Tivax STB-T8 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box
by Tivax
|
List Price: Category: Home Theater See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Tivax STB-T8 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box
Customer Review: Tivax STB-T8 vs Channel Master CM-7000
Summary: 4 Stars
After some research, I narrowed down what I thought was the top (coupon redeemable) DTV box to these two. I needed two boxes, so ordered one of each.
I will just go into what I see different in these two boxes.
1.Appearance: Both boxes are gray but the Tivax is smaller and more streamlined and modern looking than the CM. Although appearance means nothing in my preference, just thought I would throw that in there.
2.Remote: The CM has a larger remote than the Tivax and the buttons are not so close together. The one thing that annoys me though is that several of the buttons do absolutely nothing, it even says this in the manual. But the remote still has a better feel and ease of use than the Tivax. Both remotes come with AAA batteries.
3.Reception: This was my main concern. I have tried both boxes on an amplified indoor antenna, with same setup and conditions. Both boxes picked up the same channels. 11, 13, 24, and 30. Channel 36 is the only other nearby tower and neither can pick it up, which I'm sure is because of the antenna I am using, and not the fault of the boxes. Both boxes have a nice signal strength feature that you can turn on and watch the meter while you adjust your antenna. The CM seems to get a slightly stronger signal than the Tivax. Channel 24 seems to get garbled every now annd then on the Tivax and the CM gets a stronger signal on the meter.
4.Text: The Tivax is much nicer with the text display. Larger, easier to read text. The CM has horrible text for trying to read closed captions and the EPG text is horrible looking to the point that it almost looks blurred and miscolored.
5.EPG: Both boxes seem to be capable of reading info up to 12 hours ahead. However, the Tivax has to be scrolled sideways to read one program at a time, while the CM will show up to atleast 5 at once. But this feature seems useless to me since the text on the CM is so small and cramped together.
6.Picture Quality: I think the CM definitely delivers a sharper picture than the Tivax. This is while using RCA cables with both boxes. Each box comes with an RF cable (the CM's cable looks like it's better quality) and the Tivax comes with RCA cables while the CM does not. But the CM is capable of S-Video hookup, even though it doesn't come supplied with an S-Video cable. I have not tried using this feature but it's supposed to deliver an even better picture than the RCA cable. The RF cable should be your last choice as it isn't as good with delivering the best picture.
7.Other odds & ends: Both boxes have manual channel entry which I think is a must to have. Although with the CM if you want to directly go to, say, channel 24.2 you just punch in 242 on the remote and it takes you there. With the Tivax, you can only go to 24.1 by punching in 24. If you try to punch in 242, 243, etc. it will just stay on the channel it's already on and do nothing. I don't like that.
The Tivax does have a port for a "smart antenna" hookup and the CM does not have one. I have not tried a smart antenna, though.
Neither box has a universal remote, but, if you use a universal remote for your TV you can control the CM box with that by programming a Pioneer code into your remote. I don't know if you can do this with the Tivax box, probably, but I don't know what the code would be.
Both boxes have a few other features that I don't really care about so I am not bothering with listing them. But overall, I have to go with the Channel Master-7000 just because it performs better in most of the categories I want.
Customer Review: Excellent for the price, very satisfied
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this with the government coupon, cost $10.00, & I also got a Tivax DT-01 indoor antenna. Amazon service is great & I'm very pleased. The digital conversion is entirely different from broadcast analog. The digital signal is evidently weaker. My friends have digital boxes, & evidently your geographic location has a tremendous effect upon reception, even a few hundred feet can have dramatic effects, including tree limbs. That seems to be the reason for some of the excellent reviews I read here compared to dismal ones regarding reception.
