HDTV Tuners (1 Viewer)

[Fred B. Humphrey]

I'm looking to get an OTA HDTV receiver and wanted some
advise on two models I'm thinking about: Zenith HDV420
and the Samsung SIR-T165. Anybody have any experience
with these? I know they are new, so there isn't any
history of reliabilty yet, but if anybody knows anything
about these models let me know. Or if you have any knowledge (good or bad) of any other tuner I'd appreciate
hearing from you. I live the the Kansas City area, and
we are starting to get some DTV stations I'd like to
receive on my Sony KP-53HS10. I have an antenna on a
rotor in the attic and I get the analog signals just fine.
I was leaning toward the Samsung since I could use it as
an input for my interlaced DVD player. If I did that,
would it upconvert the 480i output of my DVD player to
480p? If not, then I might go with the Zenith and later
get the ISCAN Ultra to go from 480i to 480p for the DVD.
Thanks alot. Fred.

 

[Herman S]

I recently purchased the SIR -TS160 that is a combined Directv and OTA HDTV receiver. And I am loving it so far. I did a lot of viewing (of combined HDTV tuners) and the Samsung was the best. Not to mention that it did not get that hot and I had a host of outputs from which to choose.

I hear the TS165 is supposed to be better, unfortunately I was looking for a Directv box. If indeed it is better, I would definitely go with the Samsung.

 

[Ken Smith]

After experiencing alot of troubles with the Zenith 1080 I would avoid anything made by Zenith (LG Electronics).

 

[Fred B. Humphrey]

Thank's for the replys. I'm suprised that the Zenith 1080
wasn't reliable. I think it got a good review in Stereo's
Guide to Home Theater. Reliabilty is one thing that I
definately want, so I might go with the Samsung T165. Sorry
to hear that about the Zenith, since weren't they the
inventors of the 8VSB broadcast sysem. Well you never know. By the way, is that Samsung unit quite? I remember
hearing how some receivers were noisy. Fred.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm also going for the Samsung SIR-T165 once I get my HDTV this coming week. It's got some quirks (no internal clock, thus reliant on HDTV station clocks which can be off by enough to be a problem for unattended recordings if you use a DVHS recorder for HDTV OTA recordings), but I also read good things about it as well.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Hey Fred

I am not really suprised over the Zenith not being reliable. I have known way to many people that have had nothing but trouble with Zenith products over the past 7 years at least. I laugh every time I see the Zenith comercial where they claim to be the HD athority, lmao. But anyway I am looking into ether a HD rear projection set or a HD ready projector. I would like to know if there is something better than the Samsung for a HD receiver? I am only asking because I am not aware of Samsung making anything above medeoaker? Sorry for they typos :b .

 

[Patrick Sun]

The new Sony HDS200 is a rebadged Zenith HD-SAT520. (this is a satellite HD/OTA model, though). So, obviously Zenith's quality is okay with Sony on the newer HDTV/SAT receivers.

The Zenith 1080 is a discontinued model (but you can probably find it for sale as a used item).

The RCA DTC-100 has a somewhat noisy fan on it (but it's an older model as well).

 

[Fred B. Humphrey]

Yeah, that's too bad about the Zenith 420. One thing I
liked about it was a RF-Loop Out,so you could connect a VCR
to it and record the analog channels. The Samsung 151 and 165 don't have that. But I guess you could hook up your
antenna directly to the VCR, use the RF-Out on the VCR to the HD Tuner and use the component output of the Tuner to the monitor. What would the component output do to an
OTA analog signal? A Digital signal would still show up as 480p or 1080i on your TV, right? I mean going thru the VCR first would not screw it up would it? I don't have a HD-VCR, but I would like to have the ability to record an anolog program like I do now. I really kind of liked the Zenith. It got a good review by Peter Putman at Link Removed
projectorexpert.com Maybe I can find one locally and try it out. Fred.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Did not know that Sony was an Zenith, interesting. However I can not bring myself to buy a Zenith product for any reason. There TV's are terible and everyone I have known has constantly had the repairman out to fix there tv. And there vcr's are cheap and the other items they make are sub par. I laugh at there new comercails where they claim to be the HD athourity, lmao. I would love to know where Zenith gets off thinking they are HD super company, lol. I would hope that there is a better choice for a HD receiver to go with a Denon AVR-5803 or a Pioneer Elite 49TXi? I am also looking at the new Sunfire and maybe even the B&K ? The plan is to run this HD reciever into a Sony projector that will have a Faroudja digital scaler. And I will have a 110" screen to enjoy movies on . I am just really sceptical about Zenith's track record and their performance specs. Would be interested in where I might get demos on HD receivers. I live in Los Angeles County in CA.