Zenith DTT901 - Page 70

Wow that is an unusual find, never heard of it although I thought I saw mention of "Arcadia" in the AVS CRT section somewhere. 'You got monitor in my TV!/You got TV in my monitor!' Yeah "TV tuner presence > Yes" is not very descriptive for CNET.

I scored a Motorola HDT100 HD tuner for $20 this morning. I was reluctant as the little info I could find shows it may have been their first model (~2004), an HDT101 has a fan (a thermal hmmm?), and some consumer reviewers were complaining of it needing rescan every so often and other minor user issues (again it was around 2004, rescanning rqt wouldn't surprise me back then due to the immaturity of HD broadcasters). Was another $10 in gas but the seller drives my way to work (5:30 am ) so I got him to make a quick stop at nearby 7-11. Anyhow so far so good on brief testing, now my Panny will be full HD (component 1080i); comparing against a converter box on the Panny it isn't a huge difference thus far (need to adjust pic settings), mainly fine detail and the color is more vibrant/balanced (Panny too red on s-video and composite so had to back off color intensity). Hopefully the dot crawl/twitter stuff will be better. I may keep the ChannelMaster hooked up for its EPG as the Mot only has a list beyond the current program (manual says different but...).

Nice! Never even heard of that unit. It is interesting to read that there is not a huge difference in PQ for you either, I was hoping you would be able to do that comparison as well, and here it is! I am leaving the DTT-901 hooked to the Panny for that reason and because it's convenient to have it run through the DVD recorder, which has passive pass-thru.

I may need an outdoor antenna to get the best results from the Hisense HDTV tuner; there are still issues on half the stations. I don't think I am willing to go that route so will have to decide what to do with the thing. The children finally went back home, so this weekend will be my first full weekend without the little attention vampires sucking away all my time. I am looking forward to some more experimentation.

Maybe better than I originally thought, after two days of HDTV when I went to watch a tape I experienced more 'ugh' than usual. Of course I could stand to get use some new and/or better quality tapes. I need some football for twitter analysis; makes me wonder if 480p would work out better than 1080i for that (p vs. i twitter), too bad the Panny won't output 720p.
But yeah in your case the viewing distance is kinda distant so probably less PQ difference. It did seem the detail was better with HD tuner 480i on Panny component than converter box on Panny s-video or composite leading me to believe it does less 480i smoothing on component.

Wow, passive pass-through of composite on a recorder, that would be nice.

Ramm warned us about the older HD tuners. My Mot tuner doesn't go full scale on signal strength like the converter boxes but does show 100% signal quality so hopefully it's just a display scaling difference. I like that Mot is good on RF design (heck I was one of 'em!). I didn't know they made them either as I was RIFed before that time. This box isn't the best from a user standpoint - it doesn't even have a previous channel function which seems absurd . Not very friendly for channel surfing either as there's no channel delete in the menu; I figured a crude way to do it though - tune to the channel, disconnect the antenna, then run a manual channel scan (also wipes out the subs too though). Otherwise I can Lock channels but it still brings up a password box as I surf through. It has Favorites function but it's cumbersome like a ChannelMaster (select and enter, no surf like a Zinwell).
This makes about the third time I've had to redo all of the hook-ups, quite a rat's nest too but I got it much cleaner this time (3rd time's a charm!). I kept the CM for its 'EPG on occasion' (Mot has 24 hr list but no descriptions) with an antenna switch for the Zinwell>VCR and CM. To think these old HD tuners sold for around $500. I found a press release where Mot was discontinuing these boxes only after a few models due to lack of demand - I wonder why? . BTW as hard as it is figure out what models existed I may have spotted a clue in one of my U-remotes code books, has a list of HDTV tuner brands with model numbers; doesn't help on which set-top boxes (cable, sat, etc.) can do it without subscription though.

