I've been watching stuff with both CS1 and CC1 turned on with no strange effects. CS1 and PBS are showing right now.

Quality control on these boxes certainly seems to be low. So many people having strange problems.

I've been watching stuff with both CS1 and CC1 turned on with no strange effects. CS1 and PBS are showing right now.

Quality control on these boxes certainly seems to be low. So many people having strange problems.
i would greatly appreciate it if somone who owns a digital stream box is using the audio outputs of said box and getting them to work. thanks

This box would be a perfect companion to my VCR if you could just "click" on a show in the program guide and the box would tune to it when it came on.
Does it?

Does anyone know what the component code number for the digital stream's remote control is?

I am trying to program a Sony Universal Remote Control (RM-V310) and having no luck.

i would greatly appreciate it if somone who owns a digital stream box is using the audio outputs of said box and getting them to work. thanks

At least three people have responded to your earlier postings, and one has suggested you might have a bad box since the audio should work straight out of the box, but you haven't responded to them, so I've wondered if you've seen them.

There are two different audio settings available. Push the Menu button, then arrow down to the Function menu, then use the right arrow to get to the Audio/Video setting, then arrow down to the Preferred Conn(ection) and press OK to see the two choices. I think the CH 3/4 is the RF cable connection that people are saying provides a louder audio signal.

Make sure that your DS remote control's volume is almost 100% and that your TV's remote is up high as well. There IS a mute button on the DS remote under the volume rocker, so press that to make sure the mute is off (either "Mute" or "Mute off" will show at the bottom of the screen), though changing the volume will also deactivate the mute feature.

Dana

Your box must be screwed up. I would say the repeat delay is about 250ms. It's faster than typical (about 400-500ms is normal, I would say.) but still not too fast. I actually prefer it as I always set my PC's repeat delay to 250ms also. (The fastest setting on the PC.)

I find the box very responsive to remote inputs. Channels change quickly, menu navigation is near instant.

It's almost like what is happening to you if the unit isn't displaying your button push until 250ms too late so it starts repeating as soon as it appears? It sounds like a flaw but a strange one.

I would take that thing back and exchange it. You'll save yourself the aggravation. :-)

My other remote controlled devices, like the TiVo, don't get in a tizzy if I'm pushing a button on the remote a long time, so I wasn't used to thinking about how long I was pushing the buttons.

I suppose it saves battery power to be quicker about pushing the buttons. However, some people could have trouble adjusting to the touchiness of the DS remote (if they all behave like mine does).

The buttons on the DS remote are kind of spongy, compared to buttons of other remotes. There are times when I've pressed a button like the channel down button, and it hasn't responded at all, and other times when I'll quickly press all the way down on a number button, and it'll enter the digit three times instead of one. If the buttons weren't so spongy and if they didn't have to be pushed so far, the fast responsiveness would work out better.

Can you expand on this comment "EPG is big factor."


Yes, depending on how much or IF the broadcaster transmits of the guide, you can see whats on hours or even days ahead (up to 45 hours for one channel by my observation). To me, this is much better (more info = better) than the now/next, but multi-channel, variety that the Zenith uses. I find it more useful to be able to look and see what time such-and-such is on later tonight or tomorrow. Depending on how recently you've flipped through the channels, you could use the multi-channel guide of the Zenith to find out or remind you what's on the other channels without flipping through them again.

As a bonus, the DS has the extra TV control buttons (input selection and vol +/-). To me the balance on more insignificant features (such as info screen content) tilts to the DS as well.

The more significant features that tilt toward Zenith are wide screen support and perhaps mono/stereo selection, though neither of these is important to me. (No one in my circle has a WS TV without a digital tuner). Some folks also like the asthetics much better though I think the DS looks fine.

People's thoughts are Ch3/4 outputs in mono -- and it gets louder because it's probably just adding R + L together.

Someone can double-check me on this if you wish. My first thought upon seeing the "Preferred Connection" menu was that this is another name for the stereo/mono selection that the Zenith has. I didn't find this to be the case. I listened to the output of the TV with the AV cables connected and found that it is in stereo regardless of the "Preferred Connection" setting. It is also true that the coax only carries mono regardless of the setting.

I'll re-check it this weekend if I have time. I'll plug up to the stereo to make sure I am distinguishing correctly. I didn't actually verify the Zenith's output per the stereo/mono setting either so I'll also listen to that.

At least three people have responded to your earlier postings, and one has suggested you might have a bad box since the audio should work straight out of the box, but you haven't responded to them, so I've wondered if you've seen them.

There are two different audio settings available. Push the Menu button, then arrow down to the Function menu, then use the right arrow to get to the Audio/Video setting, then arrow down to the Preferred Conn(ection) and press OK to see the two choices. I think the CH 3/4 is the RF cable connection that people are saying provides a louder audio signal.

Make sure that your DS remote control's volume is almost 100% and that your TV's remote is up high as well. There IS a mute button on the DS remote under the volume rocker, so press that to make sure the mute is off (either "Mute" or "Mute off" will show at the bottom of the screen), though changing the volume will also deactivate the mute feature.

Dana
i got a new box this am going to try it, but my original question still stands. thanks for the response though.

Well, I thought I would add my user's experience since I've been monitoring this thread. My main motivation to buy one of these was experimentation to see if I could receive digital signals through my current wiring setup. As of last week when I bought it, I got the impression that people leaned a bit more towards this one over the Zenith because of the expanded program guide and some question about audio distortion on the left channel.

I've had the DS DTX-9900 for a week now and am quite pleased in all respects. I would have no hesitation recommending this unit to another. I have a 2-story house with a 25 yr old antenna in the attic pointed towards Philly (20 mi line of sight to the transmission towers). I have a 40dB R-S amplifier (old, not made or rated especially for digital) on the main antenna feed, afterwhich it goes through a 3-way passive splitter. One leg of the splitter output goes to the family room and into a 4-way powered splitter (low end BB model, not rated for digital either) to feed a Sony 32" TV, Sony VCR, Panasonic E-85 DVDR and now the DTX-9900. With this setup I receive 10 local OTA analog channels. For the lower 6 of those channels I get phenominal analog reception, the upper 4 are a bit, or more than a bit, fuzzy with snow and noise.

The DTX-9900 was simple to set up and channel scan found all 10 of the digital equivalents of the analog channels along with a host of subchannels I have little value for. This for me was the biggest success; knowing that I was good to go with my current setup for this summer when I buy my first DTV. The remote is very simple: it took me about 5 min to program all it's functions into my Sony VL600 learning remote and put it in the cabinet with all the rest. I connected the DTX to the TV via RF and composite. The PQ difference was immediately obvious -- the RF connection was very soft while the composite connection was crisp with vibrant colors. So even if this unit had analog pass-through it wouldn't matter to me because I would never hook this up through the RF long-term. The PQ of the lower 6 channels through composite was every bit as good as my analog reception. The digital PQ of the upper 4 was just as sharp and made the DTX worth every penny for me. It was cool to watch the Phillies and actually see them. Because of the audio distortion reports I was looking for it. Over the week of watching primetime 5.1 TV through this box, neither myself nor my wife nor my 19 yr old daughter with good ears can hear any high-frequency squeal, distortion or chirping from the left audio channel.

Last night was the best part. I hooked the DTX to my E-85 to record a Korean drama on the worst of the upper fuzzy channels. I have been recording and watching this saga twice weekly for a year now, putting up with the miserable snowy picture etc. Last night it knocked me out of my socks to see it in crystal clarity and read the subtitles without having to rewind. I can't wait for tonight's episode. I think I'm going to leave the DTX hooked up to the E-85 where it will get the most use. If I want to watch one of the upper channels clearly I can do so through the E-85 without problems.

