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Channel Master CM-7000 Digital to Analog Converter - Page 2

post #31 of 1459
3/17/08 at 10:42am
Nice review DJ. I am considering picking one of these units at Frys before their weekend special expires. If you get a chance, could you answer some additional questions for me?

1.Looking at the remote on their website, I do not see a dash(-) or period(.) key to enter sub-channels. Can you go directly to say 7-4 with the remote?

2.When you press a channel number on the remote, say channel 7, does it go directly to channel 7-1 or do you have to press channel and sub-channel on the remote?

3.Assuming you previously entered some favorite channels, can you select the favorite channel that follows the currently viewed channel with a single button press or do you have to go into a list of favorite channels to select the favorite you want?

4.If you can navigate through favorite channels, does it navigate in ordinal order (the order in which favorites were entered) or in cardinal order (or ascending channel number sequence)?

5.When you press the Sub-title (CC)key on the remote, does it simply toggle CC on and off or does it go into a menu with all the CC options?
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post #32 of 1459
3/17/08 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leo888 View Post

Nice review DJ. I am considering picking one of these units at Frys before their weekend special expires. If you get a chance, could you answer some additional questions for me?

1.Looking at the remote on their website, I do not see a dash(-) or period(.) key to enter sub-channels. Can you go directly to say 7-4 with the remote?

There's no way I've found to select the subchannel, but you can select 7.1 by hitting the '7' key and then the unmarked key on the bottom left. If you hit the "FAV" key once, it calls up a list of all channels (and subchannels), which you can scroll through and select.

2.When you press a channel number on the remote, say channel 7, does it go directly to channel 7-1 or do you have to press channel and sub-channel on the remote?

There is no numeric subchannel selection that I've been able to find. (see above)

3.Assuming you previously entered some favorite channels, can you select the favorite channel that follows the currently viewed channel with a single button press or do you have to go into a list of favorite channels to select the favorite you want?

Favorites are selected from the "all channel" list and appear in numeric order

4.If you can navigate through favorite channels, does it navigate in ordinal order (the order in which favorites were entered) or in cardinal order (or ascending channel number sequence)?

Ascending channel number sequence.

5.When you press the Sub-title (CC)key on the remote, does it simply toggle CC on and off or does it go into a menu with all the CC options?

Subtitle scrolls through all CC options one at a time (including off).


By the way, I have to admit I was quite surprised to discover the CM-7000 is made in Bulgaria!

(I really expected China or perhaps Taiwan).



Hope that answers your questions.
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post #33 of 1459
3/17/08 at 1:48pm
For starters, here's a couple of pix of the CM 7000 menu.
First one is the info screen on channel 2.1
Second one is the software version information
Third one is the channel edit menu. Heart column is (obviously) favorites
The X column is channels deleted from the selection menu (but not memory, since they can be undeleted).

By the way, now that I've added a few channels to favorites, I've discovered that the "FAV" key restores whichever list (all channels or Favorites) that you were looking at last the left/right arrows switch between channel lists.

I'll post one of the channel guide next.
LL
LL
LL
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post #34 of 1459
3/17/08 at 1:58pm
Here are two pictures of the Program guide:

the first is the current program at the top of the guide,
the second is the bottom of the guide for the current channel.
LL
LL
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post #35 of 1459
3/17/08 at 5:28pm
DJ, thanks for your answers and pictures. Compared to other boxes and HDTV panels with built-in guides, that program guide looks pretty decent. Wish they had made better use of the remote's keypad, hard to believe they left out a dash key.
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post #36 of 1459
3/17/08 at 5:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leo888 View Post

Wish they had made better use of the remote's keypad, hard to believe they left out a dash key.

??? Then how in the world are you expected to tune directly to the subchannels?

Shoot - if you can't then I wouldn't even consider the tuner.
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post #37 of 1459
3/18/08 at 12:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rammitinski View Post

??? Then how in the world are you expected to tune directly to the subchannels?

Shoot - if you can't then I wouldn't even consider the tuner.

Actually, I discovered you don't need the dash key. After laying around for a few minutes, I realized the unmarked key on the lower left is actually "enter" (guess that's why it doesn't normally do anything). The reason you don't need the dash key is that you can select channel 05.1 (NBC local/network feed in Chicago) by entering "5" and "enter", "051" and "enter", or even just hitting 5 and waiting for the box to time out and select the channel itself. If you enter numeric keys that can't be translated into a recognized channel, the box eventually just clears the entry. By the way, you can tune 5.2 by entering "5", "enter", and then upchannel which doesn't seem to me to be any more work then entering "05-2". You can (obviously) also select any detected channel from the channel list and select and channels in your favorite channel list. I haven't found any way to determine actual channel assignment from looking at the box. they seem to have gone to some lengths to make that transparent to users.
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post #38 of 1459
3/18/08 at 12:57pm
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080318/20080318006408.html?.v=1

