Customer Reviews

Samsung SIR-T351 ATSC (HD) Tuner

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Apart from it's clumsy primitive user interface, this unit has two tragic flaws:

1 - The on screen displays (program guide, info screen, setup menus, channel display, etc.) do not work when using the DVI port when the resolution is set to 1080i!! You're totally flying blind, with no visual way to set or confirm settings or channels. Samsung has confirmed that it is designed this way, but could offer no explanation why! This reason alone is enough to stay away from this model.

2 - The Dolby Digital implementation doesn't work correctly. When using the optical or coaxial digital output, while set to Dolby Digital output, the audio drops out repeatedly and constantly. It will usually work fine for a few minutes, then it starts cutting in and out. Changing channels will clear it up for a few more minutes, but the problem quickly returns. The only way to get functioning digital audio is to set it to PCM, but then of course you can't decode Dolby 5.1 broadcasts. Samsung has confirmed this design flaw, but offers no solution.

Check with www.avsforum.com, and you'll find countless pissed off Samsung owners. Go with a unit from Zenith, LG or Motorola, you'll be much happier.

I got my unit at a local CC for $130 as an open box special - actually there was no box - but the unit looked good and all the parts and manual, cables, etc. were there in a plastic bag - so at $130 (after making sure I could return it) - I took a chance. I had been wanting a tuner for my Hitachi 32" HDTV for some time, but balked at paying $300. This unit was on-sale for $239 at the time (with a box;).

I came here to check the reviews and that's the main reason I'm back to post this one. After reading the many negative reviews here, I thought maybe I'd made a big mistake - but I decided to give it a whirl anyway. On the first day - all excited - I started hooking everything up - pretty easy. I used component (YPbPr) so I had no problems at all getting 480i 480p 720p and 1080i right off the bat. I had no antenna, so I just grabbed the cheap (really cheap - not even very adjustable) radio shack rabbit ears off the TV in my son's room. Right off the bat I had many problems as reported here, picture pixelating, sound dropping out, and so on. I don't know that much about HDTV gear, but I did some careful reading here and check out a few inet sites. But that night I was pretty sure it was going back to the store.

The next evening when I got some time, I gave it another go. I had read on one of the sites the importance of the length of the antenna for the VHF channels, the UHF loop isn't even adjustable on the antenna I was using. So I tried adjusting them to the recommended length (13.5 inches or so, I think) and I found by making one a little longer than the other and turning it the right way, I went from 3 bars to 5-6 bars in signal strength and WHAM! a rock solid glorious image and sound!

I can get the closest channels (12-20 miles) with ease now - even though I live on a lot w/30-40 foot trees around the house.
I get a rock solid signal at night, during mid-day there are occasional glitches. But, of course, I need to get a *real* antenna!!! I'm sure then I will be able to pull in more channels and will have no more problems.

So, as many other sites (and some reviews here) suggested - it's the antenna that's key (Duh!). The unit itself works exactly as described and I have had no problems. The guide works fine once your unit has been on long enough the first time to down load the data. I think the unit looks nice and the setup, features and options all seem pretty good to me.

Now I can actuall watch HDTV for free on my Hitachi and I am sure glad I did not take this baby back!!!

So, don't let the negative reviews put you off - give it a shot if you can find one at a good price!

I recently puchased this STB despite the mixed reviews. I only use this box to decode over-the-air broadcasts for my area (philly), so my review is centered around using this box as a terrestrial receiver only. I have not tried to use this for cable tuning, and from what I hear this is not a smooth process since that is not what this box is primarily designed for.

That said, my review is rated relatively high because I live in the philadelphia area and have a rooftop antenna. I already received pretty clear reception using an old school antenna, so I expected to pickup a good number of channels. And I did, the t351 picked up all the channels I get over-the-air plus an extra 7 channels I didn't get before (they're mostly Spanish channels, but I did a couple more pbs). But don't expect to get the same results if you don't live in philly, nyc, san fran, la, or chicago. Even if you do live in these areas where most channels are broadcast digitally, you'll still need an antenna that can pick up the channels well. So, if you only want to pickup over-the-air DTV channels assuming that these are available in your area and you already have decent reception using an antenna, then this box is a good bet considering the low price. Many reviewers have been complaining about this unit being defective from the start, so why not pick up the much cheaper refurbished units that have already been tested? That's what I did, it works fine. Of course this only has a limited warranty, but after talking with Samsung they're not very stringent on this issue.

