The savior of VCR's and DVR's in the HDTV world
Written: Jul 29 '09 (Updated Aug 28 '09)
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Pros: Tuner sensitivity, video and audio quality, programmable timer events, manual channel scanning
Cons: Somewhat inaccurate clock, minimal schedule data decoding, confusing menus
The Bottom Line: Excellent features and performance, low price (CECB), it's a great bargain.
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| towwang's Full Review: Zinwell ZAT-970A Digital TV Converter Box |
In this review: installation, setup, features, performance and usability.
The Zinwell ZAT-970A is a converter box for television signals. It converts signals from high-definition television (a.k.a. HDTV, digital TV, ATSC) into standard definition (a.k.a. SDTV, NTSC, 480i, etc.). This review is being published after the shutdown of NTSC broadcasts in the U.S., so I will rephrase the government's mantra: if you use a standard-definition TV set, and subscribe to cable TV, satellite TV service (e.g. DISH Network, DirecTV, etc.), you do not need to buy such a converter box. If you plan to unsubscribe to such services and revert to receiving TV signals as broadcast on the air, then your SDTV set would need such a converter box.
The two most attractive features of the ZAT-970A are:
1)It is a "coupon-eligible converter box" (CECB), which means that you can request up to two government coupons, each worth $40, to apply towards the purchase price of this particular model.
2)It has a timer feature that allows you to continue using your standard definition video recorders (e.g. VHS and SVHS VCR's, analog Tivo's) to record your favorite TV shows.
The following WikiPedia page lists most, if not all, of the CECB boxes available for sale, and their major features:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CECB_units
This information proved invaluable for my shopping decisions. We own multiple analog video recorders and plan to continue using them to record scheduled TV shows, so the availability of a timer feature is a must-have for the needs of my household.
[Box in the box]
The ZAT-970A measures just 175 x 135 x 33 mm, and comes in a small box tightly packaged and with minimal cushioning. Its contents are:
1) ZAT-970A main unit
2) AC-DC adapter
3) Infrared remote control
4) 2 AAA batteries for the remote control
5) 75 Ohm coaxial cable
6) User's guide and quick-setup pamphlet
The accessories many users would have to purchase separately are:
1) RCA audio-video cable (3 male to 3 male). It is not absolutely necessary, but it would allow for better picture and sound quality when the converter box is connected directly to the TV's audio and video inputs.
2) External antenna. Can be indoors or outdoors, amplified or not. (More about this in the "performance" section.)
[Installation and setup]
Before installing this converter box, you need to decide:
1) Whether to use the composite video and audio outputs of this box, or its radio-frequency (RF) output. The former provides better picture quality, but you need to supply your own audio/video cable, and obviously your TV or VCR must have this type of inputs to connect to. The RF output is convenient for users who want to watch both ATSC and NTSC broadcasts (because the law still allows some low-power NTSC stations to continue broadcasting); read more about the analog pass-through in the "Features" section of this review. You can use both types of outputs at the same time if you wish.
2) Whether you will want to record ATSC broadcasts. Just as was the case with cable TV converter boxes of the 1980's and 1990's, the user is faced with the dilemma of connecting the box directly to the TV (and not being able to record TV shows), or to the VCR or other recording device (which carries the inconvenience of not being able to watch any other channel when your VCR is recording a TV show).
The manual has an illustration for connecting the ZAT-970A directly to a TV set only. The omission of information for VCR connection is glaring, given the fact that this product features a programmable timer.
Another point worth noting is that the ZAT-970A has 75 Ohm coaxial input (to receive signals from an external antenna) and output connectors. If your external antenna has 300 Ohm connectors (two prongs secured with scews or clamps), you will also need a 300-to-75 Ohm adapter.
Once all the cables are connected, and the AC adapter is plugged in, the user can begin the setup process, which can be completed only with the use of the remote control. Upon initially turning on the ZAT-970A, you will see menus to perform the following steps:
1) Choose your time zone. Only time zones for the U.S. are available. Users in other countries will have to set their time zone by GMT offset (i.e. How many hours ahead or behind GMT), and there is no further support for daylight saving time as instituted in other countries.
2) Scan for all available ATSC broadcast channels. Before beginning this step, make sure your antenna is connected and (if applicable) turned on. The scanning takes about 2 minutes, which is reasonably fast; the ZAT-970A scans all frequencies that used to be occupied by NTSC VHF and UHF channels 2 through 69.
