Zenith DTT901 How to use anolog pass thru feature? Reviews? Documentation? It's not in my Zenith manual?

Question

Why do some far away stations come in 3 or 4 channels for the same call letters, but I can't get Channel 2, 13, 16, 21, 40, 41, in ?Chicago area? Are they not able to be picked up digitally yet, but do come in with a cheap indoor antenna?

Answer

The channels you are not getting through the box are only broadcasting in Analog. The converter box will only sniff out the digital signals and send them to your TV (on channel 3 or 4). The Zenith DTT901 has a feature called Analog Pass Through which allows you to turn the box OFF so that the analog stations will Pass Through to your TV set on their respective channels on the TV (not the converter box). I wish you didn't have to turn off the converter box but that is what Zenith tells you to do or the way Pass Through was designed.

Here is the info from Zenith on Pass Through:

ANALLOG PASS-THROUGH FEATUREFederal law requires that all full

-power television stations must end analog broadcasts after February 17, 2009, but this does not include low

-power TV stations, such as:

- low-power or “community” stations of very restricted range (LPTV),

- Class A stations, and

- translator or booster stations.

These stations may continue to broadcast in analog after the February 17, 2009, digital conversion deadline for full-power television stations.

This Zenith converter box (Model DTT901) has a feature called Analog Pass-Through, which allows your analog TV to continue to tune the analog low-power stations.

-To receive analog stations, turn off the box; the analog signal will pass

-through the box to be tuned in the TV.

- To enjoy the digital stations, turn on the box; tune them through the converter box as explained in the operating guide.

Zenith DTT901 TV Converter

zenith dtt901 works wonders for local broadcast channels. NBC went from being fuzzy but watchable to being crystal clear. The zenith dtt901 has some nifty features like a program guide and is really easy to use and setup, and I like the remote. My only complaint is that it only scans for channels up to 59, and you cannot manually go to channels higher than that. I live in a fairly remote area and NBC is the only station I get locally, however I get ABC, CBS, FOX, and more at channels 80+. Not only can I not get them with the box, but while the box has analog pass through (allowing my TV to still see the analog signal), the reception through the box on these channels is worse than zenith dtt901 was when my antenna was plugged directly into the TV. So if I want to watch NBC I have to plug the antenna into the digital converter box, if I want to watch anything else, I have to plug it straight into the TV. This won't be a problem for most people, but I just wanted to warn people since it caught me by surprise when I hooked it up. Overall I'm happy with what the box can do, and if I lived somewhere else I would give zenith dtt901 5 stars, but for my purposes, it's disappointing.

Zenith DTT901

I own 6 DTV converter boxes consisting of mix of this zenith dtt901, the zenith dtt901, and the Insignia (Best Buy) version of the Zenith DTT900. Although all of these models are essentially the same, the zenith dtt901 has an anolog pass through feature which means you can still watch analog TV which is important for those channels that keep breaking up in digital.

*** Positive Points Include ***

- Small size and easy to setup
- Improves picture quality over analog TV tuners.
- Picks up digital channels very well, even with a simple rabbit ears antenna.
- Lightweight and simple remote that has dedicated buttons for most features.
- Remote can be programmed to turn your tv on and off.
- The bright red/blue LED light make it easy to tell when the tuner is on or off.

** Negative Points Include ***

- The onscreen tv guide is a bit too simple and it only lists the current and upcoming show on the channel you are tuned to.
- Like most converter boxes, this zenith dtt901 does a poor job of tuning weak stations and results in a broken or frozen picture until the antenna is moved to improve reception. The analog pass through helps in this regard because you can turn off the zenith dtt901 to enable analog pass through.
- The remote only turns the TV on and off. It cannot be programmed to control any other features of your tv.

Overall this is a great DTV converter box for most people's needs. Consumer Reports did a test that gave a slight edge to the Zenith models over the otherwise identical Insignia models.