DGTEC DH-2000A

Excellent – I am given these boxes and fix them up for friends by replacing capacitors in the power supply section. They are great, but maybe end of their run now as now no audio from channel 9 and 10 HD from Melbourne due to updating of the transmission or something. So if you get one it will be restricted to SD. cost nothing very original

Absolute piece of rubbish – When HD began to break into the TV market, we were forced to buy one of these units with our new HD 1080p CRT TV as the tele didn't have a built in HD tuner. (Remember those days?). Well, that's when the problems began. As soon as we brought this unit home it began to switch itself off and change channel by itself. Annoying enough but when you… Read more

went to switch it back on or teturn to your original channel with the remote, something inside the unit cracked a fruity and it simply ceased operating for anything between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Will never touch anything DGTEC again. Buyer beware! I liked when I sold it to Cash Converters for $10. Expensive and faulty from the get-go. Poor after sales service and the many problems were never solved.

Bad – Its an ok box but im thinking of replacing it with something better as it is very annoying with the sound dropping out so often and the channel changing all the time. I found that it gives a stunning hd picture especially on the channel nine hd loop.excellent sound quality when programs are broadcast in 5.1 channel sound.lots of connections ie 15… Read more

pin sub d component out s video etc. No channel indicator on the box it changes channels by its self,sound keeps dropping out when in hd mode .appears to be ok on standard definiton.have to keep resetting state setting

Terrible – The term 'lemon' springs to mind. It is really no more than a buggy, quirky prototype with serious issues. Great sound, picture and features (but only when it works) But this 2000A is a lemon by any measure. Mine has the following issues: I. Audio and Video keep losing sync. The longer you stay on one channel, the worse it gets. (annoying… Read more

when time-shifting to DVD-R and find the program out of sync on

playback)

Current Fix:

Skip to another channel and back again to re-sync it

II. The Audio disappears from the RCA Analogue outputs.

Stays on the Digital Outputs. Comes back to analogue, if and when it feels like it.

Normally comes back when you leave the box off for a while (possible

overheating?)

III. The remote receiver is 'buggy'

It remembers the last button you hit on the remote.

Then you use another remote to turn up amp or turn on DVD etc, the 2000A

'recalls' that last command and executes it again

(will change channel, turn off or whatever you last did with the units remote)

Current fix:

Make sure the last button you on remote is 'exit', so when it 'executes' again,

it does nothing.

IV. The sound does not always 'lock in' when changing channels

You sit there in silence until you fix it.

Current Fix.

Change the channel and then back again so it recognises the audio stream

V. New ABC channels will not ‘Auto Detect’ audio (ABC2 and Channel guide)

Current Fix: Turn Audio to MPEG (but then will not pick up 5.1 on HD channels)

The ABC blames DGTECfor this. See http://www.abc.net.au/tv/abc2/faqs.htm

and says that DGTEC will issue a fix. (I am obviously not holding my breath)

Excellent – I took time out to rebutt what I feel is mostly wasted space by the reviewers. Factor these items into your perfect worlds; 1. Digital terrestrial TV pushes several boundaries including the amount of data transmitted and decoding required. Check out what happens to a DVD when a fault occurs in the data stream...screen displacements at best and at… Read more

worst freezes. The fact that SD, HD and Analogue are all transmitted generally from the same transmitter masks roughly simultaneously (digital signals lag anaologue due to decoding etc) does not help with keeping the focus on digital only

2. Digital which is a line of sight transmission where like GSM versus Analogue phones the quality of the transmission is significantly more affected by unpredictable causes. However, I have lived in Waterloo Sydney where due to reflections off nearby 30 storey plus buildings analogue tv was unwatchable. Added the 2000A and it was close to perfect. I had the same experince with a Dgtec SD box at my sister's home in Redfern.

3. Trouble shooting that I have had to do has usually resulted in new knowledge for me becuase I have never seen it documented either by suppliers or the tv industry. Basic rule is the simple answer is usually the right one and you may need to do some quick tests using logic to eliminate speulation.