...The DTX-9900 was simple to set up and channel scan found all 10 of the digital equivalents of the analog channels along with a host of subchannels I have little value for. This for me was the biggest success; knowing that I was good to go with my current setup for this summer when I buy my first DTV.

Let me be the first to caution you: even with a brand new DTV, its reception of OTA DTV may not be as good as the DS converter box. :confused: Its LG chipset and its algorithms are reportedly "6th generation". Depending on the brand and model, your new TV may include an earlier generation ATSC tuner.

Hopefully, this won't be the case for you, and your new TV will receive the OTA stations as well or better than the CECB. But just remember that it is possible that it won't. Maybe you can search for a TV with the equivalent tuner capability, or at least one with the latest manufacturing date.

i got a new box this am going to try it, but my original question still stands. thanks for the response though.

Please be much more specific about why you are having trouble setting up the audio and why none of the four responses to you have been of assistance to you. No one else has reported a problem getting audio. Let us know what connectors your TV has, for example, and describe what you've done so far.

Dana

Let me be the first to caution you: even with a brand new DTV, its reception of OTA DTV may not be as good as the DS converter box. :confused: Its LG chipset and its algorithms are reportedly "6th generation". Depending on the brand and model, your new TV may include an earlier generation ATSC tuner.

Hopefully, this won't be the case for you, and your new TV will receive the OTA stations as well or better than the CECB. But just remember that it is possible that it won't. Maybe you can search for a TV with the equivalent tuner capability, or at least one with the latest manufacturing date.Thank you for the caution, that would indeed be disappointing. My intended purchase is one of the new Panasonic 1080 plasma's (TH-50PZ85) that are just now appearing in the stores. I would like to think they had the latest in quality tuners.

Please be much more specific about why you are having trouble setting up the audio and why none of the four responses to you have been of assistance to you. No one else has reported a problem getting audio. Let us know what connectors your TV has, for example, and describe what you've done so far.

Dana
let me see if i can describe my experience. going thru rf i have audio. going thru audio input of the tv no audio. line out is selected muting is off volume all the way up video works fine go figure.can't take it to rat shack because they have no tv to show them the problem.

let me see if i can describe my experience. going thru rf i have audio. going thru audio input of the tv no audio. line out is selected muting is off volume all the way up video works fine go figure.can't take it to rat shack because they have no tv to show them the problem.
To: Rviele

Did you tell your TV to use the line-in for A/V?
Can you hook the line-out audio cables to another amplifier to see if the problem is the audio input of the TV, or the audio output of the MS box?

To: Rviele

Did you tell your TV to use the line-in for A/V?
Can you hook the line-out audio cables to another amplifier to see if the problem is the audio input of the TV, or the audio output of the MS box?
in answer to your first question: yes
the answer to the second question is i did the first time around.
my questions are
why would the video work and not the audio?
and why do i get thru the rf.

in answer to your first question: yes
the answer to the second question is i did the first time around.
my questions are
why would the video work and not the audio?
and why do i get thru the rf.

For RF output, the demodulated digital audio gets re-modulated for the analog signal out to your TV channel 3/4. For line audio, the demodulated digital audio is sent thru a small stereo buffer amplifier then to the jacks on the back of the box. There could be a problem in the box with the buffer amp, but you can confirm that by hooking the box to another audio input device and checking for audio. Or, hook another source for audio to the TV (or what ever device you are using to playback the audio with) and check to see that you get audio thru that device. Either troubleshooting method will let you know where the problem lies...

in answer to your first question: yes
the answer to the second question is i did the first time around.
my questions are
why would the video work and not the audio?
and why do i get thru the rf.

If you can move the A/V cables going to the TV from the DTV9900 and plug it into something else, like a VCR or DVD player, and have normal sound, then your DTX9900 is bad. There are no tricks or options to set to get the R/L audio to output, it does it all the time.

The simple test of trying something else (if you haven't already) will tell you right away if the box is bad or not.

If you can move the A/V cables going to the TV from the DTV9900 and plug it into something else, like a VCR or DVD player, and have normal sound, then your DTX9900 is bad. There are no tricks or options to set to get the R/L audio to output, it does it all the time.

The simple test of trying something else (if you haven't already) will tell you right away if the box is bad or not.
i'm on my second box now all i'm trying to do is get someone out in the forum who owns this box to confirm that the audio output works. the rat shack manager doesn.t believe me.

i'm on my second box now all i'm trying to do is get someone out in the forum who owns this box to confirm that the audio output works. the rat shack manager doesn.t believe me.

Of course it works. That is how I use the box. In fact, all the talk of the audio bug center around the fact that it's all one one channel and not on the other -- something you can only hear if you have the RCA cables connected.

Since you are on your second box and still have a problem, it really sounds like a problem with your other equipment.

Of course it works. That is how I use the box. In fact, all the talk of the audio bug center around the fact that it's all one one channel and not on the other -- something you can only hear if you have the RCA cables connected.

Since you are on your second box and still have a problem, it really sounds like a problem with your other equipment.
let's say you're right.
how then do we hook it up otherwise than rca cables?
and why does my dvd audio operate perfectly when hooked up to the exact same inputs?

let's say you're right.

He is right. Nobody else has reported the problem you're having. You seem to have the idea stuck in your head that there is some "trick" to get line audio to work on this box. There isn't. It should work right out of the box. As long as 1) the volume is up and 2) mute is off, it should always work. It doesn't even matter whether audio is set to "Line Out" or "CH 3/4" -- either way, you should get audio through the RCA outputs.

how then do we hook it up otherwise than rca cables?

You don't. Coaxial (RF) and RCA (line) are the only options.

and why does my dvd audio operate perfectly when hooked up to the exact same inputs?

Well, that's a complete mystery at this point. Are you absolutely certain that you've eliminated every other possibility (bad cables, wrong input setting on the TV, etc.)? In other words, can you, while listening to audio from the DVD, unplug the RCA cables from the DVD outputs and immediately plug those same cables into the DTX9900 outputs, without touching anything else, and confirm that you have no audio? Even if you believe that you've already done this, please humor us and try it again.

If you do this and confirm no audio, then it would seem that the only other possibility, however unlikely, is that you have gotten two boxes that work perfectly except for broken line audio, even though nobody else who has read this thread has experienced this problem even once.

He is right. Nobody else has reported the problem you're having. You seem to have the idea stuck in your head that there is some "trick" to get line audio to work on this box. There isn't. It should work right out of the box. As long as 1) the volume is up and 2) mute is off, it should always work. It doesn't even matter whether audio is set to "Line Out" or "CH 3/4" -- either way, you should get audio through the RCA outputs.



You don't. Coaxial (RF) and RCA (line) are the only options.



Well, that's a complete mystery at this point. Are you absolutely certain that you've eliminated every other possibility (bad cables, wrong input setting on the TV, etc.)? In other words, can you, while listening to audio from the DVD, unplug the RCA cables from the DVD outputs and immediately plug those same cables into the DTX9900 outputs, without touching anything else, and confirm that you have no audio? Even if you believe that you've already done this, please humor us and try it again.

