Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with Recording / Media Player / TV Tuner Function (HW130STB)
Original price was: $29.99.$27.99Current price is: $27.99.
Price: $29.99 - $27.99
(as of Oct 02, 2024 07:40:28 UTC – Details)
Mediasonic HW130STB is a digital converter box which converts Over-The-Air ATSC digital broadcast to your analog and digital TV. The built-in recording function allows user to record their TV programs and play back. Please Note: this converter box is designed to receive Over-The-Air signal, and it is not a replacement of cable box.
Features:
TV Tuner Function: Additional TV Tuner for your TV. Some TV does not have built-in TV Tuner; this will be an add-on to your TV. For example: It works with VIZIO TV
TV Real Time and Schedule Recording (Require USB 2.0 or 3.0 external hard drive)
USB Multimedia function play back Video, Music, Photo from USB drive
EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and program information
Favorite Channel List
Parental Control Function
Closed Caption
EAS (Emergency Alert System) to alert you any emergency information from TV station
Timing Start up and Shut down
Auto, 16:9 Pillar Box, 16:9 Pan G Scan, 4:3 Letter Box, 4:3 Pan G Scan, 4:3 Full, 16:9 Wide Screen
Package Content
Main Unit x 1
AC Power Adapter x 1
Remote Control x 1
AV Cable x 1
User Manual
Warranty and Technical Support Email
support@mediasonicusa.com
1 Year Warranty from Mediasonic Store
Important Note:
This converter box is designed to receive Over-The-Air signal, and it is not a replacement of cable box. External Antenna is required to connect to this converter box in order to receive signal. This product does NOT Work with TIVO and cable company such as Comcast, DirecTV, DISH Network, Time Warner Cable, etc. In general, this product does NOT work with encrypted cable signal
Receive Over-The-Air Digital Broadcast to your Analog and Digital TV, Projector, and Computer Monitor. Antenna Out Analog Pass Through, Favorite Channel List, Parental Control Function
HDMI 1080P Output / Composite Out / Coaxial Output, Closed Caption, Auto Tuning, Timing Start Up & Shut Down.
Real-Time Recording & Programmed Time Recording, recording require user to connect a USB 2.0 or 3.0 2.5″ / 3.5″ External Hard Drive via USB (Up to 2TB, MBR format) (USB Flash Drive Not recommended)
USB Multimedia function play back Video, Music, Photo from USB Drive
**PLEASE NOTE**:This converter box is designed to receive Over-The-Air signal, and it is not a replacement of cable box. External Antenna is required to connect to this converter box in order to receive signal. This product does NOT Work with TIVO and cable company such as Comcast, DirecTV, DISH Network, Time Warner Cable, etc. In general, this product does NOT work with encrypted cable signal
Customers say
Customers like the picture quality and value of the electronic signal converter. They mention it’s impressive, and the HDMI output translates to an amazing view on their old awesome TV. Some say it’s great for the price and it pays for itself very quickly. However, some dislike its durability and remote control. Opinions are mixed on functionality, ease of setup, channels, and recording capability.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
8 reviews for Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with Recording / Media Player / TV Tuner Function (HW130STB)
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C. Kar –
Pretty thorough review
I bought this device as I am tired of paying for cable and the taxes and fees associated with it. If you are okay with local TV this box pays for itself very quickly. Here are some things that you don’t see in the specs, good or bad.First, the tuner is less sensitive than the one on my 12 year old non-smart tv. Some channels were breaking up or not visible. Fortunately my antenna came with an amplifier and this fixed the concern. My amp is powered by an USB which nicely this converter comes with.The screens are a bit cumbersome to go through but we do get a nice channel guide and you can record programs for later using the aforementioned USB connector. If I want to do this I need to power my antenna with a separate charger. I used a 100mb/s 32G USB 3.0 stick and it worked well. An older USB 2.0 4G also seemed to function. Note that a half hour show takes 2.4G of storage. The mpt file produced is readable by my PC. If you buy a hard drive you can use that 2.4G/30min figure to calculate your maximum storage.The converter is not a coax pass through device. So if you tune your converter to your antenna you can not also tune your tv to it. Your TV is relying on the converter for viewing and recording simultaneously. Maybe with a splitter but I did not try that.The remote is infrared, so old school, you must have the box directly in your line of sight and behind glass is not ideal. Now the remote has a lot of buttons and features. It is not lit so it’s tough to navigate in the dark but still I like lots of buttons/features. The remote will not work my tv or receiver, just the converter. The converter has a really annoying red light when it is off. A green light makes sense telling you it’s on. Why an ‘off’ light? I do not know. I want to cover it with tape but I have yet to experiment on whether the remote will still work.I actually hooked this up with an old VCR. Why VHS tapes vs USB hard drive. I don’t know, because I have VHS tapes I guess. Anyway, the VCR will only tune to the active channel. Say you want to record a specific program on channel 4 every day… Leave it on channel 4, power on, set your VCR, good. Change the channel manually and you can record something else. You can’t watch something different than what you are recording via this method.Now for the fun part. Let’s say you have old family video on any device that can output RCA. This converter can view it, and you can record it in digital format on USB. You’ll need to go through the whole set up process to set it up for this, then do it again to reconnect to your antenna. Not an every day activity but still a cool feature.I have read that there might be problems with this box when it gets older. I am planning on buying a second one as a backup.
