Affiliate Link to the DTV Box 👉 amzn.to/3I6KTBg Affiliate Links to other DVRs: amzn.to/3MSfBhv amzn.to/3LVWulc amzn.to/3LRL55R Affiliate Link to recommended hard drive 👉 amzn.to/3M8nezf Video on how to run a reception report 👉 th-cam.com/video/RC8VmyjSE-M/w-d-xo.html
Tyler, After 12 yrs of service my iview 3500STBII quit working your video helped me decide and I bought the Mediasonic homeworx HW-PVR150PVR its the new 2022 version thats redesigned, got it all set up and hooked up my Seagate 1-TB . I set it up to do a timed record and it worked great. Thanks for the review of Mediasonic Homeworx.
I picked one of these up on Amazon a few years ago to “tape” some of my favorite shows. It still performs quite well with none of the glitches described in this video. I also experienced the issue with the remote control and fixed it by drilling a hole into the front panel to expose the IR sensor. Now it picks up the signal even if I don’t point the remote at the receiver. And the tuner is way more sensitive compared to my Samsung TV. Oh, the recordings on that thumb drive can also easily be played back on any computer using media player!
Would have been nice to get an example of which device you drilled the hole in and where! Otherwise it's of no use telling us of your great idea without us being able to replicate it!
@@rgruenhaus it’s a ViewTv At-263. But it seems all this devices are based on the same platform. The hole is right in front of the IR sensor, around 10mm in diameter. The smoked plastic blocks the IR beam.
@@rgruenhaus yes the smoked plastic section of the housing in front of the sensor. Yes it’s a filter but without filter it works perfectly fine and the remote works even when I point it in the opposite direction, reflecting on the wall behind the sofa.
@@rgruenhaus What a complaint. The guy is sharing his idea that worked for him. Most people who play with this stuff has a basic working knowledge of hardware and should be able to easily apply the modification theories to multiple types of equipment. Telling others that they shouldn't share their information (or experiments) is really being a dick. Ya'll Take Care and be, John
HI, Tyler I really like your content its good to know that someone young appreciates old things like this by the way, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a consequence, it cannot be used to specify a particular. Keep up the great work.
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time The official "Noon" hour is positioned over Greenwich, England, and times zones are based 15-degrees (in theory) off of that. GMT -5 is Eastern US (5am, versus their Noon).
Right now when this video was uploaded in Late May, me (PR) and Tyler (PA) are in GMT-4. We in PR and VI (AST) are always at GMT-4, it's the rest of the US Eastern Seaboard that "Spring Forward" and "Fall Back".
@@syxepop You open a whole can of worms when leaping/falling is in play, as there are countries handling it different ways, most not at all, but it really messes up everything. The -5 is standard time, but yes, point taken. :)
Tyler, you're a great resource for tv information. I always learn from you and once again you have helped me make informed decisions. BTW the Cooler system may be just the solution I was looking for too
As soon as you get one of these try setting it to record a program that runs past midnight EG:11:30PM to 12:30AM. Many of these sorts of products have trouble with any recording that goes past midnight. If you get one with the problem you need to send it back and try a different brand. A whole lot of brand names are stuck on basically the same hardware but some have buggy software in them.
The gold standard for OTA recording is the TiVo that you reviewed previously. However, you should initially pay/invest in the “all in“ (lifetime) service and keep it for several years to amortize the cost. There are three recent generations and two of them have 4 tuners that is great for presetting your favorite channels and then being able to pause and rewind live TV.
Back when CM was packaging an Antenna with The TiVo OTA Edge I got it for $379 and the antenna install was for $140 but I tipped the installers with $20 because I've seen the rates of some installers online. It was a true happy day when I got to CTC with DI$H Network for the City. Rural regions get di$counts because they don't have good OTA reception and or access to another cable pig. They were going to bilk Me almost $200 for $hit I wasn't even watching!
I have the TiVo edge for antenna, it is a great unit. Plus I still have a Channel Master Dvr+ that works great and an old Magnavox Dvr that I have had since 2009. Needless to say, I have the capabilities to record anything I want off of my antenna.
In the NTSC days I was sent a TIVO as a gift, sadly it was either one not working from beforehand or it got damaged in shipment, the post office was no help with a insurance claim as the original receipt was in someone else's name. And yet they never returned the box to me.
I have the older TiVo Roamio OTA, a Plex server with HDHomeRun tuner, and a Tablo Dual Lite that Tyler previously reviewed. For each device, I've bought into lifetime service and from my nearly 3 years of running all of them, I've found the Tablo to be the most reliable (haven't seen it miss a show yet) and flexible in viewing options, similar to Plex. The Plex server has been the most troublesome for me and needs to be checked on frequently while the TiVo Roamio missed a few scheduled shows for reasons I'm still not certain on and feels a bit restrictive on viewing options (can't view recordings on other devices). What I do like about TiVo is the remote control and the layout of the interface.
Tyler, I've always trusted your recommendations and regularly use two of the boxes you featured (an Ematic and a Mediasonic) I encountered issues with both of them but have since found a solution. Are you using a 2.5 inch hard drive that's powered off the USB port (has no external power supply). It seems the USB port on these boxes doesn't provide enough amperage to run the hard drive. Sometimes it's just enough to spin up the drive but then weird things start happening like shutting off for no apparent reason or rebooting. Often this was accompanied by loss of scheduled programs or channels. I tried to find an external drive enclosure with its own power supply but they don't seem to exist. So I placed a powered USB hub between the drive and the box and NO MORE BUGS!. 4 months running and not a single lost program spontaneous reboot or corrupted file. I do a lot of recording with the units. Since the smallest hub I could find has 4 ports I can also use it to charge my phone or other USB devices. (make sure your hub has at least a 2 amp power supply if you're going to do this). It's awkward but it works. So if you're experiencing these problems a $20 powered hub may fix it and you only spent $50 all together. Where I live that's still less than one month of basic cable.
The other problem with the $30.00 box (there are many of them that have that same chipset and firm ware) is if your broadcast station is not or does not broadcast the Electronic Program Guide you can not record programming from that channel. It would be nice if it had a Date, Time, Channel & Duration function. You also did not mention the USB drive can be inserted into any computer to watch your recorded programming. As far as use I use one for recording programming broadcast over the air that is not on Cable. Keep up the good work. We have not cut the cable here yet but thanks to your videos I have been making progress. ATSC 3.0 is thoroughgoing a curve ball into my hardware solutions. But I'm getting there.
I recently found out that the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is a service that TV stations have to pay for; as my local PBS (US) affiliate's EPG went blank one night, whereupon I contacted the station's engineering department. They responded with saying the service for the EPG thought that PBS station's subscription was not renewed, so the plug was pulled. The issue was cleared up a day later with the EPG being restored for the station. Finding out the EPG is a paid-service, it explains why the low-powered and shoe-string budgeted local TV stations, with a string of 5 ~ 10 subchannels, don't provide EPGs for its sub-channels, as it would be an expense the station cannot afford.