Can you do an attic antenna? Much simpler install and no nasty weather issues. Mine didn't have a ground wire either when I bought the house (cedar roof) but I don't care now anyway as I replaced with a metal roof; I don't know if attic antennae are supposed to have a ground wire. With the metal roof I had to move it next to a gable but it was crummy before anyway when it would rain on that wood. It's held up with a PVC pipe u-bolted to a ceiling rafter (big Yagi Uda but those flat UHF models could be mounted against a gable, etc.). You can follow the coax down through an electrical conduit path to an electrical outlet box (I would test this first before installing an antenna unless OK with running some other way regardless).

Turns out the Favorites button on the remote puts it into that mode without having to select&enter each channel and there's a Program List button that puts it back into an 'all channel' mode; excellent for surfing! I should learn how to use this stuff before opening my mouth . I still had to do the crude channel delete and lock mentioned above. Lot's of Mexican and religious stations here in Tejas but some have some nice subs (older shows/movies, B&Ws, and MTV-like broadcasts).
Oh yeah my Panny freaked out on a weird station that didn't appear to be broadcasting anything - was black screen but started doing some weird scan traces then it shut down with a blinking red light. Also acted like it was going to do it (I aborted quickly) on some weird-numbered ION subs I've never seen before like 68-203; I'm wondering if a cable number and the Mot's QAM tuner was attempting something out of the ordinary.

I wonder why my Panny only aspects ZOOM and FULL in 480p on component? I was watching Mystic River on DVD which is 4:3 which was fine set to 480i but on 480p ZOOM of course cuts off the top and bottom while FULL is annoyingly compressed. Me thinks 480p stuff is supposed to be wide ; maybe the Sony Blu-ray is just upscaling it to 480p when I select that Video Format making me think 480p is available on the disk? (Source Direct shows 480i). Obviously still kind of an amateur when it comes to disk viewing .

Something is wrong somewhere. There is a huge difference between 480i & 1080i on an HD display.

DragonLoaf and I have these old Panasonic widescreen HD CRTs (CT-34WX50 for me and a 54 for him, both lack HD tuners). They have some sort of 480i-to-480p upscaling and I've even seen review references that they were the best at displaying SD in their day. My biggest gripe though was that it oversmooths the detail and it can't be turned off (although it may not be active on component based on my experiments), I noticed I could see better detail with the same converter box on an old SD set. I definitely noticed the detail difference on 1080i, Poppy Montgomery's freckles never looked better . Of course these are small sets in this modern day&age and we're not sitting real close to them (I plan on moving up furniture though now that I have an HD tuner).

I've read on the forum that ION has some sort of pay TV sub-channel deal going on in some areas of the country - maybe the tuner was wrestling with those? Yes, we were warned about the older tuners. I came up a winner on the Zenith HDV420, at least.

Weird on the aspect adjustments. I know my Panny allows 3 adjustments when 480p is coming in, though I wonder if that changes when the input is 4:3? I think I might have a 4:3 DVD somewhere at home, I will give it a try and see what happens.

Ken might be right, I guess I should try messing around with the settings some more. I will be sure to write everything down beforehand because I want to get back where I was if the SD quality suffers. It's hard to imagine a better SD picture than I get through the DTT-901 combined with the Panny. As I may have mentioned I tried a DTT-901 on the "new" Samsung HDTV CRT I picked-up a few weeks ago and it looked like garbage by comparison, so the Panny is definitely working some magic on that composite signal. Perhaps the same magic is acting to subdue the HD input?

Over the weekend it finally sunk in that I have a ridiculous number of televisions. 2 SD CRT (27" 4:3), 3 HD CRT (34" WS, 32" 4:3, 30" WS), 2 HD LCD (46" WS, 19" WS), 1 HD Plasma (50" WS), 1 HD LED (24" WS). Six of the nine were acquired for the price of some time, gas, and labor to pick them up from the people giving them away. I figure I probably have enough televisions to last the rest of my life, and I don't think the death of the two big boys will be much of an issue with my wife - she watches the 34" Panny more than any of the other sets also. The really absurd part is that neither of us watch all that much TV, though we certainly enjoy when we do. Ah well, a guy has to have some kind of hobby. (I am not totally mad, I have stopped looking for free sets on craigslist - I have no place to put any more!)

