Samsung DTBH260F HDTV Terrestrial Receiver
December 21, 2008 by admin
Filed under Electronics
Samsung DTBH260F HDTV Terrestrial Receiver
Is your TV ready to receive digital TV broadcasts? If it was made before 2004, chances are it doesn’t have an ATSC digital tuner. That’s where this TV tuner comes in. Samsung brings you great flexibility for delivering FREE over-the-air digital television signals to a DTVready television or DTV-capable computer monitors. Award-winning Samsung technology easily tunes and decodes all 18 ATSC Table 3 broadcast formats. With the Samsung DTB-H260F, you can view HDTV and SDTV. You can listen to Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio through your audio system (5.1 surround sound is encoded in ATSC HDTV broadcasts). Samsung solves output worries with a wide selection of output options including 1080i, 720p or 480p/i DTV formats, and connection options including HDMI – Component Video – Composite – Audio-Right/Left, Dolby Digital Optical. Attractive styling and affordable pricing make the Samsung DTB-H260F a perfect solution for upgrading your TV to receive DTV. High-gloss, stylish design Remote control Parent control Time zone setting Intuitive signal strength indicator Plug & play for easy setting Intuitive & iconic menu Advanced electronic program guide Mini guide with transparency Full guide with all information Channel info management Unit Dimensions – 10.64 x 1.58 x 7.88 / Weight – 3.3 lbs Note – Free HDTV broadcasts require this tuner and an extra HDTV antenna. Antenna is not included in the price of this tuner.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Only good for HDMI TV inputs
I need to supplement the analog tuners in my DVRs. This unit is useless for anything that does not have a RGB or HDMI input. The sound quality using analog connections is awful, too. The unit produces a loud buzz on the audio channels that makes hearing any sounds practically impossible.
You cannot use this unit on an analog-only TV or a VCR or DVR with analog-only inputs. I tried every connection on the back of the box & could not get a picture through my recorder. The RGB component connection worked only on my TV, but I don’t need it there.
It also nearly fried my DVRs tuner using the antenna output. After I tried connecting it, the DVR would only receive channel 4 & I could not change the channel through either the remote or the unit’s control panel. I had to completely reset the unit & run factory setup again to get it working.
This turned out to be a very expensive fiasco for me.
The manual leaves out a lot of instructions on how to set the unit up and does not make a point of telling the consumer that it only works on the digital outputs even though the analog connections are available on the back of the set.
Anyone who needs a tuner for an older TV with analog inputs or who wants to use it for a VCR/DVR, don’t buy this.
A simple $40 to $80 converter box is more useful at 1/2 to 1/4 the price.
4 Stars Great HDTV Receiver with HDMI
I being using this product for a while now and I just love it. Has all the features you could want. Picture looks great channel info., clock etc. I only have two complaints that really are not that bad. It takes a while to power up, but if you leave on I guess no problem there and second if your favorite channel on intial scan was missed even if you enter manually it still doesnt recognized it. Love the organized and edit, I still dont regret buying it.
2 Stars Dissapointed…
EXPECTATION: A full featured TV tuner to be used with a HD monitor.
REALITY: A glorified DTV tuner, much like the $50 units offered with the exception of an HDMI, Toslink & RGB output.
PROS: It provides a quality video output.
CONS: Weak line level audio output performance, WIll not receive SD cable broadcast, Very slow startup, Only controlled from the remote, Weak menus for channel setup & very slow channel learning.
This product did not do what I expected nor does it preform well. In particular, the line level audio output is not very good at all. Compared to my Samsung LCD, the line level audio output to a known good audio system seems flat sounding.
The bigger disappointment is it does not include a SD receiver. I’d planned to use this tuner to connect my 42″ monitor to my local cable service for the basic cable services I receive. I was disappointed to find It will only receive the clear QAM channels Comcast offers (not very many here) and non of the standard broadcast provided by Comcast. The results is I really don’t receive much more than I would over the air locally and what I get through the cable does not include any programing info (thanks Comcast).