I live in Middletown, Ohio, midway between Cincinnati & Dayton. With analog and the TV's own rabbit ears, I got 3-4 stations of varying degrees of reception, with snow. I don't like much of what is on broadcast TV, so that was OK for me. What a surprise with the Tivax! Picture quality is identical with what I had in Dayton with cable. Sound is fine. I now get 24 channels, including all networks, from both Cincinnati & Dayton, plus Oxford now. The Tivax has found an additional 15 channels for which the signal is too weak to actually get a picture. Perhaps with the correct weather & the final conversion to all digital programing here in April, I may get some of these too.
Digital reception in my area is weak generally. Even cell phone reception is poor where I live, next door to a "no service area" according to Cincinnati Bell. With that said, about the Tivax performance: Much of my signal strength is in the "poor" range, with some "normal" on my best channels. I have yet to get any "best" signal strength per the Tivax indicator. Even with poor signal strength, the picture received is excellent, with some freeze framing & missing dialogue encountered just before the signal is lost entirely, there is little in between with digital signals. I like the many features; from signal strength, volume control, mute & standby from the remote, which I find is just the right size & very easy to use. While some reviewers lambasted the channel guides and info. features, I find them very useful, not having anything prior. If you are getting a converter box, please get one with an aspect ratio feature. Tivax does a nice job at eliminating the annoying dark bands along the screen image. I have a 19" TV, & elimination of the bands is important on a small screen. Tivax has 4 aspects, which allows you to view in any aspect you want. I have found that in my location, an augmented antenna is important, turning up the gain signal strength does stabilize a weak signal on some channels, eliminating the freeze framing problem.
In summary, digital broadcasting is very different from analog. Reception will be somewhat more irregular & more susceptible to variation than analog, but the picture quality is undeniably better. Lets hope the programming improves to once again make TV viewing worthwhile. This box is an excellent buy & I recommend it.
Customer Review: Very pleased!
Summary: 5 Stars
We own two APEX DT502 converters but needed another converter for another TV. I went with the Tivax brand after reading the comparisons and features it has and I'm so glad I did.
The Tivax model STB-T8 is a snap to set up and the silver box matches our Philips VCR/DVD Combo and DirecTV satellite box. The initial setup onscreen menu display is easy to understand and follow. It found just as many channels as the Apex converter: 21 channels here in SE Portland, Oregon. I live near Mt Scott, and in line to the the PDX international airport located 8 minutes away along with huge fir trees nearby my house of over 100 ft high. However, the Tivax found all 21 channels without difficulty or having to rescan as what we went through with the Apex converter.
I love how you can press the INFO button or the SIGNAL button on the Tivax remote and it will show you the signal strength of the channel you are watching (unlike the APEX) AND the EPG (electronic program guide) is much nicer to read, access, and use compared to the Apex. Another great thing about the Tivax is that if you are unable to locate the remote, you can easily use the on board buttons on the Tivax converter box - not so with the Apex.
Both the Tivax STB-T8 and Apex DT502 converters have a way to utilize a Smart Antenna. So I bought two APEX Smart Antenna's from Best Buy ($45 bucks each)- a bit odd though as they also have rabbit ears. But they are were the only Smart Antenna's I could find online and locally. Even though the Apex Smart Antenna's look very nice with a digital clock and can work amplified or not, they are horrible to deal with all around. Naturally I rushed the antenna's back for a refund right away. A lesson learned: Just because something is more expensive, doesn't always mean it's better.
The simple inexpensive rabbit ears Philips antenna model SDV2210/17 found online with Amazon and at Walmart for $9.86 works so much better and without frustrations for both converters. Also the RCA model ANT1450 Multi-Directional digital flat amplified antenna found on Amazon (and Walmart) works quite well with the Tivax (and the Apex).
We've used both government coupons, but we absolutely love this Tivax converter so much that we plan to buy two more to replace the Apex converters.
Now if only I can find a decent digital FLAT Smart Antenna, we'd have it made!
Side note: Both the Tivax and Apex converter get VERY WARM when placed horizontally as how they should be placed. However, I found that when they are placed on one side in a vertical position, they run much cooler and work just as well in that position. I figure if they run cooler, they will last longer too.
