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Zinwell ZAT-950A Digital to Analog TV Converter Box

Receives digital broadcast signals and converts to analog, for analog tuner TV sets. Built in VCR Timer with 8 slots to work with your VCR for recording programs. Zinwell ZAT-950A comes with excellent picture quality. It is in the 2nd tier of TV converter boxes for its picture quality which means that it is not quite as good as the best digital converter boxes but still a major upgrade from the average analog broadcast quality. Using this converter box will help you to get crystal clear and crisp sound quality. This TV converter box rates near the top in regards to its sound quality. Zinwell ZAT-950A comes with a built in VCR timer so you can record television shows, silicon based tuner for better signal gathering strength, and 8 ports so that it can work with your VCR recording.

Technical Details

* Support Analog Pass-Through
* Convert Digital TV signal to Analog
* Multi-lingual support
* Digital Parental control
* Remote control included

Customer Reviews:

A good converter for a good price, January 24, 2009
By Eclectic Amazonian (Arizona, USA)
The Zinwell ZAT-950A is a good inexpensive way to switch over from analog to digital TV signals, and Amazon makes it easy to apply the government discount coupon. The box itself is small and light, about 6 inches x 4 inches x 1 inch tall. The remote is not too big, not too small, and while it is not backlit like fancier remotes, it’s perfectly adequate with buttons big enough to find and easily push. Setup was quick and easy using the enclosed Quick-Start Guide. Connect the cable from your antenna to the box’s RF input, then use the included RF cable to connect the box to your TV (or use AV cables). Plug in the power, set your TV to channel 3 (you can configure it to use channel 4 as an alternate), turn the box on, and you’ll be asked to pick your language (English, Spanish, French), your time zone, and then the box will scan for local channels. Wait a minute or so for it to finish, and you’re set to go.

I found I needed to make two more adjustments to the settings, and I’ve noticed in reviews of other boxes the same issues occur, though people are blaming the converter rather than reading the short manual to find out how to fix the issues. If the volume seems much lower than it was before using the box, you are using the RF cable instead of AV cables. Just press Menu on the remote, then select Setup / TV Settings / Audio Mode, and select ‘RF Mode’. Bingo, the volume is back up to where it should be. If your picture looks distorted (squeezed or stretched), press Menu, then select Setup / TV Settings / Aspect Ratio and try the other settings. I had to switch to 4.3LB (letter boxed) and the picture is in perfect proportion, not only on widescreen broadcasts, but standard 4.3 broadcasts as well.

The guide says you’ll get better picture and sound if you use AV cables instead of the RF cable, but my old set doesn’t have AV jacks for picture and sound so I can’t verify that. Note that AV cables are not included with the product, so if you want to use them, you’ll have to buy separately. However, I found both the picture and sound quality are more than adequate using the old-style RF cable.

Given my very old TV, I was pleasantly surprised at the good picture quality. The converter circuitry must boost or filter even the analog signals, because the picture quality of the old analog stations is much better running through the box in pass-through mode (with the box powered off) than it was with just the antenna connected to my TV. According to the experts, digital signals are generally weaker than the analog signals from the same station, but the digital picture quality is far better than the analog versions in my area, with one exception. One station occasionally has signal break-up, but that is not the boxes fault, it is the station broadcasting with a weak signal. One nice plus to the Zinwell box is it displays the signal strength and quality for a station on 2 graphs, so you can adjust the direction of your antenna if needed and just watch the graphs for the best signal. Another nice feature is that when you switch to a channel, the box displays the names of the current program and the next program for the channel. Not a big deal for cable or satellite viewers, but then this box is not for them, it’s for us old-style viewers with rabbit ears or outside antennas, and that’s a great plus for us. There is also a Channel mode in the menu, where you can view all the stations you receive with a preview window, which makes channel surfing easy. In my area (an outlying suburb of a major city), I was surprised to get many more stations than I thought I would, including a weather station, and four PBS stations. The box allows you to select ‘Favorite’ channels which can be accessed with a single button on the remote, and it allows you to reorder the stations so the ones you watch the most will be contiguous when you change channels. You can select channels to skip, you can rename channels, and even delete them from the listing. There is a ‘find’ function for locating a channel by name. There is also a program timer for recording with DVRs/VCRs that will allow you to set your favorite program times. When the time comes, the box will switch to that channel so you can automatically record the show. (Even some higher-priced boxes don’t have this feature.) There is a sleep timer, and the software can be upgraded either over-the-air (if available in your area), or via the internet. There is also built-in parental control, including the framework for a yet unavailable version that is expected to be implemented in the future.

There are only 2 faults that I found with this converter, neither of them major. One is that it uses a ‘wall wart’ transformer, where the plug and transformer are one unit. That means it can cover more than one outlet on a power strip, but then the newer AV surge protectors are designed with wider spacing between outlets, so it might not be a problem for you. The other is that because the converter box has no switched outlet to plug your TV into, the sleep timer is of limited use. While it will turn the box off, your TV will continue to be on, unless you also set its timer (if it has one).

Be aware that you’ll still need your old antenna. Some people have found the digital signals so weak they need to upgrade their antenna, but I found the opposite to be true. It just depends on where you live, and what is between you and the broadcast antenna. If you get weak signals, don’t blame the converter box; you will probably need to upgrade your antenna since the digital signals are prone to interference.

Bottom line: If you’re used to regular over-the-air analog TV, you’ll be pleased with many of the features in this box. (And if you have cable or satellite TV then you don’t need a converter!) As long as the signal strength and quality are over 50%, you’ll have a very good picture. And while I can’t speak to the long-term reliability of the converter yet, I’m very pleased with the Zinwell. I did a lot of research before buying, and while there are fancier converters (and more expensive), I think the Zinwell is a very good buy for the money.

VCR/ DVR TIMER - keep your DVR or VCR working, October 29, 2008
By Troy Heagy (Forest Hill MD)
The main reason I bought this product was for the DVR/VCR Timer. This feature allows you to program your favorite shows, and the box will automatically change channels to that show. You can then use your DVR or VCR to capture the video off the box.

Other boxes like the Zenith DTT901 have better reception capability, but lack the ability to operate with DVRs or VCRs. The picture quality is outstanding for the Zinwell.

The Zinwell also has analog passthru for people who will be watching Low Power or “clear air” stations after the February 2009 analog shutdown. If you’re like me, and don’t have any analog stations post-transition, then this feature has no real relevance. The Zinwell’s guide tells you what program is on now, and what program will be on next hour, a definite improvement over analog television.

Overall I’m satisfied with the Zinwell’s DVR and VCR capability. It keeps my Super VHS VCR working, and enables it to record images that appear almost-DVD in quality!

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