Zenith (LG) DTT900 CECB

[bdfox18doe]

Originally Posted by Whidbey

Don't jump to conclusions about the RCA box being able to decode QAM. I won't believe it until someone plugs their cable into one and confirms it.

See: http://ezdigitaltv.com/support-files...quirements.pdf

If you read this, QAM is not an allowed feature based on this verbiage:

Any device or capability which provides for more
than simply converting a digital over- the-air
television signal (ATSC) for display on an analog
television receiver (NTSC)

[holl_ands]

There is a spread sheet listing features and chipsets for every CECB SD-STB in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=980052&page=2

Would appreciate if you all would jot down part numbers for big chips and "tin can" tuner....

==========================================
MODERATOR: Is it of any interest to move non-DTT-900 posts to above thread????
Or merge the threads.....

[holl_ands]

I also posted information re SMART ANTENNAS in the CECB SD-STB Comparison thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post13015675

[inky blacks]

I can't believe that Circuit City is going to sell them for just $49.99! That means minus your coupon you get the box for just $9.99. They must be selling them at cost as a gift to little old ladies.

Has anyone gotten their coupon yet?

IB

[jtbell]

The coupons aren't going to be sent out until Feb. 17 at the earliest.

[inky blacks]

Originally Posted by jtbell

The coupons aren't going to be sent out until Feb. 17 at the earliest.

Is that a *send date* or an expected delivery date?

IB

[Avio]

Originally Posted by inky blacks

Is that a *send date* or an expected delivery date?

IB

He said, "Feb. 17 at the earliest."

NTIA announced they will make sure that stock is available in the stores before they mail the coupons... so I guess you could consider the date a send date. But, it will not necessarily be exactly 2/17/08.

Avio

[firstsig]

TV Converter Box Coupons are plastic cards that look like gift cards. They will be mailed to households with approved applications, starting in late February, sent based on the date of application, in the order in which the applications were received, mailed on a staggered basis – not all at once, delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.

Found at http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/Converter...n_Program.html

[inky blacks]

Will they have a code so you can buy the boxes off the Internet? I want to get mine from Circuit City, but I don't want to drive the the 15 miles to CC to pick it up. At $49.99 it qualifies for free CC delivery, so via the Internet it would cost me just $9.99 delivered, a super deal. I checked the Radio Shack website and that states the full price of $69.99. I guess they don't have the same spirit of giving as CC. Walmart has the Magnavox converter box advertised for $49.87 but states it is only sold in stores, not on-line. I could not find any listing at Amazon. Is the Magnavox box made by LG like the Zenith or is it their own design? I am getting the Zenith anyway because I want to be 110% sure I get the new 6th generation LG chip.

IB

[Avio]

Originally Posted by inky blacks

... Is the Magnavox box made by LG like the Zenith or is it their own design? ...

The Magnavox TB100MW9 is manufactured by Philips Consumer Electronics.

Avio

[rviele]

Originally Posted by Avio

The Magnavox TB100MW9 is manufactured by Philips Consumer Electronics.

Avio

i would like to get the rca decoder so that i can match it up with the smart antenna are they available on the east coast i was told no.

[inky blacks]

Originally Posted by Avio

The Magnavox TB100MW9 is manufactured by Philips Consumer Electronics.

Avio

Does LG own Phillips these days? I do know that LG and Phillips cooperate on making LCD TVs. Maybe they will use the LG chip.

Take a look at this! FCC "white space" tests!
http://broadcastengineering.com/eng/..._second_round/

I hope they do not screw up my TV reception by allowing all kinds of crap to be broadcast in the "white spaces" between digital TV channels!

IB

[SnellKrell]

LG owns Zenith - it's a Korean company once known in the U.S. as Lucky Gold and Goldstar.

Philips is a much larger company based in the Netherlands.

[jtbell]

Originally Posted by inky blacks

Will they have a code so you can buy the boxes off the Internet?

I think the problem is that online stores have to modify their software so as to accept and process the coupons. They'd probably have to accept a serial number, look it up in a database to find out who it was issued to, and then match it to the credit-card information. I think I read somewhere that Best Buy plans to do this, but it will be a few months before it's ready. I don't know about other stores.

[Tos]

I just switched to Verizon FIOS TV (NY) and the installers told me that they are going pure digital within a few weeks and that my analog sets would no longer receive any signal. They offered me a $3/month bare-bones converter or a $5/month standard converter. I'd rather just buy a compatible converter and not pay a monthly fee. Which digital to analog converters are likely to be compatible with Verizon FIOS TV?

[goldrich]

Originally Posted by Avio

The Magnavox TB100MW9 is manufactured by Philips Consumer Electronics.

Avio

According to this information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips , Philips did acquire and owns Magnavox, but the Magnavox TB100MW9 is manufactured by Funai, as stamped on the unit and as indicated in the manual. I purchased the TB100MW9 at Wal-Mart last week.