I have this unit. I agree with everything said. I only record periodically so im happy. For me the down side is the remote. Slower action time and not organized well
Hi Tyler, I have three 3500STBIIs, two ten year old units and one newer three year old model. All three have the superior large remote (no longer available). The older units have superior tuner sensitivity. The newer model has closed captioning. They do not exhibit the glitches you encountered. The older unit's biggest failing, the power supply was unreliable when powering older HDDs (perhaps newer HDDs consume less power?). I use a powered HDD. If using thumb drives I recommend USB3.1 minimum. I use Samsung Bar Plus drives but after three year's use, errors are building up. Time to try another manufacturer. Audio output is a stereo downmix only (to avoid Dolby licensing) but can be overcome by renaming files (difficult). I recommend the HDMI output but the F output may be used as a passthru to the TV. If you encounter problems, there is a ton of support for iViews at the AVS forum. Good luck.
I have one similar to this one and do NOT lose my scheduled recs everytime i turn it off. It must be a problem with the one you have. One major issue I find is that it takes about a minute for a recording to start after I press the record button.
Greenwich Mean Time is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a consequence, it cannot be used to specify a particular time unless a context is given.
The antenna recommended depends on your area. You can find a list of recommended antennas or sign up for an antenna recommendation from me at the link below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
I had commented that these various boxes "must have the same chipset." Actually the chip numbers vary -- I opened various boxes to find out. What's the same are the OS and software interface. I owned an ematic box which still works, but the readout died. I was given a viewtv AT-263; it works exactly the same, but the interface response is smoother. There does seem to be a difference between models.
An aspect that is telling about the OS being the same on the the different DVR boxes is with the cross-compatibility of the USB storage devices (in my case external SSD) on the different DVR brands. I used a SSD that was formatted on a NAXA DVR and it recorded on the QFX and Ematic brands with no problems.
For those reading along, the converter box builds a small file named MM_PLAY_TIME.ini . I suggest not to delete it. I did once, and the converter could no longer index the saved files.
As Robert has mentioned in the comments, this seems similar under the hood to the "Homeworx" DVR tuner. Have you noticed the same glitches on that one, or nah? As others have said already, GMT=Greenwich Mean Time, which nowadays is just Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). That cooling device sounds awesome!
GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time, which is the current time in Greenwich, England in the UK. It’s the basis for Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), which is a time-zone free time used to by international audiences to known what time it is irregardless of the local time zone. So to ensure the clock in the device shows the current current time you must known how many hours your local time differs from GMT and then set the GMT+ setting that many hours.
Hello, I currently use Hisense. Where do you think it ranks with TV tuners? I heard Hisense uses the same panels as LG but I wasn't able to confirm that.
3:10 I’ve noticed many different products like this have issues with the remote control just like you’ve described. I find it puzzling since remote control technology seems like it’s already been perfected.
Except for the remote,the internal software appears to be identical to the Homeworx. A great low cost DVR solution. These videos are a public service to those who cannot afford the cost of Cable or just don't feel like paying for Free OTA broadcasts.
Nearly the same software/firmware has been used for years now with these DVR boxes with only minor tweaks, as I have an "RCA" branded one from 2015 that has nearly the exact same software/firmware, and bugs with a remote that has to be pointed dead on for it to work.
@@AntennaMan I am curious to know what the best solution for me might be. I am about 35 miles from most of the towers in my area. 20 is the closet one, 35 the furthest one. I am on the 6th floor of an apartment building, in a pretty rule area. I can only do an indoor antenna. While that should be enough, right now instead of getting 16 channels, I get 8. So I am missing my local Fox and CBS and PBS channels. I saw a video where you debunked the 300+ mile antennas out there as a garbage claim. (Though I wish it were true because it would be nice to grab CW and Ion in my area when the only city that has them in my state is Indianapolis, which is 100 miles from me). I was thinking about a converter box to try and see if it would help signal boost the antenna so I could pick up CBS and Fox and hopefully PBS. (Right now only getting NBC and ABC and the .2,.3,.4 they each carry). I can't afford a new TV, very limited income. So hoping that maybe a low cost option might help me out to get the most out of my TV. (I am disabled and in public housing). Thanks in advance if you see this comment. Because I can't afford to get ripped off by a bad product. So don't know if Amazon is my answer or my local Walmart. (About 30-40 is what I can spend right now to figure this out).
I have two variants of that "box." One is an Ematic and another brand which was newer. The newer one overheated a lot and I stopped using it. The Ematic occasionally overheats and I now have it plugged into a remote controlled outlet. When it acts up I turn off the power for a few seconds. My thumb drives work just fine. Our shows take up to 2 Gbytes but we don't keep shows forever so we have no problem deleting what we don't need. It does "forget" channels but not because of losing power. I think that when it looks for a channel and can't find it, it dumps it. One "noisy" channels the data on the memory gets messed up and the machine "crashes" on playback. If the show is important to use, we try again and use the GoTo function to skip over the bad part. I'm guessing that when it decodes and has problems it "thinks" itself to death.
Ah! Good to know that I'm not the only person with an Ematic DVR that runs hot; up to 140 degrees F when using those non-touching infrared temperature sensors with the laser spot beam. That same unit did fail on my when recording over four continuous hours of TV programming on one summer day when my indoor house temp was 80 degrees F. What I did to solve the overheating issue was to remove the metal cover; exposing all the inners of the unit. It improved the reliability immensely, as now it runs cooler.
Here in the U.K. i am still using a Humax HDR Fox T2 for recording over the air broadcasts. Its getting old now but has the features you mention & with the custom firmware you can export hd content to watch on a pc. It can even restore scheduled recordings after a retune if you add that package.
Eventually I hope you will review the HD Homerun ATSC 3.0 Tuner and I am hoping WPVI ABC6 will look into being one of the first stations to upgrade to possibly improve the signal quality for Wilmington Delaware
I only wish my new 2021 Samsung 4K TV had a signal strength meter! My old 49" Samsung did! Sure would be nice if TV manufacturers would think ahead and make tuners swappable for upgrades!
Hi I like your show I watch it every time you post one I'm a retired technician my kids call me a genius I don't know why everybody's making a big deal about HD and not getting it it's the worst thing they ever came out with it's child's Play and analog can be brought back anytime you want it with my homemade system getting HD singles is like cutting butter it's not a big deal you just need the right equipment and there is no antennas without the equipment I got it's very simple it's not a good system to begin with never was from day one
If I have an old directtv box can I use it with an antenna? Will it still record or does it need the subscription? I just cut cable yesterday and so far still have local tv. But I’m sure it’s gonna stop at some point. I found your channel when looking for reviews on antennas. Most of my channels are 16 miles away or closer. Would indoor antenna work ok? Thx so much. Love your channel. Very helpful info.
I see where on the screen it showed .mts file extensions. Does it record the broadcast transport stream directly with a .mts file extension? I'd like to be able to copy those files off onto a computer to save or edit.
@@AntennaMan Oh excellent! I only need to occasionally record, but when I do I want to keep it in the best quality. In our attic, there are THREE full size VHF/UHF outdoor antennas that look like they're from the 70's or 80's with 300 ohm twin lead connectors! Gonna try one with a 300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter. 😁👍
It looks like this box supports component output. That supposedly looks better than composite. Changing the channel will fix the audio/video sync on my RCA DTA 880. That converter is getting hard to find. The included credit card remote is a weak point. Not much range and rather battery hungry. Newer universal remotes will control the box.
