ATSC Digital Converter Box for TV, HDMI Cable Recording PVR Function Output USB LED Timer Display AT-300

ViewTV AT-300 - 5 starsAs you can see from the reviews posted here, this is the page where the AT-300 was sold. But, at the moment, "currently unavailable". Information on the page changed over time, but still carried the terms, "AT-300" and (New Model). In late 2017, I received an AT-300 thru this page. But in early 2019, I ordered thru the link in My Purchases to this page, and received an AT-263 which I had to return. There was no error on my part, I checked the info on the page before placing my order.When this item arrived back in November of 2017, I tested the device with an analog TV that had composite video only, and was satisfied with the operation and performance. The box that I received - Model: ATSC / SW version: Oct. 28, 2016, 14:00:41 / HW version: 7802-ATSC-26.In February of 2018, I pulled the box from storage, and learned that when using an HDMI cable, the audio was silent. The settings in the box (and the TV) were not at fault, and I checked the HDMI for audio in PCM and RAW modes, but no sound. Changing the cable did not help. Still, I'm happy with audio & video thru the red/white/yellow composite wiring, and the box works great. But should COMPOSITE fail, I would not have the option of HDMI.The remote for this device has large dimensions, great buttons, and works fine. The only problem is, the remote must be pointed directly at the box. There are many buttons on the remote, and some of them serve dual purposes. For that reason, there may be several features, hiding among the buttons. The manual does not help with this. Included in the package, is a pair of AAA batteries, a rather stiff HDMI cable, (and unlike previous models) an A/C power supply that can be replaced. The AT-300 does not need or have vents on top, and is nearly twice the size of the smaller AT-263. The AT-300 case has a very nice appearance and a large green display. The software appears to be the same in both models.There are a number of lesser and greater bugs.Bug 1 - when playing files with the media player, every time a file is closed, the menu kicks the selection bar, back to the beginning of the list. To find a file and resume play, an annoying search must be conducted.Bug 2 - when the media player is in-use and the ASPECT button is pressed, "Invalid" is displayed on screen. The aspect feature does work, but only during a live broadcast. Together with Bug #1, this makes performance during playback, much less than expected.Bug 3 - when playing a recorded file, the info box that displays is too small. Add to that, a fuzzy shade of light gray, and little contrast shows, making the text hard to read. The date & time of a file in the pvrlist, helps with finding that file, and resuming play (as in Bug #1).Bug 4 - when viewing a live broadcast, the info box that displays, sits too low on the screen, and the extreme lower portion of the message box isn't visible.Bug 5 - bug 5 is scratched, cancelled, trash-canned. A "direct access to the book list" was found thru on-screen instructions. Just press EPG, then INFO, and the scheduled recordings (the book list) will appear.Bug 6 - the clock insists on displaying a time that is two hours later than my time zone.Bug 7 - occasionally, the EPG will display program start-times that are minutes earlier than top-of-the-hour, along with stop-times that are also minutes early. The clock is set to Auto. Is this faulty broadcast information, or does the clock lose sync with the broadcaster ?Bug 8 - the file sizes written to the flash drive are double what I expected.Bug 9 - the manual needs more detail concerning operation of the remote & box. There are buttons on the remote having a dual-purpose, but the functions are not listed in the manual. There is a PAUSE button and a HOLD button. The Hold is Full-Screen, not Pause, and that's okay. But the dual-purpose buttons have no label, and a hidden secondary function works only when a specific screen is displayed. The manual could help.The most unusual bug, and I still find this hard to believe, is that after 3 days of power-on, the menu is displaying bits of color. A green hi-lite bar appeared in the list of movies that lie outside of the PVR folder. The gray bar still made the selections, but the brite green bar marked the previous file, and that helped. In the EPG, a small orange dot appeared from nowhere, and marked each show (or book event) as I entered them into the Book List (schedule). A welcome feature, because I could now see what was programmed in the EPG, without going to the Book List. Perhaps there will be additional color embellishments that awaken soon. :)Here is an unknown feature that I discovered with the remote. Description: Using the on-screen keyboard, you can rename .mts files in the "pvrlist". Just press the PVRLIST button on the remote, then press the TIMER button, and the on-screen keyboard will appear. This is a lot like the remote command in Bug #5.Hit the PAUSE button on the remote during a live broadcast, and a blue/red indicator bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. Whatever you see from that point on, will now be recorded until STOP is pressed. Hit the PLAY button to see the recorded live video again, during the current broadcast. I believe this is the Timeshift feature. Whether the recorded file will remain afterwards, I don't know.I have the AT-300 connected to a digital TV. My main interest lies in recording, and using the box as a media player. During a book event (when the PVR is writing a file), I like to watch other channels. With no existing analog TV, the digital-to-analog conversion on Ch3/4 serves no purpose. So I have the loop-through function enabled, rather than Channel 3 or 4. LOOP THROUGH allows the aerial signal to be routed thru a second co-ax, and fed to the antenna connection on the back of the digital TV. Antenna-Composite-HDMI-(and others) can be selected from the TV input menu. In my case, COMPOSITE is the signal processed thru the AT-300 tuner, and the channel currently recording. By selecting ANTENNA from the TV input menu (and leaving COMPOSITE) all of the aerial TV channels can be viewed, including the one that is recording. That is the function of LOOP THROUGH. You can switch to the TV tuner & Antenna, while the AT-300 tuner is in-use. Or monitor your recorded channel with a second HDTV, if you wish.The AT-300 can write to a 64GB/USB 2.0 flash drive without any difficulty. I also tested a 32GB/USB 3.1 flash drive. You may find that flash drives under 64GB are best for recording, and larger flash drives are best for playing files (and storage). During a recording, a press of the info button will display the available write time (recording time). The available write time for my 64GB flash drive was 47 hours. 