Ask Engadget HD: What's the best digital TV converter box?
By Richard Lawler 
posted May 27th 2009 1:30PM
posted May 27th 2009 1:30PM
"I bought a brand new HDTV before the holidays and moved my old Toshiba down to the basement, right now there's just an antenna and an old DVD player connected to it. I figure a second Blu-ray player wouldn't hurt, and at least until I get another satellite receiver hooked up I'll just use an antenna to watch the game on Sunday. Of course, I didn't think of picking up a digital TV tuner until now and I'm already missing a few local stations, but there's so many to pick from, any suggestions?"
Alright, we know a few of you are still kicking it old school with strictly antenna setups and have been ready for the analog shutoff for quite some time, so you probably have plenty of experience with different digital TV converter boxes by now. Give Sam (and everyone else) the benefit of your knowledge before it's too late.
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"analog HDTV"
Huh?
Is it an HDTV monitor with no tuner or a plain old SDTV. The coupons can't be used to buy HDTV tuners.
You used to be able to buy HDTVs without the HD tuner inside. Thankfully set makers were required to include them a few years ago.
You're right about the tuner though, it's a downgraded digital signal, so not HD.
He probably means an older HDTV without a digital tuner or digital inputs. I have a friend who had one that only took an HD signal on one of it's three component inputs... that was it. :)
I use the Samsung DTB-H260F. Got it at dell. It works well and the picture is good, but sometimes it takes a few tries to turn it off. Sometimes it crashes, but that is only if you leave it on for days at a time.
This one doesn't qualify for the govment program, but it's definitely worth it to have component/hdmi out.
I have the DTB-H260F as well. Got it at Circuit City a few years ago. I absolutely love it but paid something like $180 at the time. If someone is to start paying that kind of money I'd say they just go a bit further and invest in an HDTV.
As for the converter boxes for the budget minded; the DTVPal works well enough for my neighbor (or so he tells me). Doesn't have buttons on it so he's got an extra remote to keep tabs on but he swears by it. He got one of the few $40 ("free") units so he wouldn't complain no matter what though, I'm sure.
Definitely the Samsung, but I know that's probably outside the realm of what this was intended. I've had one for quite a while that I got for $75 open box, with all the cables and manual and remote missing from Circuit City (after running home to make sure my Harmony remote would work, and downloading the PDF manual, and it didn't include the cables I needed anyway).
After that, I'd suggest the Zenith. Both my parents and grandma use them, and they seem to have really good reception and image quality out over RF.
The Channel Master CM-7000.
I'm buying two of them.
TiVo would be the best option to use as a converter box, though it would be the most expensive, wouldn't work with sat, and the coupon would not work.
While we're at it:
1) What's the best 8-track player?
2) What's the best reel-to-reel player?
3) What's the best black and white TV?
4) What's the best buggy whip manufacturer?
5) What's the best stagecoach maker?
6) What's the best converter box money can buy????????
I gotta' have it..........................snoorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Yeah, any digital converter that you can get with your coupon won't be worth it. The reason being that any digital converter will only output a non HD signal because its only designed to translate analogue to digital in a format a SDTV can understand. HDTV converter boxes run in the neighborhood of $200-300. Very few stores actually carry true HDTV converter boxes anymore since all TV's now have an ATSC tuner built in.
Someone else will have to suggest a proper tuner, but don't just go and buy the convert with a coupon if you really want the best picture.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029256
i voted +1 insignia and +1 sansonic. sansonic had better PQ, but the most user unfriendly interface ever. gave my mom the insignia as it had one of the better (best?) user interfaces.
Coupon not good for DTV converters capable of outputting HD signal. Government doesn't not want to help people that can/could already afford an HDTV of some sort. Get any box with your coupon, even if you just smash it with a hammer as soon as you take it out of the box, so you can at least get the handout.
Seriously though, if you want to find one that tunes the best, and deals with DTV's biggest enemy, multipath signal reflection, the best, get one with a Zenith/LG chipset. Zenith worked with the government on the ATSC standard and the 8VSB transmission method. Zenith is now owned by LG, so you are getting the Zenith chipset with any LG or Zenith branded box. You may need to do some research as to what other boxes have this chipset. At this point, other manufacturers may have just given up since the Zenith/LG was far better than the rest, so they may all use it now.
In my own tests years ago, I had two different Samsungs, took them both back. Found the Zenith after recommendations on forums, it scanned and found all the channels in my area versus just a couple with the others. The channels were much more stable as well, and the box did passthrough (if the channel was 720p, it would output that, 1080i it would output that, or you could set it to not do that). After getting a more directional UHF antenna, signal never dropped (and of course that was back when they were all broadcasting at a much lower strength)
I'll second that and I have good experience with the Zenith DTV converter (DTT901) which I also used with an analog HDTV for a while. Obviously the shortcoming is that the signal is limited to 480i through s-video but it does do 16x9 480i and for a secondary TV I wouldn't spend the money on a true external HD tuner. It isn't like you are getting a better picture with the antenna right now and NTSC.
But Kevin, the whole point is that in two weeks, there won't be any more analog in the air (save the low powers out there).