So here are some bugs I've noticed with this unit. First, there is an issue with the digital audio out. If you use the standard rca for audio output, there is no problem. Similarly, if you set your digital out (coax or optical) to PCM then there is no problem again. BUT, if you set the t351 to output to Dolby Digital using the coax or optical out, then you will experience audio dropouts. I've contacted Samsung about this issue and they are mailing me a cable and updated firmware to resolve this problem (free of charge). However, I've read in other forums that the updated firmware still does not resolve the Dolby Digital issue. Point being that this problem is pretty minor if you use this box solely for over-the-air reception. That's because hardly any channels broadcast in 5.1 to begin with, I mean we're talking at best about 2-8 hours per week. Another issue I've noticed with my box is that using the DVI output is a bit more unstable than the component. This could very well be an isolated problem, but I've noticed that DVI is more sensitive when it comes to channel reception. Not that it doesn't work, but I did have to do some adjusting to pickup channels consistently whereas using the component it was automatic. One other point worth mentioning--if you have a 16:9 TV, you can normally choose your view as full, panorama, zoom, or standard. Well, if you connect to this t351 then this ability to change viewing formats is taken over by the t351. To begin with, the t351 obviously picks up channels that are broadcast digitally, but these channels do not always broadcast in HDTV. In fact, very few shows are broadcast in HD, most of them are limited to prime time shows and movies. But the number of shows broadcast in HD will only go up, so this is promising (including the Olympics). Point being that if the show is not broadcast in HD, then the picture on a 16:9 screen will not fill the screen, it will look like the 4:3 format, and you cannot change this setting. Of course, if the show is broadcast in HD, then it is natively broadcast in 16:9 and it fills the entire 16:9 screen without distorting or stretching.

One last issue: choosing this t351 or samsung's other t165. They both use the same generation tuner, but the t165 has been discontinued. The t165 has been known to have many bugs and even defective units, but the more likely reason it has been discontinued is because it has the infamous firewire port that allows you to connect it to a jvc vhs recorder that can copy HD quality onto tape. But i wouldn't advise purchasing the t165 because there seems to be a large number of defective units out there and they all need required firmware upgrades to fix random rebooting problems and overheating. If you want the HD recording option, I would wait until a new format like blue ray becomes adopted or just get a pvr unit. So, for the price, I think the t351 is great provided your only need is terrestrial broadcasts and you already have or plan to get good reception.

I'd like to add some details about this tuner:

you can hook this tuner to a regular NTSC, non-HD TV and get TV pictures that is as good as DVD. Also you can hook it up to a computer monitor too... of course, you need to hook up the audio to separate speakers that way.

i asked about six different stores about whether it can be hooked up to a regular non-HD TV. Half of the stores said yes. Half said no. Some of them just said, no-no-no, you must hook it up to HDTV. And I had to explain to them all I want is to watch the 5 channels of PBS in super sharp quality on a regular TV. And they said it like they are reading from some education of HDTV material: no no no, you need to have an HD TV. So I bought the tuner anyways, and sure enough, I don't need an HD TV to watch HD channels. The picture is super sharp. It blows me away.

only thing is... at night, I get a lot more channels, like 20 of them. When it is near 7:20am, the channels would go away one by one... I tried the Terk TV50 antenna as well as the Gemini ZHDTV1 antenna, and they are the same. [update: I found that the Sutro Tower in San Francisco has earthquake upgrade work going on Monday - Saturday 7am to 5:30pm, so that's why a lot of the signal is gone during that time]

also with this tuner, if I watch some channels which are in Letterbox format, then the top and bottom have a bar region that is gray... why isn't it all black? if it is gray for a long time, it will burn the screen in.

it feels a bit slow to change channel. it takes close to three seconds before any image is displayed. also you can't choose channel 9-5 right away. You need to change to 9-1 first and then press the channel up button four times. If you add it to the Favorite Channels, then it helps.

the user manual feels like a "reference manual". The beginner guide should be: change the two switches at the back of the machine until you can see the on screen menu when you press menu on the remote. Then, don't worry about checking the signal strength. Go straight to "Channels -> Memorize Channels" to scan all the channels to catch all the channels available. Of course, hook up the antenna first.

I bought my SIR-T351 on eBay for under $200.

READ THE DIRECTIONS. You get no signal and no picture until the unit is set up.

I am about five miles from digital towers in my area. Locks in on channels almost instantaneously. Two stations (ABC and CBS) are at light bulb status (<100watts). CBS comes in with 4 bars and is solid, ABC has one blinking bar and will not lock in. NFL football in HD off FOX is beautiful.

I believe people who are having troubles with this unit are:
1. Not properly setting up the set, or
2. Not realizing that 90% of digital reception problems are antenna related (multipath, etc.), or
3. blaming the receiver when the station is at fault. Digital broadcasting is a difficult and precise art that most stations are not capable of doing perfectly.

I purchased this new in a factory sealed box and not reconditioned. Registered the unit with the serial number for the factory warranty online and began using the unit. In less than thirty days it locked up and would not work properly. I contacted Samsung to arrange to have it shipped back to a service center for the warranty repair. They would not accept the item for repair because it was last years model and they did not have parts or work on them anymore. They offered to sell me the latest unit as a replacement. How many people out there are going to purchase another unit from a company that won't stand behind their previous model. Very, very poor customer service and product quality. I will never purchase any other Samsung product again!