4. As for firmware upgrades, if it ain't broke don't touch them. Old but still true.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you are planning a purchase do some local research on what brands have generally worked well in your area, but please make up your own mind and please do not be to heavily influenced by my "fellow reviewers" who I suspect are still struggling with their vcr's as well. It is a reliable and very well priced HD set top box that gives DVD quality on LCD's(my only experince). There is nothing I dislike, I have bought 2 other SD boxes since the 2000A and all 3 units perform satisfactorily. The logic of the OSD menu is a bit clunky but I challenge the other reviewers to show me any mid priced electronics product that is truly intuitive.

Terrible – totally not happy with the investment. will nevey buy any dgtec product again and will not recommend it to anyone at all. i bought a DGTEC HD set top box and have found the equipment very bad. picture keeps freezing randomly or the system freezes at times. to fix this it needs to be switched off and on again from the powerpoint. appart from this… Read more

the remote works sometimes and doesent work sometimes. the menu bottons on the box itself keep playing up as well. when you move the cursor to select channels it keeps jumping from one to the other.

Terrible – I bought this STB for use with a new LCD television a couple of years ago, and used it for about 6 months before finally cracking it (and buying a new Digicrystal HD which isn't perfect, but a whole lot more reliable). I have even offered this STB free to friends of mine who already knew of it's issues & didn't want it! It's reputation precedes… Read more

it, it seems.... Not a lot to like at all about this product I'm afraid! Maybe the case doesn't look too bad? Red tinge on picture, All the normal problems.. Changes channels by itself, loses sync on audio, sometimes no audio when turned on. Gets VERY hot

DGTEC DH-2000A -- avoid – I've had the box four years. Shoddy product. Avoid at all costs.  After I first bought four years ago I noticed the problems after about a day.  Fought with their support to get another product -- they wanted me to send it in for a service even though I had only had it a day and it had never worked. Also I suspected it was not just my… Read more

box, but all of them.  I was right.  They eventually agreed to swap it for another one via the retailer (Dick Smith Chatswood). When I got the "new" product I found it wasn't new at all but a well-used set, complete with scratches.  Eventually got a new one. It exhibited exactly the same problems as the first one.  I would never, ever, buy a product from this firm again. Picture OK, but not as good as other digital receivers I have Voice and picture slowly get out of sync. Have to change channels to get back in sync.

Loses settings, like vertical picture positions, and sound selection (eg MPEG which you need to manually set for SBS) at random intervals. You then have to set these up again.

Randomly changes things, like the chanel, or picture aspect while watching programs.

Bad – DGTEC Recorders are a bit too complex , poorly designed for Aust conditions , Customer Service is very poor, after a wait up to 45 minutes , as I have done on many occasions because they stopped trading only about 2 weeks after my unit was returned to them for repair. Since then they have given me every excuse and evry promise that it was " in… Read more

the mail " What will I and hundreds of other customers do in the future : I have 10 months left on my warranty but I'm not confident that the latest unit (actually not new, just another customer's repair)will continue to work without over-heating. Last year I purchased DGTEC DG-SD160DVR Recorder on recommendation from Harvey Norman : yes it is a great bit of gear when it's working, it does nearly everything; It even works like a "Crockpot". Heats up slowly, to get very hot ! I've had 3 new units since August 2006, the latest one lost all Sound / Audio over a month ago so I sent it back to their Victorian Depot and later found that DGTEC now has an "Administrator" in charge, Hills Electronics are due to take over some of the assets & staff, but I doubt that DGTEC will continue to honour their warranties. Beware, many other customers have had over heating problems, The unit is designed & constructed far too compact and little thought has been given proper cooling ventalation to the Hard Drive which is several times larger than most computers. DGTEC gear is probably not designed for our hot Australian weather. Too expensive when compared to similar units. the Instruction manual was obviously compiled by somebody who can't spell and who doesn't really know how all of the features work.

