Comments on: Zinwell ZAT-970A – Digital Converter Box

By: Gerald Cunningham

Gerald Cunningham — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:49:16 +0000

I’ve auto scan, and no program shows up. i’ve rescan over and over and still no programs shows up. What can I do?

By: Pat Fernandez

Pat Fernandez — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:59:32 +0000

I had the Zinwell box working just fine until I touched the antenna and produced a little static shock. The whole thing went out and I cannot get ANY customer support. The toll free number on the box it came in no longer supports Zinwell. They gave me a number to what they say is the Zinwell company but in fact it is an individual that is only a dealer. He is not from this country and he has a thich accent and I cannot understand him.

Frustration is the key word of the week with Zinwell. If anyone has any information on how to get support, please forward to me. patfernandez78757@yahoo.com.

Thank you!

By: Arnold Semmons

Arnold Semmons — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:11:14 +0000

The only reason I bought this converter box over all the others is because it had the program timers that would allow me to use my VCR to record things while I’m away. It all worked fine for a few months most of the time, but now, it rarely works. I can program the timers and everything looks OK, even after turning the unit off & back on. But when it comes time to record, the Zinwell will tune to the highest channel in the programmed channels list, which in my case is channel 61. Sometimes the internal clock will set itself to the year 2041, so again, my program won’t get recorded. The only way to insure something will be recorded is to just leave the unit turned on, and tuned to the channel you want recorded by the VCR. You can’t depend on it to change channels later on. I think there is a DTV box made by Dish Network that also has timers, so I would advise trying that one. The problems I have with my Zinwell are well-documented on other websites, so it’s not just my unit. I have owned mine for about 5 months now.

By: adiawyhm

adiawyhm — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:42:54 +0000

I thought the Zinwell was great until I ran into the same problem that others have reported: it spontaneously and unpredictably drops channels, re-adds channels that the user has deleted, deactivates timer events, or changes the channel that was set on a timer event. Just last night it spontaneously changed from my show to another channel right before my eyes, and the remote was sitting across the room, I hadn’t touched it (and there was no timer event set for this time period). I checked the timer events and sure enough it had changed the channel on one of them, but NOT to the channel it just changed the live broadcast to; some other channel. Kind of defeats the purpose I bought this for: timed events to record different channels on my vcr while I am at work. I can’t depend on it to retain timer events I set, and I can’t depend on it to keep the channel I set for each timer event. I come home to find that it deactivated a timer event and my vcr recorded x minutes of nothing, or the timer event worked but the channel was now different so my vcr recorded a show different from what I wanted. I will try a “DTVPal Plus” which is apparently the only other brand that includes the timer events feature.

By: Paul K.

Paul K. — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:00:22 +0000

Where can I purchase these Zinwell converter boxes, ZAT970A and ZAT570A in St Louis, MO? Is one model better reception and quality than the other? Thank you

By: Arnold Semmons

Arnold Semmons — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:54:47 +0000

I think the Zinwell is great. No issues yet (at least none that seem to be the fault of the unit). The picture quality is excellent. I think people that are only interested in free TV aren’t as concerned about picture quality as those that subscribe to satellite or cable…. but the picture is excellent anyway and I am very pleased.

The only problem was with setting up the event timers. I set program 1 to start up on Channel 15 every Sunday at 5:00 a.m. Somehow it keeps changing itself to Channel 61 on that first timer. After two Sundays of this happening, I decided to set an additional timer that would change to Channel 15 (the channel I actually wanted to record) at 5:01 a.m. This worked for a moment, but Channel 61 was reporting the time as 5:02 and Channel 15 was reporting the time as 5:00. So for the second minute of recording, the Zinwell kept switching between both channels, since it would change to one channel, only to be told by that channel that the time was off. After it switched back and forth several times during that single minute, it finally ended up on Channel 61, so I missed the show on Channel 15 for a third Sunday.

What I’m going to do now is turn off the automatic time function since the different TV stations here are all broadcasting different times. Why can’t they just use the GPS system or something and all report the same time? I’m hoping that by setting the time manually, I will finally be able to watch that show that comes on while I’m sleeping. If anybody else had this problem, please report.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:12:19 +0000

comparison with dtvpal plus

I purchased the two major timer event schedulable/programmable converter boxes available as of this date: the Zinwell and the DTVPal Plus (enhanced version of the DTVPal or TR-40 CRA). These are some of the major problems and advantages of each.

The biggest problem I have with the Zinwell is that the remote control is the flimsiest and cheapest control I have ever seen with any product. The down arrow button is already having problems responding to pressing after only a few days. It usually takes several years before buttons on a remote control begin to go bad, and I am concerned that this one will not even be working a year from now.

The biggest problem with the DTVPal Plus is the poor reception. The Plus is supposed to have enhanced reception over the prior models which were famous for bad reception (and you pay $20 more for the ‘enhancement’), but in my area it does not get as many channels as the Zinwell and often does not even pick up the local ABC affiliate.

Both devices get the clock time automatically from the digital signal but both devices keep erratic time occasionally, and the Zinwell is especially bad. After a few days, the Zinwell became stuck at 62 minutes behind the correct time and the DTVPal Plus became stuck at 53 minutes ahead. If you are buying this to schedule timed events, this is obviously going to be a problem. Attempts to remedy do not help, but after a couple of days the devices go back to the correct time for awhile. The Zinwell has no daylight savings on/off (which is not the problem in my case anyway), while the DTVPal Plus does allow you to control daylight savings. The Zinwell has the advantage that you can manually set the time, while the DTVPal Plus does not allow you to. Even after manually setting the time in the Zinwell, I found it loses 1-2 minutes per week and also loses the clock time completely if power goes out even for a second (most devices will hold the time for 2-3 minutes in a power outage). I have mine on a UPS (backup battery) to keep it from losing time in a brief power outage. At least the Zinwell allows you to control the time.

I have had a problem with the Zinwell mysteriously changing the number of channels (ch. 5 suddenly became 31) with no way of changing the numbers back-even re-recognizing does not help. This is a huge annoyance that makes browsing channels and scheduling events difficult. The Zinwell has a quirk at the end of the timer scheduling process that makes it easy to cancel your timer event, so watch out.

The analog pass-thru of the DTVPal Plus provides a strong signal but shuts off digital operation if you go into analog pass-thru mode. The Zinwell puts a little interference on the analog signal, but if you connect all cables (both RF/coax and RCA/composite) it keeps digital operation alive while in pass-thru mode so it is easy to switch back and forth between digital and analog channels. If you turn off the DTVPal Plus, it will automatically go into pass-thru mode, but if you turn off the Zinwell pass-thru is not available-the Zinwell must be powered on in order to use analog pass-thru. The DTVPal Plus runs surprisingly hot while it is turned off.

If you like on-screen program guides, the DTVPal Plus has a better one than the Zinwell, and you can even schedule timer events direct from the program guide with the DTVPal Plus. If you get a Zinwell, do not throw out the manual. Zinwell has unfortunately set a password on some of the channel functions, so you will need to look up the default password in the manual if you try to access these functions.

Do not expect much support. Both companies took several days to respond to an inquiry and gave canned answers that did not address my question. After supplying follow-up information, neither company got back to me. There are several other issues and quirks with both devices.

Source: Amazon

By: Chris Heard "Flylow"

Chris Heard "Flylow" — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:17:18 +0000

It works

Unpack it, hook it up, and use it. No problem.

cph

Source: Amazon