Looking for an HDTV tuner

[SteveLeach]

Basically I'm looking for an HDTV tuner to pick up the over the air broadcast HDTV signal.
I'm not looking for a SAT-TV/HDTV combo or HDTV-PVR combo, just your basic HDTV tuner. Samsung has the SIR-T151 model that looks to fit my needs. I like to hear any experience good or bad, and any other recommendations?

 

[Jim Williams]

I have it and I love it. I am about 25 miles away from the towers and I use a Silver Sensor antenna. I can get ABC, CBS, NBS and PBS affiliates with no problem.

 

[Matthew Todd]

I'm not familiar with the Samsung 151 and couldn't find any real info with a quick search of samsung's website or circuit city's. Is it newer or older than the 351?

I have the Samsung 351 with a rooftop winegard antenna. I live in a location where OTA signals are difficult to pick up (mountain in the way), and this combination works fine once I got the antenna up on the roof, although I have had a few glitches.

I have had some difficulty with the 1080i setting on certain channels, but all the channels look fine with the 720p setting. I'd kind of like to figure this little problem out because I'd like to watch most channels in 1080i because that's the native broadcast format for all but ABC.

My problem may be my projector rather than the tuner, or I may need to adjust some settings in the tuner. I'm wondering if it may be a front or back porch problem?

I have noticed up to now that I can't seem to get the "move image" function to work (at least it doesn't seem to move) when I try to use that.

All in all though, I'm really happy with the 351.

Matt

 

[SteveLeach]

Looks like the 151 is an older model, which is being replaced by either the 351 or the 165.
The specs of the 165 I'm looking at state 2 coax inputs. I'm thinking cable and antenna, which would allow me to up convert the cable signals to either 720p or 1080i. Of course I don't know how well an up converted signal would look but I think it's worth a test. A quick search of the 351 specs shows only 1 coax input.
I'm leaning towards the 165 now. Thanks for the input.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Check out this review of both the T151 and T165.

 

[Don_Berg]

The SIR-T151 is at least 2 years old now. I'd recommend one of the newer LG models.

 

[SteveLeach]

Patrick - thanks for the pointer to the reviews of the 151 and 165.
Don - The LG models I've found are more in the combo type catagory. But I'm still looking, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Don_Berg]

LG makes a standalone OTA HD model too not a combo, its excellent.

 

[Jay Blair]

I have the Samsung T151 and it's a good unit for basic HTDV reception. I can pull in all the network HD and major independent channels in the LA area except UPN (which I could get at one time, but has now gone away, and I don't know what happened there) using the Zenith Silver Sensor antenna hooked into a preamp. But reading the review of the T165, makes me think about upgrading because of the firewire connector for use with my Panasonic D-VHS player. And for future use, the DVI connector would be nice to have.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

The T151 is better than the newer T351, but not as good as the T165. I used to have a T351, but now, just have a Samsung SIR-T151, SIR-T165, and a LG LST-3510A.

The LG is easily the best of the 3 in terms of output quality, and tuner sensitivity. The LST-3510A is definitely a step above the T165, which is a few steps above the T151 in quality. It also has a built in DVD player which can scale to 720p and 1080i out of its HDCP compliant DVI output.

Considering the price, $398 plus ship (after $25 coupon and 1% OnePass discount, expiring 5/31), it's very hard to beat.

 

[Jay Blair]

Well, if the T165 is better than my T151, then the 165 is good enough for me, with its firewire connector for recording to DVHS. I just ordered one from www.idealav.com Great price at just over $370 delivered. A lot of places are still selling them for $550.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Nice deal, I bought my T165 about 18 months ago, and it was around $475.

 

[Don_Berg]

That website www.idealav.com appears to be a Cuban music website, not an HD STB reseller!

 

[Patrick Sun]

I've fixed Jay's link (which had an extra period at the end of the URL, and that made it go to a different site).

 

[Jay Blair]

Sorry.

It worked fine when I tried it in preview.

 

[Rachael B]

I got a Samsung SIR-T165 and a firewire cable this week. I recorded some of ABC's hockey game this evening as an experiment via said cable to a JVC 3000 D-VHS. A-OK! I think the 165 is the unit to get. I have my DVD-R unit routed through it's DVD input which saves me a precious component input. This is a very, very flexible unit! The firewire made me do it!

 

[Patrick Sun]

The T165 is like a video hub/HDTV tuner, but its composite/s-video input black levels are off (the video will appear too bright), and some folks think it's because it's off by 7.5 IRE in black level.

 

[Dave Miller]

Does anybody know if the 165 works w/ the RCA DVR10 via firewire?

DVR10

Peace,

DM

 

[Murray K]

"The T165 is like a video hub/HDTV tuner, but its composite/s-video input black levels are off (the video will appear too bright), and some folks think it's because it's off by 7.5 IRE in black level. "


Can anyone confirm that the Samsung T165 is off by 7.5 IRE in black level when viewed ONLY from it's DVI output, and, therefore, has "black/white crush" by not displaying blacker-than-black and whiter-than-white?

 

[WilliamG]

Does anyone know anything about the USDigital STB that I saw at a local Wal*Mart today? At a seemingly incredible $198.xx something's got to give!