Ah makes sense, one is titled Starz.
Mot HD tuner is losing channels and generating multiple instances of subs when powered on/off (power strip) so it looks like I'll have to leave it on standby; at least it has a big-ass clock . Oddly enough I've had this issue on a much smaller scale with Zinwell converter boxes and the Mot tuner module inside has a ZAT number (i.e. Zinwell model notation); I also thought I saw some blogs saying Zinwell had something to do with the design. I think I'll crack it open again (vacuumed and there was a cobweb inside ) and see if it uses a watch battery for some of its memory. Otherwise works fine thus far.


Well you do have a newer Panny and my manual actually confirms those two modes only on 480p. Hopefully your 3rd aspect is Normal or the like so you can watch 4:3 unaltered via 480p (DVD HD).


Good idea but thus far it appears my Panny is holding different settings per input to some degree. The Video inputs appear to hold one common set while the Component inputs each have their own set. Component also appears to have a seperate sub-set vs. input format.
Now you mention SD quality - I didn't try comparing a converter box with an SD input on Component. I was comparing using HD station content.
No I don't think the Panny's scaler is active above 480i and it looks like it may not be active on Component; I guess I could reword that and say I think it's only active on Video inputs.


You too huh? . I ran a rotation program - out with the old, in with the new. Same with my short-lived computer monitor hobby. I recently donated some older 19" sets and various computer monitors to one of those charities that comes and picks them up. A few broken ones made it to Best Buy for e-cycling.
My old bedroom 27" set is now a coon-ass PoutP next to the Panny in the living room. I also used it to learn how to adjust service menu settings. Color was off beyond what I could do with the user menu so I started from scratch; ironically tuning color is really tuning B&W, I adjusted for black using bias and white using drive. Came out pretty good although the red gun or phosphors are weak (orangey no matter what I tried). Screen had gotten too wide too so tuned that and then the other direction to get the proper aspect back. Throw in a little pincussion and re-centering. I thought I ruined the tube when I found what I thought was a broken jumper for the degauss circuit. I jumpered it back together and then the degauss made the tube have a nice rainbow of circles . Apparently the jumper was a fuseable link and something is broken in the degauss circuit. So I said 'what the heck' and jumpered its degauss coil to an old broken RCA 31" (waiting for another trip to Best Buy) and wala it worked! I'll have to save that RCA circuit board for a degausser circuit and I ran the 27" coil connector out the back in the event I move the TV to a different position that generates color blobs. I also found a small fridge magnet can be use to fix small color blobs (but not big rainbow circles, requires defib).
Those Sony KV-FS sets sure have sharp pics, that little 20" is sweet, made a nice office TV. My TV count is now 7. Others are a 13" RCA w/built-in VCR for the kitchen, a stored 19" Toshiba, and a little 5" LCD for camping my neighbor gave me. Come to think of it the only TV I paid for was the old 27" .
I'm gonna guess that the 19" LCD was the only free flat panel TV?

Probably my biggest value free score yet based on this:

http://www.amazon.com/BOSE-Acoustima.../dp/B00006WNKQ (mine is white)

The best neighbors a man could ask for! They also gave me a fancy leather Lazy Boy rocker recliner with heat, vibrate, etc. I'm usually not much for used sofas and recliners but they're real clean folk and take great care of their stuff. Speaking of which, the wealthy areas of town are the places to shop for this kind of stuff as they have more rooms of furniture than they can possibly wear out. I bought a $5000 leather sectional for $1000 from my mortgage gal when I bought my house, was from her game room; she also sold a Neiman Marcus sectional from her bedroom (? why, but lightly used of course) for $300.

