Brajesh Upadhyay
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Jul 11, 1998
- Messages
- 787
I setup my Zenith 520 last night. Great box! I'm upgrading from the Hughes E86, so my comparions will mostly be w/this box. But, I've previosuly also owned the RCA DTC100, Toshiba DST3000 (same box as E86) & Samsung SIR-T150. My display is the Panasonic 53WX42 HD-ready RPTV, ISF calibrated.
Setup
When I first hooked up the 520 & went through the initital setup, the box didn't show any DirecTV channels. I re-checked everything in the menu, but found no way to enable DirecTV channels there. I unplugged the box & reconnected it after a minute. Voila! -- OTA & DirecTV channels recognized. Total setup time was less than 1/2 hour, including calling DirecTV to register the new box. The DirecTV rep was excited about my box, asking where I got it & what I paid
Performance
Picture quality is fabulous! Better than all the other HD boxes I've tried (see above). HDNet & HBO-HD picture quality made my jaw drop! Standard OTA & DirecTV upconversion is very good. I can still see DirecTV's damn over-compression artifacts, but the picture is a lot more palatable now. The Guide is very fast. Channel changing is also pretty fast, but the audio seems to take a second to catch up. The Dolby Digital optical output quality is fine. S-video output quality looks better than the E86.
Features
Love the single-button click signal meter. It's user-friendly, but wish it would stay up until I decide to close it. The channel banner can be set to go away quicker (& it does so quicker than the E86), but I'd have preferred it go away even quicker. The program info on the channel banner doesn't seem to be as good as the E86; it shows "Regular Programming" (especially for most OTA channels) while the E86 was more informative. I like the channel ID display on the LED on the box. The Panorama stretch mode is pretty good like others with the Sony HD200 have mentioned, but I prefer having black bars on the sides & keeping the 4:3 aspect ratio intact. You can add many more 'Quick Surf' channels than the E86. I see the 520 has a function to power-up & tune to a specified program in the Guide in the future, but I don't know yet if it powers off after the program is over. The timer function on the E86 is definitely better as it also let you set custom start/stop times. The 520 excels when it comes to connectivity with component video (what I'm using), DVI, RGB, S-video, composite & RF. Aesthetically, it's the nicest looking HD box I've seen.
Conclusion
Where it counts (picture quality, connectivity, ease of use & aspect ratio control), the Zenith 520 is definitely the best HD box I've yet used. Compared to the E86, I felt a little shortchanged on features (timer, channel info.). I'm keeping the 520 as my only STB. Overall, it's a winner!
Setup
When I first hooked up the 520 & went through the initital setup, the box didn't show any DirecTV channels. I re-checked everything in the menu, but found no way to enable DirecTV channels there. I unplugged the box & reconnected it after a minute. Voila! -- OTA & DirecTV channels recognized. Total setup time was less than 1/2 hour, including calling DirecTV to register the new box. The DirecTV rep was excited about my box, asking where I got it & what I paid
Performance
Picture quality is fabulous! Better than all the other HD boxes I've tried (see above). HDNet & HBO-HD picture quality made my jaw drop! Standard OTA & DirecTV upconversion is very good. I can still see DirecTV's damn over-compression artifacts, but the picture is a lot more palatable now. The Guide is very fast. Channel changing is also pretty fast, but the audio seems to take a second to catch up. The Dolby Digital optical output quality is fine. S-video output quality looks better than the E86.
Features
Love the single-button click signal meter. It's user-friendly, but wish it would stay up until I decide to close it. The channel banner can be set to go away quicker (& it does so quicker than the E86), but I'd have preferred it go away even quicker. The program info on the channel banner doesn't seem to be as good as the E86; it shows "Regular Programming" (especially for most OTA channels) while the E86 was more informative. I like the channel ID display on the LED on the box. The Panorama stretch mode is pretty good like others with the Sony HD200 have mentioned, but I prefer having black bars on the sides & keeping the 4:3 aspect ratio intact. You can add many more 'Quick Surf' channels than the E86. I see the 520 has a function to power-up & tune to a specified program in the Guide in the future, but I don't know yet if it powers off after the program is over. The timer function on the E86 is definitely better as it also let you set custom start/stop times. The 520 excels when it comes to connectivity with component video (what I'm using), DVI, RGB, S-video, composite & RF. Aesthetically, it's the nicest looking HD box I've seen.
Conclusion
Where it counts (picture quality, connectivity, ease of use & aspect ratio control), the Zenith 520 is definitely the best HD box I've yet used. Compared to the E86, I felt a little shortchanged on features (timer, channel info.). I'm keeping the 520 as my only STB. Overall, it's a winner!