If you do this and confirm no audio, then it would seem that the only other possibility, however unlikely, is that you have gotten two boxes that work perfectly except for broken line audio, even though nobody else who has read this thread has experienced this problem even once.
just thought you might be interested there seem to be electronic gremlins residing in my household so i'm going to tear everything down and start from scratch and if after all this work i find out it's the cables i'm going to commit hari-kari.

just thought you might be interested there seem to be electronic gremlins residing in my household so i'm going to tear everything down and start from scratch and if after all this work i find out it's the cables i'm going to commit hari-kari.If you do resolve the issue, please post a follow-up.

If you do resolve the issue, please post a follow-up.
the follow up is the gremlins have been vanquished and i'm throughly disgusted box now works perfectly. on a side note if anybody wants to see what true hi-def is all look at the pbs national feed.

the follow up is the gremlins have been vanquished and i'm throughly disgusted box now works perfectly. on a side note if anybody wants to see what true hi-def is all look at the pbs national feed.Oh come on, don't leave us hanging. What was the problem. It's not unreasonable to expect someone else may have a similar issue down the road.

Oh come on, don't leave us hanging. What was the problem. It's not unreasonable to expect someone else may have a similar issue down the road.
i changed the internal switch on the receiver. but what still stumps me is why the tv which has its own set of speakers would not work.

..if anybody wants to see what true hi-def is all look at the pbs national feed.You mean true hi-def downconverted to standard def.

Actually, PBS-HD isn't as good as it used to be in a lot of areas because they've added so many subchannels. With three subchannels they've pretty much ruined it here, as far as watching it on a larger, hi-rez display.

You mean true hi-def downconverted to standard def.

Actually, PBS-HD isn't as good as it used to be in a lot of areas because they've added so many subchannels. With three subchannels they've pretty much ruined it here, as far as watching it on a larger, hi-rez display.
i'm talking about the national feed that's up on cband.

I got a 02B08 version DS DTX9900 from R.S. mostly to use the great
reception and signal meter to install and point my new roof antenna.
I'll later post anything I have to add to this thread. thus far I found
a bug where the initial channel scan setup kept crashing on me, so
I had to do it through the menu using update instead of setup scan.
Oddly enough, I heard the infamous chirp during channel scan setup,
but I have not heard it since. A/V volume output is lower than Coax,
and requires a lot more audio amplification from your TV, VCR or Amp.

How well does this set work on a 16:9 TV?

I have a HDTV with only a NTSC tuner in it that is 16:9.

How well does this set work on a 16:9 TV?

I have a HDTV with only a NTSC tuner in it that is 16:9.

And QUIT CROSS POSTING !!

And QUIT CROSS POSTING !!Apologies.

I usually don't do that much, but it seemed appropriate in this case to add comments in the dedicated threads for those seperate CECB devices as most commenters in them seem to be only subscribed to the individual threads of the equipment they own or have tried.

I just got new digital stream dtx 9900 convertor box with $40 coupon. after connecting with TV & in-door antenna, picture is really crystal clear. but the problem is when i shut off the TV or convertor box I have to reprogram the convertor box again. so, every night I have to reprogram the convertor box . basically I use UPDATE not RESCAN everytime i start tv.

can anybody have PARMENANT solution for this ?

It sounds like a defective unit. I let my neighbor borrow mine for 2 weeks, he never had the time to try it, and all my channels were still in the memory after being unplugged for 2 weeks.

How well does this set work on a 16:9 TV?

I have a HDTV with only a NTSC tuner in it that is 16:9.
Between the adjustments on your wide screen TV menu and those in the convertor box menu, you will be able to properly use your wide screen TV display for SD picture viewing. You may have to re-adjust the settings when you change your viewing program... If your wide screen TV panel is 36 inches are bigger, you would be better off with an HD convertor box, as others have mentioned. The improvement of HD over SD picture quality becomes more obvious with larger viewing panels.

Gotcha. Just tried the Zenith box. Havea friend who wants its, o Iwill try the DSbox next.

The picture I got from the CBS HD OTA 1080i60 downconverted to 480i and upscaled back to 108060 widescreen looked prettygood, like upscaled DVD. Not quite HD but much better than what I had before, besides being 16:9.

I'm going to try the DS box next.

let me tell me from the start what I did

I connect everything by the book. I select channel 3 from the back of the DTX 9900. now I set my TV on channel 3 and setting everything.
first input select AIR, after that selecting the RESCAN for the channel. now after this I got all the channel I need, picture is really crystal clear. but the problem is when i shut off the TV or convertor box I have to reprogram the convertor box again. so, every night I have to reprogram the convertor box . basically I use UPDATE not RESCAN everytime i start tv.

can anybody have PARMENANT solution for this ?

let me tell me from the start what I did

I connect everything by the book. I select channel 3 from the back of the DTX 9900. now I set my TV on channel 3 and setting everything.
first input select AIR, after that selecting the RESCAN for the channel. now after this I got all the channel I need, picture is really crystal clear. but the problem is when i shut off the TV or convertor box I have to reprogram the convertor box again. so, every night I have to reprogram the convertor box . basically I use UPDATE not RESCAN everytime i start tv.

can anybody have PARMENANT solution for this ?

Replace the box with one that works.

Quick Question on this box.

I bought it for my son, who lives an hour away and goes to school.

I hooked it up to a cheap Daewoo TV I have and it works great....except it does not get the local NBC station which has a strong signal and is LOS.

So, just for fun, I dragged the Digital Stream down the hall and hooked it up to my plasma, which is "HD-Ready...ie...means it needs a converter box:D." The NBC station came in perfectly.

Only diff. between the two is the Daewoo is on a set of rabbit ears and the Plasma is on a ChannelMaster rooftop. But the NBC station comes in fine on the Daewoo with the rabbit ears only.

I tried everything I could think of, which was not much, but no luck.

Anyway, fear my son will also not get the NBC station, since it is the same one.

Anything I can try?

I use a cable HD box for my older HDTV, but I had one poor CBS channel not available in HD, so I wanted to see if a CECB would help for that one station.

My recommendation is the DigitalStream DTX9900 using the 75 ohm coax out can do surprisingly well. Still better to use a real HD ATSC tuner, but for $25bucks the DS box does quit well. I was kinda impressed.

What is best CECB box to use on a 16:9 RPTV 57" NTSC tuner CRT HDTV?

The Winner is : DigitalStream DTX9900 using the ANT (75 ohm) out !

Wow. Interesting findings here.

I first connected the DigitalStream DTX9900 using the composite connection (using both a 6 foot set of high quality RCA composite cables and then a set of component cables) . I was less than impressed with the SD digital channels being sent and OK with the 1080i HD 16:9 result. But I saw some clear shimmer, dot crawl and clay face lose of color depth compared to a true 1080i60 HD signal. The Zenith CECB looked better at first using its composite a 75 ohm outputs.

But then I switched to the ANT (75 ohm) output of the DigitalStream DTX 9900 and plugged that into my ANT1 input to my Toshiba 57HDX82 NTSC 16:9rear projection HDTV.

Wow.

Night and day difference. No looks even better than the Zenith did. As a matter of fact, it now looks better on the 1080i60 down converted to 480i60 by the DigitalStream CECB (using anamorphic mode) and then back upconverted back to 1080i60 by the HDTV.

Standard def digital channels now look even better than the Zenith and the shimmer is gone. Their might have been cross talk on the 6 foot composite cables or the HDTV is optimized for upconverting on the ANT (75ohm) in.

Either way, I happy with the result.

Most amazingly, this down convert upconvert kludgey chain works extremely well on actual native 1080i60 HD material. I was able to compare a HD channel of my SA8300 HD cable box and the OTA HD 1080i60 version processed thru the DS box which down converted to anamorphic 480i60 an then feed thru the cable ANT out back to be upconverted by my HDTV. The result was astonishing on the 57" rear projection HDTV. Not quite HD , but I had to look hard to see the background difference. Certainly very watchable and light years beyond the crappy 4:3 analog version of CBS that I lived with before.

