So I don’t have cable, I haven’t had it for about 7 years now, why you might ask? Well for one I got tired of rates just going up all the time with no explanation, when I dropped my cable and cable internet I was paying a little over $100 per month for something I really didn’t even use. The internet was a joke, sure it was fast at times, but it was very inconsistent. I also had numerous problems with even having internet, 10 to 15 days out of every month the internet was out for a few hours per day, and of course there was nothing they could do about it. I’ve since switched to Verizon DSL and have never had an outage, except of course when the power goes out, the speed is consistent and I’m very happy with it.
Anyway, as for having cable TV, well that again was hit or miss when it was even on, I was paying for digital cable etc and had 200 and some channels with really nothing on them, at least nothing that I was interested in. I’ve got three kids and most of the time when the TV is on it’s tuned to PBS or we’re watching one of our numerous DVDs or VHS tapes, yes I still have VHS tapes, many in fact. I figured why pay for something I don’t use, so I dropped it altogether and got a decent antenna, it works fine to get over the air signals and I get the main channels. Next year of course there will be no more analog TV so I’m one of those people that have to get the DTV converter box, and since I got them I figured why not review them as I’m sure I’m not the only one out there without cable or satellite TV.
Today I’m taking a look at the Digital Stream DTX9900 Digital to Analog Converter Box, it’s very small, inexpensive and seems to get the job done. You’ve got many choices out there now when it comes to DTV converter boxes if you need one, which one should you get?
I’ve got two different ones actually for review, two different brands with varying features between them, so continue on to learn more about the Digital Stream DTX9900 DTV Converter Box, and be sure to check back in a few days for my review of a Zenith branded converter box…
Digital Stream DTX9900 Digital- to-Analog Converter Box
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Digital Stream DTX9900 Digital- to-Analog Converter Box
Make the transition from analog to digital broadcasting with ease.
What’s in the box:
* Digital Stream DTX9900 Digital-to-Analog Converter Box
* Simple Universal Remote control
* User’s guide
* Quick Installation guide
* RF cable
* AAA alkaline batteries (2)
Dimensions:
Product Height: 7.68 inches
Product Width: 1.34 inches
Product Depth: 4.13 inches
Product Weight: 0.9 pounds
General Features:
Model: DTX9900
Product Type: Converters
Enclosure Color: Black
Remote Control Features:
Remote Control Type: Universal
Technology: IR
Miscellaneous Features:
Supported Languages: English, Spanish
Inputs: 1 x “F” Plug(Antenna in)
Outputs: 1 x “F” Plug(To TV), 1 x RCA(Video), 1 x RCA(Audio)
Make the transition.
This digital-to-analog converter box from Digital Stream will help you make the transition from analog to digital broadcasting with ease. This converter box hooks up to your analog TV so you can receive over-the-air digital broadcasts. View more programming with the “sub-channels” available from many digital TV stations, and say goodbye to fuzzy analog channels. The transition is happening on February 17, 2009, so make sure you read below so you can be prepared when the transition happens.
A Better Look at Things
:
The box for the Digital Stream DTX9900 is bright and colorful, there’s a nice picture of the actual product on the front while on the back is a picture of the back of the product along with specs and information.
Everything is packaged very well, included with the DTX9900 is a coax cable, instruction manual, batteries and remote.
If you paid attention to the dimensions listed in the last section then you’d know that the DTX9900 is a very small product, and really there isn’t much to it at all, it’s very lightweight but yet seems sturdy enough to last quite a while.
The front of the DTX9900 looks like it should be a display but it really isn’t, there’s just some lettering with the product name, Dolby and DTV logo, along with two small icons, one is power and one is signal.
The top of the box has the Energy Start logo, cooling vents, a power button and plus and minus buttons for making selections like changing channels.
The bottom has the identifying label along with two rubber feet towards the back to prevent slippage.
The back of the box is where you’ll find a few connections, this box isn’t a fully featured box, no HDMI or anything like that to be found, it’s your basic model only. One the back you’ll find Coax in and out, a channel selector switch and composite video and audio connections and of course the power cable.
The remote is actually pretty nice, the buttons are laid out as you would find on most audio/video remotes so you should be able to pick it up and start using it easily. There two ‘special’ buttons labeled ‘EPG’ and ‘Info’, EPG is to show the program guide so you can see what’s on and coming on, while the Info buttons tells you about the channel you’re watching, audio properties of the channel and signal strength.
{mospagebreak title=Installation and Menus}
Installation and Menus :
Installation is easy, hook it up to your TV and antenna, then plug it in to a power outlet. Once powered on you can have it automatically scan for available channels in your area, then you can start watching TV.
