HDTV ATSC / QAM Tuner Receiver Box
A servicable tuner
I purchased the PHD 101 tuner to use with a wide screen computer monitor - getting a HD TV at a lower cost than a HD-ready TV of the same size. This unit has an ATSC tuner for OTA channels and an QAM tuner for cable channels. It does not have a NTSC tuner for analog channels. It is intended to serve me until all TVs are required to have ATSC digital tuners in July of 2007. <br />Delivery of the unit was quick, and when I had problem with the sound from the unit, customer service (via phone) was responsive. Setting up the unit was easy even though the documentation appears to have been translated from Chinese. The translation was noticeable but still understandable. Switch settings on the back of the unit specify the output resolution (I used 720p) and the output connection ( I used the digital DVI). <br />One limitation of the unit is the presence of only one RF connector - you can connect either an antenna or a cable connection but not both. At first I thought that a simple A/B switch would be useful - but it turns out the unit scans all the channels from one source only. If you switch sources, the unit needs to rescan the channels. <br />The user interface for the unit is clunky. During setup you need to select menu from the remote, then select channels then select Antenna or one of three cable formats. The documentation doesn't discuss the differences of the channel types so I tried them all.   <br />As it turns out the area I live in doesn't get many over-the-air (OTA) broad casts so I ended up using my existing cable connection. This unit was really designed for OTA reception - if you can get enough OTA channels, you might save 400-500 dollars a year on cable. However, the source really doesn't affect the functionality. <br />I ended up hooking the analog sound output to a set of self powered speaker. The analog sound out is very low level and needs to be amplified, i.e. you can't drive a speaker directly. Technical support recommends using the digital output (which can be Dolby or pcm format) to your home theatre system--not available in my case. <br />Since I hooked up to cable, the list of channels received was long - but most were encrypted. The procedure for deleting encrypted channels is cumbersome. You first need to go through the channels list and write down the channels that are encrypted (no picture or sound). Then you open a separate list for deletion and scroll through that to delete. One annoyance is the list menu only stays visible for 10 seconds if you aren't scrolling - so you must write quickly when recording channels or its back to the beginning of the list when you restore it.  <br />You also need to take care not to scroll too fast. If you select a channel and then move the next channel too fast, the system displays all video as colored vertical lines - the only way to reset is to turn the unit off at the box and then turn it back on. It will then do a 15-20 second boot and restore your video output. <br />Once the pain of setup has receded, the unit works well. You can surf through the channels with channel up and down. If you've memorized the station numbers (eg.16.1) you can directly enter them and jump to the channel. One feature that is missing is the ability to add descriptive names to each channel. <br />The Guide shows the programming scheduled for the current channel for the next few hours. The info button shows the current channel number. The mute and goback buttons work as expected. <br />Overall if you live in an area with lots of OTA digital stations (and all stations must be digital by 09(?))  then saving the cost of cable will pay for this unit in a few months. If you have cable and want to get the unencrypted HD and standard digital channels (generally local network affiliates) then its more problematic. <br />