Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner Function (HW130RN)
Score By Feature
OveReview Final Score
Product Description
Questions & Answers
My TV is twenty years old and unable to receive a digital signal, so I purchased the converter box. I am able to receive free over-the-air stations thanks to a converter box with an ANTENNA. If you have a newer television, the digital converter is already built in, so you won't need the converter box. All you'll need is an antenna to get started.
Yes, the box comes with a remote control. There's also an RCA cable.
I haven't decided yet. On Amazon, I found two different listings for the same unit, one of which was about $15 more expensive and stated that it could record. I never put it to the test on mine, but the USB port on the front does work as a power source. I use it to power an antenna that is amplified.
Selected User Reviews For Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner Function (HW130RN)
This converter box is unrivaled in terms of performance. I have access to a large number of stations, all of which are crystal clear, full HD, and more. I was so pleased with my purchase and with Mediasonic that I accidentally put my remote in a return antenna box and the store couldn't find it; however, Mediasonic provided excellent customer service by sending me a replacement remote at no cost. If you want to watch stations in HD, this is the converter box to get; it's fantastic!.
This was primarily purchased as a DVR for off-air recording of the local football team's games. air. br>br>For the purposes of this review, keep in mind that one of the reasons this unit is so inexpensive is the lack of Quality Assurance effort put into its production. The quality of the products will vary greatly. My unit is the subject of this review. Yours will be unique, or it will be dead when you get there. br>br>A 47-inch Visio flat-screen TV was used to test this. At first, I was underwhelmed. If you looked closely at the image, you could see some jitter. The first test recording "appeared" to have a problem with the audio. Aside from that, this is a great Chinese engineering achievement. By the way, the displays were in excellent English. The documentation, on the other hand, is a different story. br>br>The first thing to remember when recording with this unit is that you MUST get a picture that is free of dropouts (scrambling and/or audio glitches). If you don't, you won't be able to get any useful recordings from the device. It isn't a flaw in the device; it is a technical reality. br>br>The most pronounced problem with my first test recording (which was NOT made with a perfect single) is that I can only get a "perfect" image on a few of the channels where I live, which is disappointing but not the unit's fault. br>br>The most pronounced problem with my second test recording (which was NOT made with a perfect single) is that I can only get a "perfect" image on a few of the channels where I live. The audio was wildly fluctuating. This WAS a unit issue, and it's a bummer, but keep reading. br>br>After that, I turned off the unit and plugged the USB drive I was recording to into my new laptop. Here's what I discovered about Video Recordings, which are stored in the "HBPVR" subdirectory: br>br>Type of file: mts plus is a unit of measurement that is used to describe the distance between two points mts. CODE: metabr>CODE: CODE: CODE: CODE: CODE: CODE: MP2 Uncompressedbr>br>Yes, this unit is capable of producing PERFECT recordings. What enters must leave. If the signal is good, you'll get a recording that retains all of the original image fidelity. On my laptop, which has a 4K screen, it looks _amazing_. br>br>Now, returning to the issues I mentioned earlier, the video jitter is absent when I play back the recordings on a computer. Additionally, there are no audio dropouts. Unfortunately, even when the signal is excellent, there are still audio dropouts during playback _on the unit_. Further investigation revealed that the issue lies in the HDMI interface section of the design's audio processing. I think I'll keep it because I can live with it. You might not have this problem (it could be unique to my unit) or you might have a different fun problem, as mentioned at the top. br>br>Aside from that, it appears to be a fantastic little unit. And when I say little, I mean it. On Amazon, it appears to be much larger, and the remote range and position sensitivity are not as bad as I had feared after reading reviews. It comes in a small cardboard box with a handle for easy transport. Save it so you can use it in the future!.
A year or two ago, I had one of these from a different vendor [although they all appear to come from the same factory], and it did the same thing as this one: Locks up, freezes, and/or reboots on a regular basis. This one [and the previous one] both lock up in the middle of a run and, if I'm lucky, reboot. Worse, every time I try to turn it on, the LED [which, stupidly, is bright red for OFF and dim green for ON] changes from red to black [apparently meaning LOCKED UP], and I have to unplug the unit, wait a sec, and plug it back in. What a pain it is. Finally, even when it does run, it accumulates delay between audio and video after a day or so, leaving them out of sync by about 1/4 second. What an annoyance. br>br>I don't usually return things to Amazon, but I'm returning this piece of garbage.
It functioned "perfectly" (I didn't expect perfection from such a low-cost unit). It was finally turned off last weekend due to a power outage. Because they replaced the built-in power supply with a wall wart, the new one is a lot smaller. br>br>While I'm happy with the new one (only $19! ), I'm not sure I'm happy with the old one. ), but for the following reasons, I preferred the larger one: 1. br>br> It's more convenient to use a standard 2-inch ruler. br>br>2. Use a three-prong cord rather than a wall wart power supply (cords fit better on plug strips)br>br>3. Because the larger box is wider and heavier, it stayed put on the shelf better. Because the new wall wart power supply's cord is shorter than the old power supply's, I needed to use a short extension cord to reach my plug strip. br>br>Unfortunately, my new tuner does not support DVR. I used to have one, but I never used it, so I saved $10 by not having it. br>br>It's easy to see how they were able to keep the cost under $20. There is no external power supply, and the DVR feature (which is a firmware modification) is not available. br>br>I should point out that I live near a metro area and have direct line of sight to a large TV transmitter, so I get about 35 stations with excellent quality. br>br>Because of the change in the external power supply, I considered lowering the rating to four stars. But. For less than $20, it's a fantastic tuner! What right do I have to be upset?.
The previous one from the same manufacturer broke down after 18 months, so I'm hoping this one will last longer.
I stopped paying for cable TV as soon as I found a low-cost high-speed internet option. There's nothing special about this. I connected it to the electrical outlet. I wired it up with an antenna. I've had no problems with it auto tuning, and I'll be able to watch local and national broadcast sports once more.
Once I figured out how to make it scan local stations, it worked perfectly. Would be a 5 out of 5 if it weren't for an odd bug in which you have to do a factory reset on the settings after each station scan. If you need to adjust your antenna, or if you want to use it for a mobile application, such as in an RV, you must factory reset it and run a new scan. Because the wall outlet only provided 5 volts, I was able to use a USB cable and splice the connection to run it on USB power. To power the digital tunner, I plugged it into the USB port on a monitor with speakers. Then I used a USB-powered anttena, which I powered from the front USB port for data storage. As a result, everything is powered by a single monitor power cable.
Related Products For Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner Function (HW130RN)