I am waiting for someone to put out a converter box similar to this to get ATSC 3.0 signals. I get all my local channels and they work pretty good most of the time but now they are broadcasting the new standard and I would like to have it. Perhaps next year the prices will come down on the expensive models and more less costly boxes will be available.
It will probably be several years until they're available since we're still in the very very early stages of the whole thing. There's also a chance the standard might flop since O&O networks are reluctant to jump on board.
The RCA coax for component signal isn't for HD also? I have some boxes like this and it's my understanding that the component RCA jacks can go up to 1080i.
Huge fan of your channel, I help me learn more about antenna and over the air at 14 years old. When I was little, I had cable, but since 2013-14 I've used antennas. Two question, can you convert mts file to an mp4 file so you can watch on devices like computers? And I have a Core Innovations Tuner, and you should mention that some PVR recording skip or cut off on some recordings, do you know why is that?
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time It’s a world wide standard for time conversion, eg Sydney Australia is GMT +10 Eastern USA is -4 (that’s you antenna man), West Coast is GMT -7, Central is GNT-6
I bought one of these on Amazon. On mine the recorded files on the usb stick will not play back on anything but the box itself. 😢 And the units RF sensitivity is in the mud compared to every atsc tv i ever had. About 5 of em. 😵😱
The file type is "mts' and should play back on any computer media app that supports it; I use the VLC Media Player. Many Blu-ray players support 'mts'; both my LG and Vizio players support it.
Hmm, I haven't had the problem of losing recording timers when turning the box off. Mine's not that exact model, though. But just leave it on; it takes a while to boot! Interesting that as far as I know, all the cheap ones except one use this same OS. But one good- _looking_ one uses Android instead, like on phones and tablets (so you could turn your TV and a microphone into a soft-phone)! But that one has a huge bug of accidentally marking files for deletion and they get soft-deleted (recoverable) when you connect that storage up to a Mac! So I've told that guy about the problem and he seems to have taken it out of the market until he can fix it.
I recently bought a Tablo and found that if there is a glitch in the signal for just an instant that the Tablo will stop working. It then must be shut down and restarted, making it useless for recording unless you have a perfect signal for the entire time.
That's very odd. I have a 2017 vintage older Tablo that has no such problem. A weak signal on my Tablo results in a program being chopped up into segments as the signal is lost and then picked up again. But the Tablo keeps working for all functions. And very very rarely I've had to restart the box.
I have a Mediasonic and it's not a reliable recorder at all. As you say the timed recordings can just randomly disappear. It does seem to employ some sort of advanced AI that can specifically remove especially important recordings to me. I wonder if it's the software rather than the hardware itself. Because my menus and options look exactly like those in this video. Different box...same menus. Also I've noticed that when audio gets out of sync oftentimes simply changing channels then back can fix the problem.
I've had three of the iView 3500stb series machines, in addition to the Mediasonic and Homeworx equivalents, and they all had weird issues (bad remote sensitivity, recordings disappearing from schedule, machine sometimes won't wake up for scheduled recording or reboots/shuts off at random, rewinding or FF'ing too much during recording can cause crash) and died after about three years, but when they work properly you do get high-quality recordings which don't appear to be compressed any more than the broadcast itself.
I got a bunch of the GPX branded ATSC tuners from Menards. Pretty much the ae thing. Unfortunately 4 of th crapped out. 1 with the DAC going out, 3 with a faulty capacitor near the power supply area. Found some off Amazon with wall wart power supplies. I'm testing out.
I recently had this happen to me with the same GPX ATSC box. I was using it as part of a cartoon archival project I'm doing (thanks MeTV Toons!) and it began having issues powering on one day, and the box finally died the next, only making a high pitched whine. Popped it open and noticed that one of the capacitors in the power supply section was leaking out the bottom. I've since replaced it with a QFX CV-103, which has almost the same slow OS and menus. Some functions on the QFX are easier to do since the remote has the four color buttons along the bottom, and it uses an external 5V power adapter. Having an external adapter can be a plus since if the pack-in adapter dies, it can be replaced with an equivalent one easily. However, the pack-in adapter causes massive interference on the AM radio band within like 50 to 100 feet of the adapter.
Thanks for the advice. I thought you moved to the Lehigh Valley area, which is the Philadelphia market. I'm surprised you are searching for Wilkes-Barre stations, granted. ATSC wasn't a thing when I left the area in 9/2000.
There is one thing with the OS used on all these cheap ATSC DVRs that can be quite annoying if an ATSC channel changes aspect ratio flags on the fly, such as MeTV Toons. My Samsung TV and an ancient 2009 converter box have no issues with these aspect ratio changes. With these cheap boxes though? The aspect ratio change causes the screen to blank out for nearly two seconds as it adjusts to the updated flags, and throws up the OSD info banners once the signal returns... and will do this constantly going to and from commercials and cutting off the first few seconds of the show when it returns! This is even more annoying when you use this device to record off-air shows in real time using a PC or Mac (ATSC box connected to an HDMI recording device). The only way to avoid this bizarre glitch is to DVR the shows in advance, and play them back off the USB device. The slow aspect ratio switching does not happen with DVR recordings.
My Sony tv is having signal issues. It was fine a month ago, but now I only get 1 channel clearly. If I touch the antenna coax at the connection to the tv, the stations become clear. Some solutions I’ve heard- 1) grounding the coax, though I’ve seen everything from an earth ground, ground to pipe, ground to outlet. 2)replacing some of the coax with newer coax, the current coax is at least 20 years old, and it is a long run, but it has worked before. 3) Buy a better tuner box. Running new coax requires ladders and roof walking, checking junctions, etc. New tuner box is disconnect coax from tv, connect coax to box, connect hdmi to box and tv. Suggestions, recommendations, advice?
It could be one of a number of things. You can try this external tuner first to see if that works. If not, then you may need a better antenna setup. Consider a consultation from me at the link below. This can prevent you from spending hundreds of dollars and time wasted on setting up the wrong equipment for your area. antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
@@AntennaMan I don’t think it’s the antenna, I have a tv downstairs, and it’s fine with all channels. The coax cable run is shorter with the downstairs tv. The upstairs tv was getting a workable signal up until a week ago, so I feel like something happened. UPDATE- I brought my downstairs tv, a 15 year-old Samsung, upstairs- and it locks onto channels just fine. The Samsung also has a signal strength meter, and the signal isn’t as steady as downstairs, but still plenty usable for the Samsung. It actually seems like a decent enough signal, I don’t know why the Sony doesn’t like it. As I mentioned before, it worked until a week ago.
@@AntennaMan I ended up buying the version Amazon would deliver to the midwest, a ZJBox branded version. The tuner is only slightly better than the Sony, and the included hdmi cable is low quality and has sync issues with the Sony. I'm disappointed the tuner isn't significantly better, so I'm thinking of returning it. I'm guessing the tuner in this video isn't any better?
Yes, you might need a VCR for the AV ports unless you can get the Converter Box to work with the RF output connected to the RF Coax port on the back of your TV.