Quote:


SMITHFIELD, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Channel Master by PCT (www.pctinternational.com/channelmaster), a U.S. manufacturer of consumer off-air reception products, announced today approval by the U.S. Government's National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Administration (NTIA) of its new CM-7000 digital to analog converter box as a coupon eligible converter box.
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post #39 of 1459
3/18/08 at 4:10pm
Yup, it's now on NTIA's CECB List:
https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm
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post #40 of 1459
3/18/08 at 5:01pm
The Channel Master CM-7000 appears on the CECB list today. See this link:

ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm
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post #41 of 1459
3/18/08 at 5:37pm
Tried to buy a CM-7000 today at Fry's in Orange County, CA while the box is on sale using my converter box coupon. After waiting several minutes while the cashier went up to his manager and his manager went to his manager, was told that the coupons are valid only at participating converter program dealers and that Fry's is not part of it.

Needless to say, I passed on this purchase and ended up going to Circuit City and buying a Zenith box hassle-free.
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post #42 of 1459
3/18/08 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ99 View Post

Picked up a CM-7000 at Fry's at the sale price. They took my 40$ coupon without question, though they probably spent 10 minutes figuring out how to enter the coupon into their system.

I tried twice this week to buy a CM-7000 with the $40 coupon at Fry's, and they would not take it. First they said (on Saturday) that the CM-7000 wasn't eligible. But the Zenith they were sold out of was. Then today when I tried again with the newest information about the CM being approved, I was told they aren't set up to take ANY coupons yet! This is the Fry's in Irving TX near Dallas. Somehow this doesn't surprise me.

Also a news release from Channel Master in TWICE magazine says the CM-7000 is now approved for the $40 coupon (as mentioned above).

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6542268.html

Sounds like I am not missing much not getting the CM-7000 from what I read though other than an S-Video connector. Can anyone compare it's reception performance in less than ideal conditions to the Zenith? I did get a Zenith from RadioShack, zero hassle with the $40 coupon card, in and out of the store in 5 minutes.
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post #43 of 1459
3/19/08 at 7:39am
Does anyone know what chip-set Channel Master uses? LG, ATI, etc. Also, is the coax digital audio working?
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post #44 of 1459
3/21/08 at 6:34am
Bump
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post #45 of 1459
3/21/08 at 8:38am
what's for me the cm-7000 looks interesting to me is because my Panasonic HDD/DVDR can control a converter box or a Direct-Tv system......
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post #46 of 1459
3/22/08 at 1:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kgj67 View Post

Does anyone know what chip-set Channel Master uses? LG, ATI, etc.

I finally was home long enough to open my CM-7000. Looks like the chipset is from STMicroelectronics. I hesitate to quote numbers because what I think the chips say is not any number I can find on their web site. I want to do a little more research first. The ATSC tuner is from Thompson.
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post #47 of 1459
3/22/08 at 1:45pm
Go ahead and let us know all the numbers you see on the big chip(s) and tin-can tuner.
And how many pins do you count on the big chip?
Even better...take some photos....
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post #48 of 1459
3/22/08 at 1:47pm
What are the first three letters of the FCC ID? We might be able to find a little more info in the FCC's records.
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post #49 of 1459
3/23/08 at 11:53am
The largest chip is a STx7707nuc appears to be 26 pins/side.
The 2nd chip is a STv0373 80 pins total
It also has a M29W160ET flash memory chip
The tuner is a Thomson DTT 76850

Sorry, the first batch of pictures didn't turn out.
Will try again.
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post #50 of 1459
3/23/08 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ99 View Post

The largest chip is a STx7707nuc appears to be 26 pins/side. ...

I was not sucessful in locating that particular IC on the STMicroelectronics website - http://www.st.com/stonline/

However I located the following that, although more full featured, sounds similar to the solution required for a CECB:

Single-chip, low-cost HD set-top box decoder
Generic Part Number / Orderable Part Number
STm7710 / STM7710ZUC
http://www.st.com/stonline/products/...54/stm7710.htm

PDF Data Brief:
http://www.st.com/stonline/products/...e/bd/12654.pdf

Avio
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post #51 of 1459
3/23/08 at 3:30pm
I found fol. hit for STV7707 being used with ST0371 in an ATSC HDTV:
http://translate.google.com/translat...ial%26hs%3DUZD

This company offers several designs, incl using STx7710 or STx7707:
http://www.highgate.tv/HD.htm

PDF's showing STV7710 and STV7707 equivalency found on ST-Japan website:
http://translate.google.com/translat...icial%26sa%3DG
http://www.st-japan.co.jp/stappl/pro..._pamph/p34.pdf
[Too bad G-Translator doesn't work on pdf's....gotta brush up on my Katakana....]