No watch battery in the Motorola HD tuner. Turns out set-top box-type devices are notorious for energy-inefficiency:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/us...pagewanted=all

[Around current electricity prices (10c/kwh) I calculate each TV set-up at about $4 a month. With no DVR it's about $1.50 a month.
Article is misleading though, water heaters and such use the most power.
So if one cancels their service are they eligible for an energy tax rebate? lol]

Anyhow I got the Mot somewhat stable for line on/off use by resetting everything and starting from scratch as well as deleting more lesser channels. I noticed that most of the problems involved the small Mexican stations. Turns out it's not deleting anything, rather it's convoluting these problem channels into other channels' subs (ex: three 5.2's !). Some funky memory or somesuch updating process. At least my Favorites have been holding steady.

Panny discover/hint: Geomagnetic Correction function helps balance out corner color blobs. Manual only says it's for skewing. After adjusting the blobs their tilt bar predicted it would be slightly tilted but I didn't notice any tilt when I switched it back to program viewing. Since it degausses every time you quit this function give the degausser time to cool off before doing it again.
Now I wouldn't think I should have any color blobs if it's degaussing properly. Maybe what I'm seeing is it needs corner Landing adjustment like some computer monitors have in their menus. I wish I could find the service menu info on the Panny, I got access into something but there's not many variables like I would expect and since I don't know what they are I shied away.

Speaking of degaussing, I just finished cannabalizing my broken 31" RCA for e-cycling. Saved the chassis for a portable degausser. My 27" GE degausser circuit is broken so I was able to jumper the circuit to eliminate the color blobs after repositioning the TV (I brought the degauss coil connector out the back). Both TVs use a similar vintage Thomson chassis. I carefully placed the anode cap (thick wire to side of picture tube) inside a small plastic bottle as insulation; I could smell the ozone generated from the arc/air if I powered it on for a minute (degauss takes a few seconds).

I found in my Sony VCR troubleshooting section of the manual that pic rolling when fast-forwarding/reversing can be fixed via adjusting the TV's vertical hold. Of course there's no pots for that on my RCA HDTV and another one I can't find service menu info on.

Yes, and the 19" was from my son, so I guess it doesn't count as much of a score. It is now my office TV for watching news in the morning and standing guard for the one night in every five years when the weather is bad enough to keep me from going home.

Over the weekend I had some time to more seriously play around with the Zenith HDV420. WOW! The HD PQ of the Sony KV-30HS420 with the HDV420 input is stunning. Definitely better than the HD on my Panasonic. Of course the Panny blows away the Sony with SD, and I don't have a clue if it is due to settings or simply the way it is.

The HDV420 is a little bizarre; there is no guide whatsoever, not even a "now - next" display like the DTT-901. I went through and set channels to have labels, but can't figure out why there are labels for Sci-Fi, Showtime, HBO, and a bunch of other cable channels when the HDV420 does not have a QAM tuner. Maybe it tunes regular analog cable? Don't know and don't really care, but it's interesting. Also it is not possible to delete sub-channels, it is an all or nothing proposition. There is a "surf list" and a "surf" button on the remote, which I'm guessing means something along the lines of "favorites", I will find out this week when I monkey with it some more.

The Hisense is on the shelf until I get more time and inclination to experiment with it. It would be great to get it going because the guide is really exceptional and the PQ (when it has enough signal) is great.

I enjoyed a few episodes of X-Files in 32" 4:3 SD glory on the Samsung while doing my taxes. It is my designated viewer for 4:3 SD material now, which generally looks like crap on the Plasma, LCD, and LED sets.

I must have been typing above about the same time.


That does seem odd. Maybe the HDMI on your Panny is flaky or the Zenith wasn't 1080i-ing properly with the Panny. Yeah these TVs appear to have different pic and video menu settings for nearly every input and/or format.