I am a real happy camper. All of the digital stations I can grab now are superior to their analog versions on my HD cable box. Not quit HD , but very much better than I expected.

The DigitalStream DTX9900 CECB using the ANT (75 ohm) out (do not use the composite out, is the clear winner here when connected to a larger NTSC tuner based HDTV.

I also connected it to the 27 and 32 inch 4:3 CRT TVs I have as well. Overall the Digitalstream DTX9900 looked good there too.

It will be my clear recommendation between the two.

EDIT: added this addition

I can now get pretty good pictures on both boxes using composite.

Played with both the DigitalStream and Zenith CECB boxes on different settings.

Once I cranked down the contrast and sharpness settings for both boxes I compared them both on RF coax and composite. So I was switching A-B-C-D to compare.

I could now get all 4 inputs to look about the same on the HD channels, with addition of course of stereo sound on composite. The Zenith had less moire and shimmering on the SD digital channels and properly showed them in 4:3 aspect ratio. My HDTV was over compensating , but when I cranked down the contrast and sharpness, it could make all 4 inputs look pretty good.

So I'm back to keeping the Zenith, cause I don't care about the EPG and it properly displays 4:3 digital content automatically while I change channels.

I would try the Zenith in 16:9 TV aspect mode if you have a 16:9 HDTV.

Of course by using the composite inputs I get stereo again.

Bottom line: Zenith and DigitalStream look about the same on HD stations. Zenith 16:9 TV aspect ratio setup allows proper aspect ratio display of 4:3 content with side pillar boxes on a 16:9 HDTV display with slightly better display of SD content.

I still like the DigitalStream remote EPG and menus, but the 16:9 TV Aspect setting works for me in my particular situation.

Quick Question on this box. ...

I hooked it up to a cheap Daewoo TV I have and it works great....except it does not get the local NBC station which has a strong signal and is LOS.

So, just for fun, I dragged the Digital Stream down the hall and hooked it up to my plasma ... The NBC station came in perfectly.

Only diff. between the two is the Daewoo is on a set of rabbit ears and the Plasma is on a ChannelMaster rooftop. But the NBC station comes in fine on the Daewoo with the rabbit ears only. ... Maybe the set-top antenna on the Daewoo can receive the channel with the NBC station's analog signal but not the underlying real channel that carries their digital signal.  That's what it sounds like.  If you can get other channels carried in the same band as the true frequency for the NBC station's digital feed, maybe the antenna position just needs some adjusting.

Coincidentally, I also have a DTX9900 hooked up to a 13" analog Daewoo TV with rabbit ears and a UHF loop.  Our local NBC station's digital feed (UHF, channel 29) comes in better than its analog feed (VHF-low, channel 5).

I use a cable HD box for my older HDTV, but I had one poor CBS channel not available in HD, so I wanted to see if a CECB would help for that one station.

My recommendation is the DigitalStream DTX9900 using the 75 ohm coax out can do surprisingly well. Still better to use a real HD ATSC tuner, but for $25bucks the DS box does quit well. I was kinda impressed.As much as I hate to make a post like this, I must now make my appeal to you also.

PLEASE, PLEASE STOP CROSS-POSTING SO MANY RESPONSES YOU MAKE.

I am following all these threads and I am really tired of reading your same posts over and over across them. You started your own thread on this topic here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13661852#post13661852). Please use it and stop repeating across threads. I hope this is not how you got your enormous post count.

As much as I hate to make a post like this, I must now make my appeal to you also.

PLEASE, PLEASE STOP CROSS-POSTING SO MANY RESPONSES YOU MAKE.

I am following all these threads and I am really tired of reading your same posts over and over across them. You started your own thread on this topic here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13661852#post13661852). Please use it and stop repeating across threads. I hope this is not how you got your enormous post count. Its not.

I just thought in this specific case, it was appropriate for me to post the followup and resolution in the specific threads I asked the question in , for the benefit of those that were only following this thread, as a courtesy.

It seemed reasonable to post a link or summary in the original thread I started , the Zenith versus DigitalStream thread and the DigitalStream thread where I had the overall best experience and additional comments on my head to head comparison on CRT TVs.

I just wanted people in those threads I posted in to know my issue was resolved and to share my experience if it could help them in a similar situation.

If I did not, people may continue to post in attempting to help me , even when my situation was resolved.

I would hope that you would understand.

I just wanted to counter Kosty's post. While I like the DS box I do NOT experience better PQ using RF out. In fact it's noticeably poorer as well as being in mono audio. I don't disagree that you may be seeing better PQ via RF, but at least in my case it's not better but worse. I have a Panasonic 32" 720p LCD. I'll post later more findings on the DS box. For now I'd say it's a nice box. No where near HD PQ but nice features.

continued conversation on jjeff's comment here:

What is best CECB box to use on a 16:9 RPTV 57" NTSC tuner CRT HDTV? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13661852#post13661852)

It may be that my older HDTV is upconverting the RF coax input differently than the composite input as many earlier HDTVs were optimized to upconvert cable.

In fact it's noticeably poorer as well as being in mono audio.
I don't disagree that you may be seeing better PQ via RF,
but at least in my case it's not better but worse.

I'm surprised how weak and mono sounding the RCA jacks of my DS seem,
and am tempted to use the composite jack instead. I have not noticed
any chirping during 5:1 sound transmissions. There is definitely something
odd going on with this box sound wise, but I don't have the technical idea
how to articulate or isolate it. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with this box.
I'm probably going to return mine in a week or two, but I may get another
one in May when the analog pass thru version of this box comes out.
hopefully they will have also sorted out any audio anomalies that remain.

I had no problems with the audio, but did notice that changing the "preferred connection" option to LINE OUT changed the volume output level. Didn't notice that it changed the PQ though. I'm not really sure what's the purpose of the setting. I also don't know what the ANTENNA/CABLE selection is all about. I didn't think any of these boxes could get QAM, but did notice if I selected CABLE I got no OTA channels so I don't know what it's doing. I don't have cable to try if it indeeds gets anything when set to CABLE. I'm sure it doesn't.

I bought one of these this evening. As a CECB - it works fine. For my intended use - I can't find an IR blaster code that my computer has . It's going back to Radio Shack tomorrow.

I just wanted to counter Kosty's post. While I like the DS box I do NOT experience better PQ using RF out. In fact it's noticeably poorer as well as being in mono audio. I don't disagree that you may be seeing better PQ via RF, but at least in my case it's not better but worse. I have a Panasonic 32" 720p LCD. I'll post later more findings on the DS box. For now I'd say it's a nice box. No where near HD PQ but nice features.

This is my finding now as well once cranked down the contrast and sharpness and SVM settings.

I had no problems with the audio, but did notice that changing the "preferred connection" option to LINE OUT changed the volume output level. Didn't notice that it changed the PQ though. I'm not really sure what's the purpose of the setting.Nor am I.  It doesn't seem to affect the mode in which the box next powers up, and that was my only guess.I also don't know what the ANTENNA/CABLE selection is all about. I didn't think any of these boxes could get QAM, but did notice if I selected CABLE I got no OTA channels so I don't know what it's doing. I don't have cable to try if it indeeds gets anything when set to CABLE. I'm sure it doesn't.I couldn't resist trying the "cable" setting, but of course it found nothing in the signal from Comcast's coax.  However, when I used the cable setting with the antenna, it did pick up the one OTA digital channel here that's currently on a VHF frequency, which is logical.  So I think that the "cable" setting in the DTX9900 is something intended for a QAM-reading receiver that didn't get properly removed from the CECB's firmware.