Excellent – Because I had the wiring all messed up, nothing would work! I sat down thought about it for a few minutes amd "WHAM" The picture on "Every Station" was "Fabulous" It took a fraction of a second to move from one station to the next but I was not in a hurry and it was the "BEST $50.00 I have every spent on a Digital Set Top Box! I was just… Read more

waiting for the right time and the right price to pay for one! I must say it was the "Nut Behind The Wheel Syndrome" I have to say it is "Brilliant". It is "Everything" and More that I could wish for!

I take back everything I said in my previous post! NOTHING WRONG!

Good – I've had this unit for about 18 months now and would say I'm happy with it, without being overly impressed. It has limited features, but it shows HD TV very well on my LCD TV and for my entrance into digital TV I suppose it's ok. I paid I've had this unit for about 18 months now and would say I'm happy with it, without being overly impressed. It… Read more

has limited features, but it shows HD TV very well on my LCD TV and for my entrance into digital TV I suppose it's ok. I paid $179 for mine after some serious haggling at Harvey Norman. It does get a bit annoying from time to time when for no obvious reason the menus just pop up on screen - very weird. I wouldn't combine it in a top-end home theatre system, but if you just want to have digital TV in your home, then it might be a good option (that's if they're still available for sale?) Cheap HD digital TV receiver, good picture quality A few glitches: -after changing channels, you need to press the "Exit" button on the remote to prevent it from doing random channel changes. (I press the Exit button after making any change using the remote.) -when viewing SBS, the AV sound set-up has to be on MPEG2 (won't work on "Automatic"). -slow to change channels.

Good – I have this unit for 3 years and after the BIOS update, it stopped complaining about the antenae signal quality and the pictures and sound are great. It does send true Dolby Digital signals when channel 9 broadcasts (Today show for example) and I like the "Wide Screen on normal tv" that presents the full image without squashing the image. Good pictures and sound Switch to High Def in the back of unit

Good – I've had this unit for about 18 months now and would say I'm happy with it, without being overly impressed. It has limited features, but it shows HD TV very well on my LCD TV and for my entrance into digital TV I suppose it's ok. I paid $179 for mine after some serious haggling at Harvey Norman. It does get a bit annoying from time to time when… Read more

for no obvious reason the menus just pop up on screen - very weird. I wouldn't combine it in a top-end home theatre system, but if you just want to have digital TV in your home, then it might be a good option (that's if they're still available for sale?) Cheap HD digital TV receiver, good picture quality menus keep popping up on screen at random, limited features

OK – Overall, the unit is OK - the picture quality is very good, and the connectivity options are excellent. This was the first HD STB available in Australia, so you'd expect more recent models/brands to be superior. (Some of the early models had firmware which needs to be upgraded to version 1.9 - instructions for doing this can be viewed on the… Read more

following website. http://www.dansdata.com/hdtv.htm) The STB has operated well in the time since I've had it (Aug 2003). A few glitches:

-after changing channels, you need to press the "Exit" button on the remote to prevent it from doing random channel changes. (I press the Exit button after making any change using the remote.)

-when viewing SBS, the AV sound set-up has to be on MPEG2 (won't work on "Automatic").

-slow to change channels.

Bad – Had it for five years and only faults have been what is stated in the bad. I have been informed that you can get the local channels programmed via the one of the ports? This is suppose to stop the lost of tuning. Still trying to find a teech to do the tuning. Good clear pictures, simple on screen instructions. Will freeze on different chanels. … Read more

Looses service list for no reason and takes ages to to retune. Slow response when changing channels.

Terrible – It's very user unfriendly. We bought it with a Loewe SD TV and paid about $700. I really feel that I was ripped off given the quality. It's like I am using a prototype that still has major bugs to be ironed out. The problems with the remote and slow channel changing are show-stoppers for me. I would not buy this brand again. We use it with a… Read more

standard def TV and the picture quality is great. The unit takes and infuriatingly long time to respond to the remote control, and switching channels is very slow. The unit loses all custom settings when powered down.