Now you'll have to do like me and have some of the TVs hooked with aux converter boxes for guides (your CM has a real good one).
I'm guessing they used the same platform for their cable boxes. Could be a higher model had both ATSC and QAM too. My Mot tuner has an optional spot in the front plastic for a cable card slot with a little door but I couldn't get the door to open.
Same here with the lack of sub deleting; I use the Lock feature as a half-ass solution, also see if you have a Skip like some converter boxes. Surf features come in handy, got me past the lack of sub deleting for most of my usage.


That one sounds like it'll need to go on your best antenna or lowest loss setup. Maybe an antenna booster would help?


So I've heard so I guess it's true. If it's 480i input (vs downconversion) then I guess it's the flat panel display technology messing it up.

Speakng of cannabalizing, how much do you suppose the CRT in my 32" Sony weighs? This may be my only option to flip it to the love seat, push it to door & drop if from 3' on the porch hoping it don't break & dismantling it. ..(yeah it's still here & getting worse every day). Even in a semi working state scrappers or repair people don't want it.

Nice neighbors! I haven't spoke with mine in over 4 years on the one side, & the other side I've never met them!

KOT I noted the 901 does not jive with the newer DST dates that preceeded the mfg.

This '93 31" RCA is about 120 lbs. My '93 27" GE is about 70 lbs. What's weird is my '06 27" RCA HDTV is about 100 lbs. When I was tinkering with computer monitors I also noticed the cheaper consumer ones were much lighter than the professional ones. Could be the higher resolution requires thicker glass or somesuch. I was able to tilt the 31" off a 1' fireplace hearth and over sunken living room steps. I also acquired another broken 31" years ago in an attempt to use it for parts for this one but procrastination took over (pointless now), fortunately it only made it to the garage where they both are now in que to get loaded for an e-cycle trip. Anyhow I slid it off the back of my van via two 2x4s. You might try the same but a sheet of plywood would be safer. I more recently borrowed my neighbor's furniture dolly to get the one from the living room to the garage, one of those kind that sits only a few inches off the ground with four casters. Ideal is if you can back your vehicle up to that porch if you have to take it somewhere unless you're lucky enough your city will pick it up curbside. BTW Best Buy will take it at their store and there's also websites that help find e-cycling locations.

Indeed, I think being in a cul de sac has a lot to do with our neighborly bond. I think a lot safer from theft and such too.

KOT! Fortunately there's not much converter box chat anymore or I'd feel real guilty. Huh, I thought the boxes would get their time setting from a station although there's probably various overrides in the menus. I had to set my VCR to manual clock but that was because it required an NTSC signal.

Yeah, I have several used boxes. My tv's are dying before the boxes. I now only have three tv's that require boxes (out of seven). One TV is a 1964 Zenith 13" portable that I bought when I was 10! Still works but B&W.

Well CRTs are free or cheap plentiful now, especially on Craigslist. I've been rotating out small and/or old ones for newer, HD-er, and sometimes bigger ones all for free (several could have been sold but I got lucky). You could also sell your boxes and Zeniths/Insignias seem to be preferred brands. That's an old classic TV, the reliability then is obvious and B&W only makes it more reliable. I recently gave away an early '80s color RCA 'knobs and all' to charity, tuned it up real good (color, focus, etc.); works great but have to keep the converter box several feet away to keep it from picking up digital noise (designed well before digital was an issue).

Did all the research, I can take it to my county dump for $3, Best Buy may take it (uncertain what they do with a 32" per their site... $100 charge above 32" & $10 gift card option under 32"), no recycling programs, Wast management will take it for about $37-40 Curbside. I'm taking it the CRT itself would be around 110-115#, on my last weight loss bout the entire set now likely may weigh more than myself at this point. This now may have to be a 1 man operation, so I can't get it in my vehicle I'm screwed.

Think what I need is those straps that rachet to hold it to a dolly... may be able to borrow a 2 wheeler or dolly.

So you would think plywood would be better? It was also suggested I build a small stretcher out of 2x4's, yet then another 2 man operation.