Thanks for the video, I have a question, I have a cabin in the woods zip 54554, I would only get 3 stations from my old CM antenna, started to loose the 3 channels when the winds blow, and don’t come back. I have an older Panasonic TV where we constantly scan channels, could this be the issue? I plan to move the antenna on a 25’ flagpole where I have no tree obstructions. I do have an older Zenith DT901 back home, do you think I may have better luck with this converter? TIA.
GMT is Greenwich Mean Time.. the world standard for time comparison.. all times worldwide on most devices are figured in the difference in comparison to GMT.. the “eastern, central, mountain, pacific” is the dumbed down version we use in the USA
I have 2 of these from different companies, but almost identical in functions and for the price, it is impressive. There are 2 things that i was disappointed in...You cannot view another channel while its recording...and the loop through output is confusing to me.
It's a $30 converter box with recording function. You can't expect too much from it in terms of watching one channel and recording another. The loop through only works when the DTV box is off or if you go to the settings and turn off the analog output on channel 3 and 4.
hi! .your video is awesome, but i have a few questions. I have both the Iview 3500STBII and the Iview 3300STB. On the Iview 3500STBII, I could hit the INFO button on the remote while watching a video, and it will show the name of the video, the running time of the video, how much time is left, etc. If i try to push the INFO button on the 3300STB, it says "INVALID" on the tv screen. How can i see the video info on the STB33000???????
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time in the UK would be zero hour USA Eastern time zone is -5 The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is an area 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT-5) during the winter months (referred to as Eastern Standard Time or EST) and 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT-4) during the summer months (referred to as Eastern Daylight Time or EDT).
i just got one good timing sometimes when i record it comes up empty- would that be because i need a better flash drive? or a 3.0? is that what you said??
We call this a digital receiver, or tuner, i would suggest buying a linux box. (way more options) And USB 2.0 sticks should work fine as long as they are reliable. USB 2.0 max speed is about 30-35 MBytes/s, that is fast enough because most channels will be less then 10 Mbit/s.. see the Byte/bit difference there, that is a factor 8.
I think we have one of the mediasonic ones and they are junk. If you decide to record something that is already on on the tv, expect to wait up to a minute for the device to boot. Then another minute for to it to start recording. Same for timer recording, start early because it doesn't start right away like an old vcr did. Also, if it is recording, you can't access the menu to setup another recording even if there is no overlap. And you can't set recordings to overlap even if they are on the same channel, not just the same sub channel which ANY linux computer running VDR can do.
Can you use this box with a tv antenna that has a power supply for motor that is supposed to turn it.? If so, how do you connect it? Also when I hooked it up I cannot get the menu to show up on the tv. It does appear as though the box scanned for channels but the remote doesn't want to work. Help please
is the 3300 the newest model? i have the 3500 and dropouts appear in my videos. i don't know if my unit is failing, or what. i need a unit that doesn't produce dropouts. UPDATE: If i use a flash drive to record to, i get dropouts. if i use a EIDE hard drive, i get no dropouts.
I'm still waiting for my Tablo to send me info even though they took a $30.00 deposit for the new tablo which I haven't heard anything from them. They only sent me a letter stating some channels will coded differently.
I remain skeptical. A few years ago I tried a couple of different boxes at this end of the range. One was a Homeworx and the other was an RCA branded version of a similar box that Walmart was selling locally. I just don't have the patience to deal with these devices. I found constant glitches in recording and playback, disappearing channels like you stated, and extremely poor usability of the remotes - just horribly difficult to even learn the key layout of these things just to use them. These devices are pretty much junk. The lowest end Tablo is $118 from Amazon and it's light years more stable and reliable than the junk $30 recording boxes with crap software and cryptic remotes. If I didn't have the means to buy the Tablo, I'd do without and just torrent anything I missed on a broadcast, or watch streaming versions of programs on the web. The aggravation was not worth it for me and I am a tinkerer.
Hi can you help me with the usb recording function please , I hit record and a message saying not vailed , do I need to set up the USB in settings help me please thanks.
Yes, on my website I do offer a consultation service. Most times I'm able to diagnose and troubleshoot the issue through email but am willing to schedule a phone call upon request
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Video on how to run a reception report 👉 th-cam.com/video/RC8VmyjSE-M/w-d-xo.html
Amazon says can’t be delivered to my address?
Tyler is this the New Core over the air converter box with DVR ?
bitly link for torras doesn't work
You do know you don't need a dtv converter for a new flatscreen, right? they have dtv recievers in them
@@rexjolles Yes, but the DTV box will enable a DVR function and signal meter that aren't present on most TVs.
One thing that folks dont seem to talk about much is the absence of OTA video recorders.
Thanks for bringing up this subject
Another good thing about this is it doesn’t need to be connected to the internet
YESSSS
Tyler, After 12 yrs of service my iview 3500STBII quit working your video helped me decide and I bought the Mediasonic homeworx HW-PVR150PVR its the new 2022 version thats redesigned, got it all set up and hooked up my Seagate 1-TB . I set it up to do a timed record and it worked great. Thanks for the review of Mediasonic Homeworx.
I picked one of these up on Amazon a few years ago to “tape” some of my favorite shows. It still performs quite well with none of the glitches described in this video. I also experienced the issue with the remote control and fixed it by drilling a hole into the front panel to expose the IR sensor. Now it picks up the signal even if I don’t point the remote at the receiver. And the tuner is way more sensitive compared to my Samsung TV.
Oh, the recordings on that thumb drive can also easily be played back on any computer using media player!
Would have been nice to get an example of which device you drilled the hole in and where! Otherwise it's of no use telling us of your great idea without us being able to replicate it!
@@rgruenhaus it’s a ViewTv At-263. But it seems all this devices are based on the same platform. The hole is right in front of the IR sensor, around 10mm in diameter. The smoked plastic blocks the IR beam.
@@andyc6736 on the box? The smoked lens? IR lenses should be red! It filters other light so it only gets the IR light!
@@rgruenhaus yes the smoked plastic section of the housing in front of the sensor. Yes it’s a filter but without filter it works perfectly fine and the remote works even when I point it in the opposite direction, reflecting on the wall behind the sofa.
@@rgruenhaus What a complaint. The guy is sharing his idea that worked for him. Most people who play with this stuff has a basic working knowledge of hardware and should be able to easily apply the modification theories to multiple types of equipment.
Telling others that they shouldn't share their information (or experiments) is really being a dick.
Ya'll Take Care and be, John
HI, Tyler I really like your content its good to know that someone young appreciates old things like this by the way, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a consequence, it cannot be used to specify a particular. Keep up the great work.
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time
The official "Noon" hour is positioned over Greenwich, England, and times zones are based 15-degrees (in theory) off of that. GMT -5 is Eastern US (5am, versus their Noon).
Right now when this video was uploaded in Late May, me (PR) and Tyler (PA) are in GMT-4. We in PR and VI (AST) are always at GMT-4, it's the rest of the US Eastern Seaboard that "Spring Forward" and "Fall Back".
@@syxepop You open a whole can of worms when leaping/falling is in play, as there are countries handling it different ways, most not at all, but it really messes up everything.