Customer Review: No Complaints: it gets the job done.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had my Tivax STB-T8 for a couple of weeks, now, and I've been quite pleased with this purchase. I don't have any experience with other digital tv converter boxes to compare the Tivax model to; so, it is a little hard to know how high a rating I should give it. I decided to go with four stars, since this appears to be a solid product and it does what it is suppose to. I didn't give it five stars, because I don't think that it offers anything that makes it stand head shoulders above similar devices. I purchased this particular converter box, primarily, because of its low cost at the time of purchase.
The only thing that I can compare my use of the Tivax STB-T8 to is regular, over-the-air, analog television. In this regard, my experience has gone from two stars to five stars. I use a simple rabbit-ear and bow-tie, indoor, antenna combination for watching television, since I'm only about five or six miles from the transmitters. However, my home is in a relatively low-lying area without a clear line of sight to the antenna towers. As a result, my analog reception has been fairly poor, due to the scattered, indirect signal that I receive. In my case, simply switching to digital reception has brought a marked improvement in the quality of my television picture.
Of course, you're mileage may vary, since it depends on how you are situated in relation to your local tv transmitters and whether you have an antenna that matches your location's needs. As others have mentioned, getting the most out of your over-the-air digital television experience starts with a visit to antennaweb.org. Take note, there, of what the frequency assignments are for your local stations. In my area, for example, they range from VHF channels 7 and 10 up through UHF channel 34, which means that I need more than just a UHF antenna to get the best tv reception. KYES, an Anchorage television station, has some helpful information on antenna element size and tv channel frequencies on their web site (do a web search for KYES antenna rabbit ear, if you are interested). For instance, there you can see that UHF channels can be received well with short, 7 to 12 inch elements, but channels 7 and 10 require longer 29 to 32 inch elements.
I mention this information in the hopes that it will help others get everything that they need for good digital television reception and because I think that a reader has to be confident that the right antenna is being used, before they can give any weight to complaints about a converter box's reception.
Customer Review: DTV converter box
Summary: 4 Stars
I received my Tivax STB-T8 Digital to Analog Converter box today.
I was very happy to see that not only did it have a standard RF output, but it also has a separate Audio & Video component output.
This provides much higher quality to the sound and picture displayed on any television set.
The trick is actually being able to connect it to a TV with A/V jacks, because this is a bit more modern feature on TV sets.
If your TV has them, use them without hesitation, don't even worry about using the obsolete RF output.
Once I connected the box to my TV, I turned on the box, and ran the automatic channel selector, it will pick up any digital channels that are already broadcasting. I didn't even connect an antenna to the box, and I was able to get almost all, missed Univision, the Spanish channel.
You can always go back and add erase channels, which will be necessary, as some are not transmitting any valuable content yet.
The remote control is nicely laid out, but it is an additional remote control. A hassle when you already have one to turn the tv on, and a few more to control the DVD player, VCR, etc. (yes I still have a VCR)
I would like to see a DTV box with a remote control that can be programmed to turn the TV on and off at least.
I will not give this product a 5 star rating for two reasons, the first one which was really aggravating, it comes with a very short power cord, so short that it is ridiculous, you need an extension to connect it if the outlet is more than 3 feet away.
The second reason, is that I had to crank the volume to the max on the DTV box to get is close to what it was on the TV originally.
I am uncertain that this is the actual signal being transmitted at a lower volume, or a flaw in the DTV converter.
I loved the fact that you can adjust the Closed Captions, size, font, color. You can also adjust the picture ratio, and the SAP, all from the remote control.
The signal quality was also showing on the screen, by pressing the signal button you can track how the signal is coming in, rated from weak, normal and good, this allows you to make antenna adjustments as necessary.
I am glad I will already start watching DTV, and I am glad its free.
Now the Cable company has to add the new channel feeds that are offered on the air.
I am no expert on DTV boxes, but I am glad I purchased this one, after reading a few consumer website reviews, and seeing that it was highly rated, and at a discount on Amazon.