iView 3300STB ATSC Converter Box with Recording, Media Player, Built-in Digital Clock, Analog to Digital, QAM Tuner, HDMI, USB 3300STBA (New firmware)

Buy an antenna is important to know . I bought a nice one for $5 . These digital tuners are a perfect match for the new inexpensive video projectors . I show my digital converter projected up to 300 inches diagonal picture on my livingroom wall . Projectors don't have a TV tuner but this digital tuner plus right into one . A better system than the biggest flat-screen at 10% of the cost if you ask me .

Most of the wonderful reviews on this item are about it being used as a converter box only not DVR or initial impressions.This review is my experience using it as a DVR.I've tried a number of these combo converter box DVR units (two different iViews, two different ViewTVs, ZJbox, Exuby, Ubisheng and Mediasonic) and this isn't the worst (IMHO).The biggest problems with this product is:- Buggy software (they all seem to use different versions of the same junky software)- Reliability (low quality or non-durable parts)- Arbitrarily freezes and reboots (stops any recording that may be happening)- Deletes channels (and anything scheduled under that specific channel) for no reason- Manual channel scan (to add a specific channel) doesn't work (but it doesn't work for any of the other brands either) so you end up doing a complete scan (deleting any scheduled programs)On the plus side, sudden time zone shifting doesn't seem to be as much of an issue vs ViewTV.The software on this unit is worse than all the others I've used, I don't know if it's a defective old version or defective new version. They all seem to have some sort of glitch when scheduling a program at/ near midnight but this one can be glitchy any part of the day; I'll schedule a program to record in the morning and it'll tell me it conflicts with a program in the afternoon (yes, I verified for AM and PM conflict).Like most of the others, this freezes and restarts for no apparent reason but it has this became a problem sooner than the others.The remote is pretty crummy (most are similar in design so they're not necessarily worse) it's less generic but still mostly rows and columns, a few are different near the top (left, right, up, down and select). It isn't intuitive so you'll need to look at the remote to activate a function (the ViewTV remote is the most ergonomic one I've used).Getting to viewing recorded items can be a chore. When going to the DVR section, it's just a long list of items that have been recorded (I label the recorded programs by show name and number); if you have a lot of recordings, you'll have to use the up/ down arrows to scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, to the program you want to watch (no page up/ down like ViewTV units).This remote is slightly less bad than the others in that you don't have to be as much of a sharpshooter to communicate with the box. The beam is a little wider or they used a little better sensor so you can be a little off and it'll still work.The unit is slow to react to button pushes (push button - wait - box reacts) so if you're scrolling (pushing and holding the button) you'll probably over-shoot what you're trying to access and have to back-track. The box doesn't recognize double-presses (it sees it as a single press).The remote is too slim (tends to move around in your hand). even though it looks like they put a little more effort into the design the buttons still feel generic (you need to look at it to make sure the correct button is being pressed).In general the remote is prettier than the others but still annoying to use (again ViewTV is a little better).The LED display is easier to read than the others, the characters are larger than the others I've seen.Summary:Software is worse than the others I've tried, lousy remote (but it works), the unit works so far; if reliability is similar to others it should be done within a year.As with the others, picture quality is good.FYI - I've tried iView's newest model (3500 STBA III) which was defective out of the box (one of the ones with the wacked-out channel number issue). The remote looked nice but it was hard to use because it was so slim (hard to hold) and the face was so flat (hard to feel which button I was touching/ activating).In general, this are some of the problems I've run into with these standalone DVR converter boxes:A number were defective out of the box: weird channel designation (a couple called channel 3 some wacked-out number like, "16207"), wouldn't recognize an external hard drive (tried three different brands that worked with other converters), wouldn't complete channel scans, etc...Some went downhill (deleting scheduled programs, recording a few minutes of a scheduled program, wouldn't recognize the external drive, suddenly freeze then reboot for no reason, etc... ) shortly after the end of the return period.

We have a couple of TVs that need this sort of thing. One is an old analog tube TV that has to have this to work. Another is a digital TV where we never had a remote control and the buttons on the side of the TV don't work--change channel ends of changing the volume!I bought two of these devices to solve these two problems. I also love that I can control the volume and mute with the remote. My favorite thing is that these show the strength *and* quality of the antenna signal in percentages, not just 3 or 4 bars. That way I can tell whether adjusting the antenna is helping or making things worse.Two very minor problems:1. Sometimes in changing the channel, the display of what channel it is, is not in sync with what channel is being shown. Something like I press "up channel" and it says it's the next channel, but it's not. This is rare, but it's happened a couple of times.2. The layout of the numbers on the remote is non-standard 1, 2, 3, and 4 are on one row instead of 1, 2, 3 on one row and 4, 5, 6 on the next row. It's like this was designed by someone that had never used a phone, remote control, or standard computer keyboard. I don't know what they were thinking. :/Regardless of these two minor problems I really like these and I would buy them again...but hope I don't have to!

2nd one. Ist one lasted 2 years. Works great. Records shows to watch later picture quality great.

There are several companies that make a similar unit with same basic hardware. (iView, Ematic, etc). Previous to this purchase, I bought a couple Ematic models. Ematic has ZERO customer support, no firmware updates. Nothing. Buggy, to say the least!This iView unit had a couple minor software bugs. I called iView customer support, a real person answered. She sent me a firmware update that resolved all my issues.These machines are a great, inexpensive way to receive OTA broadcasts, as well as making HD recordings onto usb drives. If you are going to get one of these units, iView is the way to go! I'm very happy with this converter and just bought another one.Edit:After using this device for a while, my only complaint is that the power cord is just 3ft in length. That's a bit on the short side, and as a result, limits placement of the device without the use of an extension cord. This doesn't change my overall ratings of the device, but I sure wish the power cord was a foot or two longer.