"Digital Cable" systems within the U.S. use QAM instead of ATSC (8VSB).
And of course, CECB converter boxes (unfortunately) don't do analog NTSC.

However, there are some Master Antenna Distribution Systems in the U.S. as well as some
foreign cable systems (e.g. Korea) that do distribute ATSC (8VSB) signals without any
modulation conversions.

Hence the converter boxes would be compatible with these particular systems.
And explains the paragraph in many User Manuals claiming they work on "cable" systems
(however, not in the U.S.).

The "cable" vs "antenna" selection is probably reducing the overall sensitivity when
in cable mode to suppress intermodulation distortion due to many strong cable signals.

The "cable" vs "antenna" selection is probably reducing the overall sensitivity when in cable mode to suppress intermodulation distortion due to many strong cable signals.It can't be reducing it by much, because the one station the DTX9900 picked up in cable mode (while connected to antenna input: of course it found none while connected to cable input) is on a VHF-low frequency and is far and away the hardest to receive of our local digital stations.

Interesting. When I get analog channels with the cable switch/antenna combination, it's only the UHF ones. I don't get any VHF.

I think that option was disabled to dumb down the unit to meet the CECB certification or for cost savings. I just think it was not removed from the firmware.

I'm surprised how weak and mono sounding the RCA jacks of my DS seem,
and am tempted to use the composite jack instead. I have not noticed
any chirping during 5:1 sound transmissions. There is definitely something
odd going on with this box sound wise, but I don't have the technical idea
how to articulate or isolate it. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with this box.
I'm probably going to return mine in a week or two, but I may get another
one in May when the analog pass thru version of this box comes out.
hopefully they will have also sorted out any audio anomalies that remain.

I felt the same way, then I remembered reading a post where they recommended switching the audio set up in the menu to R/F connection. I made that change, and now the audio out of the RCA jacks is much stronger. One might think that setting would cut off the audio from the L/R jacks, but it doesn't.

I am now the owner of a DTX9900. Initially, I'm using composite/stereo outputs to a Sony 34XBR970 with the antenna feed split before the box/TV so I can feed equivalent RF to both tuners. The TV's audio out (from all inputs) is connected to a Pro Logic I SSR for surround synthesis from the stereo signals from the tuners.

Yes, I do hear the sibilance in network news broadcasts, but that's not as apparent in A-B comparison as the absence of any low-end. We're not talking LFE/sub-woofer territory, this is the entire low end, what's missing in typical TV speaker systems. This after input preference selection and appropriate volume adjustment.

I'm also disappointed in the DTX's reception results. The TV signal strengths are all steadier, and much higher (90+ vs. 60-80) than the box which may drift over a 5-10 point range with audio drop outs and picture freezes the TV tuner doesn't show. Swapping antenna leads out of the splitter makes no difference; it's the tuner.

While I like some of the screen size options, I find the zoom level is stuck on Anamorphic for all sub-channels. I can cycle through the 4 settings on the primary (HD) channel, but not on any sub-channels, via remote or menu. Thankfully, this is not a problem in my intended application - an HD-ready TV.

Frank

It receives all the same channels I received with my db-2010 my dmr-ez27 and my magnavox whatever it is dvd/vcr.

The epg is good the video is good the audio is good but odd with you having to select preferred connection of 3/4 to get it loud enough thru the rca jacks.

The thing I really like is that when you turn it off it is off and becomes almost ice cold not like other tuners I know of that stay very hot in standby mode so energystar units are good....but in operating mode it gets very hot

I love that it works and controls the old magnavox tv very well

One other thing the audio video output per rca jacks and the 3/4 rf out to tv are on at the same time I tried it lastnight with an old vcr the recording was ok thru the rf out and the audio video lines actually the recording looked better then a vhs recoring of the same material on my magnavox dvd/vcr could be the Toshiba vcr I was using is better at recording anyway...

First time in a long time I have bought something from the ratshack and it worked.

One of the other surprises I think it has a 6 month warranty on it

I would buy another but am hoping the ecostar will come out and I will be able to get one before my other coupon runs out in july

I just purchased 2 of these Digital Stream DTX-9900 boxes and am very happy with it. :)
It located most all the local channels, but doesn't pull in an ABC affiliate that is normally ghosty in analog.
This is supposedly a station with a weak signal and old equipment.
I read this entire thread and have just 2 questions.

1. How does one set the timezone to daylight savings time?
I saw a review where the reviewer said that the timezone settings include a setting to choose daylight savings time.
It is nowhere to be found in the menu on either of my DTX-9900 boxes.
I live in central timezone, and as a workaround, I could just choose eastern timezone, but that is not what I really want to do.
Does anyone else's box have the time set to ONE hour too early? Both of mine do.

2. Are there, or will there be any firmware upgrades for any of these type of DTV converter boxes?
Can these types of boxes be upgraded through a firmware patch?

Thank you,
Jon

1. How does one set the timezone to daylight savings time?
I saw a review where the reviewer said that the timezone settings include a setting to choose daylight savings time.
It is nowhere to be found in the menu on either of my DTX-9900 boxes.
I live in central timezone, and as a workaround, I could just choose eastern timezone, but that is not what I really want to do.
Does anyone else's box have the time set to ONE hour too early? Both of mine do.
I have this box and there is no setting for daylight saving time (not daylight savings time, as so many people incorrectly say). My box correctly observes DST. I think DST info is supposed to be sent out by the TV stations. I am guessing that in your case, one or more of your local stations are not broadcasting that information. A call to your local stations might resolve the problem.

I'm new to OTA DTV and this DTX9900 is my first such tuner experience.

I'd like to know if a few things I'm annoyed by are indigenous to OTA DTV
or specific to this DTX9900, and improvements can be found elsewhere.

1. channel changing lag time;
- when I press 7 on my analog tuner it instantly selects 7,
with only a fraction of a second pause before
the tuner fills the screen with content.
- on my DTX9900 there are actually two one second pauses,
once I hit 7 then . then 1 (for channel 7) there is a pause after I hit 1,
- there is another pause once the tuner goes to 7.1, but
has not yet put the content on the screen.

2. frozen pixel blocks;
- I'm watching a show on a channel with 80-90% signal strength,
yet for no reason, the screen will freeze with large square blocks
for about a second or two seconds, the audio may squeak or be
completely silent, then resume normal display and sound playback.
this seems to occur about once every hour or two on my DTX9900.
(the weather outside is a clear blue sky with no wind at all,
antenna & cable & connectors are all perfect and brand new)
so what causes this? can I do anything to reduce it's occurrence?

3. narrow stereo sound;
- When I switch from my antenna-in-to-analog-tuner to my DTX9900
tuning the exact same channel, same TV, the sound is dimmer and not
as wide and rich as my analog, even though I'm using V-L-R RCA jacks,
(even after increasing the volume; the box is already set at 20 max,
also does not matter if channel broadcast is in 5.1 or just Stereo)
yet when I plug my analog-tuned VCR into those sames V-L-R jacks,
my sound comes through wide and wonderful.

so tell me?
is this the nature of OTA-DTV converters boxes?
or just this DTX9900?

