Centronics ZAT502 HD – Digital Converter Box
 11 Reviews |
3 Positive Reviews |
1 Negative Reviews |
  Overall Rating |
Centronics ZAT502 HD Digital Converter Box
- Brand: Centronics
- Model: ZAT502 HD
- Price: $59.95
- Pros:
- High-Definition (HD) TV Reception Over Air meaning you will receive high definition television without any extra monthly fees.
- Support for all TV screen sizes/resolutions.
- Support for 480i,480p,720p & 1080i
- Easy To Use Program Guide, includes Remote Control.
- Available Online: Best Place to Order
Although this can be used as a Digital Converter for many old television sets, it must have at least a composite video connection. Many analog TV’s plugin their antenna in a coaxial socket in the rear of your TV. The composite video is a socket that has a standard yellow color that is usually beside the left and right audio sockets that are colored red and white. Without this, you will not be able to use this converter box.
Newer analog television sets have these composite audio and video sockets, so make sure you have at least these. Newer televisions for sure have this, most probably you will not need a digital converter also, but may still want this product since it can receive HD signals from air and output it in Component, Composite, VGA, HDMI and Optical Audio give newer television sets real clear HDTV from digital TV air broadcast for free without charges.
This product is NOT eligible for the DTV Converter Coupon Program.
Only $59.95 and the supplier sells this to retailers at $79.99.
You can buy this here for $59.95.
Popularity: 84% [?]
Just got this tunder. Works great. Channel change is fast and the HD picture quality blows my mind (digital OTA is fantastic!!). The tuner doesn’t seem to be as good at picking up weaker signals compared to my Zenith DTT901, but it definitely is not something to worry about. (there is only one channel I’m having a problem with)
One gripe is you can only view the programs for the channel currently tuned–you can’t browse other stations unless you actually change the channel and reopen the program guide. In browsing the system menu, it appears I have a “test” version of the system firmware. Perhaps this is a fluke.
One other oddity is a slight but persistent flickering of the front-panel display and very faint hum in the audio (only noticeable when the volume is completely down). Most likely something related to the power supply.
On the plus side, the remote control is programmable and can “learn” TV Power, Volume Up/Down, and Channel Up/Down from another remote control.
Pros: Affordability, Picture Quality
Cons: Program Guide
Price is now $89.95, not $59.95
Price is now $92.25 and not in stock
This is pretty much the only product on the market that does what i want it to do and I can’t buy one anywhere
I purchased this unit and can only get 480 not 1080i
output. I am useing the HDMI output. I have tried everything
and still get the 480 (low Quality). I am very sorry
I purchased this unit. They don’t even supply a 800 number
if you are having problems. Don’t buy this product.
I live on Jack Tone Rd/Copperopolis Rd the city of Stockton CA 95215. Equipment: Centronics ZAT 502 HD w/antenna height 35 ft ClearStream4 and 50ft RG11 Coaxial Cable. Point the antenna towards Malpitas where Telemundo tower is 50 miles away. Attention Spanish viewers with this setup you get all Spanish channel including English. All channel have 100% quality and 93%-52% strength. As 10/2009 Telemundo is only available in San Jose CA and Los Angles CA area.
Pros: Affordability, Runs cool, Optical Port, HDMI, Fast channel change, HD/SD Picture Quality, HD audio
Cons: Program Guide like delete channel,very faint hum in the audio
I live on Jack Tone Rd/Copperopolis Rd the city of Stockton CA 95215. Equipment: Centronics ZAT 502 HD w/antenna height 35 ft ClearStream4 and 50ft RG11 Coaxial Cable. Point the antenna towards Malpitas where Telemundo tower is 50 miles away. Attention Spanish viewers with this setup you get all Spanish channel including English. All channel have 100% quality and 93%-52% strength. As 10/2009 Telemundo is only available in San Jose CA and Los Angles CA area.
Pros: Affordability, Runs cool, Optical Port, HDMI, Fast channel change, HD/SD Picture Quality, HD audio
Cons: Program Guide like delete channel,very faint hum in the audio
so, where are they?
@gil a: Where is what?
This is a good receiver, but it does have some issues. The first problem I have with it is that you can’t skip channels after having done an autoscan. If you want to “flip” channels you have to go through all of the random channels that you don’t want and there is no way to tell it to skip like my other receivers have allowed me to do. The second problem I have with this converter is that when you use the parental guide feature it puts in large letters in the upper-right corner “Allowed” or “Blocked” and it doesn’t remove the words after a few seconds. The words stay there the entire show. I hate it when the networks put their logo on the picture for an entire show, but now I have to put up with “Allowed” sitting in the top-right corner. For this reason alone so that I don’t get burn in on my projector and pure annoyance I’m not going to use this device anymore. If anyone wants to buy mine (only used for a few weeks, no issues other than what I have described) I will sell it to you for $50.00. Just comment on this board and I’ll get in touch with you.
Justin, if you still have your receiver, I’m interested in it. send me an email.
Yes, I still have it and am interested in selling it. If you would like to buy it, I will take payment through paypal. I’m not sure my e-mail got through to you, could you please give me your e-mail address or e-mail me at justinrosenkrantz@ieee.org?