The -5 is standard time, but yes, point taken. :)
GMT -5 is 7AM, not 5AM. Literally, it is just 12 minus 5 equals 7.
An American wouldn’t know about GMT but an American Ham radio operator would 🙃
@@digitalmediafanDefinitely! This IT person did, too.
Tyler, you're a great resource for tv information. I always learn from you and once again you have helped me make informed decisions. BTW the Cooler system may be just the solution I was looking for too
Not only was this video informative, we also got to see Tyler with Colonel Sanders! Love you content! Keep it up!
As soon as you get one of these try setting it to record a program that runs past midnight EG:11:30PM to 12:30AM. Many of these sorts of products have trouble with any recording that goes past midnight. If you get one with the problem you need to send it back and try a different brand. A whole lot of brand names are stuck on basically the same hardware but some have buggy software in them.
You look so cool with those sunglasses and cooling thingy on your neck.😎 I think I will order one. I like that it cools and heats 👍👍
The gold standard for OTA recording is the TiVo that you reviewed previously. However, you should initially pay/invest in the “all in“ (lifetime) service and keep it for several years to amortize the cost. There are three recent generations and two of them have 4 tuners that is great for presetting your favorite channels and then being able to pause and rewind live TV.
This is true. But this device above is a nice alternative.
Back when CM was packaging an Antenna with The TiVo OTA Edge I got it for $379 and the antenna install was for $140 but I tipped the installers with $20 because I've seen the rates of some installers online. It was a true happy day when I got to CTC with DI$H Network for the City. Rural regions get di$counts because they don't have good OTA reception and or access to another cable pig. They were going to bilk Me almost $200 for $hit I wasn't even watching!
I have the TiVo edge for antenna, it is a great unit. Plus I still have a Channel Master Dvr+ that works great and an old Magnavox Dvr that I have had since 2009. Needless to say, I have the capabilities to record anything I want off of my antenna.
In the NTSC days I was sent a TIVO as a gift, sadly it was either one not working from beforehand or it got damaged in shipment, the post office was no help with a insurance claim as the original receipt was in someone else's name. And yet they never returned the box to me.
I have the older TiVo Roamio OTA, a Plex server with HDHomeRun tuner, and a Tablo Dual Lite that Tyler previously reviewed. For each device, I've bought into lifetime service and from my nearly 3 years of running all of them, I've found the Tablo to be the most reliable (haven't seen it miss a show yet) and flexible in viewing options, similar to Plex. The Plex server has been the most troublesome for me and needs to be checked on frequently while the TiVo Roamio missed a few scheduled shows for reasons I'm still not certain on and feels a bit restrictive on viewing options (can't view recordings on other devices). What I do like about TiVo is the remote control and the layout of the interface.
Another great video for a new OTA solution. This looks like a great solution for a single TV but for a family environment I'd suggest a Tablo.
Tyler, I've always trusted your recommendations and regularly use two of the boxes you featured (an Ematic and a Mediasonic) I encountered issues with both of them but have since found a solution.
Are you using a 2.5 inch hard drive that's powered off the USB port (has no external power supply). It seems the USB port on these boxes doesn't provide enough amperage to run the hard drive. Sometimes it's just enough to spin up the drive but then weird things start happening like shutting off for no apparent reason or rebooting. Often this was accompanied by loss of scheduled programs or channels. I tried to find an external drive enclosure with its own power supply but they don't seem to exist. So I placed a powered USB hub between the drive and the box and NO MORE BUGS!. 4 months running and not a single lost program spontaneous reboot or corrupted file. I do a lot of recording with the units. Since the smallest hub I could find has 4 ports I can also use it to charge my phone or other USB devices. (make sure your hub has at least a 2 amp power supply if you're going to do this). It's awkward but it works.
So if you're experiencing these problems a $20 powered hub may fix it and you only spent $50 all together. Where I live that's still less than one month of basic cable.
The other problem with the $30.00 box (there are many of them that have that same chipset and firm ware) is if your broadcast station is not or does not broadcast the Electronic Program Guide you can not record programming from that channel. It would be nice if it had a Date, Time, Channel & Duration function.
You also did not mention the USB drive can be inserted into any computer to watch your recorded programming.
As far as use I use one for recording programming broadcast over the air that is not on Cable.
Keep up the good work. We have not cut the cable here yet but thanks to your videos I have been making progress. ATSC 3.0 is thoroughgoing a curve ball into my hardware solutions. But I'm getting there.
I recently found out that the Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is a service that TV stations have to pay for; as my local PBS (US) affiliate's EPG went blank one night, whereupon I contacted the station's engineering department. They responded with saying the service for the EPG thought that PBS station's subscription was not renewed, so the plug was pulled. The issue was cleared up a day later with the EPG being restored for the station.
Finding out the EPG is a paid-service, it explains why the low-powered and shoe-string budgeted local TV stations, with a string of 5 ~ 10 subchannels, don't provide EPGs for its sub-channels, as it would be an expense the station cannot afford.
I have this unit. I agree with everything said. I only record periodically so im happy. For me the down side is the remote. Slower action time and not organized well
Hi Tyler, I have three 3500STBIIs, two ten year old units and one newer three year old model. All three have the superior large remote (no longer available). The older units have superior tuner sensitivity. The newer model has closed captioning. They do not exhibit the glitches you encountered. The older unit's biggest failing, the power supply was unreliable when powering older HDDs (perhaps newer HDDs consume less power?). I use a powered HDD. If using thumb drives I recommend USB3.1 minimum. I use Samsung Bar Plus drives but after three year's use, errors are building up. Time to try another manufacturer. Audio output is a stereo downmix only (to avoid Dolby licensing) but can be overcome by renaming files (difficult). I recommend the HDMI output but the F output may be used as a passthru to the TV. If you encounter problems, there is a ton of support for iViews at the AVS forum. Good luck.
I have one similar to this one and do NOT lose my scheduled recs everytime i turn it off. It must be a problem with the one you have. One major issue I find is that it takes about a minute for a recording to start after I press the record button.
Greenwich Mean Time is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a consequence, it cannot be used to specify a particular time unless a context is given.
Thank you so much for the info man. Can you please tell me which antenna do you recommend for this converter box?
The antenna recommended depends on your area. You can find a list of recommended antennas or sign up for an antenna recommendation from me at the link below: www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
I had commented that these various boxes "must have the same chipset." Actually the chip numbers vary -- I opened various boxes to find out. What's the same are the OS and software interface. I owned an ematic box which still works, but the readout died. I was given a viewtv AT-263; it works exactly the same, but the interface response is smoother. There does seem to be a difference between models.
An aspect that is telling about the OS being the same on the the different DVR boxes is with the cross-compatibility of the USB storage devices (in my case external SSD) on the different DVR brands. I used a SSD that was formatted on a NAXA DVR and it recorded on the QFX and Ematic brands with no problems.
For those reading along, the converter box builds a small file named MM_PLAY_TIME.ini . I suggest not to delete it. I did once, and the converter could no longer index the saved files.