Got me beat, still have the 12" RCA (1978 model) The solid state stuff at least you didn't have to replace individual tubes, I'm not sure of your 1964 falls into that catagory. in the late 90's I gave the 10" GE color to the ex (1972 model), for use in her kitchen in which it soon died thereafter (no UHF)
The front panel said solid state chassis, yet there were still about a half dozen tubes inside, none that were ever replaced... the costs of the some of the tubes far exceeded the value of the set, so when if went completely I just told her to set it out.

Yeah Best Buy isn't clear with "up to 32"" in the "What We Take" column but the "What We Don't Take" column states "larger than 32"." An employee at the store here told me they would help unload it and of course those stores should have the big platform carts (I used their regular cart for some smaller stuff recently). Kinda weird though they made me bring it through the front, I would have thought the loading dock but it could be a security rule.

Good rope will work on the cheap. Or more than one strong bungee cord fastened real tight (I don't trust just one of those things, seen too many lying along the freeway ).

Plywood better for a ramp. My two 2x4's kept wobbling, two wider boards would be better or if you can fasten the 2x4's together for stability. Or just more 2x4's. Now I'm thinking if I had to get it outside without a dolly I would slide it on its smoothest side on any carpet and where there's no carpet put it on a small piece of carpet or somesuch and pull it on that.

I too have the dilemma of what to do with extra TVs, though I will probably end up saving them for now.

Over the weekend I set-up my Samsung 32" 4:3 set with the definitive set of components, including a Sony RDR-VX511 (combo VCR / DVD recorder) I bought for $15 off craigslist. I thought I made a mistake at first, as playback of tapes and DVDs both was jittery. The thing must have been in storage, because opening it up revealed years of dust and a quick cleaning restored it to perfect functionality. This unit is unique in my experience for sending both the DVD and VCR output through the component port, which helps a lot given the dearth of inputs on the Samsung TV.

So now the CM-7000 is working as I originally intended, with split S-video to feed the DVD recorder and the TV simultaneously. I must have had some iffy cable before, because the PQ is excellent. Some experimental recording showed that I need to have the Zoom on the CM-7000 set to Full for the DVD to record correctly in 16:9. If I leave it in letterbox (which looks correct on the screen) then the resulting DVD video looks like a 2.35:1 movie on a 16:9 set. I am quite pleased with the results and there are more quality settings on the Sony than on my Magnavox DVD recorders. Also I can now directly dub old VHS home movies with a single unit.

Also connected to the Samsung is a Sony SMP-N100, for those old 4:3 TV shows on the streaming services.

Now with 2 systems ready to record OTA TV I better start finding stuff to record. Not sure what to do with my now spare DTT-901. Of course I still have a couple of extra TVs which are just sitting there, along with various components. I might set up a system in the "guest room" with the KV-27FS120, but that equates to non-use, so doesn't really satisfy.

There's always coon-ass PoutP like my 27" with my Panny, mainly a sports thing for me; would make the Zenith 901 happy too. Our TVs are old and who knows about these converter boxes so spares aren't a bad idea. I thought of selling off some Zinwells but then thought of timer recorder spares. Only one other spare TV, a 19" Toshiba.


Interesting, I may have to look that one up. Are you searching CL with specific keywords or pouring through the plethora of electronic ads? Yeah I read stuff with belt drives wasn't supposed to sit unused for long as it's hard on the belts. That's bizarre a VCR through component although I suspect it's not that level of quality like the DVD as even those high-end S-VHS machines only have s-video to the best of my knowledge. Speaking of dusting, I still need to crack open the Bose main box for a clean-out; always a bit nervous messing around these electronics that are so static sensitive in this day and age (ground strapping yourself to the chassis is a good idea but cumbersome when cleaning).