BTW: ST changed their part number system from STi to STV...hence STx usage.

==========================
ST Microelectronics STV7710 is a SoC (System-On-A-Chip) display processor:
http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/data.../STI7710.shtml

STx7707nuc in CM-7777 must be a variation of the STV7710, tailored
(dumbed down) to fulfill the specific CECB requirements.

If you look on pg 8 in above STV7710 Data Brief, you'll see that it is
intended to be used with separate NTSC, QAM and ATSC Decoder chips.
ATSC Decoder is shown as STV0370:
http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/data.../STV0370.shtml
http://www.st.com/stonline/press/new...005/p1568h.htm

STV0373 in CM-7000 is most likely a later version in a smaller package and no doubt
performs much better than the original to meet the CECB A/74 Test Requirements.
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post #52 of 1459
3/24/08 at 8:31am
Here's several pictures of the circuit board and chipset inside my CM-7000.
There's also a picture of the Thomson tuner.

Notice the circuit board is from Deltacom Electronics Ltd.
Here's their web site: http://www.dce.bg/
That explains the country of origin, since they're located in Sofia, Bulgaria

BTW, the owners manual implies the box was originally intended to tune cable channels as well as OTA signals, but that must have been deleted to make the box meet the specs for a CECB.
LL
LL
LL
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post #53 of 1459
3/24/08 at 1:30pm
And can you verify whether Coax Digital Audio I/F is truly inoperative....or if it really works???
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post #54 of 1459
3/24/08 at 2:31pm
Well is this unknown chip manufacturer any good? How is the reception, especially with high multipath?

I was ready to buy, but now I am not to sure!!
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post #55 of 1459
3/24/08 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kgj67 View Post

Well is this unknown chip manufacturer any good? ...

Unknown to you and me, until now. ST sounds like they have significant know-how and experience:

Quote:
Originally Posted by STMicroelectronics website View Post


Company Profile

STMicroelectronics is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with net revenues of US$10.0 billion in 2007.

The Company's sales are well balanced between the semiconductor industry's five major high-growth sectors (percentage of ST's sales in 2007): Communications (37%), Consumer (17%), Computer (16%), Automotive (15%) and Industrial (15%).

According to the latest industry data, ST is the world's fifth largest semiconductor company with market leadership in many fields. For example, ST is the leading producer of application-specific analog chips and power conversion devices. It is also the #1 supplier of semiconductors for the Industrial market and for set-top box applications, and occupies leading positions in fields as varied as discrete devices, camera modules for mobile phones and automotive integrated circuits.

Product Portfolio
ST aims to be the leader in multimedia convergence applications and power solutions, offering one of the world's broadest product portfolios, including application-specific products containing a large proprietary IP content and multi-segment products that range from discrete devices to high-performance microcontrollers, secure smart card chips and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) devices.

ST pioneered and continues to refine the use of platform-based design methodologies for complex ICs in demanding applications such as mobile multimedia, set-top boxes and computer peripherals. The balanced portfolio approach allows ST to address the needs of all microelectronics users, from global strategic customers for whom ST is the partner of choice for major System-on-Chip (SoC) projects to local enterprises that need fully-supported general-purpose devices and solutions.

ST has also announced its intention, together with Intel and Francisco Partners, to form a new, independent semiconductor company, Numonyx, which will focus on supplying non-volatile memory solutions for a variety of consumer and industrial devices. ... [MORE]

http://www.st.com/stonline/company/index.htm

Avio
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post #56 of 1459
3/24/08 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by holl_ands View Post

And can you verify whether Coax Digital Audio I/F is truly inoperative....or if it really works???

I may buy one of these just to open it up..maybe something as simple as a
missing J3 or R17...
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post #57 of 1459
3/25/08 at 10:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by n4yqt View Post

DJ99 - Can you tell if the RCA jack labeled 'Not used' is connected to anything internally?

Sorry, I did try to see if there was a jumper missing , but I sure couldn't see anything without removing the circuit board (trying to protect my warranty since these are relatively new designs). It wasn't like there was anything obvious looking at the circuit board, I couldn't even see traces going toward the jack either, believe me I tried. I suspect it isn't truly active, since they did receive certification and digital audio is considered a no-no

See response here: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/manufacturerFAQ.html
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post #58 of 1459
3/25/08 at 1:56pm
Maybe someone else has a Surround Receiver with Digital Audio Coax input who can try it???
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post #59 of 1459
3/25/08 at 3:54pm
I don't think it'll be that easy... If you look carefully at the photo, there does appear to be a trace possibly going to the jack, but coming from an area with several missing components (see attached). A closeup photo of that area might help confirm.
LL
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post #60 of 1459
3/27/08 at 5:44am
Okay... the most important thing to me:

- How sensitive is the tuner? Does it get more or fewer stations than the Zenith box?
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