Once done, you can begin viewing to the ATSC broadcasts the ZAT-970A found.
[Features]
The most notable features of the ZAT-970A are (in decreasing order of importance to me):
1) Wake-up timer. You can program the ZAT-970A to turn on and tune to any particular channel at the time you want. You can program up to 8 such wake-up events, within the next 12 months. This can be used in conjunction with your VCR to record scheduled TV shows. An event can be once, weekly, daily, or montly. Unfortunately there is no option for "Monday through Friday"; recording such regular shows would take 5 of the 8 available event slots.
I verified that, even if the ZAT-970A is powered on, when a scheduled wake-up event arrives, it will change to the channel programmed for that event. Note however, that these events only turn ON the box and change the channel; there is no way to program the box to turn off at specific times.
2) Ability to add, edit and remove channels manually. The problem with some CECB's is this: often there will be broadcast stations that can only be received if the antenna is pointed to specific (and different) positions. If you scanned with the antenna in one position, you only see one set of stations. Then if you re-scan with the antenna in another position, you will only see a different set of stations. Fortunately, the ZAT-970A lets you re-orient your antenna and search for those missing stations. To me, it is unbelievable that some CECB's are sold without this capability!
3) Front panel buttons: power, channel up and down. You can access this basic functionality even if the remote is damaged or unavailable.
4) Aspect ratio. You can choose between
a) 4:3 letter box, whereby the entire 16:9 widescreen broadcast image is displayed, with black bars above and below it to fill the screen
b) 4:3 pan and scan, whereby only the most "important" part of the 16:9 image is displayed filling your TV screen
c) 16:9 wide screen, whereby the entire 16:9 widescreen broadcast image is displayed filling your TV screen, most likely making all shapes appear taller and thinner.
You can also press the "Zoom" button on the remote control to switch between these three modes.
5) Sleep timer. You can set the ZAT-970A to turn off automatically (enter "stand by" mode) after 1, 2, 4 or 8 hours of use. This function can be disabled, but the manual states that, by default, it will turn off after 4 hours.
6) RF pass-through. If in your area both ATSC and low-power NTSC stations are broadcasting simultaneously, you can switch between the two using the same antenna connected to your ZAT-970A. The box has a menu option to enable or disable RF pass-through, so you can choose between tuning using the ZAT-970A or using your TV's NTSC tuner. Although pass-through is enabled when you turn off the ZAT-970A, the manual states that pass-through works best by keeping the ZAT-970A powered on, and using its menu option to enable it.
7) OSD transparency. The on-screen display can be made more transparent, so that you can see more of the broadcast picture when the OSD is on, or more opaque, so that the OSD is more readable.
I consider this set of features to be above average, judging from the brochures and manuals of other CECB's I used or looked at. The main short-comings of this product, in terms of features alone, are:
1) Program guide. The ZAT-970A only displays what show is broadcast now and in the next hour. Other CECB's reportedly can display show schedules within a span of several hours.
2) S-Video (or better) output connectivity. An S-Video output would provide better color accuracy than even the composite video output of the ZAT-970A.
Component, VGA or HDMI outputs would disqualify the product from the $40 coupon discount, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's rules. The reasoning is that these coupons should be used only for converter boxes that will be connected to old NTSC analog TV sets, and the rules enforce this intent by making these boxes unusable (or less useful) when paired with high-definition TV's. While I commend the NTIA's effort to help the population save money (buying a converter box rather than replacing a perfectly working TV), I deplore their ignoring the ecological and usability impacts of these restrictions:
1) Tens or hundreds of thousands of "HDTV-ready" TV sets were sold that lacked ATSC tuners. They did have component inputs for non-interlaced (high quality) display, but will not be able to take advantage of this capability. "If you were rich enough to buy these early HDTV's, you don't deserve help acquiring a tuner for it."
2) VGA outputs would defer obsolescence on MILLIONS of CRT computer monitors that are being prematurely discarded in favor of LCD displays. Allowing such a feature would have instantly converted those monitors into high quality TV sets, and deferred their interment into landfills.
