Channel Master CM-7000 D2A™ – Digital Converter Box
 11 Reviews |
9 Positive Reviews |
0 Negative Reviews |
  Overall Rating |
Channel Master CM 7000 D2A™ Digital Converter Box
- Brand: Channel Master
- Model: CM-7000 D2A™
- Price: $49.85 $48.75
- With Coupon: $9.85 $8.75 ($40 Discount!)
- Pros:
- Free on air High Definition TV (HDTV) broadcast.
- Rated “Best Picture Quality” by popular consumer magazine in August 2008.
- Channel Scan and Channel Scan update programming
- Low power consumption with auto-sleep function.
- Composite RCA and S-Video output.
- 4:3 and 16:9 resolution aspect ratios.
- Fully tested by many consumers.
- Available Online: Best Place to Order
Rated Best Picture Quality by Popular Consumer Products Testing Organization
TV Converter Box Coupon Program
One of the larger size boxes at a 1.6″ high front panel and 8.7″ wide extends 6.3″ backward but still conveniently enough to be placed anywhere in a common TV appliance setup. like many of the converter boxes, aside from the common coaxial cable-TV cable connection, composite video and S-video outputs are also available.
To be rated as one of the best TV Converter boxes with the best picture quality and being one of the cheapest digital Tv converter box below $50 is an impressive deal. Combining the price with a TV Converter Box Coupon, you can get this below $10!
Being one of the first digital-to-analog converter boxes to hit the market, many consumers have been testing the product as early as March 2008 on the AVS Forum where several complaints have came out but seem to improve as time passed by. Possibly Channel Master has been coming up with improvements after customer feedback has been gathered. As you go down the currently 33-page (and still growing) forum conversation, you will see several issues that seem to get solved as the conversation progresses. Which could be one advantage Channel Master CM-7000 has over the other converter boxes. A good amount of time of consumer testing, thus having an earlier time for improvements in the next production releases.
Aside from being reviewed and tested, this converter box was also used during the first US broadcasting station to run digital television. Thus showing that it is tried and tested and could probably be the choice of some broadcasting stations.
$59.85 $48.75, but can be bought at a price of $8.75 with a TV converter box program coupon. You can buy this here.
Popularity: 54% [?]
Very Good Unit
Have had the Channel Master for a few weeks now (got one of the first ones after it was certified)and am very happy with it. The set-up is easy to get all the signals and you can update at anytime if more stations are available in your area. Have used it both on a small 12″ set and on a 40″ set and both have excellent picture. After some research, this unit seemed to be best so far.
Source: Amazon
It’s worth the price just for the S-Video output alone!
I had received my CM-7000 last week. It has a very stable tuner and it tunes in all of my local digital stations. It is easy to setup and navigate. The one bonus that this converter box has, that no others currently have on the market at this time, is the S-Video output. That is the main reason I had purchased this box. The S-Video picture quality is amazing on my 1996 Sony XBR monitor/receiver, using the Sony’s S-Video input jack. The picture quality is equal to a DVD player connected to the same S-Video input jack on my Sony TV. Also, Channel Master is an established television reception company that has been around at least 60 years and has been making great quality TV antennas, too.
Source: Amazon
Surprisingly sensitive, good image quality
The Channel Master is worth its somewhat higher cost (it is coupon eligible). I tested its sensitivity by feeding it signals with 14db of attenuation, and it locked in fine on stations that look very marginal on analog (snowy, barely viewable). Like others, its signal strength meter works even on stations it can’t lock (below 10%-15% signal strength).
Its image quality through the S-video input is quite good, almost DVD quality. Composite video quality is not bad.
The manual is a little terse, so if you are buying this for an unsophisticated person, they would need your guidance on setup and use. I am not sure whether it does analog pass-thru, because it found only digital stations.
Source: Amazon
Best reception out of 5
I’ve tried 4 other boxes, and this Channel Master gets the best reception, by far. Picture is excellent, there is a 12-hour program guide, and one button on the remote changes the view setting, so you can compare them readily.
S-Video, nice remote, all around a really solid unit. I’m going to get an extra.