lakesaintclair –
Intuitive-NO Works-Yes. Good low-cost signal meter
See update below.I bought this based on a recommendation from Antenna Man for use as a low-cost signal strength meter. The problem I had is, instructions are lousy/non-existent, there is no customer service number (take back to dealer??), it’s not intuitive – BUT – once you figure it out, it works. For example, in the tiny user manual it says red light=standby, green=signal. Well, guess what? there’s a 3rd mode, no light. Looks like it’s dead. Like the dead squirrel in the street. Lights off. Nothing happens but that means it’s working. What?? One added sentence would have made a huge difference. And never did see green. Anyway, once I figured out the 2nd unit (I thought the 1st was broke), it does actually work, and like Antenna Man said, it has a decent signal strength meter so its value to me will be in helping me locate and aim my antenna for OTA TV. For $30, you can’t beat the cost for a signal meter. You activate the signal meter by hitting “INFO” button twice. If you have the same need, you need a TV with the triple RCA cable (red white yellow supplied) or HDMI input. I couldn’t get it to work using a typical antenna RG6 cable “F” type connector (it has that input/output). Has to do with channel 3 or 4 output and my TV which you can’t set channel 3 or 4 because you have to run auto scan and 3 won’t lock and 4 is interfered with due to pass through. Understand? Good. I didn’t.UPDATE – I raised the rating from 3 to 4 stars based on bang for buck as a very low-cost, quite decent signal meter. The replacement unit I got does have a green=signal light but it’s hard to see. BUT the 5V chassis-mount connector/wall power plug connection can be intermittent.
Dan Marvin –
Basic but functional
With Directv spatting with all of the networks over money, I needed a tuner that would work with my projector to bring in CBS so I could watch the NFL games. I set it up with a digital antenna and for around $50 I’ve been able to get over the air channels. I did add a USB drive so I could record as well.This unit doesn’t have a great interface but I was able to search for channels, put them in the order I wanted, delete the 30 home shopping channels I didn’t, and can record shows for later playback. It’s not as convenient as my DVR, I need to go into the guide and set up each show I want recorded which can only be done within 7 days of it occurring. In other words, I can’t set up to record every showing of Survivor, it’s not that smart. I can go in, look at the guide for the next 7 days and select what I want to record one by one.I have to say that the picture quality was really impressive, it’s noticeably nicer than the picture I get through YouTube TV on my 4K fire stick. The remote is cheap and balky but it works as long as you point it directly at the box.You get what you pay for here, it does the specific thing I wanted it for and does it well. If I was cord cutting and this was going to be my primary way of watching tv I would want a nicer remote and a better user interface.
