Last updated on July 1, 2026
Inside of the Zenith DTT900Remember back when I got my DTV Deputy certificate? Well, today the DTV2009 coupon arrived, so I went out to Circuit City, waited an infuriating 15 minutes to pay, then acquired a Zenith DTT900 DTV converter box (photo gallery retired). I haven’t actually tried it yet, but I did tear it apart.
So, want to see the inside of a DTV converter? Click here (photo gallery retired).
Why the teardown?
Basically, why not? I wanted to see what all went into it, to I figured this was a good way. Also, it gets photos up and online whereas I couldn’t easily find any of it before.
I came across this connector. I haven’t looked into it yet, but it’s proximity to the other video circuitry leads me to believe that it could maybe be a svideo out. Or, hopefully, something better.
Finally, of a less… friendly reason, I was hoping that the banner ad revenue from this would cover the $24 or so out of pocket that it cost…
That connector is interesting. Looks like it has 4 pins? so Svideo, USB or Firewire are possibilities.
That presumes it includes ground. It *could* be component, but I’m not sure yet… Hopefully I’ll know more tonight.
Look up what the IC to the right is.
strange that the silkscreen legend to the left of that IC is pointing off the board…
nothing on A71GQ…
Mystery connector
I’ve read that a early prototype had a smart antenna jack on the back. Would this be enough pins for a ribbon to go to one of those??? Just guessing.
Re: Mystery connector
I had read that the footprint for that connector is actually on the power supply board. I may be mistaken, though.
a findchips.com search for a71g only turns up fans… what the hell is that IC?
also have this box and i’m wondering if it i
s for a fan or cooling device
Got my card/coupon today too. Is there any major difference between all the different models? I was planning on going to Radio Shack to get one.
I did about an hour worth of reading at avsforums and a few other places yesterday. What I found was that of the currently available boxes, the Zenith one seems to be the most popular. There’s an Echostar which is supposedly coming at some point this year, which may very well be priced at just under $40. There’s pretty much no detail on it, though.
One interesting thing is that there is a huge set of features that the boxes cannot have in order to qualify for the coupons. Despite being the same hardware, they can only decode to SDTV, no component out, no DVI/HDMI, no VGA, I think also no digital, things like that…
I bought two of them
They may be very basic but who cares? They work very well. HHGregg has them for $49.95! It works better than the earlier tuners. I’ve had the Motorola and Digital Stream. The new Zenith box is a huge improvement. Antenna aiming isn’t critical heck it even works in my problem location with rabbit ears. The older units are slower and don’t receive as well.
The DTT900 makes me believe this DTV thing may just work out after all. A better picture than cable TV for zero dollars a month!