I need to get a couple more digital tuners for my analog vintage sets at home, I used up the two I had already at my mom's house on a couple antique tvs I put over there. One is a swoopy-shaped GE box, I like the cool variable zoom feature on that one. Other is a Magnavox, no zoom. The thing I'm not crazy about either one is the remote buttons seem to be layed out almost randomly, no WAY can you get used to using them without out looking at them every time. Just wondering if you guys/gals out there have hit on any other boxes that stand out as well-featured and easy to use at similar low prices, i.e. $50 or less. Also any that you've hit on that do much better at pulling in stations than others with a set-top antenna. I could use recommendation on a GOOD set-top antenna too, I have a lot of trouble with the ones I've used (standard UHF loop type).
Thanks!

You can look for features of various boxes here: http://web.archive.org/web/201105061017 ... CECB_units

If you like building things, here are plans for a reflector type antenna that might work better than cheap rabbit ears:

http://www.tvantennaplans.com/

I built one similar to this some years ago, after the transition to digital broadcasting. It seemed better than other antennas, but I never seriously used it, as we live in a horrid reception area and we have cable TV, which I can broadcast throughout the house with an in-home TV transmitter.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

The general consensus was that the second version of the Zenith box was head and shoulders better than anything else on the market. We have had two of them running as much as 18-20 hours a day since before the changeover. It was also sold under a private brand, perhaps that was Insignia?

I would not try using a set-top antenna. We experimented with that here, and the results were terrible because the stations are 25-30 miles away. Positioning was super critical, so we replaced our old roof top antenna with a new one and it works well.

The best digital TV set-top tuners:
Zenith DTT-900
Zenith DTT-901
Insignia NS-DXA1
Insignia NS-DXA1-APT
Channel Master CM7000

All are off the market but can be found on Ebay and/or Craigslist at times.

I can attest to the Zenith DTT-901. I have two of them.
Works very well, although it seems to have trouble receiving the program guide info from
CBC / CBLT in Toronto, that other tuners can receive fine. Other than that it's a great tuner.

There are several computer optimised models of antenna ya can build located here.
http://clients.teksavvy.com/~nickm/gh_u.html

In addition to the list above, I've had good luck with the Digitalstream boxes that RadioShack sells. I have two such boxes that were bought before the DTV transition and I have not had the first problem with either one. Their sensitivity is also decent. I also have a Funai-built Magnavox (also sold under the Philco brand) box that has been trouble free; but, it's sensitivity does not seem to be as good as the Digitalstream or Channel Master boxes.

I will also tell you to NOT waste your money on ANY APEX brand DTV box. I've had two of those that went into meltdown shortly after they were bought.

An Insigna NS-DXA1-APT converter and Winegard SS-3000 indoor antenna has worked well for stations up to about 10 -15 miles away, since 2008. Stations a bit further away requires some fiddling with antenna position, distant stations I cannot receive. An upgrade to a roof antenna, probably a Channel Master 4221HD will happen at some point.

Thanks for the tips and links everybody, looks like the Zenith(s) are what I am going to shop for.

Well, I am a little late in chiming in (I have been on vacation), but I will add my 2 cents worth.

I have both a Zenith DTT-900 and a Digitalstream.

The Zenith DTT-900 has a bug (at least mine does) in that if you leave it turned on for about a week it will crash. You get a blue screen and a crash dump showing the state of various memory locations. This is a problem if you are going to be away for a few weeks and want your VCR to record some shows. I have no idea if the Zenith DTT-901 has the same bug.

I like the two levels of zoom available on the Digitalstream. Both mine and my brother's died after awhile. In both cases there was a bad electrolytic in the power supply. The one on mine bulged making it easy to find. The one on my brother's did not bulge, but it was in the same location on the circuit board. I had suitable replacements laying around from an old computer power supply that I had torn apart.

Yeah I have heard the 900 was a lil buggy. and if I'm not mistaken, used an earlier tuner chipset/design?
The DTT-901 was improved version. LG made them and put the Zenith name on them.
I think I got my two spring of 2009 when the gov't was providing coupons. No issues with either one other than what I pointed out earlier.

I'm hopefully getting a used Zenith DTT-901 on ebay, cheap (but with instructions) and will post back on results. If I adore it I'll hunt up another one. Thanks again.