Good – Pretty happy, but our system is complicated because it is not incorporated into one of the other components such as TV or DVD player/recorder. the unit itself is easy to use, but learning how to drive the TV / home theatre / VCR/ STB system was a nightmare. And that was after we had the retailer set up the whole system and then a technician that… Read more

specialises in home theatres set it up from scratch again. We nearly gave up but it was worth it in the end. (I've never used another set top box.) very good definition. I've had it a year or 2 and it has not often missed a beat. By comparison to analogue tv it is fabulous. every few months or so it seems to lose track of where it is (could be the TV of course) and we just shut down the TV and STB and away it goes again. If that is the worst problem we ever have then I'll be happy.

A display of some sort on the front of the box might make it easier to use.

Terrible – wont jump in and buy ' on the spot ' again without reading these forums..... And would not recommend this box at $799 - in my opinioun this unit should retail for $399 easy menu, looks ok annoying key bounce, and slow channel change. Also where in the manual does it explain the signal meter. Any online support for this box ? eg software updates ...

OK – its producing quite good pictures and seems to run fine even with very bad signal strenght. its a fine box and excellent value for the money. easy to set up and install the channels. nice design and the remote is a nicer and smaller unit than its predecessor. the remote has a problem with its sensitivity to finger pressure , annoying at times but livable. would prefer a channel display on the front of the box.

Terrible – I've given up on this brand and would not recommend this set top box because of the problems. It is a good STB when it works however it's a lot of money to spend on a low quality product. I've purchased a Toshiba HDS25 set top box now ($799) and have consigned the DH-2000A to the bottom of the cupboard in the garage until I'm in the mood to… Read more

spend money on getting it fixed. Image resolution is fantastic. I was blown away when I first seen one of these boxes working. I don't know whether its poor design of poor software or what but I'm on my second DGTEC Box.

The first box lost all of its sound and DGTEC replaced it. The first one had quite clear pictures with virtually no pixellation or signal quality problems.

The second box suffered from intermittent pixellation / signal quality problems and lasted two months beyond the 12 month warranty period - then simply ceased to have picture and sound.

Terrible – The DGTEC brand is is not consumer ready devalues the already poor HDTV content offering from broadcasters. Major electronic manufacturers would never release equipment of such poor quality and DGTEC should be ashamed. I have been on HDTV from the early days and I am underwealmed by the experience. Don't touch it with a ten foot stick!!… Read more

Nothing is good about this unit except whe nit works reliably The equipment design and features are poor, service list headings lose sync with their respective channel lists, ie SBS is above ABC and so on. Overall DGTEC equipment could be only considered as "protype" quality and offer no value for money

Bad – My overall opinion is, the DGtech DH-2000A is a cheapy, built down to a price for a narrow but competitive market. I bought it bundled with an excellent plasma screen, but I doubt I would have purchased it separately. I would have gone for more bells and whistles, like PIP, dual tuner. I assume, we might eventually be able to purchase HD Digital… Read more

TV's with a HD tuner built in??? Maybe someone can tell me why it's not happening now??? Easy set up. I just plugged into my antenna and into the back of the new plasma. Auto tuned all channels (61 channels from 7 sources)and we were up and running.I think this is a basic model but it does handle 1080i, the High Definition signal. It gives warnings about limitations in 576P but I havent noticed any.If your set doesn't support HD you have to change a switch on the rear. It gave an excellent picture right from the start.Haven't tried the audio fully yet. The signal strength indicator is a nice add on as is the Service list which displays all available services Can't change picture size with the remote.The Normal/Wide view command just doesn't work. Operating the 'Wide' button just tells me it It's only available in Normal vision but I am unable to select this. OK though because my plasma control can make the change. I will persue DGtech support on this.