This is an update to the review I posted last July 2008. Last year I bought two of these little guys. Both have failed. Microgem replaced the first one last August after about two months of use in a lake house in upstate NY. The second one, located in our house in Virginia, quit last week. Now it appears that Microgem's web site is down. I have e-mailed them, but it appears that they are not around any more. I bought the unit because it had a one year warantee... we will see if it is any good.
Text of original July 2008 review:::::::::
Unlike some units it quickly changes channels with no delay. The remote is easy to use and can adjust TV volume, but will not turn the TV off. Both are feeding late 1980s TVs that only have antenna inputs. One TV is so old that it does not have a coax cable antenna input. The picture and sound for any station that comes in is fantastic. Unit 1 is in our suburban Springfield VA bedroom. It is fed by an outdoor amplified antenna that also serves two other TVs and an FM tuner. It gets all the local Washington DC channels. Unit 2 is in our cottage located in a lake valley between mountains southwest of Syracuse NY. It is fed by a rooftop UHF/VHF antenna in a fringe location. It gets all of the local Syracuse digital channels now that the antenna is not near any trees. The manual needs to be clearer about how you switch the unit from channel 3 to channel 4. The unit does not have an analog pass thru, you will have to rig up a A/B switch if you are going watch a translator or low power station before or after February 2009. This unit can not remember the programed stations after any power outage. It takes a few minutes for it to scan and program the channels. When the unit is off it has a red LED light/eye that some may find annoying -- we call it Cyclops. Finally I was very disappointed that I was unable to get good signals on all stations with this unit at either location with the UHF/VHF rabbit ear antennas that had been feeding these TVs. However I do not believe that is the fault of Microgem. The digital signals at both locations are not as stong as the analog stations they replace. Physics is physics: digital or not, the new lower power signals do not work as well as the high power stations they replace. I had to upgrade my antennas in both locations, even though we had usable analog signals before the conversion in both locations.
| Smart antenna? | No |
| Closed Captions? | Yes |
| CECB certified? | Yes |
| Recorder? | No |
| EPG? | Yes |
| NTSC tuner? | No |
| Analog cable tuner? | No |
| QAM tuner | No |
| Component video inputs | 0 |
| S-video inputs | 0 |
| Composite video inputs | 0 |
| Digital audio input | No digital audio inputs |
| DVI outputs | 0 |
| HDMI output | No |
| Component video outputs | 0 |
| S-Video outputs | 0 |
| Composite video outputs | 1 |
| RF outputs | 1 |
| Digital audio output | No digital audio outputs |
| 480i | Yes |
| 480p | No |
| 720p | No |
| 1080i | No |
| 1080p | No |
| Surround sound | No |
| USB/USB2 | No |
| Ethernet | No |
| Additional info | Electonic Program Guide is for currently tuned station only. It shows what is going to be on that station for next 24 hours. |
- CECB certified (Is this a certified Coupon-Eligible Converter Box)
CECB stands for Coupon-Eligible Converter Box. This means that a box that is CECB certified is eligible for U.S. government coupon which is worth $40. Households can apply to get such coupons via U.S. DTV web page and then use the coupon to get CECB certified DTV converter for free.
- EPG (Electronic program guide (EPG))
EPG stand for Electronic Program Guide and is an on-screen guide to scheduled broadcast television or radio programs. EPG allows the viewer to browse upcoming programming with the remote control.
- Recorder (Integrated video recorder (HDD))
If the DTV converter has a built-in recorder it can be used to record broadcasts.
- NTSC tuner (Integrated analog over-the-air tuner (NTSC))
NTSC tuner is an analog tuner which can pickup over-the-air (OTA) broadcast signals. The tuner will become obsolete on Feb. 17, 2009, as the USA switches to digital only OTA broadcasts.
- Analog cable tuner (Integrated analog cable tuner)
Analog cable tuner is required to receive the analog cable broadcasts. Cable companies are not obliged to switch over to digital transmissions on Feb 17, 2009, and thus the analog tuner can still be of use in some regions.
- Smart antenna (Smart antenna)
A smart antenna system combines multiple standard antenna elements with a signal-processing capability to optimize the reception pattern automatically in response to the signal environment. In other words, smart antenna saves the trouble of manually adjusting the antenna for optimal reception.
- Closed Captions (Support for Closed Captions (CC))
Support for closed captions means that the digital-to-analog converter box can convert over-the-air digital closed captioning for display on analog TV sets. According to the FCC rules all DTA converters are obliged to support this feature.
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