Zenith DTT901 - Page 54

Yes indeedy, I am now able to make my VCR accept line input (satisfying conclusion to long, sad struggle documented above).

As I mentioned, I didn't get a remote with this freebie VCR, but I already had a universal remote. And though the u-remote is truly razzle-dazzle looking, with many rows of buttons, the manual that came with it is somewhat lacking in info about -- oh, you know -- what the buttons do. Grrrr. If I were a company, I'd be ashamed to include this so-called manual with my product.

Anyway, the buttons on the remote are color-coded, and since green is for Tivo, I ignored all the green buttons. (For crying out loud, I have only just gotten my first VCR, how can I possibly assimilate what the Tivo buttons do?? Yes, it is pathetic to be so technologically behind).

And frustrated as I became with the whole deal, one evening I recklessly aimed the remote at the VCR and began randomly punching buttons, even green Tivo ones. And, you guessed it: LINE1 appeared like magic in great big letters on the TV.

I had diligently pored over the VCR manual and the remote manual for so long that I could quote entire sections of each by heart. But I found the line input selector for the VCR totally by chance.

It sure would have been nice if the remote's manual had mentioned that the green Tivo R.Zones button doubles as VCR Input. Oh well.

I really appreciate everybody's help, and the time you all took to post. This is a great forum, and I'm fortunate to have stumbled across it. WeThePeople, thank you for all those links (!!!) I was very interested in your codes for line input because it seemed like they would free me up from even needing an Input button, but I just couldn't get the codes to work.

I'm recording stuff right and left on 15-year-old tapes that somebody gave me, and the picture quality is sensational! Digital and analog co-exist nicely in my apartment.

Now, who do I talk to about getting a job writing manuals?

Are you related to humor writer Dave Barry?

No, but I think I saw him the other day in Trader Joe's, scooping free samples into his shopping basket.

Lol, good to hear you finally noodle'd out the problem,
and have joined the digital domain as it were.

I cannot think of one company that shouldn't fire the writers,
and hire someone that actually cares, and speaks the language natively.

Or at least take a person off the street that has never run a particular device and reimburse them for reading/operating said device to see what is wrong with the darn manuals.

Then there is "Jinglish" and such...
(non-proofread Japanese to english literal translations)

I'll share one funny example of why people overseas should let a citizen of the native language that is targeted proof read that darn things

This is a true story,
I kept that manual a long long time until I lost it in a fire.

The back of a Magnavox VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) manual had
"Superman" sitting indian-style (cross-legged) on the floor reading the operators manual.

The caption underneath said:

"When all else fails, RTFM"

I swear that is what it said!

For those acronym challanged, it means:
"Read The Fuching Manual"
(Sorry to any that might be offended)

It is usually RTM BTW (By The Way)

Now if a large firm like Magnavox (AKA (Also Known As) Magot-Vox) failed to even know they put such a bad swear right on the back of their own products manual,
just how good could the translation inside be?


The part that struck me was that they used the periods in proper manor like we are supposed to do,
but have long since abandoned doing so a society as a whole when it comes to acronyms...
(R.T.F.M.)

How proper ... LOL (Laugh/Laughing Out Loud)


"Dont hate the texters,
hate the game..."

Would something like this cable ( http://www.svideo.com/msvmrca12.htm ) increase the picture quality of the Zenith 901? Or does the video have to start out as S-video like it does with the CM-7000 to give a similar PQ?

It has to be sourced as S-video. The advantage of S-video is luminance (gray-scale) does not have to be bandpass limited as it does with composite video.

Here is more technical background.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Video

Tschmidt has it right.
Although the Chroma and Luma (Color / B&W) are seperate in the MPEG-2 stream,
and are seperate in EVERY SoC (System on Chip)
alleviating the dreaded comb-filter and It's effects initially.

The NTIA with FCC ruled that for equipment that is essentially
combined Chroma/Luma (RF 3/4 in, baseband video in)
as the intended target that there was no need to keep it seperate.
So essentially we got hosed.
Although good equipment fairs well still due to modern comb filters.
SIGH...

But thankfully it was left as an available legit option for CECB's
"Thank The " for CM-7000's, etc.

The cord you referenced only has two resistors to combine the B&W with the color signal to feed a baseband video (Yellow RCA jack) only,
it cannot be used in reverse to seperate the discreet streams...

Maybe "Superman" meant the PG version.
"Read the Fine Manual"

Now had you not said that I might have never noticed another possibility:

RTMF - Read The Manual First

It might just be letters out of order in that acronym instead...

Is anyone still selling this model? I have a friend who has a coupon that is about to expire who is having trouble finding the DTT901.

Send him to Best Buy for the twin Insignia model. Same thing with a different label.
tom

It looks like Beast Buy sells only the Apex now.

Yeah, I posted earlier in the thread that the Insignia has been gone from the Bestbuy.com web site for many weeks.

I've been to 3 Best Buys in person and none of them have had Insignias any more.

AFAIK, no place that accepts the govt. coupon still stocks the DTT901, although they are widely available at places that don't accept the coupon.

Me wonders how much racket there is out there of folks that stocked up on boxes on the cheap courtesy our gov't, then resell them at 'wonderfully' lower prices? I've seen some of this on Craigslist, bundled with old analog TVs they might normally give away (could be these same folks picked up these TVs free on Craigslist).