Steve

[smpowell]

>They offered me a $3/month bare-bones converter or a $5/month standard converter. I'd rather just buy a compatible converter and not pay a monthly fee. Which digital to analog converters are likely to be compatible with Verizon FIOS TV?

None of the coupon eligible converters will work with any common cable system. They are strictly OTA only.

[John Shutt]

On Monday I was handed a box that arrived at our station. It was a Zenith DTT900 Digital TV Tuner Converter Box.

The package proudly proclaims "Eligible for $40 coupon from U.S. government. Call 1-888-DTV-2009 for details." The box also entices the potential purchaser with:

* Enjoy digital TV channels and a better picture on your current TV with no subscription

* More Programs - see new and different TV programs on "sub-channels" available from many digital TV stations

* Clear digital picture - say goodbye to "fuzzy" analog channels...your old TV has never looked so good.

Inside is an STB that is approximately 8.5" wide, 6.5" deep, and 1.6" high. On the back there is are two female F connectors (Antenna in and RF out) and three female RCA connectors (one video out and stereo left right audio out.) Inside the cardboard box one will find an infrared remote control, powered by a single AAA battery (included.) Also included is a 75 ohm F-connector patch cord, stereo audio RCA cables, and an RCA video cable, all appropriately color-coded. Just about the only feature not included that would still make this unit coupon-eligible is an S-Video connector.

I connected the unit to my office television, opting to use audio/video line inputs. When I turned on my TV then turned on the STB, I was greeted with a very nice Welcome Message on the television.

The Welcome Message invited me to press the right arrow > button to continue. The next page asked me to choose a language. The next step asked me the TV Aspect Ratio of my receiver. The next page began an automatic tuning procedure. After scanning the bands, the next screen asked me to choose a Time Zone (but curiously it did not ask me if I observe Daylight Savings Time.) The final menu was a simple "Thank you."

So what did I have for my efforts? Well, the box found 4 of the 6 DTV broadcasters in my area, but claimed it found 8 "channels." What it counted was all of the sub-channels associated with each broadcast. So I flipped through the channels. The first thing I did was to grab the Silver Sensor that was feeding the Zenith and moved it. The picture remained locked. So I turned it a bit. Still solid picture and sound. With the older Samsung box (SR-T151) that I normally use, moving the Silver Sensor
would immediately cause the image to freeze, only returning when the antenna was at rest again.

Intrigued, I picked up the Silver Sensor and rapidly waived it about. Only the slightest breakup, and no loss of audio at all. I am impressed! I rotate the Silver Sensor a full 360 degrees, something guaranteed to cause me to lose lock of all channels with the older Samsung, but the Zenith remained locked solid.

There were still two channels that I never received with the Samsung, but my boss could receive with a Silver Sensor and an ATSC USB dongle in the office next door. I aimed my antenna out of my office window towards the distant towers. Unfortunately, there is a four story parking ramp right outside of my window, blocking my view of the two distant towers. I went into the menus looking for a signal strength meter. I did find one there, and I manually punched in the RF channel (as prompted) of one of the stations, and with just bit of aiming got a solid lock on the remaining two channels. However, I couldn't get the system to "memorize" those channels.

But then I found a menu entry labeled "EZ Add." I selected that item and the box began a second RF search, only this time it said "adding channels." Great! You can scan for stations several times with the antenna pointed in different directions, and not lose previously found stations.

After I finished with programming all the stations, I turned my attention to the remote control. There is a sleep timer button, and a button for SAP. Pressing SAP will cycle through all of the alternate audio programs available with any video service. There is a dedicated ZOOM button that allows you to alter the video output in the following manner:

If you told the box you have a 4:3 display, and the program you are viewing is 16:9, you can choose between Letter Box, which will letterbox 16:9 material (on a 4:3 display,) Cropped, which will display the center 4:3 portion of the 16:9 display, or Squeezed, which will fill the 4:3 area of the display with the 16:9 video, giving the typical "tall and skinny" people look.

If you told the box you have a 16:9 display, and you are viewing 4:3 material, the zoom button will let you choose between 16:9, which fills the entire 16:9 display with the 4:3 material, giving the "short and fat" people look, or you can choose 4:3 which will pillarbox the video, or zoom, which will display a center 16:9 cut out of the 4:3 image, which is perfect for letterboxed 4:3 video.

The unit seems to remember which zoom mode you set for each subchannel, and will stay in that mode when you tune away and tune back. So for instance, if you have one station that does nothing but upconvert 4:3 into pillarboxed 16:9, you can set that channel to always ZOOM, but allow other 16:9 channels to be displayed as letterboxed (assuming a 4:3 display.)

There is also an Electronic Program Guide, but it only displays the current program and the next program. Nothing further in time than the next program is available. However, if you had channel surfed in the previous few minutes, the box will snag and remember the PSIP information for those channels, and display it upon demand.