Maybe s-video cables/connections are more delicate? I would have suspected the splitter but I thought you tried it straight up; I always wondered about splitting weak signals. Full is what I used too, squeeze it then stretch it back - weird. Yeah I think the converter boxes over-aspect the pic, and then the TVs do the same thing and when you sum it all up you lose a bunch of pic; I think they do that so as to guarantee no noisy edges. I think the Full may lose a little top&bottom (just a little off the top please ). Nice features on that Sony.

Kitchen, garage, bathrooms, etc.

I spotted a mover's dolly for $7.99 with a coupon at Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/movers-dolly-93888.html

Coupon was in those batch of coupons that come with a newspaper or sale circular packet. I've also seen this place put out sales circulars w/coupons, also probably available in-store. Coupon code for this dolly is 32561889 but then the price would double buying online or phone due to S&H. Expires 7/16.

This one is kinda small but the casters are worth more than that price. I might get one next time I pass by a store, I can always make a bigger frame. Weight not an issue but I'm worried about stability for large dimension stuff. Then again they might have bigger ones on sale in a circular (this was only a one page ad).

Reviews were mixed, caster bearings look like they need grease upon arrival. There's probably better ones elsewhere but for $8 I figure what the heck, I don't plan on moving anywhere near 1000 lbs. anyway.

My nearby Harbor Freight store honors scanned coupons. Just print it out and clip it before presenting at the check stand. This coupon expires 20 May 2012:

Right you are; as far as I can tell there is no PQ improvement having the VHS going out over component. I was testing it with my old copy of The Lion King and marveling at how spoiled we've become with DVD and Blu-ray PQ excellence. I'm old enough to remember when the idea of being able to rent a movie to watch at home was a novel concept.

I bet you are right about the sides getting cut off. I see that sometimes when text is along the edge and some of it ends up over the edge. Other than that it doesn't really bother me much.

Speaking of clean-outs, I had to clean out my Denon integrated amp that I use at work. For the fourth time in probably 4 years or so the left channel cut out almost completely. A removal of the cover and a good spraying with compressed air resolved the problem (or at least the symptom of it) once again. I fear the day when it goes out and stays out for good; I use that thing 10 - 12 hours a day!

Good job! Hey do you know if they have these coupons and circulars when you walk in the door? I haven't been to an HF store yet.

Too bad, no upscaler.
Indeed, those were the days.


Same here, a few years of converter boxes cutting off all kinds of stuff makes this seem like nothing (my TVs weren't big enough to watch in letterbox mode); at least the ChannelMaster has an extra zoom that zooms less than most boxes (more useful IMO).
Yeah I tested the conversions on the Panny using a weather sub that stays somewhat constant and has text. That's how I found Full (16:9/squeezed)> Full (Panny) gave me the best fit, plus with the text I could also see interlacing or somesuch problems were minimal this way. Top and bottom gets cut off too.


Yeah those suckers get hot and dust don't help. I suspect a Denon is better than an Onkyo, when I searched on that Onkyo AVR there were lots of loss of audio complaints. I wonder about making a little filter for the fan with a cleaner piece from a used A/C filter? (depends on air flow direction though for it to be practical, my guess is they're sucking air out rather than in).

Friend that got me that Panny from his work stopped by Monday, after he saw all the loot that I've acquired he said I should give him the Bose . I think I'll reward him some other way. I need to keep him happy for the potential Toshiba S-VHS recorder(s) and cables and such (Kenwood car audio distributor).

The DST is programmed for the Dates & Time Zone, unfortunately it used the older dates (first weekend in April), I just manually turn the Zeniths DST on & off. My VCR also changed the first weekend in April (Last Sunday @ 2AM... I left it since it's such a PITA to change.

Finally got the Sony out... 3 people, & on the way to the vehicle the front facade started busting & cracking while it shifted slightly on the dolly, the whole top split open, the bottom portion where the speakers were colapsed under the weight when set down.. old age perhaps, but the rear of the case didn't suffer any damage & was more pliable (different material?). I figured that CRT weighd at least 135-140# of the total 152#, there surprisingly wasn't all that much circuitry inside & no heavy transformers that I expected.

