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satellite dish
only one problem.this dish cannot receive both dishnetwork 119 and 110.i know it's a direct tv dish ,but this is what i wanted it for.

3 LNA Satilite Dish
Product arrived on time. I attached the disk to the roof and using a signal strength meter was able to align the disk and it has worked just fine ever since.

You will need more parts...
This is your standard, run of the mill, directv oval dish. It goes up pretty easily, although you'll need your own compass, and unfortunately, it also comes with no mounting hardware and no RG6 cables, so there's more to buy than just this item...

Another low point is that the LNBs are all fused together so if one goes bad, you have to replace the whole dish.

The constuction also seems kinda cheap, so we'll have to see how it holds up in the sun and wind...

TV Antenna
This is the second one of this product that I have purchased. I brought it use with my DTV converter box. The product works fine. I would buy another if I had a third dtv box to use.

Simply works great
I just got one of these. Agree with the first reviewer's thorough assessment. I have no cable at home, have a 7 yrs old JVC with a rabit ear on top of it. In my area, before the converter I could get NBC, CBS, ABC, CW, PBS, Fox 1 and sometimes Fox 2. With the box, on automatic chanel detection, now I could see NBCx2, CBSx2, ABC, CWx2, PBSx3, Fox1x2 and give up standing up to adjust the antenna to get Fox2. When the weather gets windy I lose lots of signals (same as before the converter), can't stand the choppy stuffs and crackle sounds so just leave the antenna in the best position for the best programs. What has been said about the digital signal is so very true: the signals that get to the tv are much much better than before. Luckily my TV has two sets of red/white/yellow connections for audio and S-video, just enough now to accomodate this converter box and my dvd player.

I bought this box on complete faith in Consumer Reports' rating (this box is the best). The guys from PBS's "Ask this old house" were showing how to use a converter box with antenna and they used the Zenith box which was also rated favorably by CR.

The set up with the remote was confusing due to incomprehensible chinese English. Need patience to go though initial trials/errors to decode what the instruction means.

Great D2A Converter Box
I live in the Washington DC burbs and I'm one of the few, the proud, who still doesn't have some form of cable TV. The February deadline is approaching quickly, so I applied for my Gov't coupon, received it, and purchased this converter box to convert the digital signals to analog for my 32" Toshiba CRT TV. Having the converter box is nearly like getting cable--there are subchannels for the main networks. For example, WJLA, channel 7 in our area, has a 7.3 channel which a retro tv channel that airs re-runs of popular 80s TV shows M-F, like the A-Team and Magnum PI.

Pros:
* Metal housing is durable--no plastic parts except for remote control and front panel.
* Easy setup - Antenna to box, A/V cables from box to TV and you're set.
* Signal strength indicator - shows you how strong of a reception you're getting.
* TV guide button tells you what's on now and what's on next.
* Aspect changer - button lets control the aspect ratio of the video signal coming through the TV
* Dolby Digital certified sound. Not many other DTV boxes on the market can claim that.
* Analog passthrough! Yes, with the device in standby you can still get analog signals to your TV. Not all converter boxes have this feature.
* RS232 service port -- calling any computer geeks, here's your DB9 for s/w updates.
* One of the top three converter boxes rated by Consumer Reports.

Cons:
* Sound quality through TV OK. I have the volume at near max in order to hear the audio. I need to get some 6' audio cables to see if it sounds better out of my Yamaha receiver.
* This is digital TV. All stations come in clear, but if there's a weak signal, you'll get blotchy images and inconsistent sound.
* User manual could use a better translation, but it does the job.
* "Smart Antenna" not explained well. This box allows you to hook up either a regular old antenna or a "smart antenna," which adjusts the rotation and gain to get the best reception for a particular station. [...] carries one for $[...], but the one on my roof seems to work well.

I highly recommend making the DTV transition now before the rush, especially with this box. It takes 4-6 weeks for the Gov't to process your application and send you a credit card for $[...].

Works seamlessly!
I had a DirecTV installer put one of these in. I have a HR21 HD DVR with the AM21 OTA tuner, a R16 SD MPEG2 DVR, and a R22 SD MPEG4 DVR. I needed a total of six lines (two for each DVR); I added the two SD DVRs.

Since they installed this, my signal strength on my HD box went up. Curiously, the R16 and R22 report a slightly higher signal strength (91% vs. 95%).

The installer mounted this on the outside wall of my house and I've had no problems with weather yet. Although all we've had is hot and hotter days! A few days though have had ash filled skies from forest fires yet the Zinwell still delivers a strong signal.

Works great
I installed this unit to replace my previous multiswitch when I converted to the DirecTV 5 LNB dish for MPEG-4 HD signals. I just removed the old one and connected up the WB68 with no problems, with either the 3 LNB dish before conversion or the 5 LNB dish after conversion.

My old multiswitch had a power brick that had to be plugged in in the attic, while this unit is powered by voltage on the coax from the satellite receivers. This would be a definite plus if you were installing it in a location that had no power available. I was always concerned about the possibility of the previous unit's power supply catching on fire in a superheated attic, but that is not a possibility with the WB68.

Installed this and Signal Strength Improved?
The WB68 offers an inexpensive way to increase the available inputs from your 5LNB KA/KU or new Slimline 5LNB dish. This is the only Multiswitch approved by DirecTV to process new MPEG-4 signals.

I installed this device when expanding inputs from four (max with the dish alone) to six. Installation was a breeze and - to my utter surprise - signal strengths noted during guided setup of new DirecTV HD boxes actually IMPROVED.

Highly recommended!

Never Had A Problem
We have also had this box for 2 years now in our bedroom and never once had a problem with it. In fact we have a TiVo brand in the living room and I perfer this one over the other one 10 to 1. Im not sure where the complaints are coming from..but i love ours and again never once had any issues with it. I am actually going to purchase 2 more of these boxes for the kids room.

NO PROBLEMS HERE
We've been using the R15 for more than a year and have had very, very few problems with it. As has been already said, the naysayers giving this product 1 star should learn how to oh, I don't know, READ THE MANUAL before they complain about a problem that's easily fixed. And this is not the forum to be airing gripes against DirecTV customer service in general, it's supposed to be about this DVR.

Anyway...

I personally found the service and remote to be rather intuitive. I don't believe I referred to the manual more than once the first day we had it.

The only recent problem I have had more than once is with NASCAR Hot Pass. There are times when the video simply freezes and I have to cold boot the device. It doesn't happen all the time, but enough to make note of it. If it was truly problematic, however, I would call DirecTV but rebooting the DVR is something I can live with. If it gets to the point where I have to do it more than once a race, then I'll call.

My two cents is that this is a good product that does what it advertises.

THIS DVR IS AWESOME!!!!
I can not BELIEVE the reviews that I read! I wasn't even going to write a review for this but since there is so negativity about this DVR i thought i would at least tell you all that this is NOT A PIECE OF JUNK! I had TIVO, and i hated it, i had it for 2 days and from the moment i plugged it up i hated it, it was a 12.99 (probably more now) monthly fee and u had to have a phone line hooked up to it! anyways, i just hated it, period...then i got directv and i ended up with 3 dvr's, one in each room (i have 4 ppl in my household) and all of us do not have ONE complaint! It records 2 things at once, you can set it up however you would like for it to record, while ur recording something, you can watch another program.

Do NOT listen to any of these horrible reviews, these people are insane to not like this machine!! This DVR is AWESOME!! I couldn't live without it!!

My folks say it works fine
My folks say theirs works fine and greatly improves the appearance of broadcast TV on their old style television but it has a weak manual.