pna

HTNut

All converter boxes that were approved for the $40 coupon program only have RCA or RF outputs. I just checked the specs on your Sanyo PLV-Z3000 and it only has the following inputs:

Two HDMI 1.3 ports
one VGA port
two YPbPr component inputs
s-video
component video
one RS-232C port

So it looks like your projector won't work with the one of the coupon elgible converter boxes. Plus, you'll probably want to receive High Definition broadcast signals anyway, and the coupon elgible boxes aren't capabable of putting out anything higher than 480i.

So. You're going to want an ATSC tuner set top box, which do have the ATSC tuner chips built-in to them. Here's a small list of HD tuner's that have output connections compatible with your projector:

Coby DTV-140
Dish Network DTVPal DVR
Samsung DTBH260F
Tivax STB-T1

All of those boxes either have component video output or HDMI output or both. Do some searching, each one has it's own advantages/disadvantages compared to others.

Welcome to the forum.

TVTom51

With that Samsung projector, I'd definitely check into the DTVPal DVR. It's a bit more expensive, but you'd get HD and a DVR.

pna

It was very helpful to learn that the coupon-qualifying tuners are essentially worthless for my purpose. I had given up on finding any kind of set-top box for channeling digital broadcasts to my front projector. Most of them - including the Coby DTV-140 and the Samsung DTBH260F - are "currently unavailable," suggesting they are either obsolete or unreliable. The DTVPal DVR is basically a converter box, and the Dish Network DTVPal DVR is for satellite, which defeats the purpose of getting free TV.
Therefore, I have turned my attention to the newer DVD recorder/VCR Combos, averaging about $230, that have both a Built-in Digital Tuner and HDMI. The ones currently available include the Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK, the Toshiba DVR660 and the DVR670, the Magnavox ZV457MG9, the Sylvania ZV450SL8, the LG RC897T, and the JVC DR-MV150B. Of these, the Panasonic seems to have the best tuner - my main criterion - while others may have a better remote or superior recording features (timer/ability to record digital programs on tape). I'm not sure what the advantages and disadvantages are to these machines, but it seems to me that the extra $100 gets you more recent technology and greater versatility. I have always shied away from multi-purpose machines, due to break-down issues, but in this case they seem to reflect the most recent technology, and none of the set-top boxes seems to be so simple and dependable as one would hope.