What CECB is the best? And worst. Vote here. Updated tally 7/24/10

Zenith DTT901 may be the best & some of us don't care if has the flux capacitor or not.

Well, since I have a bunch of them and have to choose:

The Zenith/Insignia box is the best for me because I have found the OVERALL quality to be the best, and it has built-in DiLithium Crystals.

The MaggotBox is the worst for me because I have found the overall quality to be somewhat less, and it doesn't play 8-Track tapes.

None of them really stand out to me tho..

I vote the Maxmedia box.:-) lol

As a DTV DXer for almost seven years, I'm always looking for the best receiver to decode very weak signals. I currently own four of the new CECBs. In order of best to worst reception-wise:

1. & 2. (tie) Zenith DTT900 and Insignia NS-DXA1
3. Digital Stream DTX9900 (Signal meter not as sensitive as the Zenith/Insignia)
4. Magnavox TB100MW9 (Signal meter not available until AFTER the station has
decoded)

Steve

I think that this thread should be only for owners of multiple boxes.
I will update this post when I do have something to report.

We need real world experience.

I do however find it odd that Satpro likes the Magnavox for sensitivity and other do not.

Also the Tivax is interesting in that it has a heat sink and the ability to mod/upgrade.

#1. Zenith DTT900
#2. I wouldn't call it worse but I've only used 2, would be the Digital Stream DTX990. Don't like the cheap feel, amateuristic graphics and fluxuating signal strength. The EPG is nice though. I read a lot before buying both so I avoided some of the real clunkers. I'm hoping the TR-40(Pal) will be the ticket though. I still need 1/2 dozen or more converters.

I only have the DS DTX9900. It has worked well for me, being 20 mi line-of-sight from the transimtter farm. I cannot hear any audio distortion that others have reported for this and the Zenith/Insignia. Surfing speed is acceptable especially since I can press the channel button multiple times in succession to get there without having to wait for it to tune each channel before going to the next. Channel scan has an update feature and I can tune any channel, whether or not it is in the channel list, by just punching in the channel number on the keypad.

Audio aside, the Zenith is as close to perfection in this price range as I think one could hope for. So much so, that I don't want another brand at this point. I'm just patiently waiting for the new model, hoping that it will take care of the sound. If it does, I couldn't ask for much more without spending several times the money.

I only have one box Zenith. But I would rate it as good as it could possibly get.
It is far better than any of my HDtuners including my newest the Samsung 260F!

I did order the Sling/Echostar box with one coupon and will likely use the other for another Zenith. (First one I bought before my coupons came.) I doubt the Sling/Echostar will be as good but at least it has timers.

I'd rate RCA as the worst box just based on what I read here. Not being able to add channels to the scan would be completely unusable for me.

I'm very pleased with my original Zenith DTT900.

I also expect to purchase the Zenith DTT901 with analog pass through when it reaches the market.

Later I expect to purchase a DTVPal with the analog pass through and programmed channel changing features.

Zenith DTT900. At least the one I have. About the only thing that could stand to be improved is the guide. Audio-wise, mine sounds fine to me. Otherwise, I can't see how any SD box could be better overall. Couldn't really ask for more from a $20.00 ATSC receiver in my opinion. Sensitivity is at least as good as my DTB-260F, if not better.

Never tried any of the others yet, but from everything I've read, I'm sure I'd find more fault with them than with the Zenith.

I also plan on getting A DTVPal or two.

How could I ever decide, they are all so imperfect in so many different ways.

Best Sensitivity, Worst Ventilation, Funia Magnavox/Philco/Sylvania

Best User Interface, Worst at Remembering Aspect Ratio Setting, Tivax

Best Remote Compatibility, Worst Looking Video Levels, RCA

Best At Annoying Audio, Worst At Preventing The Audio Q.C. Problem, any LG chip box Zenith/Insignia/Artec


I love them and hate them all, how could I ever decide which to bother with!

Probably tivax since it turns back on and goes to the previously tuned channel after power loss. All the other boxes I have tried go back to standby and are worthless in such a situation.

I bought the Zenith because it has the 6th gen LG chip (have been very happy with the performance of my LG flat panel TV that used their 5th gen chip).

Am very satisifed with the performance of the Zenith CECB.

I was talking with a CECB manufacture on why they offer just a Now/Next and don't offer an extended EPG.