I also don’t like the idea of only being able to control it from the remote. with out the remote it becomes a paper weight and is rendered useless. The menus and channel setup is also very annoying. you can not add channels without first going through the very low learning of all the channels within range. (not a very good design that seems to run throughout the Samsung product line)
Lastly, it takes a while to boot up every time I turn it on. it’s a little anoying because it’s in a location that I can’t see the power light. Often times I end up hitting the power button on the remote several times not knowing if it’s booting up or not. Seems a little odd it takes up to 5 seconds before any audio or video output comes from it.
I plan to eventually use the Toslink output with the hopes of better audio performance. It’s an ok performer but not at all what I expected.
Although the selection of digital tuners are very small, If I knew what I know now, I don’t think I would have purchased this unit.
1 Star Died after a year of very little use.
Product worked okay until it just gave out after a little over a year. What a waste of money.
4 Stars So far so good
Having bought a Sony HD ready TV circa 2002 from Craigslist I wasn’t too surprised to find that it didn’t include an actual HD tuner. This little box does the trick, allowing me to use a set-top terrestrial antenna ($30 from Radioshack) to receive beautiful HD television on all 4 major networks, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) as well as a few wierdo channels. It’s a breeze to setup, includes a component video cable, optical audio out for true surround sound with a receiver, and easy to follow instructions. Probably a bit overpriced, though it’s a pretty small market. The onscreen controls aren’t very well thought out and don’t provide as much customization as you might want, but the “Signal Strength” feature is great for helping to position your antenna.
Overall I’m very happy with this product.
Terk Technology HDTVi VHF UHF HDTV Indoor Antenna
December 14, 2008 by admin
Filed under Electronics
Terk Technology HDTVi VHF UHF HDTV Indoor Antenna
TERK HD-TVi — The acknowledged leader in antenna technology has just introduced their first-ever Indoor HDTV Antenna. The high performance HDTVi is the only indoor antenna that receives both UHF and VHF signals (channels 2 – 69), providing reception of all local HDTV broadcasts.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars better than a uhf loop, but not perfect
terk hdtvi works better than a uhf loop. With the loop, we had random freezes and
random pixelation, analog degrades so much better than digital! who says digital
is better, not me. the picture is better when the signal is good, but it’s worse when the signal degrades. With the terk it is much better, but we still get a random blink or .1 second freeze, but not the 1 second freeze with the loop. Being in a little bit of a valley, I’m sure isn’t helping.
5 Stars Excellent – using in NYC under a DESK – Surrounded by Buildings
I bought this for my office to use with an Elgato TV tuner for MAC. I put the antenna under return on my desk so it remained sort of ‘out of sight’. The elgato went through the scan and found all local NY networks.
Now…I know I am in NYC…so my signal should be strong..but My office building is U shaped and surrounded by HUGE ac’s and HVAC units…. I was afraid this wouldnt cut it. I WAS wrong.
Easy to install, easy to setup, and it does what it should…gets HD signals from the AIR.
3 Stars okay product
For some stations, it provided better reception than my old fashioned bunny ears. However, it still doesn’t provide the clarity that I was hoping for, so I’m going to get basic cable afterall. Too bad I threw away the box, or I would return it. Its a very, very large unit however, so placing it inconspicuously in your living room probably isn’t an option.
4 Stars Digital TV easy
I recently converted from analog to digital receipt of my TV signal in my weekend getaway. I tried rabbit ears and a digital converter box. Poor signal quality on the rabbit ears made the free digital experience almost unworkable. Several channels didn’t come in at all.
The new Terk took a little fine tuning in the house to get the best signal. But now, I’ve got high quality digital receipt on all the channels in the Atlanta area. I’m 30 miles from downtown.
I recommend the simplicity of the Terk.
4 Stars Digital channels Works perfectly
I live in Lewsiville, TX. Digital channels Works perfectly in any direction from my apartment. I was not happy with analog channels. I luv watching football on my HDTV with this new antenna. Clarity of HD Channels on antenna is similar to the one i was getting on Time Warner cable.
