Samsung DTB-H260F ATSC tuner - Page 121

Update: My Samsung DTB-H260F is 5 years old today.
I was one of the first purchasers and bought it when it showed at my local Circuit City. Too bad I splurged $35 on the 5 year extended warranty, never needed it. Have been using it almost everyday and has worked flawlessly getting OTA reception with over 40 channels in the DC/Baltimore area. Unfortunately, over the holidays I bought a new Samsung LED TV and am getting rid of my tube TV and the tuner. This was probably one of the best tuners on the market with its HD capability and looks like it still is.

2yrs for me... same here love it. Outstanding product. Only gripes are the guide takes too long to load and the ir isnt the stongest.

A few months ago I was so sick that I could barely get out of bed and the old HDTV in my bedroom was my only entertainment. The Samsung H260F and rabbit ears was still hooked up and had been collecting dust. I hadn't even rescanned the channels since the NTSC shutdown years ago!

That was all I had to do. In two minutes I was watching awful daytime programs during my periods of consciousness.

Mine is also 5-years-old and still in daily use. I gave up on the guide long ago as it does take too long to load.

My Samsung DTB-H260F was 3 years old in December. Have been using it almost everyday and has worked flawlessly. My only complaint is the weak remote.

After you go through all the channels the guide will come right up. I still use mine all the time.

True the weak remote bothered me too, so I never used it. I used the Sony universal/learning remote which was less than $20. Worked much better, more responsive and from farther distances.

Hearing from others I think this tuner will last a long time, it already outlasted my TV. One thing I noticed when I first got my tuner was the heat coming from the back/right side of this box. I also noticed that the surface it was sitting on got warm to the touch (which means above 100F on the table). Looking closely the ventilation from the tuner's bottom was limited because it only sits about 1/8 inch or so above a flat surface. I attached a small anti slip bumper on the bottom so it can sit higher about 1/4 inch above a flat surface. This provides for more ventilation and cooling and probably helps in its durability. For those who want to keep their tuner for a long time I would suggest this.

My H260 also has reached 5 years of daily use this month. It was a rough start though. Not being able to find any in the local stores for several months, B&H still had a demo in stock for slightly reduced price, which I ordered. I think 'demo' should have stood for demolished. Inside the pristine outer box was a badly damaged original ship box. The rear panel was pushed in. But I didn't give up. I removed the 2 boards and straightened out the back panel, made sure the small crack in the power supply board wasn't causing any problems, fired the unit up and have been using it since. My SS T151 and T451 also still see use.

Still using mine daily, bought from CircuitCity online before they went bankrupt. I did have to replace the electrolytic caps on the power supply but thanks to this forum, that was pretty easy. I still have my T351, but the tuner in that one is not that great so I haven't used it in years (I have an ATSC tuner in an HD/DVR and a couple of CECBs if an emergency).

My Sammy is feeding my "classic" Pioneer Elite Pro CRT RPTV via a Denon 3311ci AVR.

scott s.
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My tuner that I used all the time since I bought it when they first offered it finally died about three months ago.

It powered itself off and when I tried to power it back up it would start to power up and then shut down.

I see the post about replacing caps so I will look into that even though I have now learned to live without it.

I feel bad as it was like losing an old friend.

[ I just found the cap link so when I get bored I will look into seeing if I have a bad cap.]

-Don
Edited by DonB2 - 7/9/12 at 12:35pm

fix it and sell it on ebay

Mine's going strong 7 months after repair.

scott s.
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If your tuner is still working, I can use it for my TV.Please let me know if you're interested in selling/giving it away.

I have the same yuner and the power problem exists. I guess I may haveto replace the capacitors.I don't know how/where to get it done.

Thanks

Wow, amazing that these are still around being used. I have one I bought new approx. 3-4 years ago, and only used it a few months before I built my HTPC. I looked on eBay and they command a nice price used (they are great units and I loved mine, just needed the ability to record a la TIVO). Recommendations on best way to sell one? I try to avoid evilbay in general, but if that's better than on a forum of AV enthusiasts, I'll give it a shot. Maybe there is a for sale section here?

This is NOT a for sale ad, nor spam. I finally registered for the site, but that doesn't mean I haven't lurked for a long time reading unregistered!

Anyway...I'm glad to see that people still use and like these units! How rare for an electronic device. How many people still highly regard the first iPhone, for example...haha!

I like my DTB-H260F. I've had it for 5 years and it works well.

But if it does bite the dust one day, what other external tuners are out there with HDMI out? Thanks!

