Customer Reviews

Lasonic LTA-260 ATSC Digital to Analog TV Converter Box

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I purchased the Lasonic LTA-260 from Amazon because it's highly rated by Consumer Reports. The unit is extremely easy to hook up. The instructions are clear and the unit is easy to use. The features are very basic, but the unit produces a very nice picture. I live between Chicago and Milwaukee. I used the channel scan function and the unit detected 44 channels - using only rabbit ears! The signal strength and picture from 75% of the stations are very good. I got excellent results at a reasonable price.

I wanted to try out a box with my government rebate that I could use with my cheap old antennae and decent TV. So when I got this from Amazon for very little after the [...], I was very excited.

The first impression I had, was that the unit is so small! I pictured a VCR size box but it was about a 1/3 of the size. So it will not clog up your space. On the down size the remote is also very small, almost palm size and this would be easily lost in my home. The buttons on the remote were also hard to push and very cheaply made.

Set up was easy although the manual must have been translated to English but can be understood. The programming was simple and the channel scan found about 50% more stations than I received with the antennae alone.
The picture is VERY clear and as good as when I had digital cable. The on screen channel information is an added bonus.

Overall I would say I did get my money's worth and would buy this again for each of my TV's. My only suggestion is to program the unit to your universal remote which can be done with the help of the last page in the included manual.

The price on the Lasonic Digital Convertor was attractive, so I purchased it and set it up at home. True, I do get more channels with better quality than analog, but the device is not user friendly. To start, some of the important controls are not actually on the remote (Like Recall channel) which is about the size of a chili pepper. Not fun. The controls are also in funny places. The box responds slowly to input and requires a lot of time between remote signals. So, if you want channel 2, first you enter 0 (and wait), 2 (and wait), 1 (and wait for sub-channel 1), and then OK (and it will change eventually). There are also plenty of features that might otherwise have been included. For example, the condensed menu could list all of the current programming that is airing, since Digital TV does tell you the name of the show and other information. In short, I don't care for the device. Take my advice and pay the extra $20.00 for a good Digital Converter.

I purchased unit from Amazon about 1 month ago. My decision was based on Consumer Reports' rating for image quality and price. I'm perfectly satisfied with the purchase. Set up went smoothly and unit worked fine on first try. The instruction manual is serviceable. Purchased and set up an AV switch/hub to make it easier to switch between the converter and game boxes. I live in the middle of an urban area and I'm getting Excellent picture quality on all stations using just a moderately priced rabbit ears antenna. Unit has an on-screen display for signal strength and signal quality, but I didn't really need to use this feature during setup. The remote is tiny but is mostly intuitive, and easy to learn. The button for changing the aspect ratio requires some experimentation and persistence to yield desired results. There does not seem to be a way to remove unwanted stations from the list of auto-selected stations, thus the 4 star rating.

When installing the Lasonic Digital to Analog Converter, we could not get past the 'Easy Install' window as the remote did not work. We tried three different brands of batteries in both directions (previous review mentions that the instructions are incorrect). When I went to amazon to try to return it, Amazon will not accept returns on this product. I then tried to find tech support with Lasonic which was not a simple task... I managed to find an email for tech support, and when contacted, the form they sent stated they will not support products purchased at Amazon.com. However, I asked them about it, and they said send back the form regardless of where I purchased the unit. They soon after sent a new remote (I did not have to send them anything) and it works! The polarity markings for the batteries on the new unit are correct as well. So now we have digital TV and are satisfied with the results.

I should have known when the remote demonstrated inserting the batteries incorrectly that this equipment was going to be a problem. Shortly after I started using it, the remote stopped working entirely. It is not possible to use the box without the remote. Would not recommend.

The description for this device is incorrect. There is NO analog pass-through and this is just another cheap converter. It works as expected for a cheap converter, for example, poor sensitivity. Do yourself a favor and buy a decent converter. I am disappointed with Amazon's failure to at least verify their own site's description. Hopefully they will correct it. I will use the converter for garage TV.

I purchased this box because of the price, and it has the new silicon tuner. This unit was easy to setup and picked up all my local channels. The box is well constructed with a metal housing and has an external power supply. The remote is small and very basic but works well.
If you are looking for a basic box without rf pass-thru this is well
priced.

Despite Consumers Reports praise for this item, I fouind it hard to set up and for one of 2 small TVs, I needed a three-prong connector, which was not included. Manual is in broken English. I can get one channel on the other TV which I could connect, but I cannot get the remote to move to any other channel. I do not recommend this. I should have gone to Radio Shack, which has a limited selection but then at least I can go back to the store and have them show me what to do.

First, I would like to say that while this products works well, I was mildly disappointed with it. The main reason why I was disappointed with it is because it doesn't come with everything you will need. It doesn't include the RCA cables (those red, yellow and white wires). They are going to cost you an additional five to ten dollars. Those criminals at Radio Shack tried to charge me $13 for a 3 foot wire and $20 for a 6 foot wire. So if you're intent on buying this, buy the RCA wire too since you're not going to get the wire cheaper anywhere else. Make sure it has red, yellow and white wires.

Now what were the pros, you ask? Well, it did find alot of local channels in the area that had already switched. I expect I will get more after the mandatory switch. It went from being able to see 4 channels moderately clearly to 10 channels perfectly. This is before the switch! I live in northeast Pennsylvania, so you might get more or less channels if you live in different areas. But at the very least you will get much better picture quality.

The cons are no RCA Cable. That additional cost was unexpected at a little annoying. Even my cheap $40 DVD player came with an RCA wire! Lasonic went the cheap route. Also, one other con is you will only get digital channels. You will not get the analog channels with this box. So if no channels in your area have switched over, you will get no channels until February. The only place that this is likely to be a problem is in less populated areas. In any city or suburb, you should have no problem. People in the sparsely populated areas in the south or midwest might not get many channels.

So my advice ultimately is to get a different converter box with an RCA wire. It'll save you time and trouble when you're setting it up at about the same price.