which converter box should I buy? - Page 4

mcy919 · 09-03-2009, 07:27 PM

DTVuser2009, I bought a Magnavox TB110MW9 from Walmart a little while ago. After going through and checking all of the channels on the DTVPal Plus first, I then hooked up the Magnavox.

The first thing that impressed me was how fast it scanned the channels since the DTVPal Plus doesn't scan nearly that fast. I also liked the interface and the picture quality, and the remote isn't as bad as some make it out to be.

However, the Magnavox didn't find as many channels as the DTVPal Plus. I have two PBS stations that have weaker signals at night, although one of them usually comes in pretty good during the day. They were barely coming in on the DTVPal Plus, but it couldn't find them at all on the Magnavox. When I tried entering their digital numbers directly on the box, it still couldn't find their signals. Also, my NBC station had little interruption on the DTVPal Plus when I went to it, but it was breaking up on the Magnavox.

But, I will say that if you can't find the DTVPal Plus in any store and you don't want to order a box online, the Magnavox is a good second choice unless you want analog pass-through. I liked it better than the Digital Stream I bought (and returned) at RadioShack about a month ago, which is $10 more.

mcy919 · 09-03-2009, 09:02 PM

After doing some more research on available CECBs, I am leaning toward buying the Zinwell ZAT-970A box since I can get it for free after using the $40 coupon on Amazon and it seems to have pretty good reviews. My question is, would it be worth it to spend the extra $10 on the Tivax STB-T8 or $30 (or more) on the Channel Master CM-7000? The main thing I care about is the signal reception since I already have DirecTV and I only watch OTA programming sometimes, but good picture quality is also nice.

DTVuser2009 · 09-04-2009, 08:50 PM

FYI on the Magnavox CECBs they are manufactured by Funai Electronics so that code for universal remotes may work too.

The newer 110 isn't prone to the malady when it loses power. i had mine unplugged for a few nights and it still had the memorized channels and settings intact. i read the others will lose it.

The remote is identical to Funai brands. in fact i've used a late-model Funai VCR remote that is almost identical (also Symphonic, same brand) and it changed channels. it wasn't a universal remote at all but an older VCR remote.

RCA Sucks · 09-15-2009, 10:24 PM

After being cheated with the quickly degrading Walmart / RCA DTA 800B1, I see that I want a good reliable brand of converter box that will easily pick up distant signals and has a good picture quality. The fancy scheduling calendar is not so important to me. What is the short list of converter boxes that fit my need?


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