What I especially LIKE about the DTX9900;
great reception on low signal stations
many picture ratio zoom choices
remote layout size & feel - that;
controls my 12yo Panasonic TV.
up to 24 hour program guide
signal strength % indicator
Radio Shack distribution
(30day refund, local store)

I'm new to OTA DTV and this DTX9900 is my first such tuner experience. I'd like to know if a few things I'm annoyed by are indigenous to OTA DTV or specific to this DTX9900, and improvements can be found elsewhere.

1. channel changing lag time;
...
2. frozen pixel blocks;
...
3. narrow stereo sound;
...

so tell me?
is this the nature of OTA-DTV converters boxes?
or just this DTX9900?

[U]What I especially LIKE ...[U]

Based on comparisons with my Sony XBR970 (YMMV) ...

1) normal to digital: Sony ATSC tuner and SA 3250HD cable box do it too. No DSP for analog, just connect the wires.

2) Only see this with weak signals on the Sony, so it's normal when the signal quality varies (strength and complexity/multipath). See comments below on sensitivity.

3) The sound output level on the RCA jacks varies with selection of line vs RF output. I had to pick the logically wrong one to get proper sound levels (so I could match the TV using box volume control).

As for your likes, see my post about 5 up (#212) for my initial impressions. There are a pair of sound issues in my book, and sensitivity is not one of this box's strong suits. It makes me wonder what ATSC tuner folks are using that they find 6th gen better...

Frank

1. channel changing lag time;
- when I press 7 on my analog tuner it instantly selects 7,
with only a fraction of a second pause before
the tuner fills the screen with content.
- on my DTX9900 there are actually two one second pauses,
once I hit 7 then . then 1 (for channel 7) there is a pause after I hit 1,
- there is another pause once the tuner goes to 7.1, but
has not yet put the content on the screen.


The first pause is while it's waiting for you to finish. Try entering a string of numbers. It will take like up to 5 digits. I'm not sure why it'd ever need more than 4 (as in xx.x). But it's giving you a chance to enter more digits.

Instead of entering 7.1 and waiting, try entering 7 and OK. See if that is a bit faster. If you actually wanted 7.2, you can hit 7, OK, channel up. But for 7.3, it might be as fast to enter 7, ., 3, OK.

As fbov indicated, the second delay is normal to digital. I guess it has to capture and decode enough data before it has a full frame to show. If you have different TVs with different receivers tuned to the same channel, they may even be a fraction a second out of sync. If you can hear both at the same time it gets a bit freaky.

I read on this thread an updated version of this box will
come out, where the analog passthru will actually work.

can someone please provide a link backing up this claim?

All I've seen so far is the "starred" DTX9950 entry on CECB List:
https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm

Also note DSP7700T and DX8700 are also "starred"...indicating Pass Thru.

Thanks Hollands...

so I assume if that pass thru model is DTX9950
there's no guarantee Radio Shack will replace the
9900 with 9950's. they may just continue to sell
the 9900's. guess I better return this 9900 soon.

does anyone know if analog passthru can be turned
on or off within the menu system? that would be
nice for people not wanting to take the -3db hit.

need some help here- i picked up a digital stream at the local rat shack but can't get the audio output to work any sugguestions people. thanks.
There is volume control on the remote for the CECB. Try increasing that as it may be set to the lowest level.

Had mine about a month, use in my garage muted with cc on, everything great. But when on all day and temp in garage gets to 77 or 78 the box will reset. When it reboots it comes back on the first saved channel, not the one I was watching and volume is back on. This has happened about three times. I had one event where I left it on and it rebooted 3 times in a row until I just turned it off to cool down. I first had it on top of tv where I think tv added heat. Last reboot it was sitting on a shelf with half of bottom side overhanging to provide more cooling.

I haven't seen any comments with self rebooting problem so mine may be individual problem. I use it every week night and no problems. It seems to only be weekends where it is on all day and when room temp is up.

Has anyone used their box in these conditions?

Had mine about a month, use in my garage muted with cc on, everything great. But when on all day and temp in garage gets to 77 or 78 the box will reset. When it reboots it comes back on the first saved channel, not the one I was watching and volume is back on. This has happened about three times. I had one event where I left it on and it rebooted 3 times in a row until I just turned it off to cool down. I first had it on top of tv where I think tv added heat. Last reboot it was sitting on a shelf with half of bottom side overhanging to provide more cooling.

I haven't seen any comments with self rebooting problem so mine may be individual problem. I use it every week night and no problems. It seems to only be weekends where it is on all day and when room temp is up.

Has anyone used their box in these conditions?satpro has reported on what happens in a power loss that would be like your self rebooting problem.The tivax would seem to be a better choice for setting up for recording because even after a power loss the tivax returns to the channel it was on and outputs audio/video.
The RCA and Magnavox units I tested could not do this, they just went back to standby and then had to be manually powered back on and tuned to proper channel.Are you looking for something like the Tivax that returns to the channel you were watching?
satpro has also reported that it has a heat sink and that should help with cooling also. However he did also say that the tuner is on par with RCA800B but not as good as my funia box which get 34 channels with a paper clip.

I was just reporting a possible issue with the dtx9900.

Almost as annoying as switching to another station was the volume coming on when it was muted. I bought this for my RV and have been playing with it as a 2nd tv in the garage so its no big deal. I'm waiting a while to see what's available before I purchase my second box.

I'll check when I get home, but I think mine is connected to an APC battery backup so pretty sure its not power related.

Had mine about a month, use in my garage muted with cc on, everything great. But when on all day and temp in garage gets to 77 or 78 the box will reset. When it reboots it comes back on the first saved channel, not the one I was watching and volume is back on. This has happened about three times. I had one event where I left it on and it rebooted 3 times in a row until I just turned it off to cool down. I first had it on top of tv where I think tv added heat. Last reboot it was sitting on a shelf with half of bottom side overhanging to provide more cooling.

I haven't seen any comments with self rebooting problem so mine may be individual problem. I use it every week night and no problems. It seems to only be weekends where it is on all day and when room temp is up.

Has anyone used their box in these conditions?

I think the key issue may be the CC. I leave this tv muted with CC for hours, I'm thinking this may stress it a little more, creating more heat.

Or I just got a bad one. Just throwing this out there.

raw7333
I must have missed the part about the CC.
The Digital Stream has had a CC Glitch reported and there has also been CC crashing reported too.
I've only noticed the crashing on channels that have problematic captioning of some kind and with commercials or some type of transition....I picked up the DigitalStream DTX9900 yesterday, and very late at night, was treated to some visual abnormalities when it was showing an infomercialIf it is related to captioning you might want to report at the captioning thread and maybe Dana(dmulvany) or others might be able to help you.

I have 2 of the DTX9900 boxes. The one I use the most has seemed to develop a problem. I had a clear picture for several days.
When it has been in use for several hours, it must get hot. I have it sitting on a stand by itself.
When using the RF connection to the TV, it sometimes pops up a snowey picture. There is no problem with recption, this particular station is at 90+ on the meter. I'm using the provided cable.
Sometimes, if I jiggle the cable from the box to the TV, the snow goes away, but then later it returns. I have lightly smacked the top of the box with my palm, and the picture will stutter when doing this.
I have cleaned the connections on both the TV and the box.
Next, I switched the connections to AV cables (composite). There is never any snow with this connection.
Then I tried a different RF cable, the snow didn't appear for awhile, then later, the snowey picture re-appeared.
I have determined the problem is in the output of the box. The input connection gives me no problems.
I'm going to take this unit back to radioshack. My other DX9900, purchased from same stack on same day, hasn't shown this problem yet, but it is in the bedroom and seldom gets used late at night.

