
I purchased the Samsung SIR-T351 in April of 2004 and have used it to this day. I can thoroughly say I have a great deal of experience with this tuner.
Positives: Easy to flip to your favorite channels, decent HD signal scanning capability, ease of setup and connections (for simple systems, i.e., one HDTV and terrestrial antenna input).
Negatives: Does not have "point" on the remote so you can't enter 4.1, 10.3, you have to go to 4 then "channel-up" to .1, .2, .3, etc.; during storms, high winds or rain when the signal is disrupted or becomes weak the audio may go out of sync (changing channels then coming back solves the problem); the tuner interface is SLOW (can't perform other controls if the guide or other features are displayed, you have to wait for the tuner to lock to a channel before you can change to a different one); no way to upgrade the firmware in this unit; the signal strength meter is very slow and does not give a good real-time indicator of signal strength (will show 7 bars even if the signal goes in and out quickly); the unit gets very warm (don't set anything on this as it will quickly heat up), and it was expensive when we bought it ($250 at Best Buy after some credit card and other discounts were applied).
There are more than likely better tuners out there. At the time, this was the only terrestrial tuner offered at Best Buy in my area (Raleigh, NC), so I pretty much had to take it (there were plenty of HD decoders from the cable and satellite companies but I wanted over-the-air so my choices were limited). It is still operational but the built-in tuner in my Sharp Aquos, which I purchased a year later, is significantly better, so I know by now HD terrestrial tuners have improved and are more than likely a bit less expensive.Get more detail about Samsung SIR-T351 ATSC (HD) Tuner.

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