I've had good experience with Samsung in the past, but don't go for this unit unless you already have a near-perfect analog signal. I'm 2 miles from the broadcast stations in Chicago, but in an apartment. I would get 8 out of 10 bars in signal strength, but the unit would have to keep honing in on the signal so the signal strength bars would 'flicker' and as a result audio and pixilated picture would constantly come in and out despite all amplification attempts. I now get shadows with my analog set up, so my guess is that the reflecting in my indoor signal is causing both the analog shadowing as well as the transient at best HD picture and sound through this unit. I believe it's an issue with the processor not being able to re-adjust quickly enough and filter down the signal it needs just right. I also must reiterate the issue that you can not view the menu in 1080i through the DVI and this unit does NOT come with a DVI cable so expect to shell out another $100 for one. If you have a roof antenna, then then this may be the unit for you, but I'll try out the 4th generation Samsung TS360 and hopefully it will be able to lock onto my bouncing but strong signal - plus it comes with a DVI cable. I still applaud Samsung for leading the way in driving down the price of these suckers & releasing the better technology with better consumer end-user specs before everybody else.

I can agree AND disagree with everyone else's opinion of this unit. I have the unit connected to my 57" Hitachi Ultrvision via DVI-D interface, and to my Panasonic receiver via TOSLINK optical. When I first got the unit I connected it THRU the receiver via Component (RGB) cable. I experienced video dropout during sudden bright scenes, and occasional audio drop out in Dolby 5.1 as others have. I should note I am 55mile north of Tampa Bay and get about 7 or 8 channels (plus sub-channels) with a roof top antenna (Channelmaster from about 1990). The video droppout was clipping due to the Receiver's shortcomings, once I by passed it the video was excellent all the time. I also have not had an audio issue in some time now. Granted, being a TiVo family we rarely get to watch alot of "live" TV, but it has been great. Bottom line is this: reception is key. The signal is digital and thus will be slow to decode, uncompress and prone to packet loss (equating to picture pixelization and loss of Dolby soundtrack) Remember the UHF days? Ghosts, snow, etc.? Same thing, only digital. I previously bought a Zenith unit and it only got 1 channel. The sensitivity of the Samsung is by far superior to anything else in my experience. If you want terrestrial TV in HD for FREE, you'll need to invest in a well tuned aerial. Also I have a standard vhf/uhf 35db booster inline, 30ft from the aerial and 60ft from the tuner and it does not interfere with the signal in a negative way. I give it 4 stars because a this point in time we are too close to next-gen receivers to expect this unit to live up to the expectations of each individual user.

I had two SIR T-150's die on me (just over a year each).
I bought the newer SIR T-351. Out of the box, it had a bad
right audio channel and one bad RGB channel, so it has to be
shipped to their service facility. They have only one such
facility in the US. Last time, the turnaround took almost
three weeks.

Samsung is trying very hard to become a major player in the
consumer electronics market, and I am quite satisfied with
my Samsung LCD computer monitor. But my experience with
the Samsung set top boxes will lead me to avoid their phones,
TV's, and other Samsung products. Motorola has just begun
to ship an HDTV set top box (HDT101), and it can't possibly
be as poor as this Samsung product.

Caveat emptor.

I think the Samsung SIR-T351 is a great unit for the price. I got mine for $199 refurbished by doing a yahoo search under "SIR-T351 refurbished". The store I used was in the top 8 selections.

I am approx 10 miles from my local stations in Rochester NY and pick up all local digital channels with ease using a Terk TV42, which is a multi-directional powered antenna attached to my DirecTV satellite dish. When it's not raining at night, I am also tuning in all 3 major networks from Buffalo NY, which are approx. 60 miles away! This is good news for me because Rochester is currently broadcasting only 2 channels (PBS, ABC) in hi-def. NBC and CBS Hi-Def I catch out of Buffalo.

Things to consider:

I had to adjust the antenna to catch all the stations. Your antenna type and antenna positioning is the key to getting this unit to work properly. Keep in mind that with each antenna adjustment you have to go thought the channel memorization process each time. You cannot simply move the antenna and turn to the station to check if it is coming in. You have to do go through the memorize channel process which takes approx. 5 minutes to verify your new antenna positioning.

I also experienced the audio dropout with Dolby Digital that others have described, but more for the Buffalo stations that are so far away (60 miles). Not so much with Dolby 2.0 but with Dolby 5.1. This is fine with me because I just switch the unit to PCM48 audio that has no audio dropout at all. My audio receiver is equipped with Pro Logic II anyway and there is not that big of a difference to me. There is very minimal to no audio dropout when tuning to my local stations decoding either type of Dolby Digital.

The following website is a great reference for getting started: www.antennaweb.org. Here you will get all the information you need to find out what digital stations might be available to you.

Overall, I am very pleased with this unit and happy that I bought it. After reading the many negative reviews I was hesitant about it. Now I realize that much of the criticism probably came from slackers that did not put the proper time into setting the unit up. Hi-Def TV is the best. You got to see it to believe it. The best part is that there are no monthly charges and that more and more events/TV shows are being broadcast in Hi-Def. I can't wait to see Monday Night Football in Hi-Def!