Doug Lewis –
It works well, and as some have observed, hardens back to the first plain Jane VCRs of the 80s. Can’t give the user interface or remote 5 stars: interface has some major clunky points, and the remote is tiny, and apparently underpowered, since it only works reliably when pointed directly at the device. On the plus side, I dropped my satellite subscription, and therefore the integrated PVR capability in my receiver. Since most of my content comes from the ‘net, I couldn’t justify the monthly costs of satellite any longer, and my antenna provides great reception, but I have missed the ability to record live TV. I considered the new generation of networked PVRs, and while they’re promising, and have features the Mediasonic unit does not, they were still pricier than I wanted for my pretty infrequent recording. As a backup when I feel I might not stay awake long enough to watch something, the Mediasonic is great, and for $40 plus tax, the price was perfect. The added bonus – which I had not known about before buying it – is that its recording format (MTS) is natively recognized by Kodi, which I use as my primary media player software. Rather than having to convert the MTS recording to another format, I simply unplugged the external hard drive, plugged it into the android box in the room where I wanted to watch TV, and Kodi played it flawlessly. Although the Mediasonic tuner isn’t quite as sensitive as my aging Pioneer TV, it’s been quite adequate so far. Above all, the price was right. (The only reason I didn’t give full marks for picture quality is some intermittent video “noise” I’m monitoring: the first time, a restart solved the issue, but I’m hoping it won’t be a regular occurrence.)
Frank –
Delivery of converter box was reliable (On time and in good condition). Apparently, it did not work so I contacted seller. They responded quickly and carried and sorted out the issue without fuss (refund).
Wayne –
I tried to get this to work with two different antennas with different ranges. The first one I tried has a range of 150 miles and there are at least two over the area within range of this antenna. The first tower I located is 137 miles away due west of me in Williams Lake, British Columbia and the second tower is 67 miles away southwest from me between Woking and Sexsmith Alberta. Ran a channel scan and nothing was detected. Connected a second antenna that has 380+ mile range, ran two channel scan and nothing was detected on both scans and scanned quicker than the first antenna I used. The other thing I found annoying is that the instructions indicated that in the setup there was an option to select over-the-air signal but there was no such option. In the end I could not get any channels for television or music.In the end I put in a request to get a return for this tv tuner and a refund which they gave me. As such I cannot recommend this television tuner.
Client d’Amazon –
Montreal, Metro Préfontaine, big 8 bay antenna mounted on a pole on 3rd story apartment:old cheap samsung 1080 – 23 channels, ~11 local/quebec, others Plattsburg n Burlington2017 top of line LG OLED – 23 channelsbrand new 2028 Sony higher end XBR-65X900f – 7 channels, can’t even do all the local channelsSony after lots of bs, will only take back tv if I pay $hundreds shippingthis homewox for $40 got me all 23 channels, tks to reviewer from montreal who commented on this detail before30 second to set up, got all the channels immediately, so much for sony/all baloneyexcellent picture qualityplastic unit is kind of light, with all the cabling , will move around. if metal box one is heavier perhaps is better choiceremote is slower compared to normal tvs, but I’ll get used to itremote pretty much has all the controls that one would expect, including switching to last channel viewed. Only wishit has a btn to show me what channel I’m viewing.have not used recording function yet, not expecting any problems as so far everything is working just as advertisedbox seems to be manufactured good enough, only time will tell if long term reliability is a problem like some reviewers have encountered.only one tuner, for the price, if I need to watch one channel and record a second one, I’ll just buy another one.Addendum after owning it for couple of months:I wanted to leave it on all the time, but found out sometimes the sound from sound bar lags the image by a couple of seconds. Turning it off and then back on to reset the box removed the lag. So now I just turn it off when not using it.On my Sony XBR65X900f tv and sony sound bar, if I connect it to the tv’s hdml input, the image quality is not stable, I have to adjust it slightly all the time. And the sound also has slight lag. If I connect it to the sound bar’s hdml input, the image quality is much better and the sound needs no adjustment for lag. So now I connect it to sound bar’s hdml input. Not sure if this is a function of the STB or the Sony XBR. If I were to guess, I would guess it’s the Sony’s fault.
ABLamazon –
Super little device, works well, great price. Downsides: programmed recordings labels are stored on your attached hard drive in channel/date/time format only (ie no names of shows or movies etc), so you either need to keep a record of what/when you recorded, or scroll down the list of your recordings and do a quick preview of each item to find what you’re looking for. Also the remore is quite small and thus the buttons are really small and it’seasy to press the wrong one; comes with practice. The pass-through feature is great: you don’t need to rurn the device on to just watch direct OTA TV. Also the choices of HDTV (via HDMI) or COAX OUT, or RCA video, to TV is great to have. Picture resolution can be excellent, but obviously depends on quality of original signal.