For all of these screen captures I used the AutumnWave OnAirGT USB HDTV Tuner , it features a video input as well so it made capturing the screenshots easy instead of trying to actually take pictures of my TV. (You can read my review of the OnAirGT HERE if you wish.)
Once you get everything up and running you can access the options by pressing the ‘Menu’ button on the remote. The options are broken into four main categories with several sub-categories for each option.
The first is ‘CH’ or ‘Channel’, and here you have:
‘Input Selection’ to choose Cable and Over the Air
‘Auto Scan’ this is self-explanatory
‘Channel Edit’ -again self-explanatory
‘Signal Strength’ – lets you know the strength of the signal of the channel you are currently viewing
‘EPG’ – The Program Guide, or a basic TV guide with names and times of shows on the current channel
The next category is ‘Caption’, this option pertains to anything related to Closed Captioning of the channels you are watching, you can customize them with font size, color, style and opacity and even change the background of them.
The next category is ‘Rating’, this section pertains to the parental controls and it is PIN protected so once you set the parental controls no one can change them without the PIN number.
The final category is ‘Function’ and here you’ve got more sub-categories as well to set your TV viewing as you like it.
The first is ‘Audio/Video’ , here you’ve got sub-categories to change the Aspect Ratio, Language and Type of connection you’ll use.
The next three options are pretty basic, you have:
‘Time’ where you can set Time Zone, Sleep Timer and Power Down Settings,
‘Menu’ where you can change menu styles,
‘Emergency Alert’ where you can change the sound level of the alerts
‘Factory Reset’ – this on is self-explanatory
Here are a couple samples of what happens when you hit the ‘info’ button on the remote, you can see the date, time, channel, channel id, name of show, duration of show, rating of show, audio information and signal strength.
{mospagebreak title=Screen Captures and Impressions}
Screen Captures and Impressions:
Here’s just a bunch of sample screenshots, if you look at the eighth one you’ll see what happens when the signal isn’t that strong, the picture breaks up and pixellates. You can also see that when you change channels a small box appears on in the upper right corner to let you know what channel you are watching, it disappears in a few seconds though.
You may have noticed in some of the pictures that they were essentially the same but just looked different, that’s because of the type of channel it was, standard DTV or HDTV signal, yes you’ll get duplicate channels, but you can edit them out if you wish. Some though, like PBS or channel 13 for me, have three separate channels with three different programs on them.
As for actual usability of the channels, the reception is pretty good really with just a basic antenna that sits on top of my TV. The one I have is a powered antenna actually and it seems to work very good, but I did notice the weather does effect the signals at times, and I’ve found myself moving the antenna around a bit as well, it all depends on the channel, but that’s common with over the air channels anyway so it’s nothing new.
The biggest difference or improvement is the picture quality, it’s just amazingly clear, going from standard analog signals to digital signals is like night and day, there is really no comparison for them, the digital wins hands down. Even though the cut-off date for analog isn’t till next year it’s well worth it to get a converter box now.
Another big difference is that I get more channels now that I did without the DTX9900 converter box, without the box we only got four basically clear channels and a few that sometimes were good but still a bit fuzzy, now I’ve got all those channels and several more that are crystal clear.
There is a downside of course, you really have to play with the aspect ratio, I still haven’t been able to get a whole picture on my TV, no matter what I’ve tried it is still cut off either on the sides of top and bottom. Some will work fine, but they have the black bars, either on the sides or top and bottom, at least there you’ll get the whole picture, but of course it’s smaller. In the end I guess it’s a small price to pay for a nice clear picture…
Overall though for the price it’s well worth it, especially if you’re using the $40 off coupon from the government, the DTX9900 retails for $59.99, so with $40 off you’re only paying $19.99 so it’s well worth it.
Oh and I have to add that the remote is somewhat a universal remote as well, at least it can control your TV also with the correct codes, but I haven’t tried that feature so I can’t really comment on it…
Summary:
One thing I can say about a Digital Converter Box is don’t wait to get one, get one now if you need it, it is well worth it and will make your television viewing much, much more enjoyable.
The Digital Stream DTX9900 is a very basic converter box, but yet it does the job well, I’ve got no complaints really, it is easy to use, very small and does exactly what it should.
I’ve had it for over a month now and I’ve had no problems at all with the DTX9900.
DragonSteelMods gives the Digital Stream DTX9900 a 4.5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
Pros:
-Small size
-Seems well made
-Easy to use
-Inexpensive (especially with Gov Rebate Coupon)
-S-Video,Coax and Composite outputs
-Many options and features
-Works well as a basic Analog to DTV converter
Cons:
-Limited outputs
-Does not include cables for composite outputs
review# 443