No matter what,i loved 1967-1970. "Blue Beatles," album in your video. Nice, young man like you have great music taste. Cheers Tyler!👍
Antenna Man is a metal head? Awesome!
As Robert has mentioned in the comments, this seems similar under the hood to the "Homeworx" DVR tuner. Have you noticed the same glitches on that one, or nah? As others have said already, GMT=Greenwich Mean Time, which nowadays is just Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). That cooling device sounds awesome!
This one is worse than the mediasonic in terms of glitches.
@@AntennaMan Tyler is this the New Core Converter box with DVR ?
GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time, which is the current time in Greenwich, England in the UK. It’s the basis for Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), which is a time-zone free time used to by international audiences to known what time it is irregardless of the local time zone. So to ensure the clock in the device shows the current current time you must known how many hours your local time differs from GMT and then set the GMT+ setting that many hours.
Let me know when there's an ATSC 3.0 Tuner/DVR box for this price.
This is the best way to combine multiple antennas pointing in different directions to a TV most TVs have 3 or 4 HDMI inputs
Off topic, but how do you feel about splitters with signal boosters
Hello, I currently use Hisense. Where do you think it ranks with TV tuners? I heard Hisense uses the same panels as LG but I wasn't able to confirm that.
3:10 I’ve noticed many different products like this have issues with the remote control just like you’ve described.
I find it puzzling since remote control technology seems like it’s already been perfected.
Except for the remote,the internal software appears to be identical to the Homeworx. A great low cost DVR solution. These videos are a public service to those who cannot afford the cost of Cable or just don't feel like paying for Free OTA broadcasts.
Nearly the same software/firmware has been used for years now with these DVR boxes with only minor tweaks, as I have an "RCA" branded one from 2015 that has nearly the exact same software/firmware, and bugs with a remote that has to be pointed dead on for it to work.
Yes, it's virtually the same converter box with some minor differences.
@@AntennaMan So that mean the remote is useless which makes the dvr useless.
@@AntennaMan I am curious to know what the best solution for me might be.
I am about 35 miles from most of the towers in my area. 20 is the closet one, 35 the furthest one. I am on the 6th floor of an apartment building, in a pretty rule area. I can only do an indoor antenna.
While that should be enough, right now instead of getting 16 channels, I get 8. So I am missing my local Fox and CBS and PBS channels.
I saw a video where you debunked the 300+ mile antennas out there as a garbage claim. (Though I wish it were true because it would be nice to grab CW and Ion in my area when the only city that has them in my state is Indianapolis, which is 100 miles from me).
I was thinking about a converter box to try and see if it would help signal boost the antenna so I could pick up CBS and Fox and hopefully PBS. (Right now only getting NBC and ABC and the .2,.3,.4 they each carry).
I can't afford a new TV, very limited income. So hoping that maybe a low cost option might help me out to get the most out of my TV. (I am disabled and in public housing).
Thanks in advance if you see this comment. Because I can't afford to get ripped off by a bad product. So don't know if Amazon is my answer or my local Walmart. (About 30-40 is what I can spend right now to figure this out).
I have two variants of that "box." One is an Ematic and another brand which was newer. The newer one overheated a lot and I stopped using it. The Ematic occasionally overheats and I now have it plugged into a remote controlled outlet. When it acts up I turn off the power for a few seconds. My thumb drives work just fine. Our shows take up to 2 Gbytes but we don't keep shows forever so we have no problem deleting what we don't need.
It does "forget" channels but not because of losing power. I think that when it looks for a channel and can't find it, it dumps it. One "noisy" channels the data on the memory gets messed up and the machine "crashes" on playback. If the show is important to use, we try again and use the GoTo function to skip over the bad part. I'm guessing that when it decodes and has problems it "thinks" itself to death.
Ah! Good to know that I'm not the only person with an Ematic DVR that runs hot; up to 140 degrees F when using those non-touching infrared temperature sensors with the laser spot beam.
That same unit did fail on my when recording over four continuous hours of TV programming on one summer day when my indoor house temp was 80 degrees F.
What I did to solve the overheating issue was to remove the metal cover; exposing all the inners of the unit. It improved the reliability immensely, as now it runs cooler.
Here in the U.K. i am still using a Humax HDR Fox T2 for recording over the air broadcasts. Its getting old now but has the features you mention & with the custom firmware you can export hd content to watch on a pc. It can even restore scheduled recordings after a retune if you add that package.
Eventually I hope you will review the HD Homerun ATSC 3.0 Tuner and I am hoping WPVI ABC6 will look into being one of the first stations to upgrade to possibly improve the signal quality for Wilmington Delaware
Great review!
The glitches are deal breakers for sure.
However, for the price, to use it as a signal meter makes it a good value.
I only wish my new 2021 Samsung 4K TV had a signal strength meter! My old 49" Samsung did! Sure would be nice if TV manufacturers would think ahead and make tuners swappable for upgrades!
GMT stands for Greenwich mean time. Basically how many hours behind or ahead of the UK your timezone is.
Hi I like your show I watch it every time you post one I'm a retired technician my kids call me a genius I don't know why everybody's making a big deal about HD and not getting it it's the worst thing they ever came out with it's child's Play and analog can be brought back anytime you want it with my homemade system getting HD singles is like cutting butter it's not a big deal you just need the right equipment and there is no antennas without the equipment I got it's very simple it's not a good system to begin with never was from day one
If I have an old directtv box can I use it with an antenna? Will it still record or does it need the subscription? I just cut cable yesterday and so far still have local tv. But I’m sure it’s gonna stop at some point. I found your channel when looking for reviews on antennas. Most of my channels are 16 miles away or closer. Would indoor antenna work ok? Thx so much. Love your channel. Very helpful info.
You can also use a USB card reader and an SD card or other cards that some readers allow.
GMT stands for Greenwich Means Time. It is a standard for the entire world and is located in Greenwich England.
It's nice to know he's a hard rocker
PLEASE show the Hardware and Software versions when reviewing these tuner boxes - they vary from year to year.
I see where on the screen it showed .mts file extensions. Does it record the broadcast transport stream directly with a .mts file extension? I'd like to be able to copy those files off onto a computer to save or edit.
Yes! I had no problem plugging the hard drive into the computer, playing, and even editing the MTS files in video editing software
@@AntennaMan Oh excellent! I only need to occasionally record, but when I do I want to keep it in the best quality. In our attic, there are THREE full size VHF/UHF outdoor antennas that look like they're from the 70's or 80's with 300 ohm twin lead connectors! Gonna try one with a 300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter. 😁👍
What’s the average channel count via antenna in the US ? Here it’s well over 100 plus radio channels and iptv services
It looks like this box supports component output. That supposedly looks better than composite. Changing the channel will fix the audio/video sync on my RCA DTA 880. That converter is getting hard to find. The included credit card remote is a weak point. Not much range and rather battery hungry. Newer universal remotes will control the box.
I have a firetv recast. Never had any problems!
GMT is Greenwich Mean Time it's the timezone the other's base off of.
John I was just going to say that. I'm surprised that Tyler didn't know this.
@3:25 GMT means Greenwich Mean Time which id the international reference for time zones throughout the world.
Greenwich is in the UK.