I have 2 of the DTX9900 boxes. The one I use the most has seemed to develop a problem. I had a clear picture for several days.
When it has been in use for several hours, it must get hot. I have it sitting on a stand by itself.
When using the RF connection to the TV, it sometimes pops up a snowey picture. There is no problem with recption, this particular station is at 90+ on the meter. I'm using the provided cable.
Sometimes, if I jiggle the cable from the box to the TV, the snow goes away, but then later it returns. I have lightly smacked the top of the box with my palm, and the picture will stutter when doing this.
I have cleaned the connections on both the TV and the box.
Next, I switched the connections to AV cables (composite). There is never any snow with this connection.
Then I tried a different RF cable, the snow didn't appear for awhile, then later, the snowey picture re-appeared.
I have determined the problem is in the output of the box. The input connection gives me no problems.
I'm going to take this unit back to radioshack. My other DX9900, purchased from same stack on same day, hasn't shown this problem yet, but it is in the bedroom and seldom gets used late at night.

Jon_J, please keep us posted on this one.

Then I tried a different RF cable, the snow didn't appear for awhile, then later, the snowey picture re-appeared.Did you try a good, screw-on type rather than one like the cheap, push-on one that they give you with the box?

I took it back yesterday and got a new one in a sealed box from radioshack.
I watched TV last night with the new DX9900 for 4 hours, hooked up with RF, with no troubles.

Rammitinski,
I don't have an RF cable with the screw on connectors at the moment.
I'm using an RF cable from one of my old VCRs, (cable unused, still in package), since it is about 2 feet longer than the cable supplied with the DX9900.

My original problem occurred with either one of these cables, so I don't think the cable is at fault. Just for comparison, I tried both of above mentioned RF cables on my other DX9900 box in the bedroom, and there were no problems with that hookup.

Most that I've looked at have had one or another problem. The Zenith has noticeable sound issues. The RCA doesn't have manual adding of channels, but shows 9 channels compared to the Zenith 1 channel. The Channel Master has S-video (better picture than composite). The Echo Star (out in Jun 08) will cost but $40 and have future program guides... but many coupons are running out of time.

There is not one unit that has all the features!!
I'd spend another $20, wouldn't you?

But all said it seems the Digital Stream may be the best one so far...

COMPARISON CHART-- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units

Someone posted on a forum somewhere that they had quality problems until they moved their converter box away from other electronics?? Anyone heard of such a thing?

Most DTV converters do not have a pass through mode for analog stations. You may get around this by using a signal splitter to connect both the box and VCR to the antenna. The line input of the VCR, the RF input still available. Thus switch to analog stations at least until 2009. With this setup to record digital stations with analog VCR, but can't record a digital station and watch a different one.

aethyrmaster, Can you record a sample of this DTX Chirp?

So does this only happens with the F-Type Connector (RF Output)?
Does it also happen with the Composite Video and Stereo Audio Output?

Is this Chirp only in Stereo and the left channel like the Zenith?

Does this only happen when the volume is all the way up to 20?

Thank You.

the one i had did have the awful sibilance as well. quality control fail big time...atleast 3 companys didn't bother checking at all...or didn't care.

Digital Stream's DTX-900 is a standard def DTV CECB, not an HDTV device. Please transfer this thread to the new CECB subforum. Thanks.

well technically its an hdtv device that converts to sd:P

I've had this box for several weeks and I just want to report one annoyance that I just figured out what's happening. Occasionally I get terrible breakup on one station. I believe multipath is causing the problem, I have plenty of signal strength(station is only 15 miles away). I also had the "occasional" breakup on my 2 year old Panasonic LCD, but not on my new Panny EZ-28 DVDR or Zenith DTT-900, on those the signal is rock solid at around 85-90%. Anyway last week I moved my attic antenna 5 degrees and now the TV is 88% with no breakups, the DVDR and Zenith are 90+% and the DS is 55% "COLD". I say cold because when the DS is first turned on the signal is 55% with no breakups. Slowly the signal strength goes down as the unit warms up. By 20 min the strength is down to ~20%. By 30 min. it's down below 20% and starts to break up. If I then power down the DS and let it sit for ~30 min, then turn it back on it's back up to 55%. After the DS has been on for any length of time is sure gets noticeably warm on the top. My Zenith is basically cool to the touch even after being on for many hours(it has a metal case while the DS is plastic).
Note all my other stations on the DS are ~80-90% and don't seem to change. It's just the one that still must have some multipath that's causing the problem.

So overall while I like the DS, especially the EPG, if I had to do it over again I probably would have gotten 2 Zeniths. Note I'm not a big audio buff but listening through my TV's speakers I don't detect any audio problems with my Zenith(apparently many people do). It's a March build date.

The header you are asking about is most likely a service port that requires special software and interface from the MFG, the Zenith also has a header as well that uses a multiconductor flex cable with its interface and software.

I tried to setup the radio shack digital stream converter box. I connected the following components:

Antennae>converterbox > Tv

Pressed power button while pressing and letting up the up button untill the tv went off. Then I attempted to change the chanels on the TV and nothing happened. I do not know what I did wrong. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

The universal remote on the DS box will only change your TV's volume, input select and power. The channel select button is only for the DS box, not your TV.
Use your TV to select your DS box's output, then use the channel change buttons on the DS box.
To change channels on your TV's built in tuner you will need to use your TV's remote.

well technically its an hdtv device that converts to sd:P
Wrong. It's a Digital TV tuner/receiver that only outputs SD.

This probably won't help very many people unless you are into programming JP1 remotes but there are at least 4 discrete commands not available with the supplied remote that can be added to a JP1 upgrade:
Freeze
Sleep
Channel Add
Channel Delete

I live in northern DE on the DE/Pa line. I have a second story attic antenna with radio shack preamp and 20 mi line of sight to the transmitters in Philly. My analog reception has always been exceptional. A couple weeks ago I bought the DS 9900 tuner to see what I would get with my current antenna setup. I was able to receive all the digital equivalents of the analogs: 3.1, 6.1, 10.1, 12.1, 17.1, 29.1, 35.1, 48.1, 57.1, 61.1 and their related subchannels with very good signal strength (green bars on the meter) to give rock solid picture. This had been good for a couple weeks.

Last Thursday, I noticed the signal on channels 17.1, 29.1 and 35.1 had degraded substantially into the red zone on the DS and the A/V started breaking up. The signal meter would go up and down by large swings as I watched it. By Saturday night, 35.1 (WYBE) had gone "off the air" -- no signal on the DS meter. The rest of the channels are still fine and analog reception of 17, 29 & 35 is still as good as ever.

I'm showing my ignorance of DTV here because I've only just started experimenting. Can anybody offer an explanation. According to antennaweb.org, all the transmitters are on the same compass heading and the same distance. The problems are only these 3 channels. How much can weather conditions impact reception.

Sounds like it could either be a temporary problem with some of the transmitters, or maybe your amp is having problems.

Make sure there aren't any squirrels, raccoons or mice getting in that attic and chewing on the wires.

Doesn't sound like the box, because I would think the problem would be uniform. Could be some kind of multipath that didn't show up 'till the conditions changed. That happens sometimes.

Have you checked your local OTA thread for any reports? We had some transmitter problems here recently that affected more than one channel. The power levels of each station can vary a lot, so that could account for why some are affected more than others.

Atmospheric conditions can impact digital signals quite a bit, just as much as structural ones can. We just better hope that they keep some analog radio around after TV, at least for backup, because it's going to be a touchy situation during weather disasters. Police and Emergency depts. the country over are constantly griping about being switched over to digital, because their communications are always dropping out on them. Probably at least 90% of the ones who've switched so far will tell you they'd switch back to analog in an instant if they could. They hate it.