There is also another dedicated button labeled "SIGNAL." Pressing this button will give you a bar graph on the bottom of the screen that is expertly and precisely calibrated with "Bad" on the left, and "Good" on the right. You also hear a beeping noise in the program audio that changes in repetition rate along with the bar graph. Handy for one person to aim a roof antenna while listening to the audio beeping through an open window.

To sum up:

Strong points: Very good DTV reception. Remembers zoom settings channel by channel.

Weak points: No S-Video out. Very limited EPG. No option to choose observance of Daylight Savings Time.

Major components:
RF mod/demod can: Sanyo UBA00AL
ATSC chip: LG DT111D

All in all, I am very impressed with the RF performance of the unit, and the degree to which I can abuse the antenna position without losing video lock, or at worse inducing some macroblocking but never losing audio.

John

[Avio]

Originally Posted by John Shutt

On Monday I was handed a box that arrived at our station. It was a Zenith DTT900 Digital TV Tuner Converter Box. ...

John: Thank you very much for posting this complete and very understandable Zenith DTT900 Performance Report. This is the first hands-on review that we've seen!

Avio

[Bradtothebone]

Originally Posted by Avio

John: Thank you very much for posting this complete and very understandable Zenith DTT900 Performance Report. This is the first hands-on review that we've seen!

Avio

+1 Nice Job!

Brad

[seatacboy]

John: thank you for a very thorough review. Sounds like the DTT900's OTA DTV reception sensitivity is much better than expected.

Have you tried using the box to tunes Clear QAM on cable? I know this isn't an advertised CECB functionality, but many of us are curious.

[QAM]

FWIW, frys.com just listed the Channel Master CM-7000 Digital-to-analog Converter Box for PRE-ORDER price of $99.00.

[Avio]

Originally Posted by John Shutt

Major components:
RF mod/demod can: Sanyo UBA00AL
ATSC chip: LG DT111D

I've been checking all the major search engines (and also the LG, Sanyo, and AVS websites) to try to identify this can and chip. So far I can not get any hits on the part numbers (UBA00AL & DT111D). I tried adding hyphens in all the obvious places.

SANYO Semiconductor website:
http://www.semic.sanyo.co.jp/index_e.htm

LG Global website:
http://www.lge.com/index.jhtml

I did find some DTV tuner chips, and other possibly relevant listings, on the Sanyo Semiconductor site... but no matches with the #s that John provided.

Can anyone identify and give more info on these two components?

Avio

[Whidbey]

Originally Posted by John Shutt

No option to choose observance of Daylight Savings Time.

Isn't the clock set according to the local broadcast?

[captylor]

Originally Posted by Whidbey

Isn't the clock set according to the local broadcast?

Oh that will be fun. Since what I saw with some of the stations here the time being sent out is off on all of them. Some by a few minutes others by hours.

[John Shutt]

Originally Posted by Avio

I've been checking all the major search engines (and also the LG, Sanyo, and AVS websites) to try to identify this can and chip. So far I can not get any hits on the part numbers (UBA00AL & DT111D). I tried adding hyphens in all the obvious places.

Avio

Yes, I tried to Google the items as well. The box has one can, which is the Sanyo part, and three chips. One was the listed LG unit, and the other two chips are the MX29LV160CTTC-708, which is a Flash ROM, and the Hynix HY5DU561622FTP-D43 which is an SDRAM. So I didn't include those two chips.

It appears that the LG chip is an "all in one" chip that not only has the ATSC equalization, but also has the microprocessor for menu and operation.

It is possible that the LG chip I listed is just a microprocessor or Programmable Logic Array chip, and that there is a separate LG chip inside of the Sanyo can that is the actual ATSC demod chip, but I'm not going to peel open the can just yet. This box has to survive a bit longer and it really isn't mine to risk!

Sorry!

John

[John Shutt]

Originally Posted by Whidbey

Isn't the clock set according to the local broadcast?

Broadcasters transmit UTC time, and when appropriate a DST flag. It is up to the individual box to derive local time from UTC, DST flag state, and user provided time zone.

I believe the only state that doesn't observe DST is Arizona, so folks there will just have to change the time zone of the box twice a year. Even broadcasters in Arizona should broadcast the DST flag, but maybe they don't.

[QAM]

Any way to disable the "4 hour power saver timer" on the Zenith box? That "feature" would make it difficult to use with the record timer on an analog VCR. Otherwise it's only just for "real time" TV watching.

[ledgerat]

Originally Posted by John Shutt

There is also an Electronic Program Guide, but it only displays the current program and the next program. Nothing further in time than the next program is available.
John

Are the OTA Program Guides normally that restrictive or is that just a limitation of this specific box? If its the box, how long in the future is content normally broadcast?

[smpowell]

The government specs require that the default time is four hours but that the box must let you disable it.

See item 20
http://ezdigitaltv.com/support-files...quirements.pdf