CM-7000 (S-Video) VS Tivax STB-T1 (Component) - Page 2

Are those the only choices for buying stuff out in "bucks county"?
In the big cities, there are also some smaller retail chains like Fry's Electronics that sell the CM-7000.

Regards

Fry's isn't participating in the coupons program though, remember.

How does the Zinwell ZAT-500HD compare to the Tivax LX1000?

Never heard of the Zinwell, and I couldn't find any reviews on the LX1000. My LX should be coming next week. I'll post my findings here on AVS.

I can verify the Tivax STB-T1 displays menus via composite/s-video or component video. It requires a mode switch to change between component and composite/s-video. I don't have an answer about CC. I know the unit does CC and has a zillion different customizations but I don't know how to make it work. All I know is pushing the mute button when hooked up in component mode produces no captions.

I don't think it has an analog pass through but I didn't really check it out closely. I just hid rabbit ears behind the tv to pull in the only station not broadcasting in digital. This way all I have to do to watch it is switch the tv from component to the tv tuner and there it is.

MAJOR CORRECTION: Yes, it does have analog pass through but you have to split your antenna or use an aux antenna.

Per the manual, the ATSC antenna must be connected to ATSC In. This is a completely different port from RF Antenna In. When the Tivax is turned off, this alternate signal from RF In (which is actually for a cable box) passes straight through RF Out to the TV. When the Tivax is turned on, the signal is interrupted in favor of DTV signal entering through ATSC In.

I'll check it out and see if signal from ATSC antenna will pass through.

Nope. There's no connection from ATSC In to RF Out so you have to split or use an aux.

In compensation, when the Tivax is turned off, ATSC In is switched out of the circuit so maybe there wouldn't be any signal loss because, in effect, there's no split. I dunno.

In fact, I'm thinking the Tivax won't even send ATSC by way of coax to a TV. It didn't work when I tried it so maybe the only routes available are the component cables or the composite/s-video. Oh jeez, something else to test.

Edit: I checked and yes, it will ship ATSC through coax but for some reason, my TV insists on acting as a monitor and never mind the 3/4 RF switch on the Tivax. I have to set my TV to Video1 to get a signal through the RF coax.

Don, I'm a little confused on the pass thru thing. I only have one antenna, a UHF/VHF antenna. If I hook this cable to the ATSC IN on the Tivax and then run a RF cable from the Tivax RF OUT to say a digital tuner DVDR will I be able to use the tuner on the DVDR, or will the RF OUT of the Tivax only output modulated channel 3 or 4? That is NO native passthru of the input signal.
I really can't figure out why the Tivax has the RF antenna in All they would have needed would have been a RF IN and RF out, with a option to disable the RF modulator(for RF passthru). I don't know why the converter box companies insist on making it so complicated. VCR's had this feature for 25 years and many sold for less that $50.
Maybe I'll understand it more when I get my LX1000. I'm hoping this week.

Wait, did you say one port was labeled ASTC IN and the other was RF in? I thought your box was supposed to get QAM cable? Can you verify if your box indeed gets QAM and what port you would need to hook that to. Maybe Cable goes to RF in and your antenna would go to ATSC in. That would make sense and be a handy feature for people with both cable and OTA. If this is the case when the box is off what signal if any is sent to the RF out of the Tivax?

I think your machine may be a completely different animal if it doesn't have QAM.

I don't know how to verify anything about QAM on mine. I have a Tuning Band menu item that offers choices of Air, Cable, Cable HRC, Cable IRC and Cable Auto. Since I need a 25-mile piece of coax to tie into CATV, there's nothing I can tell you about any of it except it works when set to air and does nothing when set otherwise. I haven't had cable TV available to me since 1983 so the the only thing I know for certain about QAM is it's useless to me. I don't know what it's for or how it does whatever it is supposed to do.

The manual says RF In is for connecting a cable box or VCR. When the Tivax is turned off, the alternate signal automatically passes through to the TV. When the Tivax is turned on, the signal is interrupted in favor of the local DTV channels. I think the reason for this is to accommodate people who have truly ancient TV's with only coax in and no A/V equipment although I don't know why someone like that would buy something like this.

But then again, maybe that won't work either. Although I was somehow able to get ATSC through the coax to the TV last night, I can't seem to make that happen again today. I guess I just dialed in the right combination last night.

I can tell you if I connect my antenna coax into ATSC In, no analog signal passes though RF Out, no matter what. If I hook my antenna to RF In, signal passes through RF Out when the Tivax is turned off. Therefore, if the signal is split or the coax physically moved from ATSC In to RF In, it does have analog pass through and it will feed though the component cables.

The manual is okay. It's nicely done and written in English, not Chinglish. It's all English with no sections dedicated to other languages. It would suit me better if there was a lot more "meat" in it but it's vastly superior to the manual provided for the CM-7000. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a downloadable version of the Tivax manual in existence.

Question for you. Would a splitter still degrade the signal if one route or the other was an electronic dead end? It not an issue for me since the upper half of the tower of the only non-digital station is plainly visible across my back field at night. I can plug a paper clip into a TV and watch that one.

The PrimeDTV PHD-205 HD receiver has OSD on S-video. No pass-through, but it tunes NTSC analog, in addition to ATSC/QAM digital. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...638769&page=10

Apparently the Winegard RC1010 is a rebranded Zinwell ZAT-600HD (aka Fuchicomm/Fuchiteck ZAT-600 HD). Reviews of the ZAT-600 on the web seem mixed.

Not at the moment, though I'm looking forward to jjeff's opinion of the LX1000 after he receives it.

I'll keep you apprised on the state of the $85 STB-T1. I don't know if I have a dud or if they're all heaters. It's only drawing 12 watts under load (spec of 15w) but heat is definitely the cause of the rebooting problem. I've cured it for now by elevating the unit another half-inch with two strips of granite tile under the feet and displaying a couple of flat-bottom pyramidal shaped specimens of a metallic mineral called galena on the top cover. These act as exterior heat sinks. It's been burning since Sunday morning without a reboot. Other than the heat and some bad-weather issues with my hillbilly-hanging-in-a-tree antenna system, I'm eXtremely happy with this thing. I can confirm it does menus and CC via s-video. Get one and lets see if yours is a heater

Otherwise, jjeff should be popping in with his review of the $99 LX1000 any day now. One of these should suit you nicely.

Yes but I definitely ain't giving this one up until after the Indy 500.

I was just thinking of PM'ing him and asking the same thing.