Sounds like it could either be a temporary problem with some of the transmitters, or maybe your amp is having problems.

Make sure there aren't any squirrels, raccoons or mice getting in that attic and chewing on the wires.

Doesn't sound like the box, because I would think the problem would be uniform. Could be some kind of multipath that didn't show up 'till the conditions changed. That happens sometimes.

Have you checked your local OTA thread for any reports? We had some transmitter problems here recently that affected more than one channel. The power levels of each station can vary a lot, so that could account for why some are affected more than others.I'm hoping it is on their end and not mine. The amp seems OK. I figure if it was failing it would impact all the channels including the analog. It is old though and I have thought about replacing it, but it continues to work.

No critters in the attc.

One "condition" has changed quite recently -- the trees have all come to full foliage. I truely hope that's not the issue.

I have posted on the Philly OTA thread and am waiting to see the replies.

I'm hoping it is on their end and not mine. The amp seems OK. I figure if it was failing it would impact all the channels including the analog. It is old though and I have thought about replacing it, but it continues to work.

No critters in the attc.

One "condition" has changed quite recently -- the trees have all come to full foliage. I truely hope that's not the issue.

I have posted on the Philly OTA thread and am waiting to see the replies.

Tree leaves can certainly attenuate a signal.

Also the current channels which are probably all UHF could be lower power and have the transmitting antenna not optimal before the transition.

Kelson if you have a digital tuner on your TV is that still getting the channel? Also how is the signal when the DS box is cold? As you may know I had a problem with only one channel that was fine when the box was cold but after it warmed up I got wild swings on its signal strength resulting in break ups.
BTW I hooked the box up for my inlaws this weekend and try as I did I could not get one channel(different one than my problem channel). It just would not scan. It comes from the same location as all other channels in our area and I had no problem getting the channel at my house:confused: After a hour of F***ing around I gave up. They said they never watch the MY network anyway.
Digital is great "when" it works........I just wish I had brought my Zenith box over too. I just didn't want to mess around disconnecting it, plus it's too late to return the DS box anyway, they've got my coupon. Maybe someday I'll try the Zenith there. If it gets the channel then I can really point the finger at the DS box.

Tree leaves can certainly attenuate a signal.

Also the current channels which are probably all UHF could be lower power and have the transmitting antenna not optimal before the transition.Unfortunately, I've read in the Zenith box thread that "wet" tree leaves are most problematic. I certainly have enough of those the past week.

Kelson if you have a digital tuner on your TV is that still getting the channel? Also how is the signal when the DS box is cold? As you may know I had a problem with only one channel that was fine when the box was cold but after it warmed up I got wild swings on its signal strength resulting in break ups.
BTW I hooked the box up for my inlaws this weekend and try as I did I could not get one channel(different one than my problem channel). It just would not scan. It comes from the same location as all other channels in our area and I had no problem getting the channel at my house:confused: After a hour of F***ing around I gave up. They said they never watch the MY network anyway.
Digital is great "when" it works........I just wish I had brought my Zenith box over too. I just didn't want to mess around disconnecting it, plus it's too late to return the DS box anyway, they've got my coupon. Maybe someday I'll try the Zenith there. If it gets the channel then I can really point the finger at the DS box.jjeff,
No, the only digital tuner I currently have is the DS 9900. My coupon expires mid-June so if nothing better comes along I'll use it to buy a Zenith. DS9900 on-time is not an issue, my box doesn't get hot. The reception problems are apparent as soon as the box is turned on and do not get worse with on-time. I have read in an area-specific thread that one of the problematic channels (FOX) has a really low antenna mast for digital transmission (until the switchover when it can use the analog mast) which may have precipitated the problems once the leaves came out.

The real puzzle is the one staton that went completely dead on digital (a PBS station) but is still alive on analog. Fortunately, there is only 1 program I watch on that channel, a Korean historical drama, which is nearing the end of it's run and will finish long before the switchover. If the problem is on their end and is temporary, all to the good. If on the other hand the switchover results in my losing that channel for good -- no real loss.

The real puzzle is the one staton that went completely dead on digital (a PBS station) but is still alive on analog. Fortunately, there is only 1 program I watch on that channel, a Korean historical drama, which is nearing the end of it's run and will finish long before the switchover. If the problem is on their end and is temporary, all to the good. If on the other hand the switchover results in my losing that channel for good -- no real loss.[/QUOTE]


Kelson,

I also live in the Philadelphia area (Bensalem - 19020), and can confirm WYBE - 35.1, was off the air on every digital tuner I have in the house, and the analog channel was on the air. It happened right after the nasty wind storm we had last Thursday or Friday, so it might have been weather related damage, and lasted at least thru Monday. I checked last night, and it was back on the air, so you should be receiving it again. I also concur it will not be a big loss. The video quality looks like they are running tapes on a cheap VCR, even in digital, most of the time.

I also live in the Philadelphia area (Bensalem - 19020), and can confirm WYBE - 35.1, was off the air on every digital tuner I have in the house, and the analog channel was on the air. It happened right after the nasty wind storm we had last Thursday or Friday, so it might have been weather related damage, and lasted at least thru Monday. I checked last night, and it was back on the air, so you should be receiving it again. I also concur it will not be a big loss. The video quality looks like they are running tapes on a cheap VCR, even in digital, most of the time.Hi Bob, I was about to follow up so it's nice to be confirmed that it was their problem. I did an update scan last night and 35.1 was back on the air. Now that the leaves have dried out, channel 17.1 is back in the green as far as signal strength and is no longer an issue. 29.1 (FOX) is still hovering around the red and the picture is breaking up every few seconds. That may not change for me until the leaves drop and FOX boosts their antenna height and power.

As an aside, I've read a lot of posts from people who are fond of saying that digital is an all or nothing proposition -- you either lock on a signal and get perfect picture or you get nothing. Well, I find that all or nothing proposition is not the case. With FOX hovering around the red zone at 30% the picture and sound are there on the screen but it breaks up with macro blocks and stutters and freezes momentarily so that it looks like I'm skipping through parts of the video.

As an aside, I've read a lot of posts from people who are fond of saying that digital is an all or nothing proposition -- you either lock on a signal and get perfect picture or you get nothing. Well, I find that all or nothing proposition is not the case. With FOX hovering around the red zone at 30% the picture and sound are there on the screen but it breaks up with macro blocks and stutters and freezes momentarily so that it looks like I'm skipping through parts of the video.

Brother, did I find that out quickly. :)

The real puzzle is the one staton that went completely dead on digital (a PBS station) but is still alive on analog. Fortunately, there is only 1 program I watch on that channel, a Korean historical drama, which is nearing the end of it's run and will finish long before the switchover. If the problem is on their end and is temporary, all to the good. If on the other hand the switchover results in my losing that channel for good -- no real loss.Aha! So I guess I'm not the only one watching the K-Dramas around here, huh? ;)

Unfortunately, our KBS affiliate here isn't planning on going digital until forced to. And the analog doesn't come in too strong out here where I'm at, although it is watchable lately. Fortunately I have KBS World on Dish. And we're usually a few weeks ahead of most of the city feeds with the serials on that. No commercial breaks either, which is really nice.

I actually prefer watching those things to the majority of the stuff on network TV.

If you like the historical ones, and it's an actual KBS (or other Korean channel) that you're watching, then you probably will be tuning in again, because they start new ones quite often.