Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I own 6 DTV converter boxes consisting of mix of this Insignia model, the Zenith DTT901, and the Zenith DTT900. Although all of these models are essentially the same and made by Philips. The Insignia is the Best Buy version of the Zenith DTT900. The Zenith DTT901 has an anolog pass through feature which means you can still watch analog TV which could be important for those channels that keep breaking up in digital.

*** Positive Points Include ***

- Small size and easy to setup
- Improves picture quality over analog TV tuners.
- Picks up digital channels very well, even with a simple rabbit ears antenna.
- Lightweight and simple remote that has dedicated buttons for most features.
- Remote can be programmed to turn your tv on and off.
- The bright red/blue LED light make it easy to tell when the tuner is on or off.

** Negative Points Include ***

- The onscreen tv guide is a bit too simple and it only lists the current and upcoming show on the channel you are tuned to.

- Like most converter boxes, this Insignia does a poor job of tuning weak stations and results in a broken or frozen picture until the antenna is moved to improve reception. This model (unlike the Zenith DTT901) does not have analog pass through so you can't simply turn off the DTV tuner to get regular analog channels.

- The remote only turns the TV on and off. It cannot be programmed to control any other features of your tv.


Overall this is a great DTV converter box for most people's needs. Consumer Reports did a test that gave a slight edge to the Zenith models over the otherwise identical Insignia models but I honestly could not find any difference in picture quality. I give this 4 Stars and the Zenith DTT901 4.5 Stars because the Zenith has the analog pass through feature.

Bought this unit last week. Took about 5 minutes to wire up, and program. Pictures look good. I like the signal strength monitor that is used to check antenna adjustments. Very nice product for analog tv sets.

Initially, I wanted the Zenith DTT901 because when I helped my neighbor install hers, it was so easy all I did was remove the wrapper off the battery. When I received my coupon, I couldn't find the Zenith anywhere locally. I settled for the Digital Stream DTX8850 at Radio Shake. I'm glad I only got one box because although the picture is great I'm still not fully satisfied with it. The remote control does not recognize the TV and the DS fanfare is annoying. Most of all, it does not retrieve signals on the second floor where I need most.

There are many good reviews on the Insignia and my research found that it's similar to Zenith. When I was looking for it at Best Buy, the sales associates lead me to a stack of Apex Converters. The reviews are bad for Apex. I followed him to the back show case, where there were five Insignia available. It helps to do your homework.

I took the box upstairs and was watching TV in a pop. I was able to program the remote control to recognize the TV. Now I am pleased

If you read the warranty, it says that parts are guaranteed for 1 year from date of purchase. I would consider the remote control a "part" of the unit because it is necessary to set the unit up as well as reinstall the unit after being disconnected. Customer service has arbitrarily (without mention in the warranty in the "does not apply to" section) classified the remote control as an accessory and excluded the remote from the warranty for the converter box itself. In response to my warranty claim they stated that they would basically do customers a favor and provide "warranty coverage" for the remote for only 90 days. It seems to me they may know something may be wrong with these remotes and are limiting coverage of them.

Easy setup and comfortable easy-to-use remote with decent sized buttons. Tuner is too weak for anyone living a moderate distant from the tv station's transmitter. I am 30 miles away from Green Bay and this box needed a powered antenna to bring in one VHF station (the Fox affiliate) and two UHF stations (one of which is the NBC affiliate). Without the powered antenna the NBC station didn't come in at all and the picture from Fox was all broken up. There is a constant buzzing that is worse when the box's volume control is used to adjust rather than the tv's volume.

I purchased two of Radio Shack's DTX9950 after setting up my Mom's. It was a super easy setup and there are no reception or buzzing problems.

The Insignia NS-DXA1-APT is a very good converter box, I didn't buy it from Amazon but thought that I would share a review of it. It has analog-pass-thru which works very well and is almost as if there is no box between the antenna and the tv. This will only be good until the February 17th 2009 switchover so is not a major deal to get excited about. It does a good job of displaying the digital channels and finding/recognizing them. I would recommend this converter box for anyone needing one. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that converter boxes should be able to be programmed like a VCR so that it could allow me to tape my shows when I'm not home. Of course, I haven't found any converter boxes that have a programming function and allow you to use your $40 government coupon on. I hope that this review will help someone looking for a good converter box.

This box is super easy to set up and works really well. I've bought two of these now for lunchrooms at different sites at work and they work really well. Channels that barely were watchable before came in sharp with no ghosts. Several people commented that the picture was better than their cable at home.

If you have a choice get this one, you won't be sorry.