[pj2004]

I was curious if anyone else has this box, and what their impressions are. I have it myself, and got it for the same price as the Walmart USDigital from Amazon. The picture itself is awesome on my Daewoo DTS-42, but I noticed that in certain lighter scenes you can see something that I would call a banding type of effect horizontally across the screen in reddish or greenish tint, and looks very faint like a ghosting. I am using 1080i output (component) and you can more easily see this effect when using the menu, which is mostly gray. It's not very distracting and others don't really see it until I point it out, but since I know it's there I don't know if it's the cable I'm using or a defect. I don't see it with S-video but then again the picture isn't as good as with component. The cable I have is what came with one of my DVD players, so it's probably not top quality. Any ideas, or anyone else notice this with theirs? Using 720p or 480p gives me a worse picture than 1080i - I see a lot of junk in the picture (artifacts?). The plasma by itself has had an awesome picture so far even with SD cable, so this only seems to happen with the Sylvania STB. I'm using a 15 yr old rooftop antenna with RG59 cable that was installed with the antenna, about a 30 foot run into the house. Any ideas would be great. Maybe I'll try to take some pictures tonight.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Sourds like there is a video grounding problem. One of your components may not grounded properly (internally and/or externally). This can be a tough one to fix.

 

[dumbnewbie]

Also purchased this recently from Amazon for my parents who live ~20 miles from signal source(s) in the Twin Cities (MN). Also using (for now) a 1977 era garage attic antenna that never worked well to begin with (probably cause it wasn't pointed at the towers when I looked this past weekend). Anyway, I had them borrow my antenna and gave them ~50 feet of rg59 cable as well, so our setups sound similar. However, my main concern for them is that the box keeps on locking up whenever it wants, with the only recourse of hitting the on/off button as that is the only thing that responds. Not even the hard up/down channel buttons on the box itself. So not to really answer any of your questions, but to ask one of my own - Has anyone else run into this problem??? I want to say that it has something to do with multipath and the thing just locks up like a regular "Blue Screen of Death" and won't respond - but I thought that there were supposed to be resets after a certain amount of time with it. I can provide more info as I remember it, but being 4 hours away really hurts the diagnostic process as to what's wrong with the unit, so any suggestions as to what the problem is would be a great help.


Oh, the signal strength is >75 for all channels and if I'm in the menu and it locks up, the menu boxes stay up regardless, as well as the channel on the tv - sound and video are perfectly fine, just the unit is unresponsive to anything but the on/off button. I'm thinking of having them return it, but may have to have them get a refund because of this post . So any insight as the what the problem could be would be greatly appreciated.


Also, the STB is hooked up to a ~1985 TV, so can't help you with any other output than 480i

 

[pj2004]

Have not had mine lock up once since I bought it, although I don't use mine on a daily basis. When I do use it, it's on for a good 3-4 hours at a time with no issues other than the very slight horizontal bands of color. A lot of times it's not really noticeable, but I see it since I end up looking for it if that makes sense. It doesn't look like many people here have this box, but since it's a nice deal maybe more will show up and give their experiences with it. I think my next step is to try a new antenna.

 

[dumbnewbie]

If the bars are in the same place, and have the same color I would try (just idol speculation here) unplugging the Y/Pb/Pr individually and seeing if the bands disappear or not with each subsequent combination (only 6 possibilities). Getting artifacts when flicking the switch between 480p/720p/1080i seems to me that your body is affecting the signal so I'd try turning off the unit and stepping back once you change the output mode and then turning it back on for each mode. Other than that I would try some better cable.

 

[kgj67]

BestBuy now has the Sylvania 6900DTE with an indoor antenna included. If you have Audio or other problems you can exchange for 30days. They also have the Digital Stream HD3150. Which one is better?


Does anyone have more info and experiance with this unit? How is it versus the LG LST4200A?

 

[goldrich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgj67 BestBuy now has the Sylvania 6900DTE with an indoor antenna included. If you have Audio or other problems you can exchange for 30days. They also have the Digital Stream HD3150. Which one is better? Does anyone have more info and experiance with this unit? How is it versus the LG LST4200A?

As a DTV DXer, I've seen several comparison tests among various STBs and I've read a lot of feedback from other DXers. I'm not familiar with the Digital Stream unit but the Sylvania unit is a good performer along with the LG LST4200A. A friend and I recently compared his LG LST4200A next to my older model LG LST3100A and they seemed to respond very similarly in finding and decoding very weak stations.


Although I don't have any personal experience with it, several DXers around the country are now using the Walmart USDigital with very good results.


I recently found a great online deal (less than the Walmart USDigital STB) for the relatively new Humax HFA100. On several occasions while DXing some very weak DTV stations, I've found the Humax to be very good. The Humax has found and decoded several stations ahead of the LG LST3100A, which up until now has been the best DXing STB I've used at my location. Also, several times I've seen weak stations breaking up or dropping out with the LG while at the same time the station was still stable and dropout-free with the Humax. It appears to be a very good receiver, especially with weak stations. For the price, it offers some fairly nice features, too.


Steve

 

[fantus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldrich I recently found a great online deal (less than the Walmart USDigital STB) for the relatively new Humax HFA100.

Where did you find this box, if you don't mind me asking? I've been looking all over for it. It seems like it's been discontinued and no one I can find has it in stock.


The same seems to be true for the LG LST4200A. I haven't really seen any quality new STBs out. Anyone know what's going on? Why are LG and HUMAX seemingly not producing any more OTA STBs?


-Chris

 

[holl_ands]

I posted an addendum to my 23Aug05 post re First Test of DX DTA-5000 Smart Antenna with the Sylvania 6900DTE:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...TE#post5979741

When I plugged the 6900DTE into my new Pioneer Surround Receiver, the Dolby Digital finally was working.


Apparently there is some sort of compatibility problem between my old Sony STR-DE835 Surround Receiver and the 6900DTE.