I have mine listed for sale on local CL, and after some interest and a lowball offer (and the typical it's not worth what you think it is email), I started thinking about this very question. I can think of a few options on the market, but none are as inexpensive and simple as the DTB-H260F. This product seems to be unique, and fill a niche market segment. The only alternative options I can think of are TIVO (requires subscription but can record), HTPC with tuner card (much more expensive, but no subscription required), or ?

Curious to hear about other options if they exist.

Prime DTV from ePVision has several HDTV tuner boxes, the 205LE and the newer PHD-8VX. While I prefer the menu interface on the Samsung, theses newer ePVision boxes have much better tuners, which is very important in dealing with distant signals. The 8VX has the better and sharper picture, and can upscale a 720p plasma very nicely to 1080p. And they also have a dual tuner DVR, the VRX if interested.

When I last was looking for possible replacement I was pretty much settled on ChannelMaster 7000PAL which was dual tuner HD DVR. Now I guess they are selling a newer model, CM-7400. This one adds wifi/hardwire ethernet which is intended to allow Vudu streaming and subscription epg.

But since then I've been working on HTPC and probably would go for a PC PVR solution if my H260F dies.

scott s.
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The CM7000 DVR has a better tuner than the newer version, the CM7400. The new one is problematic.

I like my DTB-H260F. I've had it for close to 4 years and it works well. I'm using it with my 50 inch Panasonic Plasma HD monitor that I bought in 2004. Back then this monitor cost a small fortune. I want to get 20 years of use out of it if I can. I still love the picture quality. I would love for my plasma and my DTB-H260F to last for another 12 years.

I have a Ce Labs HD100AQ HDTV Receiver with HDMI. I bought it for $10 on ebay. It works pretty well.

I believe that box was made by Digital Stream and sold by CE Labs. And the Digital Stream converter boxes have good tuners.

I've had mine for 5 years now. Bought it to hook to my mom's old Samsung TXN3071WHFXAA when she passed away back in 2007.

It has lasted that entire time without giving me any trouble with regard to its essential function, but there have been a few minor issues that have always bugged me about it:

1. Closed caption decoding has problems with 'basic' style captions -- captions from alternating pages are repeated along with new content until the screen is an alternating mish-mash of the whole segment's captions.

2. There is not enough sophistication in the firmware to retain the 'aspect' remote settings on a per-subchannel basis, nor to determine the aspect ratio of a given signal and display it appropriately for the screen size chosen in the on-screen setup menu. All the setup menu setting does is change which options are available in the remote's settings.

3. The channel guide continues to show program information for channels that have been deleted from the Channel Master List, and filling the channel guide occupies the 'last channel' buffer so that when you exit from the channel guide, the 'last viewed' channel is the one that it most recently scanned for program guide information, rather than the last one you actually viewed.

I have been waiting for firmware updates that would address these issues, but I have never seen any firmware updates on the Samsung support page for the box. I also would have thought that there would have been an update to deal with channels 52 through 69 being phased out; no such luck.
Edited by Kelli217 - 9/9/12 at 12:08pm

Guys.. buying and selling is for Club areas only. posts removed.

Can someone that owns the DTB-H260F confirm that the on-screen menus are visible through the component video output when the resolution switch is set to 480i?

I am looking to buy this unit as a gift for someone that has an older analog tv with component inputs that only support 480i. Do the menus work with component at 480i or are they only formatted for component with 480p or 1080i?

The menues are only available on the HDMI and Component outputs, not the composite or S-Video ones. It doesn't matter what resolution you have the box set to - all of them work for displaying the menues. If you set to 480i, you can connect the green component to a composite and get a black and white menu display.

One issue I have - if I use HDMI between my Samsung and my TV, I can only go to 720p . If I use 1080i - colors are not correct and there is a color border on one side. Component does not have this issue - 1080i is just fine.

Yes, the menus are visible through the component outputs. I tested your scenario on my 480i TV with the tuner set at 480i output.

Any tricks to get the guide to load faster? It's soooo slow.

I think that is just how getting guide info from ATSC OTA works. I haven't any that are fast, unless they save the data once downloaded.

scott s.
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Well, after nearly 6 years, it looks like my Samsung is close to biting the dust. Just the other day while it was running (I'll admit, I did leave the box on for an extended amount of time, heh) the sound and picture suddenly went dark! I noticed the LED light remained lit long afterward, so the power board on the front left corner still appears to be operating normally. No sign of any physical damage, but there is definite dead air on my monitor screen, so it may be a firmware problem I am guessing. It attempts to power on, but remains pitch black with occasional scrambled artifacts before going dark again. I wonder if that ventilation in the back right corner could have overheated... Should I wait this out to see what happens next, or should I just get it serviced? I sure hope it's not permanent; It's gonna be hard to replace either way.