Keep eyes out: Bad converter boxes

[techno935]

I just got my coupons, but who to buy from is my dilemma! Well, not a dilemma, just picky on product quality and pricing.

I see deals from online retailers that allow usage of the coupon program. That's good and all. What I'm concerned about are the $41.99 NTIA coupon eligible boxes.

Has anyone tried the cheapie boxes?? These are where you end up paying only 2 bucks out of pocket plus shipping. Sounds sweet right? I'm just concerned about quality. I wouldn't want a box melting after only 5 minutes of usage due to bad workmanship.

Leaving this thread open to your input on good/bad/ugly boxes. I wanna make my decision before 8/14/2009 (Coupons expire then)

 

[DJ Rob]

I just helped an older family member buy a couple of the Zenith converters. I think they were about $60 a piece. They seem to be decent with a pretty sensitive tuner and are found at most Circuit City locations. I read that there was an audio problem on older versions of the box that has since been fixed on ones manufactured in April or later. Last week when we went to buy them, they had about a 100 of them stacked on the shelves that had the April manufacture date.

 

[Techfizzle]

I am so sick of chinese junk! Haire, GE, Magnavox, Emerson, Sansui, Durabrand, Phillps, are junk. I have boughten stuff from them and it falls apart ! They paint it with silver fingernail polish that rubs off after a week of use! The connectors are sloppy. They make stuff so CHEAP it should be illegal to even buy this crap! Pre Mid 90's Are ok, but after that they were bought out by mindless Chinese people that hire monkees as employes, that we lend $3 billion dollars a day, thats why the dollar is so weak right now. I dont want to even STEP into a walmart anymore, back in the mid 90's 4% of stock was made in china now 97% of stock is. I am just so sick of it! Back then you go buy stuff, that you could drop in a lake, then run over it, then bomb it, and it WOULD STILL WORK!!!
Good Brands: Sony, RCA, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitshubishi, Samsung

 

[mastermesh]

We went with the 10.00 after coupon magnavox box at Walmart... It works fine, but it does get hot to the touch, so make sure you have plenty of room for air to cycle wherever you plan to set it up.

 

[Techfizzle]

The reason why electronics get so hot: Stuff is so crammed packed on the boards the it makes too much heat. Ive have taken stuff apart that had the caps stuck right next to each other. What i have done before with sat receivers and stuff is find a 9-16 volt dc point on the board and solder in a little fan. Always dust your crt tvs, copmuter monitors vcrs, dvd players etc out every 3 years, this wil get rid of the blanket of dust on them and make them last a little longer.

 

[roashru]

Good Brands: Sony, RCA, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitshubishi, Samsung

The brand names arnt what you want to look for the country of origin is the best way to purchase cheap priced electronics made in the oriental countries.

Japan = the best
Taiwan = very good (not same as made in China)
Philippines = very good
Malaysia = very good (rare)
Thailand = good (rare)
Hong Kong = not good
China = bad (like Mexico, dependent on stupid people proof manufacturing)

This listing is from my past experience as an electronics hobbyist.

 

[techno935]

Found a pretty good review on the Consumer Reports website. This solves most of my dilemma. Insignia & Zenith beat out Magnavox.

 

[Techfizzle]

dont forget korea! thats were my cs6000 is made! it says "suplied by jinhigtek corp" does this mean its a clone?

 

[digiblur]

Stay away from the Magnavox boxes....complete garbage.

 

[Techfizzle]

speaking of magnavox, I bought a little bookshelf HTIB from them. The silver paint rubbed off after 2 week use. There was some wierd din plug that conncted power from one of the speakers to the center receiver. The connector barley fit (too small) and the thing kep shorting out. I paid $80 for it. I was at walmart a day ago and they were on sale for $50. A little word of advice on tech shopping never, ever buy anthing that has a 60,70,80,etc percecnt clearance on it. They are usualy junk and alot of times there are no returns on them. I also see electronics made in indonesia and canada

 

[allargon]

My girlfriend got one of the Philco boxes from HEB (TX based grocery store chain) for $39.99+tax. She just had to pay the tax.

 

[yaz96]

I am so sick of chinese junk! Haire, GE, Magnavox, Emerson, Sansui, Durabrand, Phillps, are junk. I have boughten stuff from them and it falls apart ! They paint it with silver fingernail polish that rubs off after a week of use! The connectors are sloppy. They make stuff so CHEAP it should be illegal to even buy this crap! Pre Mid 90's Are ok, but after that they were bought out by mindless Chinese people that hire monkees as employes, that we lend $3 billion dollars a day, thats why the dollar is so weak right now. I dont want to even STEP into a walmart anymore, back in the mid 90's 4% of stock was made in china now 97% of stock is. I am just so sick of it! Back then you go buy stuff, that you could drop in a lake, then run over it, then bomb it, and it WOULD STILL WORK!!!
Good Brands: Sony, RCA, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitshubishi, Samsung

RCA? Not anymore.......

and Phillips electronics/TV's are not bad.

 

[techno935]

Lets see how Echostar fairs in it's ability to impress us satellite/OTA guys. (TR-40/DTVPal)

 

[Stargazer]

RCA has been junk since the 90's. GE/Thompson is the same thing as RCA. I had an RCA television that went crazy (came from Wal-Mart) 12 years ago and when I was taking it back someone else said they had one and it blew up on them not long after getting it. The only way I will get an RCA is if it is a very cheap used tv (just like the 15 year old 36 inch tv I got for $50) or if it is a lot cheaper than the other televisions and has a good review.

I would recommend buying the converter box from a local store because if it goes bad you have the cost of shipping and the wait time. By the time you pay shipping you dont really save anything. The only exception would be if you lived a ways from town then the cost of gas would make it worthwhile. GE is supposedly the worst one you can buy from the reviews. Magnavox is not getting very good reviews either and has a higher rate of non-working units right out of the box from what I have read. When they do work, they work well.

Hopefully Echostar makes a good product. If not then they will get bad press very quickly. My father has two coupons and I plan on using it on the Echostar units.

 

[zenithtv]

Save a nickel! Save a dime! Take to the bank tite fingers Stargazer!

 

[Mike500]

I just helped an older family member buy a couple of the Zenith converters. I think they were about $60 a piece. They seem to be decent with a pretty sensitive tuner and are found at most Circuit City locations. I read that there was an audio problem on older versions of the box that has since been fixed on ones manufactured in April or later. Last week when we went to buy them, they had about a 100 of them stacked on the shelves that had the April manufacture date.

The audio problem matters only if you feed the sound to a very high end tv or stereo system.

For regular TV's on analog coax or a standard RCA connection, they work just fine.

 

[Phoenix1]

Here's a good source for ordering a converter box that has a good selection: Free DTV Shop

 

[roashru]

dont forget korea! thats were my cs6000 is made! it says "suplied by jinhigtek corp" does this mean its a clone?

I did forget about South Korea home of Lucky Goldstar (LG) owner of Zenith now.

Depending on what company I would say South Korea = good

A lot of it has to do with quality control too. Electronic devices made in Hong Kong seem to always have this problem.

I havent been in any electronics stores to look at some of the converter boxes. I think the Sansonic/Lasonic converter boxes are made in Taiwan R.O.C. (Some Taiwan companies products are marked made in China even though they were made in Taiwan) if they are they should be a good quality for the price.