Robert Grant
11-08-2008, 04:30 PM
Review of Access HD Model DTA1030D Digital to Analog TV Converter (Serial number R070830044640).
I recently tried an Access HD Model DTA1030D Digital to Analog TV Converter in search of a more practical tuner for a portable DTV receiver rig. Like the Sansonic FT-300A, it does not require AC power, per se, as it uses an (included) external power supply and thus has a DC input jack. But the AccessHD offered two obvious advantages over the Sansonic: it is narrower than the Sansonic and has the front panel buttons (ch up, ch down and power) lacking on the Sansonic. Having to carry a remote everywhere and worrying about losing it is an annoyance when one is using a portable.
The DTA1030D has a plastic body, quite compact (narrow), and is extremely well vented.
The DC input uses a larger plug than the Sansonic and the input voltage is 5.8V instead of 5.1.
The AccessHD allows for direct entry of the actual RF channel. Channel access is similiar to the RCA ATSC-11 - enter any actual RF channel (that is not already in memory as the virtual channel of another station), and, if the DTA1030D finds a signal, it will instantly, without any action by the user, store that channel into memory and file it according to it's virtual channel. Once this has happened, you can not remove the channel from memory, only designate it as a channel to "skip". Once you have, for example, WDIV in the memory (virtual channel 4, actual 45, before and after transition), you will be unable to tune any DTV station that actually transmits on 4 with this tuner unless you do a new auto scan and make sure WDIV-DT's channel 45 signal is not present at the antenna input. Unlike the RCA ATSC11, it does have the "add-on channel" scan (a la Zenith and Digital Stream) as well.
The automatic channel scan is somewhat slowish compared to the others.
Sadly, the instruction book makes no mention of actual channel entry, so many owners who are not TV DXers will miss out on some of their local channels.
The DTA1030D has the best EPG I have yet seen in a CECB, with detailed info of current and future programs (in one case, I observed that the program guide showed information on the programs of WBGU-DT2 [Kids Go] 19 hours into the future!)
The tests were done in a matter similar to others I've done before and posted here. The DTA1030D was attached to the CM 3020 antenna through a splitter sharing it's source with the Sansonic FT-300A (first) and (then with) the Sylvania 6427GFF digital CRT TV.
UHF sensitivity performance appeared to be equal to the Sansonic on higher UHF channels, and slightly better than the Sansonic on the lower UHF channels.
The DTA1030D's multipath tolerance was good, but not as good as the Sansonic (to dynamic multipath in particular). This could mean that the DTA1030D may need a more stable opening to ID a lowband DTV station by sporadic-E, and it could cause some problems when strong winds occur IF somebody uses the DTA1030D with rabbit ears inside a brick or concrete house surrounded by mature trees. Most people (including DXers) otherwise should not have a problem. The multipath tolerance of the DTA1030D is still significantly better than the older Sylvania DTV set.
Picture and sound quality was very good (excellent sound, full NTSC quality limited by the color bandwidth and dot crawl inherent with NTSC encoding) when used with composite video/R/L inputs (i.e. 3 RCA jacks). I did note that when watching HDTV programs in the "zoom" display mode with the DTA1030, some video was lost at the top and bottom of the picture, and some "squeezing" occurred, this results in "crawls" at the top of the bottom of the screen being cropped out if they are right at the top or bottom in the station's original program. Note that this is the reverse situation compared to the Digital Stream DTX9950, which cropped out the crawls on 480i programs and kept them on HD!
Now the bad news. I can only describe the picture and sound quality of the DTA1030D I purchased as POOR when used with it's internal RF modulator. the picture had moire patterns (internal interference), poor gamma/chroma relationship (unnatural colors in dark objects) and obvious buzzing in the audio when tested on three different TV sets. An external RF modulator ($13 at Family Dollar) solves the problem, providing fine picture and sound, but it makes more sense to buy a CECB with an acceptable internal RF moduator anyway. I cannot recommend the DTA1030D to someone who intends to use it with an older TV that lacks video/audio inputs (e.g. the 5" battery-powered B&W I had intended to use it with).
The DTA1030D is made in China (PRC). The only CECB I have seen so far that is not is by Zinwell (Taiwan), I have not yet had the opportunity to test one of their units.