Source: Amazon
Happy with this box.
Got this box for a week now and I definitely made the right choice in purchasing this brand considering there are a lot of choices out there. I could not agree more with the other reviewer emphasizing the importance of having the S-video option to get maximum clarity. Picture sharpness is just a lot better using this connection especially when you are viewing on a large monitor/screen. Installation and setup was easy, at least for me. I must mention that if you want to use the S-video, you have to purchase the cables for it, both S-video and the audio. It only came with the regular antenna cable which you will need in connecting the converter box to your external or indoor antenna. One negative comment about this unit is the small buttons of the remote control that it came with. It is not very easy to use specially the channel and the volume buttons which I use everytime. The good thing is, I have the option of programming the other remote that came with my TV which has bigger buttons for these functions. Of course, my programmable remote does not have all the features that the converter’s remote control have. So, I always keep the original remote within my arms reach just in case I need it. This is the only reason why I did not give this converter box a five star rating. Oh, I almost forgot, using this box gave me other channels that I never knew existed and they’re a lot.
Source: Amazon
I have had the opportunity to try one of these units, courtesy of a friend who is a master electrician, who happens to have a distributorship to Channel Master. His CM representative was nice enough to send him a DEMO unit and some brochures. My friend wanted me to try it out and give him my thoughts on the unit.
When I first powered up the converter box, I did NOT get a boot-up sequence or anything similar. I had a Channel Master slide on the television screen momentarily, then the screen went black. I waited for awhile to see if it was going to do anything, but it just sat there. FINALLY, I pushed the MENU button on the remote, which brought up five sub-menus: Channel Edit, Channel Scan, Set Up, Closed Captioned, Parental Control. I first chose to go to Set Up, which includes six categories: Clock, Language, Audio, Defaults, Version, Auto Power Down. I set the clock, with date and time settings for Mountain Daylight Savings. Then, I exited the Set Up menu and went to the Channel Scan, which brings up a subheading Terrestrial. The user has the option to do a Rescan or Update. Rescan wipes out any channels saved in the converter box; Update is the function to Add channels, without effecting the saved list of channels.
Obviously, I chose to run the Rescan, even though there was nothing saved in the channel list. I have been using both a Zenith converter box and an Insignia converter box. The CM-7000 D2A box scanned in every channel that I already had loaded into the Zenith box. It did take a couple times to scan everything in (Update), as some of my semi-locals are still weak signals and I had to adjust the 8 bay UHF antenna that I currently use for the Zenith.
Observations:
There is no DIRECT way to access the RF channels (virtual channels). An example would be – my local channel 9 remaps from RF 16 (UHF). There is physically NO WAY to view RF 16. You can use the RC to attempt to access any channel that IS NOT programmed into the converter box and it will do absolutely nothing. It stays on the channel you’re currently viewing. There is no settings in the main MENU that will allow you to access the RF channel numbers. Even when you run the RESCAN or UPDATE functions, you simply see a percentage progress bar. It does not show which channel numbers it is currently scanning.
Also, this unit does not have an analog pass-thru function.
On the RC, there is a button called INFO. When this button is pushed, you get an INFORMATION BANNER across the top of the screen. This is where you see the remapped channel number, Channel name and Program name, clock, time length of program in progress, a description of the program (if one is given). Across the bottom of this banner box is where you find the signal strength bar for the channel tuned, a numeric indicator of the level of the digital broadcast (1080i, 720p, 480i), as well as all of the Ratings information for the current program.
There is another button on the RC called GUIDE. This is the EPG. This is probably the one thing they did right. It shows a continuous program guide for each channel, meaning, however many hours of program content the station is including in their digital stream, you will see it. If there is 2 hours of program information, it will be there. If there is 12 hours of program information, it will be there. It appears from the Wikipedia list, this unit is limited to a 12 hour EPG. I did not note that information in the User’s Manual.
