Finally got my new HD STB

[ReesR]

After waiting weeks for a promised shipment of a Samsung TS-160 I finally had to give up on American Satellite.  Tonight I drove to Crystal Lake, IL and purchased one at Tweeter.  I originally called the Gurnee store but they had run out.  They however, (without even asking) checked their online system and noticed that the Tweeter store in Crystal Lake had some.  I called and they had one left.  Bam, I was in the car.  I didn't want to wait til the Best Buy date of October 20th to get one.

So, it's gonna be a late one tonight.  (grin)  Actually, I may get it out of the box but will wait til tomorrow to hook it up.  

By the way, I paid $599 less a $50 mail in rebate.  So, for those looking for one of the new ones there is one lead for you to check up on.  I was told that their Colorado warehouse had 200 of them.

If anyone is interested I will post my opinion of the box here tomorrow.

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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2 16X9
Bi-directional AntennaCraft VHF Yagi Model #2260P
+
2 Winegard PR9022 UHF yagi's pointing N & S
Antennas at about 30 feet

[StarvingForHDTV]

Congratulations!

I'm looking forward to your review.  It's one of the STB's that I am considering.  My hang up is the unit's ability to deal with 4:3 content when set in 1080i mode.  Maybe you can verify how it handles those types of signals.

Good luck,

Starving

[StarvingForHDTV]

The dealing with 4:3 content has been verified over at the AVS forum.  I guess if the Samsung receives native 480i signals like standard definition DirecTV or OTA analog, the stretching and zooming modes are enabled in the STB, when it is set to output an upconverted signal to the TV.

The only time the stretch and zoom modes are disabled is when the STB is receiving native 480p,720p,1080i content.  Of course  the majority of these signals from what I understand, you would not need or want to stretch or zoom as they are sent out in 16:9  On the other hand when you change to an OTA digital channel that is broadcasting non-HD content with sidebars, there will be no options to stretch or zoom the sidebars away in the STB itself.  That being said, the Samsung has the S-Video always active, so in those instances one would just push a button on the TV remote and switch to displaying the S-Video signal vs. the RGB or Component signals.  Then of course the TV's stretching modes take over.

This was a big issue for me between this box and the Sony/Zenith.  It's been solved and it turns out that it was just a misunderstanding or wrong information from the start.

According to the reviews of the box on the AVS forum, there is another issue with this box right now.  Apparently the Samsung does some red push via component out.  Are you planning on hooking it up via RGB?  If you do, I would be interested to know if the red push happens with that signal as well.

Soundcity.com was bashed a bit over at AVS, so I may go your route in getting the box if the redness issue is solved with a RGB connection.

Good luck,

Starving

[This message has been edited by StarvingForHDTV (edited 10-08-2002).]

[ReesR]

I just read your replies Starving.  I have not had a chance to do anything yet.  Just hook it up and turn on the access card.  I went to bed at 2am. (grin)

But to answer a specific question:

I am using component cables here.  Not RGB.  I just didn't want you to be waiting for something from me not knowing that I was never going to give you info on RGB.

More later, however.  I can say that the menus are blazing and the HD looks awsome so far.  I am going to have to truly understand all the options I have for aspect ratio because of the variables between the STB and my Sony receiver.

Stay tuned.

Rees

[ReesR]

Well after a few hours of getting to know the TS-160 here are a few observations.

The red push is there compared to looking at the same material on the Sony XBR I am using.  But the impression your left with is a very vivid picture.  But I must admit I wish I had a way to control it a bit.

The remote is well thought out.  The menu system is easy to navigate.

One negative compared with the Sony HD200 is a lack of a progressive stretch mode for standard def sources.  But if I need to use stretch modes all I would have to do is switch the TS160 to 480i mode.  Then my Sony receiver will be given control of the stretch modes.  Else I can just switch the Sony receiver to a video input which has standard def coming from TS-160 without having to manually switch to 480i with the switch on the back of the receiver.

All this seems complicated but it really isn't.  But I am slanting the comments about aspect ratio to the Sony TV I am using.  Your results may vary.

Anything you want me to try just ask.



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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2 16X9
Bi-directional AntennaCraft VHF Yagi Model #2260P
+
2 Winegard PR9022 UHF yagi's pointing N & S
Antennas at about 30 feet
Samsung SIR-TS160 HD Directv receiver