Robert Grant (N8NU)
Michigan.
I recently tried an Access HD Model DTA1030D Digital to Analog TV Converter in search of a more practical tuner for a portable DTV receiver rig. Like the Sansonic FT-300A, it does not require AC power, per se, as it uses an (included) external power supply and thus has a DC input jack. But the AccessHD offered two obvious advantages over the Sansonic: it is narrower than the Sansonic and has the front panel buttons (ch up, ch down and power) lacking on the Sansonic. Having to carry a remote everywhere and worrying about losing it is an annoyance when one is using a portable.
The DTA1030D has a plastic body, quite compact (narrow), and is extremely well vented.
The DC input uses a larger plug than the Sansonic and the input voltage is 5.8V instead of 5.1.
The AccessHD allows for direct entry of the actual RF channel. Channel access is similiar to the RCA ATSC-11 - enter any actual RF channel (that is not already in memory as the virtual channel of another station), and, if the DTA1030D finds a signal, it will instantly, without any action by the user, store that channel into memory and file it according to it's virtual channel. Once this has happened, you can not remove the channel from memory, only designate it as a channel to "skip". Once you have, for example, WDIV in the memory (virtual channel 4, actual 45, before and after transition), you will be unable to tune any DTV station that actually transmits on 4 with this tuner unless you do a new auto scan and make sure WDIV-DT's channel 45 signal is not present at the antenna input. Unlike the RCA ATSC11, it does have the "add-on channel" scan (a la Zenith and Digital Stream) as well.
The automatic channel scan is somewhat slowish compared to the others.
Sadly, the instruction book makes no mention of actual channel entry, so many owners who are not TV DXers will miss out on some of their local channels.
The DTA1030D has the best EPG I have yet seen in a CECB, with detailed info of current and future programs (in one case, I observed that the program guide showed information on the programs of WBGU-DT2 [Kids Go] 19 hours into the future!)
The tests were done in a matter similar to others I've done before and posted here. The DTA1030D was attached to the CM 3020 antenna through a splitter sharing it's source with the Sansonic FT-300A (first) and (then with) the Sylvania 6427GFF digital CRT TV.
UHF sensitivity performance appeared to be equal to the Sansonic on higher UHF channels, and slightly better than the Sansonic on the lower UHF channels.
The DTA1030D's multipath tolerance was good, but not as good as the Sansonic (to dynamic multipath in particular). This could mean that the DTA1030D may need a more stable opening to ID a lowband DTV station by sporadic-E, and it could cause some problems when strong winds occur IF somebody uses the DTA1030D with rabbit ears inside a brick or concrete house surrounded by mature trees. Most people (including DXers) otherwise should not have a problem. The multipath tolerance of the DTA1030D is still significantly better than the older Sylvania DTV set.
Picture and sound quality was very good (excellent sound, full NTSC quality limited by the color bandwidth and dot crawl inherent with NTSC encoding) when used with composite video/R/L inputs (i.e. 3 RCA jacks). I did note that when watching HDTV programs in the "zoom" display mode with the DTA1030, some video was lost at the top and bottom of the picture, and some "squeezing" occurred, this results in "crawls" at the top of the bottom of the screen being cropped out if they are right at the top or bottom in the station's original program. Note that this is the reverse situation compared to the Digital Stream DTX9950, which cropped out the crawls on 480i programs and kept them on HD!
Now the bad news. I can only describe the picture and sound quality of the DTA1030D I purchased as POOR when used with it's internal RF modulator. the picture had moire patterns (internal interference), poor gamma/chroma relationship (unnatural colors in dark objects) and obvious buzzing in the audio when tested on three different TV sets. An external RF modulator ($13 at Family Dollar) solves the problem, providing fine picture and sound, but it makes more sense to buy a CECB with an acceptable internal RF moduator anyway. I cannot recommend the DTA1030D to someone who intends to use it with an older TV that lacks video/audio inputs (e.g. the 5" battery-powered B&W I had intended to use it with).
The DTA1030D is made in China (PRC). The only CECB I have seen so far that is not is by Zinwell (Taiwan), I have not yet had the opportunity to test one of their units.
Robert Grant (N8NU)
Michigan.