They told me "They did a lot of testing of more EPG data and found that it tends to slow the box down as it has to scan through all channels to pull the data to put into the guide"

Is this why people are reporting that the Zenith is better then the Digital Stream and Artec that share the same tuner and SoC?
Is it that or the material used for the case Metal vs Plastic.

Thinking of the time to put a lot of data into the guide I was thinking of the TVGuide EPG.

Has anyone used that over the air and how does it compare.

Remember how a GUIDE Plus+ Television took hours overnight to get the data with cable TV.
How long does it take over the air?

bdfox18doe(bob),
Are all stations required to send both TVGuide data and PSIP?

For the Best BOX ever on paper

I have the Insignia / (Zenith) and it has worked well for me so far. The build quality of it looks better than any of the others being sold locally. And has better ventilation. A more far out EPG for it would be nice.
Still waiting until July to use the second coupon.

Would you mind telling me where you ordered the Sling/Echostar from? I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

www.provantage.com. Search under "DTVPal". They're only taking pre-orders.

Yes, provantage for the dtvpal pre-order. Zenith I got at a Circuit City.

A bit off topic from Ken's original post, but..

TV Guide negotiates carriage of their data with individual stations or their group owners.
For DTV, it's been mostly via PBS stations.It is not carried on all stations in a market.

FCC rules require stations to send a MINIMUM of 12 hours of fully and PROPERLY populated EPG via PSIP. I send 48 hours. I am told most receivers don't have enough memory to hold EPG for 7 days for all stations in a market.

Thanks Rammitinski & jhe!

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This is the message I got when I clicked on the Sling/Echostar website. I didn't see anything about them taking pre-orders. Is there someplace else I should have clicked on?

annielov you have to call Provantage @ 1-800-336-1166


So bob if a person does not get a DTV reception of PBS then they won't get the TVGUIDE EPG but if using another box with a PSIP EPG they will still be getting EPG data for the stations they do get

I thought it was within topic what is the best TVGuide or PSIP...

Have you tried both EPG types what do you find to be the best.

I do wish it was more like the iGuide on Cable also by Gemstar/Macromedia.

It was also within topic concerning if "more EPG data" meant a performance decrease in the CECB.
Zenith vs Artec or Digital Stream for example.

I also want to thank you Bob for the FCC rules on PSIP and about TVGuide, good thing you work for the network/station.

No, the ATSC digital carrying of TVGOS now is done by CBS channels. And if you don't receive it, you won't get the guide info.

As far as what's better, it's not even close. TVGOS is very reliable and comprehensive, and it blows the PSIP guides away - even the "fuller" PSIP guide like the Samsung DTB-H260F has. It's actually closer to TiVo-like than the PSIP guides.

Yes I have seen it as Gemstar has a interactive demo of a TVGuide EPG

However, I have already seen a different picture/version of the TVGuide EPG

So its must receive GUI/Interface updates too.

The DTVPal then may be the BEST CECB for most people if it has good sensitivity like the Zenith and does not get hot with what looks like no real ventilation in there picture.

The only real negative that I can see with it so far is that it has no controls on the box and you need the remote for everything.

Not always. We don't carry it on our CBS DTV station. PBS-DT carries it here.

We carry it on analog on several station we own.. Uses Norpak Encoders to insert the data.

OK. I knew that PBS was still carrying it on analog (as they still do here), but I thought that would end once analog OTA was over, and the deal was exclusively for CBS.

I was aware that several channels in a market could carry it on analog, though. It's that way here.

As far as cable, I haven't got a clue, other than that it's been on PBS analog up 'till the last time I had cable, which was 3 years ago (at least).

If PBS will also carry it here on OTA PBS digital, that'll be good for everyone. Even WBBM (CBS) moving from 3 to 12 is still no guarantee for a lot of people. They're not raising the power that much, either.

Malouff: I called the 1-800 number at Provantage & was told they are not taking anymore preorders at this time....possibly at the end of the month, but not for sure.

Well, perhaps this means nothing, but for my local OTA HDTV, my Polariod FLM-3737 tv set's tuner has at least a day's guide info for each channel/subchannel or PBS, NBC, ABC, and some other networks ... but two are conspicuous for having nothing: Fox and CBS.

I would find it real odd if it was CBS station that transmitted the program data, but then had data for nearly every channel but their own