Insignia NS-DXA1 Digital to Analog TV Tuner Converter Box for Regular TV Sets

by Insignia

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• ASIN: B001AH8BGW
• Item model number: NS-DXA1
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 29, 2008

Product Description

Standard Features: NTIA Approved Coupon Eligible Converter Box (CECB) Receives and Displays All 18 ATSC Formats Composite Video Jack (Yellow RCA Plug) Stereo Audio Jacks (Red & White RCA Plugs) 75 ohm RF Video/Audio Jack (Coaxial Cable)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

307 of 308 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insignia/Zenith/LG DTT901 DTV converter box review, August 5, 2008

By 

Chris Zee Shutterbug (Baton Rouge La) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Insignia NS-DXA1 Digital to Analog TV Tuner Converter Box for Regular TV Sets (Electronics)

Insignia/Zenith/LG DTT901 DTV converter box review

LG makes these converter boxes and sells them as either a Zenith DTT901 or a Insignia brand (at BestBuy). After much research at AVSForum re selection, here is a quick summary of my own experiences.
Out of the half dozen or so READILY available boxes, this one is by far the best. Some other ones are prone to: locking up requiring a reset, sound problems, running very hot, may be impossible to add channels manually, and have difficulties setting the aspect ratio such that the program fills the screen best. These LG/Zenith/Insignia boxes have none of those problems, but make sure that you get one built after April '08 (there is a sticker on the side of the box with either ie "built May 2008" or something like 05A08). Setup is easy, sensitivity is great. With a set of rabbit ears I get stations from 70-90 miles away (see TVFool website for antenna directions and maps for your own area).
Picture Zoom is settable for each channel, box can turn off the TV, and has an independent volume control. There are a couple of small items not quite up to par: Program guide is VERY simple, only current program and NEXT program are described, power cord is only 5ft long, if you set the converter on top of a large tv on a stand, it has a hard time reaching a floor level outlet. The signal strength meter (used for fine tuning the antenna position)has its own button on the remote, with a bar and amplitude varying beeps, but it lags the antenna movement by second or two, so you have to pause after moving the antenna each time to get a true signal level. Oh, and by the way, the picture quality (PQ)is excellent over the composite RCA outlet, and almost as excellent over the RF coax output. And yes, when turned off, the box will pass analog signal to the TV (APT), I thought that would be important, but all of my stations analog signals are duplicated on digital channels, and once you see a perfect quality signal it is very hard to watch a snowy picture. The DTT901 boxes are approved for the 40$ rebate coupon (but some websites may have problems redeeming them and you may have to try a BM (brick and mortar store) instead.

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works well (it should because you pay extra), October 31, 2008

By 

OutdoorsGuy (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Insignia NS-DXA1 Digital to Analog TV Tuner Converter Box for Regular TV Sets (Electronics)

After reviewing all converters out there, I decided to pay extra and get this converter over cheaper brands because:
1) once your govt converter coupon used, you don't get it back if you decide to return so it's difficult to try other models
2) this one was readily available and my coupon was about to expire
3) it had good ratings from other reviewers
4) Unlike some converters, it had a remote that could control tv as well as the converter, and had other standard buttons that other converter remotes lacked (mute, volume, channel recall).

Overall this converter works great out of the box. I live within 30 miles of Chicago and all Chicago stations are crystal clear with my little 20+ year old rooftop antenna so it's a big improvement.

My only criticism against this converter like some have mentioned is the "hiss" you can sometimes hear in the background. I can always get the hiss to go away with combination of adjusting the tv and converter box volume controls. If you always listen to tv at same volume you can "set it and forget it" but we tend to have the volume loud (during a workout) or soft when (someone is asleep).

A nice bonus is it's stereo - so our 2nd converter is on an ancient mono tv and I plugged stereo outputs into an old stereo system so we now get 1990s sound off a 1980s tv.

Few things to beware of:
1) there is an auto shutoff feature that you can configure or stop (so if converter goes off - check this out)
2) like all converters - you'll need some extra work/thinking to keep your VCR working - converter has to be on and set to a channel you want to record.
3) Remote will control multiple converter boxes - learned this because magically the 2nd converter box would sometime turn on when we were using the other one somewhere else in the house.

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect solution, at least for city dwellers., August 2, 2008

By 

T. J. Swaan (Studio City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Insignia NS-DXA1 Digital to Analog TV Tuner Converter Box for Regular TV Sets (Electronics)

I live in Los Angeles, and recently installed a Phillips HDTV compatible antenna mounted on a pole that sits on my balcony. When I was receiving analogue signals only, reception was OK but not great. Now with this DTV converter, I receive more than twice as many channels, all with DVD quality picture and sound. With this box, there is simply still no reason to waste $60+ a month on subscription cable or satellite. Setup was easy. I wired mine via component RCA out through my VCR (yes, I still have a VCR). Menu options are intuitive and comprehensive. And with the $40 government coupon, $25 is a steal.