I am waiting for someone to put out a converter box similar to this to get ATSC 3.0 signals. I get all my local channels and they work pretty good most of the time but now they are broadcasting the new standard and I would like to have it. Perhaps next year the prices will come down on the expensive models and more less costly boxes will be available.
Zapperbox
It will probably be several years until they're available since we're still in the very very early stages of the whole thing. There's also a chance the standard might flop since O&O networks are reluctant to jump on board.
The RCA coax for component signal isn't for HD also? I have some boxes like this and it's my understanding that the component RCA jacks can go up to 1080i.
Huge fan of your channel, I help me learn more about antenna and over the air at 14 years old.
When I was little, I had cable, but since 2013-14 I've used antennas.
Two question, can you convert mts file to an mp4 file so you can watch on devices like computers?
And I have a Core Innovations Tuner, and you should mention that some PVR recording skip or cut off on some recordings, do you know why is that?
Download VLC to your computer to play the video files without the need to convert them.
@@JT-lq4yd What if you wanted to upload it to TH-cam?
You can use ffmpeg for that. I would recommend using a batch converter if you want to convert multiple files (eg. Tdarr, Fileflows)
@@Jean0987654321 What about convert into mp4?
@@shamontewebster2007 yeah...it can do that
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time
It’s a world wide standard for time conversion, eg Sydney Australia is GMT +10
Eastern USA is -4 (that’s you antenna man), West Coast is GMT -7, Central is GNT-6
Perhaps an oops? Should Mountain be GMT-6 and Central GMT-5? Thanks for the info!
@@carrtb correct, - 5 central & - 6 mountain
I bought one of these on Amazon. On mine the recorded files on the usb stick will not play back on anything but the box itself. 😢 And the units RF sensitivity is in the mud compared to every atsc tv i ever had. About 5 of em. 😵😱
The file type is "mts' and should play back on any computer media app that supports it; I use the VLC Media Player. Many Blu-ray players support 'mts'; both my LG and Vizio players support it.
Hey! A
Alaska has a summer sir! Relax!
I use one of these and I get better reception
Where do you cover PLAYBACK of recorded video?
He didn't cover it
Menu -> USB -> Multimedia -> PVR
I think
Hmm, I haven't had the problem of losing recording timers when turning the box off. Mine's not that exact model, though. But just leave it on; it takes a while to boot! Interesting that as far as I know, all the cheap ones except one use this same OS. But one good- _looking_ one uses Android instead, like on phones and tablets (so you could turn your TV and a microphone into a soft-phone)! But that one has a huge bug of accidentally marking files for deletion and they get soft-deleted (recoverable) when you connect that storage up to a Mac! So I've told that guy about the problem and he seems to have taken it out of the market until he can fix it.
I recently bought a Tablo and found that if there is a glitch in the signal for just an instant that the Tablo will stop working. It then must be shut down and restarted, making it useless for recording unless you have a perfect signal for the entire time.
That's very odd. I have a 2017 vintage older Tablo that has no such problem. A weak signal on my Tablo results in a program being chopped up into segments as the signal is lost and then picked up again. But the Tablo keeps working for all functions. And very very rarely I've had to restart the box.
@@Ootgreet1 Maybe it is just the new ones. I have just put up a new antenna and will see if I can eliminate the signal drop offs.
I have a Mediasonic and it's not a reliable recorder at all. As you say the timed recordings can just randomly disappear. It does seem to employ some sort of advanced AI that can specifically remove especially important recordings to me. I wonder if it's the software rather than the hardware itself. Because my menus and options look exactly like those in this video. Different box...same menus. Also I've noticed that when audio gets out of sync oftentimes simply changing channels then back can fix the problem.
I've had three of the iView 3500stb series machines, in addition to the Mediasonic and Homeworx equivalents, and they all had weird issues (bad remote sensitivity, recordings disappearing from schedule, machine sometimes won't wake up for scheduled recording or reboots/shuts off at random, rewinding or FF'ing too much during recording can cause crash) and died after about three years, but when they work properly you do get high-quality recordings which don't appear to be compressed any more than the broadcast itself.
No doubt you get what you pay for. I found that running a channel scan erases scheduled recordings so just make sure to not do that.
Very informative!
Did you have fun at Welcome to Rockville, Tyler?
I got a bunch of the GPX branded ATSC tuners from Menards. Pretty much the ae thing. Unfortunately 4 of th crapped out. 1 with the DAC going out, 3 with a faulty capacitor near the power supply area. Found some off Amazon with wall wart power supplies. I'm testing out.
I recently had this happen to me with the same GPX ATSC box. I was using it as part of a cartoon archival project I'm doing (thanks MeTV Toons!) and it began having issues powering on one day, and the box finally died the next, only making a high pitched whine. Popped it open and noticed that one of the capacitors in the power supply section was leaking out the bottom. I've since replaced it with a QFX CV-103, which has almost the same slow OS and menus. Some functions on the QFX are easier to do since the remote has the four color buttons along the bottom, and it uses an external 5V power adapter. Having an external adapter can be a plus since if the pack-in adapter dies, it can be replaced with an equivalent one easily. However, the pack-in adapter causes massive interference on the AM radio band within like 50 to 100 feet of the adapter.
Thanks for the advice. I thought you moved to the Lehigh Valley area, which is the Philadelphia market. I'm surprised you are searching for Wilkes-Barre stations, granted. ATSC wasn't a thing when I left the area in 9/2000.
That seems very similar problems and all with DTV boxes I have bought. I sort of doubt any in this price range are real good.
There is one thing with the OS used on all these cheap ATSC DVRs that can be quite annoying if an ATSC channel changes aspect ratio flags on the fly, such as MeTV Toons. My Samsung TV and an ancient 2009 converter box have no issues with these aspect ratio changes. With these cheap boxes though? The aspect ratio change causes the screen to blank out for nearly two seconds as it adjusts to the updated flags, and throws up the OSD info banners once the signal returns... and will do this constantly going to and from commercials and cutting off the first few seconds of the show when it returns! This is even more annoying when you use this device to record off-air shows in real time using a PC or Mac (ATSC box connected to an HDMI recording device). The only way to avoid this bizarre glitch is to DVR the shows in advance, and play them back off the USB device. The slow aspect ratio switching does not happen with DVR recordings.
Antenna man u r awesome, I got 1 ? I use to get MeTv and Charge channel, now I moved to another apartment, 100 ft away, now I can't get either??🤔
My Sony tv is having signal issues. It was fine a month ago, but now I only get 1 channel clearly. If I touch the antenna coax at the connection to the tv, the stations become clear. Some solutions I’ve heard- 1) grounding the coax, though I’ve seen everything from an earth ground, ground to pipe, ground to outlet. 2)replacing some of the coax with newer coax, the current coax is at least 20 years old, and it is a long run, but it has worked before. 3) Buy a better tuner box. Running new coax requires ladders and roof walking, checking junctions, etc. New tuner box is disconnect coax from tv, connect coax to box, connect hdmi to box and tv. Suggestions, recommendations, advice?
