Samsung SIR-T451 High Definition Terrestrial Tuner

I bought this "HDTV set top box" when there were no other choices of set top boxes. It was very expensive.

Pro: reasonable picture, sound is ok, many choices of out put format.

Con: Menu screen only works in the DVI out put mode, SAP does not work, remote is poorly planned, remote need to be very close to unit to work, no channel "back" button, HDTV picture quality is poor.

HDTV picture quality explained: The HDTV on the surface looks OK, but when you start looking at the 480p, 720p or 1080i digital picture quality, there are many funny looking "halo" around bright objects in the picture. Apparently the fringe filter is not working or not implemented in the design. There is no control for brightening or dimming the picture to try and reduce the "halo" effect.

I do not recommend this expensive receiver to any quality HDTV connosseur.

I have a hard time giving anything 5 stars. This device is fantastic. Yes, reception varies from one city or neighborhood to the next but this tuner has provided me with outstanding service in four metro areas without signing on for cable or satellite HD service. I've probably saved the cost of it in installation fees alone. When I purchased it I didn't realize the on-screen menus were actual program guides built from the over-the-air signal but they are and it makes for a great user experience. If you bought an HD TV without a tuner, I highly recommend this product.

I have a Mitsubishi widescreen HDTV-ready which I purchased 7 years ago. Since it does not have a built in tuner, I bought this product to bring in the HD broadcasts. I did not expect this unit to bring in all the stations by itself, so I bought a Philips HDTV antenna to feed into it, since the Philips was advertised as a signal booster for HDTV broadcasts. The result: using the Philips antenna, the unit was able to decode one HD station at a time. So, if I wanted to watch a different HD broadcast channel, I would have to keep adjusting the Philips antenna. Worse, it did not pick up some stations at all. Much worse, once adjusted, the signal strength went in and out so watching one program for more than a few minutes was impossible. Big disappointment, but I chalked up the bad experience to the fact that I live in a valley, so the HD signals were probably just too hard to receive and/or the Philips HDTV antenna was a piece of junk. That was last year.

Today, I purchased an Olevia HDTV. Even though the tv has a built in HD antenna, I attached the Philips antenna to it. To my surprise, I was able to bring in every HD station, clear as a bell while leaving the Philips in one position. I dug out this unit and attached it to the Olevia and the Philips. Again, only able to pick up one station at a time moving the Philips around.

Conclusion: The Philips is a great antenna. If you need one, it is sold on Amazon as Philips High Performance Amplified Indoor Uhf/Vhf/Fm/HDTV Antenna. This Samsung decoder is garbage. This is particularly surprising given how Samsung has made itself into a respected brand name in electronics in the last ten years. It's too late for me to complain to Samsung since the warranty period is long past, but if I can save one person from making the same mistake I made, I'll feel better.

I bought this tuner to compliment my father's HD widescreen rear-projection television. It only had an analog tuner and it was only used to watch old tapes and grainy analog cable channels. I thought that this tuner will work with little to no problem and everyone would enjoy it.

Was I ever wrong.

List of all the little problems I put up with:

* QAM tuner is glitchy all the time. I couldn't get any over-the-air reception due to too many tall trees in the area, so I hooked it up to the cable line. No matter how the cable was hooked up, by itself, through a spliter, or through an amped splitter, the unscrambled channels always had glitches, even with 100% reception.

* Remote occasionally stops working, even with new batteries.

* Saves every channel that you browse, even channels with no content. Very annoying.

* Bright grey bars for stations that don't match the TV size, which is really bad for projection televisions.

* Component output is 480 progressive when the resolution switch is under 480i. So much for using it on 480i televisions with component that can't support progressive scan. I could hook it up by composite or S-video, but what's the point of using a fuzzy video connection for viewing HD channels?

No one was interested in the box since there were no channels any one was interested in. It's now collecting dust in my closet.

I think the newer Samsung HD tuners are much better now. Get one of those, or a TV with ATSC and clear QAM tuners.

I bought this box hoping for an improvement in signal reception with an indoor antenna. I currently have to move my antenna to 2 different positions to receive different sets of HD channels (kind of annoying). Right now I use the Terk rotating antenna since I've had the best luck with it.

When I replaced my Zenith with the Samsung receiver, I found that this box does not receive signal as well as my Zenith when using the exact same antenna configuration. In fact, several of the channels I receive with my Zenith I could not receive at all with the Samsung even after fiddling for quite some time with the antenna.

I guess I will use this as an extra box for the guest bedroom. If you are worried about reception I would definately look at getting a Zenith hdv420 instead.