Still need to use the 901 if I want to watch ION though, the tuner is really sensitive in the Zenith! I really didn't have too many issues with the temperature this winter for some reason (& with the one breaker in my panel box either as we had a fairly warm winter). I pretty much left the box on, was home all the time too, so the temps stayed up. Last week though I turned on my 901 upstairs where it was a bit chilly & the power LED was glowing a bright purple, with no picture. I had to unplug the box for a reset.

Also Picked up yet another gently used a Sony SLV-798HS (VHS) for $10... Now I really need to find a cheap factory remote for these on as the universals don't cover all functions.

Wow, you needed 3 people just to balance the pieces ! Maybe frontal UV exposure. I had an old computer monitor that got yellow and brittle on the top from flourescent light exposure in some office. Yeah different materials a possibility as some parts need to be stronger and/or more flexible. Indeed not much mass inside these things, I can hold up the chassis I cannabilized out of my 31" RCA with one hand.


Sounds like you got a replacement TV with a built-in digital tuner (I may have missed that point in a previous post). Yeah this early spring is kicking my arse in the outdoors department, wasn't ready for all these chores yet.


I had the same problem with a Toshiba VCR and its non-menu-ized special functions; the Philips u-remote I have now can do most but at the time no such luck so I had to beg my friend who gave it to me to dig deeper for its remote.
Found a factory remote for my Panny TV on ebay for $15 and free shipping.

Good thought on the UV exposure. The Sony was literally in hundreds of pieces in my driveway, I swept up the balance of the set & that ended up in the back shell circuit boards & all & I could easily lift it with one hand... minus the CRT. It was like the front frame & the top were of a different material, & were very brittle.

That office White/Beige color always had a tendency to yellow for some reason, poor color choice.


I bought a used Toshiba 37" very reasonable, a 720p 60hz & think it's been in use about a year & a half.... nice set.. only needs a couple seconds b4 the pic comes on too... not 20-55 minutes!

My ION comes out of Akron so it's a bit of a haul, though the 901 box from my outdoor areal picks it up trouble free 95% of the time. The Other 2 stations from Akron are nominal (TBN & my alternate PBS), & are obtainable via the Zenith box 50% & 10% respectively.

I have yet to go direct from the outlet to the new TV, perhaps that's what I need to do is find a different way to split the signal.


Wish I could trade off the Semi Uni from the old Sony for what I need. I see the factory remote on the Bay for $14, though in theory that's more than I paid for the VCR itself (what type of people lose remotes & instructions?).. I think I have enough VCR's so I need not go the pay per month DVR route. I like to time shift the Movies from This, Antenna & Bounce.

It ain't exactly no picnic if you suffer from allergies at all, either.

Ya'll are fortunate it didn't cause you to drop the CRT .


Congrats! Now you're ahead of some of us used CRT vultures and you can move that one yourself.


I wish we had TBN OTA here, heck I thought it was only on cable, etc.


A switch, although cumbersome, would save nearly half the signal strength (3 dB) vs. a two-way splitter. I don't know what the loss is for pass-thru on the 901 but theoretically it should be low.


Maybe a better u-remote would give you all the required functions? Then the money would be applied to something useful down the road. I only bought the Panny TV remote because of unique aspect, PoutP, etc. functions.
Some of these sellers sell TVs without remotes and then sell the remotes at a later date. I can usually find instructions on the 'net.

In my case it may have actually worked out to my advantage as I have a severe allergy to juniper (aka mountain cedar misnomer here). More of a winter allergy. I can get extremely sick from too much exposure and has caused me to go to the doc for antibiotics (sinus/bronch infection). The good news is I can 'hole up' in the winter, the bad news is it's Texas (i.e. oftentimes nice days in the winter to be outside).

Hope it isn't kicking your butt too bad this spring.

"yeah, I'm still here"