When I tested the CM-7000 D2A against the Zenith DTT-900 on the morning of July 30th, I had marginal localized tropo to Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs is 100 miles due south of my home. I noticed on the Signal Bar that all of my locals (Denver channnels) were measuring 100%, with the exception of KRMA-DT 6-1 (a PBS affiliate), which was showing 72-88% signal strength. On the Zenith all of the channels typically show around 85%, with KRMA-DT about 60%. I believe how the CM-7000 D2A measures its signal strength is questionable. I was able to get the Zenith converter box to decode KKTV-HD 11-1 Colorado Springs (@ 105 miles) several times. When I ran the UPDATE function on the CM-7000 D2A at the same time KKTV-HD was present on the Zenith, the CM-7000 only decoded the PSIP (data) information once, but never did show a picture. This is a very limited test, due to the fact living in the West means that most DTV’s are further apart and thus not that many opportunities for real DTV dx.
From a dxers perspective, the inability to access the RF channel is a major minus. From a casual viewers perspective, this unit is awesome. I would definitely have one of these units for the family, but not for myself as a dxer.
I hope this information helps you in your research to find the right CECB converter box.
Source: Worldwide TV-FM DX Association
Excellent picture quality
I bought this model because reviews say that is has the best picture quality. Those reviewers aren’t lying; the picture quality really is as good as they say. The unit is quick to set up and use, too. It will automatically self-program all available channels, then you can go back and delete the channels you don’t want. The remote is fully functional, but could have been better designed with larger volume and channel buttons. But that’s the only drawback. If you want to pull in over-the-air TV with cable/satellite quality, the Channel Master will do it.
Source: Amazon
This digital converter box has been rated as another one of the best digital TV converter boxes when compared with all other coupon eligible converter boxes.
Overall Rating: A++
Picture Quality: The picture quality of the Channel Master digital converter box is the best that we have seen out of all converter boxes we have reviewed. This TV converter box provides an absolutely crystal clear picture that is equivalent to that of DVD quality.
Sound Quality: The sound quality of the CM-7000 TV converter is just as good as any of the other analog digital converter boxes that we have looked at. Its sound quality rivals that of a DVD.
Product Features: The Channel Master CM-7000 TV converter box is one of only a handful of models that comes with S-video output. This digital to analog converter box also comes with an excellent programming guide, a scan for all tuning function, and adjustable closed captioning.
Unfortunately this analog digital converter does not come with analog pass-through, a universal remote, or auto aspect ratio.
If you are interested in getting a DTV converter box then the Channel Master CM-7000 is a good one to consider. This digital TV converter is a bit expensive at $80 but does provide the best picture quality around. It is lacking some features when considering its price. If you are most interested in getting the best picture quality possible then this digital converter box is right for you.
Source: TV Converter Box Reviews, Ratings, and Comparisons
Best Reviewed
Experts and users are unanimous in saying that the Channel Master CM-7000 delivers one of the best pictures of any digitalconverter box. It is one of the few options that offers an S-video output, but that’s only useful if your TV is capable of accepting video in that form. However, video is also excellent over the more standard composite video connection. However, features are limited. Neither analog passthrough nor Smart Antenna support is provided, though those features will be of interest to relatively few digital converter box users. A small and cluttered remote control is liable to be a bigger concern for most. Although a current model, the box can be hard to find at retail. If ease of use is most important, most experts point to the RCA DTT801B1 (*est. $55) as an excellent choice, especially for seniors. The Zenith DTT 901 (*est. $60) is also hailed as a good all-around performer.
Consumer Reports includes the Channel Master CM-7000 in its current roundup of digital converter boxes, which at 24 models is the most comprehensive we’ve found. HDTVExpert.com doesn’t review nearly as many DTV converter boxes, but its review is comparative and detailed. Lots of users at AVSForum have weighed in with their opinions on this Channel Master DTV converter box as well.
Source: Consumer Search
[...] information about digital television. In the video above, the digital converter box used was a Channel Master DM-7000 which is one of the digital converter boxes queued for our review here at [...]
This converter was a great buy, fast channel change, good scanning, excellent image, I am currently in the country Costa Rica and the digital channels look very good here. greetings.
Este convertidor fue una gran compra, cambio rapido de canales, buen scaneo, excelente imagen, Actualmente estoy en Costa Rica y los canales digitales aqui se miran muy bien. saludos.