RCA DTA800 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box - Page 13

I just picked one of these up from ebay. It seems like I can't configure it? It's set to Spanish, but when I press the menu button on the universal remote it just goes to the channel list. There isn't even a button on the original box's remote that goes to channel list according to the user manual. Any idea what's up?

You'll need the proper remote. The Menu button on the RCA remote brings up the Main Menu where the options are Channel List-1 to Settings-5. In Settings-5 you can select Language-2.

How sensitive is the tuner in this box? Compared to the Zenith? What type of tuner does it use?

No idea but it works as well as any other unit. Here in AZ I can get all the Phoenix and Tucson stations. The good thing about them is they are cheap. I just saw one at Goodwill for $3.99. That's without the remote but I think a Logitech Harmony would probably work.

And they are still being sold at Walmart here in SC for $49.

Where could I go about getting a proper remote?

This one http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...28RCRP-05-B%29 is sold as being compatible.

But they just used some old satellite receiver codes for this converter. Probably any replacement remote with arrow/menu controls would work. If you get one that doesn't list a code for the converter, just try the ones for RCA satellite boxes. I have an old Philips Universal remote* that works fine with my RCA converter box.

* 3 function model I got free after rebate a long time ago!

I assume that the RCA DTA800 model being sold is the DTA800B1, and not the DTA800B.

I gave a DTA800B away the other day, that I had purchased in 2008. Sad to say, the recipient of my gift will not be able to add channels after scanning due to the poor RCA design of the DTA800B. What a deal-breaker that oversight was !! An All or NOTHING scan option ! ? !

The DTA800B1 will allow a "Scan Add".

Did some playing with a DTA800B box. Found that there is a connector near the back panel that is 1 pin short of 2 by 3 and has serial 0/3.3V TTL signals on it (center two are Tx and Rx with Tx closest to back panel all other are grounds). With a couple of transistors I was able to drive my rs-232 serial port at 115.2kbaud 8,N,1 but most folks would use max232 type chip.

Found that there is a debugging menu that you can use to do some stuff like bring up colorbars and test tones on TV, get a report of % of processor time used for diff tasks, will let you load files using xmodem format. Found that if you use power and ch up or ch down buttons you can go to the file download routine, or use 1-9 buttons to do some similar stuff--one will let you reset the box to factory settings. The two serial port run menus are a little different. One of the main serial functions would let you load a zlib compressed piece of code to RAM and run it--that might be a way to dump the flash and RAM of the box if the type of code in use were known. The messages that came out at boot lets you know the RAM and flash base addresses, but not sure what type of code is in use.

By the way the Thomson tuner in the DTA800B is the same as used in the channel master D2A box. At least in what I have to play with.

Saw a stack of RCA DTA800B1s at a Walmart in Ohio ($50 Dayton - Hoke Rd Oct 27 2011).

I am a little late coming to this party, so please forgive me. Anyway, I inherited one of these this spring. I "cut my teeth" on the Zenith DTT901 and DTV Pal. A friend of mine can put this to use and, since I am not using it, hopefully it will work for him. We live in the same market, so I already scanned in the local channels. I do have a couple of questions, however. There were NO channels in memory when I powered this up. I am not sure if me mother ever used this. Does the DTA800 have a volatile memory? Will it "forget" all of the channels I just scanned in fairly quickly when it is not connected to AC house current? Also, how does the sensitivity and selectivity compare to say the Zenith or the DTV Pal? I seem to recall reading that the Zenith was considered by some to be one of the more sensitive and selective boxes. I don't think the DTV Pal was quite as good. Hopefully the DTA800 is at least as good as the DTV Pal.

They don't forget the channels so if it didn't have any in memory it was never used or maybe someone scanned for channels with no antenna connected and erased them all. The sensitivity is quite good since I can get all the channels from Phoenix and Tucson. Whatever you do though don't lose the remote or you won't be able to operate it.

A Logitech Harmony will operate it but they tend to be expensive. I have seem some on sale for $20 that only operate 4 devices though.

Shortly after reading this I chanced upon a single unit resting on the shelf at Walmart in Portland, OR, same price ($50). I'll be interested to know if you notice the rate of depletion in that stack.

I see them at Goodwill all the time for $5.99 or so. Since TV's all get HDTV now nobody needs them anymore.

I confirmed today what I had suspected, the RCA DTA800 has a firmware bug for the program guide. Many owners might never see it as it only gets exposed depending on how the station sends it.

If you know ATSC PSIP, the guide data is sent in EIT/ETT. If a station always sends EIT-0 in the lowest PID, no problem. However a couple of stations in my area rotate EIT-0 through the set of PIDs, and the program guide only works on that channel what it rotates back to the lowest one.

Each EIT is 3 hours long, so it works for 3 hours out of every cycle. The length off the cycle is determined by how many EITs are sent. For example, if the station sends 4 EITs, the cycle is 12 hours long.

I used TSReader to validate my theory and to determine the periods it would works for those "problem" stations.

Wish that was true in Las Vegas. have only checked one Goodwill so far, though. Lots of analog TVs, but not one converter box.

Yeah that seems too good to be true in the broader sense. I rarely see them for less than $20 on Craigslist.

Supply and demand: Sure the demand went down (assuming folks aren't acquiring those used TVs when the other folks upgrade) but there's very little new supply and many upgrade-folks hang onto some of the boxes 'just in case.'

You can check goodwill's site shopgoodwill.com for CECB's. The nearest ones near me that have em are either Madison, Indy or Michigan. Grr. Looks like I'll have to shell out full price for one at the local WalFart.

Cool, I didn't know Goodwill had a site like that, thanks! Indeed I see some five-dollarish prices BUT they're starting bids akin to an ebay auction site and have to pay S&H:

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/search/S...&showthumbs=on

After looking at "Closed Auctions" they still went for some decent prices so may be worth a shot but beware that some may not be fully tested (as is, powers on/off ).

BTW Amazon still has new Zinwells for $40 with free shipping. Maybe other brands as well of whatever is still available new.