ATSC / QAM (HD) / NTSC (Pass-through Only)Tuner Receiver Box

by Prime

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 14 x 2 inches ; 5.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• ASIN: B000V8XR1U
• Item model number: PHD-205LE
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,185 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

PHD-205LE is the advanced and low cost high-end HDTV Decoder Box. This unit can receive digital ATSC over-the-air HDTV broadcast signals, digital Cable clear QAM signals (64 and 256 QAM signals) as well as traditional analog TV signal from an external antenna or cable RF source. The unit is a perfect match for consumer's EDTV or HDTV monitors and the excellent 2nd high-def source for your HD built-in TVs. The unit features Component (YPbPr HD/SD), RGB (VGA connector for PC and TV), and HDMI outputs. Audio outputs include Dolby® Digital Optical and Stereo L/R. PHD-205LE also provides real-time Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) and functions like Channel List to instant channel tuning, one button for the current channel detail information, digital volume control and many more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works well, manual could use improvement, March 17, 2008

By 

Richard Palm - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ATSC / QAM (HD) / NTSC (Pass-through Only)Tuner Receiver Box (Electronics)

In addition to its application with cable TV, this receiver enables your TV or video recorder to pick up high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) digital broadcasts from your existing TV antenna. (Unless you have an HD television, HD broadcasts will only display in SD mode.)

Any antenna that works for both VHF and UHF analog stations will also work with digital broadcasts. The better the antenna, the more stations you will be able to receive.

If your TV only has an RF input, then you will also need a video-to-RF converter.

The receiver also picks up analog channels, but this feature will no longer be useful once analog stations shut down in Feb 2009.

The unit does a good job of picking up the channels, and reception of local area stations has been reliable so far.

The manual has a very good explanation of general concepts, but it is not so good at explaining how to do things. For example, it says you can use the master channel list to add or remove channels, but it fails to mention that you can only add channels that you previously removed, and it doesn't tell you what buttons to press to make the changes. You have to figure that out on your own. (You use the right arrow key to move the cursor over to the list, the up and down arrow keys to move the cursor from one channel to annother, and the OK button to add or remove whatever channel the cursor is on.)

Another example is running manual scans. This is something you may need to do if you have a directional antenna that you can rotate and there are some stations that are in a different direction from the others. You would first run auto-scan with the antenna pointed at the main group, and then you would point your antenna at the other stations and do individual manual scans for any that were too weak to be picked up with the antenna pointed in the other direction. The user's manual doesn't explain any of this, but what's worse, it doesn't tell you that you have to enter the actual physical channel numbers that the digital channels are on rather than the virtual channel numbers that are normally displayed on the screen. So for example, if Channel 2 in your area has three digital channels associated with it, they would be identified on your screen something like 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3, but if you do a manual scan on channel 2, it won't find any of them. What you have to do is go online and look up the physical channel number for Channel 2's digital broadcasts and enter that. Then the receiver will find them, assuming the signal strength is adequate.

For those who are wondering, one place to look up the physical channel numbers is on the National Association of Broadcasters' (NAB) "Antennaweb" site. They don't allow URLs in reviews, so you will have to search for it. Once you have found it, click on "Choose an Antenna," enter your zip code, and continue through the menus until you get a list of stations available in your area. The physical channel numbers are in the right hand column, labeled "Frequency Assignment." (You can leave the name and address fields blank if you want.)

Some other things that could be improved:

After pressing the Guide button twice, there is a little signal strength display which could be useful for getting your antenna aimed in the optimal direction, but it's not very sensitive to changes in antenna direction.

The on-screen menu display times out after 15 or 20 seconds. It would have been nice if they could have included a menu item to make the timeout user-selectable, or even have it stay on the screen until the button is pressed again. This would be especially useful when using the signal strength display to aim your antenna.

One feature I would have liked to have seen is a timer that would allow me to program the unit to tune different channels on different days and times. There are a lot of legacy VCRs, DVD recorders, and DVRs out there, so I would think there would be some demand for that feature.

On the other hand, whether this unit is less expensive than buying a digital-capable recording device is not something I've researched.

This unit is also considerably more expensive than the Zenith set-top box. I haven't seen the Zenith yet, but if you are just going to use it to enable your old analog TV set to pick up digital channels, you might be better off getting it instead.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great over the air / cable tuner, December 17, 2007

By 

Val (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ATSC / QAM (HD) / NTSC (Pass-through Only)Tuner Receiver Box (Electronics)

epvsales delivered as promised ... prompt and in good order. This is the only external tuner I found that hooked up to my basic cable and received all the same cable stations and some extra digital ones. Bought it to facilitate my Sony Bravia picture-in-picture (PIP) function ... worked great. HDMI connection would have been nice, but component cables work good.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great alternative to the big brands!, August 9, 2008

By 

jpdylon (La Mesa (San Diego,) CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ATSC / QAM (HD) / NTSC (Pass-through Only)Tuner Receiver Box (Electronics)

I purchased this because its a relatively new on the market and isn't well known. I wanted something that did everything and this delivers.

The PHD-205 is breeze to set up, and has a variety of video outputs to use including composite, component, VGA, and DVI. Pretty much any TV you own can use this box as long as it has a video input.

The menus are easy to navigate and use large easy to read text. It will automatically locate channels both in digital and analog. The hi-definition picture is simply stunning - especially with over the air reception - blows the cable away.

The best part is, this box decodes everything. It will also decode the DTV when the changeover occurs in 2009. It will even decode cable tv if you have it.

All in all, this box rocks. Best thing I did for my HDTV. If you receive TV over the air and have HD capability - you need this box. Forget the rest.