Like it matters
Anybody on this blog has a HD TV with ASTC
this is not true.
I agree very much sir!
Why is this even being discussed on Engadget HD?
Give it to me!
Check this out...
http://www.dtvpal.com/
Records OTA HD......alas, coupon not welcome.
I'm waiting till we discuss the best Laserdisc player, I think that thing is totally about to take off.
I have two boxes. The zenith box we are very happy with and I would recomend to anyone. The other is the Best Buy in store brand and it SUCKS!!! I'd tell you how bad it is but my post would be removed for using foul words.
I got the Apex because it was the only one with s-video out that I could actually walk into a store and buy. I hooked it up an verified that I could get all the broadcast channels, then put it back in the box and it is still in the closet. Really just a safety net for my old TV in case the cable goes out.
Get the Dish Network DTV Pal Plus, it picks up more channels with your antenna than the average converter. I have tried the RCA and this one is 10x better.
now that is interesting.
From AVS Forums:
Worst
DTVPal - 5
Magnavox - 4
Your recomendation was voted the Worst solution.
The best HDTV converter is called an HDTV.
Is everyone done with the comments about buying and HDTV? You're funny, but the joke is only funny once.
I have three converters:
Digital Stream
- This is my favorite. Mostly because of the remote.
- The remote is nicely laid out and very functional. It also controls the Power, Volume, and Input on the television.
- Digging into program info or looking at the schedule is a pain. Really the only downside.
- I think the main reason I like this is because it's like not having a converter box. The way it should be.
Channel Master
- Just works.
- Scans and sets up nicely.
- I like the way the Favorites menu works.
- I'd like it to have remote like the Digital Stream
Access HD
- My least favorite.
- Everything is slow. Start up, scanning, etc.
- If feels cheap. Snap, Crackle, Pop as you do things.
- The audio on the coax output is unusable. Usable on RCA outputs.
- I like the way you can advance program information through the schedule. This is a very nice feature.
I wanted to buy a DTVPal, but they're not available. I found one at a local Sears store for a 50% markup. I won't support that.
Question answered. Thanks.
THE REAL COST Of TUNERS ARE AROUND 25 3O DOLLARS UNTIL THE COUPONS CAME OUT
Just wait like a month after the transition and I bet you can get one for $5 or less without a coupon.
Second the Channel Master CM-7000, because its a great unit plus it has S-video out. Its mainly available online various places, and Fry's carries it in stores last I knew.
Another thing I would recommend is finding the appropriate antenna for where you live. One size does not fit all. Some will say that there's no such thing as a digital antenna, but that's only partially true. The digital spectrum is much narrower than the analog spectrum, mostly due to the exclusion of low-VHF. As a result, an antenna can be more fine tuned to the needs.
Again, one size does not fit all. What I bought for myself and what I bought for my parents, were very very different. Find someone that actually understands your area. Not to make this sound like an advert, but I had good luck with the people at SolidSignal.com. For both recommendations, they screwed up the first time. I questioned their logic, Rachel stepped in and gave me a perfect recommendation. With my old antenna, I could get 30% of the stations in on one TV with 50% signal strength. Now I get 100% of them in on four TVs (split twice) with 90-100% signal strength in all weather. No boosters needed. I'm amazed as to how much better my little new antenna works vs my big old one.
I have three converters, and I live 70 miles away from the broadcast towers, with a rooftop antenna.
Zenith 901: This is a good box. Works well, easy to use. The remote can turn my TV on and off, which is nice. The channel listings only go out an hour or two though, which is not great.
Channel Master: This is my favorite box. It has a good user interface, and the best picture, especially with S-video out. I can see what's coming up for the whole day in the morning. The remote can't control the TV though.
DTV-Pal: My least favorite box. It's a bit of a pain to use. It does have one really great feature though... timers. I can set it to turn itself on and go to a specific channel, like a VCR can. It's hooked up to my VCR and this is all I use it for, so I don't have to interact with it much.
Zenith DTT901
Analog pass-thru, good interface menus, remote can control both TV and converter box.
Need info on best Digital Conversion Box
I see some confusion about the Dish DTVPal converters. There are at least 4 different ones:
DTVPal (discontinued?) which seemed to have a poor tuner. And I see several people (above) who confirm its poor performance.
DTVPal Plus which has an "enhanced" tuner which seems to get great reviews by CNET. I think that's why DwightMix gave it a good review.
DTVPal DVR also has an excellent tuner and ALSO provides HD output, HD to SD conversion (!) and SD Antenna feedthrough. Plus it's an HD and SD DVR with no monthly fees. Again, great CNET reviews. However, it appears to have some serious bugs, so has been "out of stock" for some time because of this. I'm holding off until they fix the bugs (so I suggest you don't buy one from other resellers until you see you are getting a "fixed" unit). This will be my eventual purchase.
The DTVPal DVR will be a good solution (when fixed) for my old HDTV that has a really cruddy 1st generation tuner.
Oh, I forgot: the 4th DTVPal unit was the TR-40 which was a lower-end converter box similar to (or just renamed to) the DTVPal. It did not have a really good tuner.