It could be one of a number of things. You can try this external tuner first to see if that works. If not, then you may need a better antenna setup. Consider a consultation from me at the link below. This can prevent you from spending hundreds of dollars and time wasted on setting up the wrong equipment for your area. antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html
@@AntennaMan Amazon won’t deliver this to my address, for some reason. I can send it to relatives in New York, though.
@@AntennaMan I don’t think it’s the antenna, I have a tv downstairs, and it’s fine with all channels. The coax cable run is shorter with the downstairs tv. The upstairs tv was getting a workable signal up until a week ago, so I feel like something happened. UPDATE- I brought my downstairs tv, a 15 year-old Samsung, upstairs- and it locks onto channels just fine. The Samsung also has a signal strength meter, and the signal isn’t as steady as downstairs, but still plenty usable for the Samsung. It actually seems like a decent enough signal, I don’t know why the Sony doesn’t like it. As I mentioned before, it worked until a week ago.
@@AntennaMan I ended up buying the version Amazon would deliver to the midwest, a ZJBox branded version. The tuner is only slightly better than the Sony, and the included hdmi cable is low quality and has sync issues with the Sony. I'm disappointed the tuner isn't significantly better, so I'm thinking of returning it. I'm guessing the tuner in this video isn't any better?
GMT Stands for Greenwich Mean Time.✊
You look good in those glasses
Can I use this DTV converter box with a crt tv from the 80s?
Yes, you might need a VCR for the AV ports unless you can get the Converter Box to work with the RF output connected to the RF Coax port on the back of your TV.
Yes you can! It has coax out so it will work with your TV tuned to channel 3 or 4.
Hi Mr. Ty, GMT is Greenwich Mean Time which is in London, England and is 4 hrs ahead of EDT.. It is the Standard for World Time.. ♠W.G.
Thanks for the video, I have a question, I have a cabin in the woods zip 54554, I would only get 3 stations from my old CM antenna, started to loose the 3 channels when the winds blow, and don’t come back. I have an older Panasonic TV where we constantly scan channels, could this be the issue? I plan to move the antenna on a 25’ flagpole where I have no tree obstructions. I do have an older Zenith DT901 back home, do you think I may have better luck with this converter? TIA.
GMT is "Greenwich Mean Time". The universal time used for shortwave radio, invented by the British government.
What is the difference between the IView converter box and the Homeworx box you reviewed in another video? It looks like the same box...?
They are virtually the same converter box in a different case. The one linked below supposedly has less bugs.
amzn.to/3yRziRL
GMT is Greenwich Mean Time.. the world standard for time comparison.. all times worldwide on most devices are figured in the difference in comparison to GMT.. the “eastern, central, mountain, pacific” is the dumbed down version we use in the USA
I have 2 of these from different companies, but almost identical in functions and for the price, it is impressive. There are 2 things that i was disappointed in...You cannot view another channel while its recording...and the loop through output is confusing to me.
It's a $30 converter box with recording function. You can't expect too much from it in terms of watching one channel and recording another. The loop through only works when the DTV box is off or if you go to the settings and turn off the analog output on channel 3 and 4.
GMT is Greenwich Mean Time.
hi! .your video is awesome, but i have a few questions. I have both the Iview 3500STBII and the Iview 3300STB. On the Iview 3500STBII, I could hit the INFO button on the remote while watching a video, and it will show the name of the video, the running time of the video, how much time is left, etc. If i try to push the INFO button on the 3300STB, it says "INVALID" on the tv screen. How can i see the video info on the STB33000???????
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight.
LOL! Love the commercial !
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time.
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time in the UK would be zero hour
USA Eastern time zone is -5
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is an area 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT-5) during the winter months (referred to as Eastern Standard Time or EST) and 4 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT-4) during the summer months (referred to as Eastern Daylight Time or EDT).
i just got one good timing sometimes when i record it comes up empty- would that be because i need a better flash drive? or a 3.0? is that what you said??
We call this a digital receiver, or tuner, i would suggest buying a linux box. (way more options) And USB 2.0 sticks should work fine as long as they are reliable. USB 2.0 max speed is about 30-35 MBytes/s, that is fast enough because most channels will be less then 10 Mbit/s.. see the Byte/bit difference there, that is a factor 8.
Thanks for the video
What about one or more videos on using plex media server to record TV shows? The hour off may have been due to DST. (AKA Daylight Savings Time)
I think we have one of the mediasonic ones and they are junk. If you decide to record something that is already on on the tv, expect to wait up to a minute for the device to boot. Then another minute for to it to start recording. Same for timer recording, start early because it doesn't start right away like an old vcr did. Also, if it is recording, you can't access the menu to setup another recording even if there is no overlap. And you can't set recordings to overlap even if they are on the same channel, not just the same sub channel which ANY linux computer running VDR can do.
I suggest that for the price it is a very good deal. The slowness is because of a somewhat limited CPU in the thing.
Can you use this box with a tv antenna that has a power supply for motor that is supposed to turn it.? If so, how do you connect it?
Also when I hooked it up I cannot get the menu to show up on the tv. It does appear as though the box scanned for channels but the remote doesn't want to work. Help please
You said the RCA outputs are only SD, but aren't those component outputs, which an do 1080P which is HD.
Tyler…what is the best 8 port antenna amplifier? Thanks in advance of your response
This is a good one: www.channelmaster.com/collections/antenna-amplifiers/products/ultra-mini-8-tv-antenna-amplifier-cm-3418?rfsn=6279509.d2c216
Thanks I order it
Can you use a device like this as a tuner connected to a computer monitor instead of a TV?
Yes!
Could the time offsett be due to daylight savings?
That's probably the reason!
is the 3300 the newest model? i have the 3500 and dropouts appear in my videos. i don't know if my unit is failing, or what. i need a unit that doesn't produce dropouts.
UPDATE: If i use a flash drive to record to, i get dropouts. if i use a EIDE hard drive, i get no dropouts.
I'm still waiting for my Tablo to send me info even though they took a $30.00 deposit for the new tablo which I haven't heard anything from them. They only sent me a letter stating some channels will coded differently.
Does this unit also double as a media player, via flash drive or usb with an sd card?
Yes it will play video and music from a USB flash drive
I remain skeptical. A few years ago I tried a couple of different boxes at this end of the range. One was a Homeworx and the other was an RCA branded version of a similar box that Walmart was selling locally. I just don't have the patience to deal with these devices. I found constant glitches in recording and playback, disappearing channels like you stated, and extremely poor usability of the remotes - just horribly difficult to even learn the key layout of these things just to use them. These devices are pretty much junk. The lowest end Tablo is $118 from Amazon and it's light years more stable and reliable than the junk $30 recording boxes with crap software and cryptic remotes. If I didn't have the means to buy the Tablo, I'd do without and just torrent anything I missed on a broadcast, or watch streaming versions of programs on the web. The aggravation was not worth it for me and I am a tinkerer.
Hi can you help me with the usb recording function please , I hit record and a message saying not vailed , do I need to set up the USB in settings help me please thanks.
Do you make house calls, talk to prospective clients, or do you just make recommendations? I need some additional help, of course you will be paid.
Yes, on my website I do offer a consultation service. Most times I'm able to diagnose and troubleshoot the issue through email but am willing to schedule a phone call upon request