It’s been a fairly busy week again... not so frenzied as last week, but enough to keep me away from my desk. Remember the backup transmitter I wrote about last week at our Elmira station – the 50-year-old GE, built right here in Syracuse? Well, it got promoted late last week when their main transmitter’s final tube died, and has been chugging happily along ever since. Once again, hooray for well designed and well built equipment!
Now for a look at the last DTV converter in my pile, made by a company I’ve never encountered before: Digital Stream. Researching the web turns up their company web site: it is mostly written in Korean, peppered with English phrases like “transformation consultation” – that’s what they call their help line. It appears that Radio Shack contracted with this company to make a coupon-eligible converter for their stores. At least there are a lot of Radio Shacks around to handle questions: I don’t think you’re going to get much help from Digital Stream, unless you speak Korean.
At $59.99 ($19.99, less the coupon), the Digital Stream is the same price as the Zenith / Insignia and $10 more than the Magnavox. The packaging is the most impressive of the batch – a well-printed carton with a molded cardboard insert tray, and a fold-up map style instruction brochure printed on glossy paper. Evidently the folks at Digital Stream spend their attention on product appearance and function, rather than on their web site.
What's in the box
Inside you’ll find the usual stuff: the converter, a remote with battery, an antenna cable, and the glossy manual.
Hooking it up
Having hooked up three other converter boxes by now, there should be no surprises... and there weren’t. If anything, the Digital Stream is the easiest to set up: there’s a switch on the back to select whether it feeds your TV on channel 3 or 4. I like that touch much better than having to drill through a bunch of menus to change the output channel. Once you turn it on, the on-screen instructions walk you through the rest of the setup process quickly and easily. Of all of the converters tested, the Digital Stream finds available channels the fastest... and shows you the growing list as it finds them.
How does it look?
The picture and sound are very good, though the picture is a bit softer than the Zenith / Insignia twins, and the Magnavox. I spent part of this morning looking at all of the converters on our test equipment, and there are some real differences... but we’ll get into that next week. The Digital Stream is also bit more finicky about the quality of the antenna feed than the other converters; if you live in an area with difficult reception, this might not be the best choice.
How easy is it to use?
Earlier I had commented on Digital Stream’s attention to appearance; that becomes most apparent when you look at the remote control and see the on-screen menus and displays.
The verdict isn’t unanimous about the remote: it’s my favorite of the bunch because the buttons are distinctly different, and the shape of the remote fits my hand better than the rather slender Zenith / Insignia. My wife and daughter, on the other hand, find the labeling less clear. In any case, the functionality is very similar to the Zenith / Insignia, and far better than the Magnavox. You can turn the TV on and off and control the volume with this remote.
One minor quibble has to do with the zoom control: while the Zenith / Insignia remembers zoom settings for each channel, the Digital Stream’s zoom applies to all. If you’ve been watching Good Morning America in widescreen form on channel 9-1 and change the channel to 9-2, you will see a small picture with black on every side until you change the zoom setting. Not a deal breaker, but not as nice as remembering that I like to watch 9-2 full-screen.
On-screen displays are really nice... easy to read, informative and intuitive. We’ll spend some time next week comparing how the different boxes present themselves.
One thing to consider: if you want to have separate converters for your television set and for your VCR – to be able to record one program while watching another – you might want to buy different brands so that you can control one without disturbing the other. A Zenith / Insignia would be a good choice for the TV, and this Digital Stream would be my pick to feed the VCR.
What's the bottom line?
Overall, the Zenith / Insignia (identical units made by LG) is still my favorite, but the Digital Stream is not far behind.
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It’s not the cheapest converter, but $20 after the coupon is reasonable
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Setup is the fastest in the bunch
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Picture and sound are very good, though the picture is slightly soft
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The remote control is easy to use, yet gives you a lot of useful functions
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The receiver is a bit less tolerant of a poor signal, and is quicker to break up than the other converters
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On-screen displays are fantastic; the electronic program guide lets you see farther into the future than the other converters
Let’s give the Digital Stream a high B+.
Next week we’ll look at the units side-by-side, and compare video performance and on-screen displays.
I’m hoping to finish up the prototype antenna this weekend and get it permanently mounted outdoors... then I’ll start putting together a step-by-step description of how you can do it yourself.
Have a great weekend!
-- Jeff