[Performance]
The following performance aspects are what I considered most important:
1) Tuning and sensitivity. I was able to receive over 93% of the stations serving my area, according to TVGuide. This was using a Recoton 575 indoor amplified antenna that over the years has proved to be an excellent device. Granted, I had to reorient the antenna for different channels, but I was able to find the "sweet" position for even some weak stations. The sensitivity of this product's automatic channel scanning is such that it will detect channels even if their signal is not clear enough to provide a viewable video stream. The advantage is that it gives users a hint as to what channels can be picked up by re-orienting the antenna. The disadvantage is that one has to edit the channel list to weed out stations that cannot be picked up no matter the orientation of the antenna.
I then tested with a GE Optima amplified indoor antenna, and reception became much poorer. With this antenna, I could receive only 60% of the stations in my area. I concluded that the ZAT-970A's sensitivity is quite adequate; you just have to have a good antenna to receive digital television.
Another fact that impressed me positively is that ZAT-970A was able to tune to the same stations when I moved it into an office with multiple computers on. These sources of interference did not seem to bother the ZAT-970A at all.
2) Picture quality. The ZAT-970A provides near DVD-quality images. Most users will not notice a difference between the converted ATSC video and a DVD playing back unless they are compared side by side (using an analog NTSC TV, of course). I did not notice any excessive blurring or jagged edges in image sequences with a lot of movement.
3) Sound quality. I evaluated this using the RCA audio outputs. The down-sampled AC-3 audio was clear and had excellent stereo separation, probably better than MTS stereo from NTSC decoders. I wish the CECB had a digital output for Dolby AC-3! I noticed that the Line-Out level is rather low when the audio output setting is on "Line mode". Once I changed it to "RF mode", the volume of Line-Out increased to a more reasonable level, with no apparent degradation in quality.
I did encounter loss of synchronization between video and audio a few times, especially when changing channels while re-orienting the antenna. Changing to another channel, then back, solved this problem every time.
4) Timers. I have tested the programmable timers a few times, and they worked as advertised. The ZAT-970A automatically sets its clock from broadcast signals, and it looks accurate at first.
I have read reports that the clock will drift off over time, and can confirm that the clock is not very accurate. The clock tends to run a little fast: after about a month of continuous operation, I have seen the ZAT-970A's clock run between 30 and 90 seconds faster than the clock on its counter-part VCR. This would be a small annoyance if you try to program it to record TV shows airing on different channels in consecutive time slots. (Due to this problem, I am downgrading the product to 4 stars, being mindful nevertheless, that so few competing CECB's offer a programmable timer at all.)
[Usability]
The on-screen menus of the ZAT-970A are somewhat complicated, and could be better organized. The main menu has these entries: Channel, Installation, Setup, Tools. I keep having trouble remembering that to scan for a channel I have to go into "installation", not "Channel"; that changing the aspect ratio is under "Setup", not "Tools", etc. The naming of the menu items is confusing, in my opinion.
Also, when programming a wake-up timer event, after entering the date and time, a dialog appears asking you to confirm what you entered. Problem is, the default response to this dialog is "No"; if you hit "Enter" too quickly, you end up deleting the event you just tried to create (and there is no further indication that the event was NOT programmed).
The on-screen display on the other hand, is better. There is a useful signal indicator informing you whether you are receiving a strong signal, and if not, you can re-orient the antenna to improve reception. I just wish I had the option of keeping this indicator on-screen longer; it disappears after several seconds, even if I have not finished twisting the antenna.
The adjustable transparency level of the OSD can be useful if you watch broadcast movies in foreign languages. You would not miss out on the dialogue in an unfamiliar language because the OSD would not completely block the visibility of the subtitles.
The remote control is about average. It is small and light-weight, and so are the buttons thereon. The buttons feel a little "mushy" and provide barely adequate tactile feedback to let you know that the key has been pushed down enough to be registered. It requires two triple-A batteries.
[Conclusion]
Overall, I am very satisfied with this product. The fact that I want to continue using my analog video recorders meant that I had very few choices among the CECB's. The ZAT-970A has programmable timer events, excellent video and audio output quality, and is a CECB, making it a great bargain. The few shortcomings of the product are tolerable.
[Revision history]
2009-07-29 Written by and copyright Tow Wang 2009.
2009-08-28 Update on A/V synchronization and clock drift.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
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Epinions.com ID:
towwang
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Member: Tow Wang
Location: California; U.S.A.
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
Rabidly passionate about computers and electronics!
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