I've been calling around for the last few weeks trying to find a Zenith/Insignia box. I called BestBuy the other day and the associate told me that they had discontinued the model! Can anyone officially confirm this? Can you tell me why?

From personal experience I think Zenith/Insignia is the best box out there. I'd like to get another, but I don't know if I'll be able to. My last coupon expires in about a week. Does anyone know where I could get another one?

I was looking for another one recently and also found that no Insignia nor Zenith boxes were available on the local retail shelves. I've read other posts in the forum also reporting that Zenith has stopped manufacturing them. People in areas that did find them said the stores which have them usually aren't taking the coupons.

If you think about it, there's a limited market for these devices and the market is smaller now than it was months ago. From their perspective, is it cost benecfical to go through another production run?

Not for the US, but Canada will be switching soon, although the Canadian OTA market will be a fraction of the US market. Not sure how many of the boxes will make it to the US though. I agree this box was/is probably the best all around CECB.

The Artecs have the same major chipset and are available online from Meritline and Freetvsignal for free or almost free after coupon depending on the model and retailer, free shipping too. Check out the Artec thread.

Does the Artec have Zenith's 'well perforated' metal case that facilitated cool operation and thereby longer service life?

Not with a coupon. They are still readily available on eBay, though. At least for now.


No.


The Artecs with "LL" in the model number have the same LG tuner chipset that's in the Zenith/Insignia boxes. Artecs with "LS" in the model number have Sanyo chipsets.

I don't have a Zenith/I but the Artec does have holes on the bottom of its plastic case. There's a lot of 'strange' similarities like the very low power usage like the newer Zeniths/Is (Artec is 4.5W max.). Here's a comparison ref:

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

They both have the same demodulator (brain/pic). They both have the same tuner for the LL model but notice that the older Zenith/I models could also have the Sanyo tuner. One catch: I haven't been able to determine which tuner a current Pro model has but older units had Sanyo tuners (Pro has CH/VOL buttons on the box, LL/LS do not; I think they throw in a composite cable set with the Pro too). There's also a more expensive TVGOS model but I know even less about that one.
Disclaimer: It's unknown but possible the chips have designer-adjustable software settings such that boxes with the same chips won't necessarily perform the same (ex: Artecs have a contrast, brightness, and hue menu - do Zeniths/Is?).

It has an annoyingly bright blue LED ('the cyclops'). Don't the Zeniths/Is have the same thing?

The case is real small and light. Also runs off of 12V. So good for portable use. I wouldn't advise having it plugged in (on or off) an auto with the engine running without some sort of protection above 12V until it's proven designed for that (see Artec thread). Based on some discoveries over yonder thread I think it can run on lower voltages (variable input switching regulator design); I've run mine off of a Zinwell 5V wall-wart.

The Artec has a better EPG, does about half a day. The info says a Zenith/I only does Now/Next (true?).

My Zeniths are nicknamed "Gort." Gort's eye is blue when the box is powered on. The eye is red when Gort is powered off.

We have a couple of Insigina boxes - correct EPG does Now/Next.

While limited it is better then our Sony LCD TV which only does now. Wish I could trade. One of the Insigina boxes is used with a computer TV tuner card so have access to TitanTV guide.

/tom

The Zenith has a metal case and has also holes in the top of it.


Blue = ON Red = OFF. Black tape gets rid of all or part of it


Correct.

LOL! "Gort," I gotta hear the story behind that name. That eye looks like a bar but maybe it's because of the camera.

My Artec LL has no standby light. I get the impression the box goes completely off since the manual doesn't list standby power like my other boxes. I don't know about the other models. I'd think the TVGOS model needed to stay kinda on for TVGOS acquisition (this model does use more ON power: 7W max vs 4.5W max).

One poster drilled holes on the top and added more on the bottom of his Artec (pics over yonder thread). Probably unnecessary as the power is so low, it uses a switching regulator (90ish% efficient), and uses a wall-wart which helps keep heat out of the box. Wiki claims the Zenith/I is wall-wartless which means all of the power supply is in the box. Fun with a drill press though.

I've seen a pic of a CECB that had a heatsink attached to the decoder like a computer processor utilizes. One can add these little heatsinks with the appropriate glue and know-how.

Gort is the robotic "policeman" in the 1951 version of The Day The Earth Stood Still. When Gort sensed impending violence or a threat to the peace the "face" visor would lift and there would be an oval shaped light (eye) that oscillated from side to side followed by a ray emanating from the "eye." That ray disintegrated weapons, objects and people.

In a dark bedroom one may visualize the Zenith/Insignia LED as Gort's "eye" where, in the very next second, the ray will "zap" one unless one utters these words, "Klaatu Barada Nikto"

A classic, I can see and hear it now. Need to see that one again, have to keep my 'eye' on PBS.

Canada has no plans for a consumer coupon program, and I don't know if any of the US CECBs will show up on store shelves there. I've read at Canadian forums that there's not much sense of urgency among TV stations, government, or TV viewers towards the 08/31/2011 analog shutoff.

My mom gave me her extra DTT901 when she got a new TV, I tried it when I got it and then shelved it. I got it out today because it seemed like good DX'ing conditions (and my TV cannot direct tune without rescanning), and when I plugged in, it was dead.

I have a DTT900, and it has been flawless.