90 minutes of writing to this flash drive produced a 2.0 GB .mts video file at 704 x 480p, with a frame rate of 29.976 Hz. Note, I use an extension cable to prevent damage to the USB port when a large flash drive is used. I also switch to Windows 7 or later, when formatting a flash drive greater than 32GB.Examples of file sizes written by the PVR: 2 1/2 hrs (3.3 gb), 2 1/2 hrs (3.5 gb), 60 min (1.2 - 1.5 gb), and 30 min (625 - 725 mb). The last 4 digits of the .mts file name is the start-time stated in 24 hour format, preceded by the date. The time set by the AT-300 clock, the broadcast time shown in the EPG, and the time listed in TV schedules on the internet can cause scheduling errors. The problem is worse, when there are a dozen clocks in a home, and there is no time to adjust them all to Daylight Savings Time. The AT-300 will program directly from the EPG, and make the scheduling process fast and easy.Any book event (the channel-to-record, plus start/end time) can be set quickly and directly from the on-screen broadcast information displayed in the EPG. Examine display choices in "Sort". Press the EPG button on the remote and go directly to scheduling, or navigate thru MENU. Programming can also be done from the TIMER button on the remote. Just enter 01 to add a book event. All start/stop times can be edited.When the PVR begins a recording, a numerical display with a flashing yellow dot will appear in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. If you do not see this, the recording process has failed. Try starting with the box OFF. If nothing again, the book list may need to be emptied and refilled, good luck... If the box is ON, the channel in-use is displayed. If the box is OFF, the clock is displayed. The AT-300 displays channels in this manner: 3-3 is 0303, 10-2 is 1002, 15-1 is 1501, etc. (channels are no longer displayed as C001, C002, C003 as with the AT-263). If a book event is scheduled, and the box is OFF & displaying the time, the device will power-on, display the channel, start recording, and power-off when done !The AT-300 works great, and only lacks refinement. Except for playing files in the pvrlist, operation thru the menu is never difficult. Also, the box is not slow or sluggish, and any channel can be locked out for dubious content. The picture quality seems to be quite good, but my viewing distance is less than 10 feet, and my TV isn't the size of a billboard. 480p looked very sharp to me, and I just can't see the need for anything over 720p.Watching recorded TV is much more enjoyable than watching 'live' TV. Never miss a minute, and come back to see a recorded show, right where you left off. Just look for "Resume or Cancel" at the top of the screen. The AT-300 plays many formats & recent codecs. There is a nice ViewTV logo when the device boots. A second AT-300 will allow recording on different channels at the same time, and you will acquire a spare A/C adapter and another remote ... think about it.For the features, the price, and the satisfaction, the ViewTV AT-300 gets a rating of 5.A new refined/enhanced/polished product at double the price would be quite acceptable !.

I wrote this same review for a Channel Master digital converter. This review includes a "continuing saga" which now includes the ViewTV AT-300 unit. Read on.....Channel Master:For about five minutes it was working OK. It booted up with no problems. But..... When I was deleting channels I did not want it: froze on one channel, the screen went blank, the audio was being broadcast of that channel and NOTHING worked to unfreeze the box or even shut off the box. So, I unplugged everything. When I plugged everything back together it automatically re-booted. And..... It continued being stuck on the same channel with no picture at all but the audio could be heard. Oh well. Sent it back.(I have two "real" Channel Master DVRs. They are $400.00 units. They are first and second generation units. I have had them for years. On occasion they freeze up and I have to unplug and re-boot them. Problem solved. Channel Master doesn't even list the CM-7003 on their website.)***UPDATE***I returned the Channel Master unit.ViewTV AT-300:I had previously purchased an Ematic digital converter box, Model: AT103B. It worked OK. It didn't freeze up and become useless. What I didn't care for on the Ematic unit was the poorly designed remote. The buttons for controlling the playback were almost an afterthought. They are: located at the bottom of the remote, each button is the same size, the buttons are tiny and they are not logically laid out. But the unit did work and I didn't know what I had: A unit that works and doesn't freeze up. So I returned it too.Soooo.... Next I tried a ViewTV AT-300 digital converter. And.... It froze up at the exact same channel as the Channel Master (Trust me: NO pun intended.) It also became useless and would not un-freeze. Many people have written in and described the EXACT same problem. So it is either a design flaw or evidence of problems in the manufacturing process. So now that one will be returned too.I tried calling the ViewTV 1-800 number and all I got was an answering machine. (A friendly voice said to leave a message and phone number. I didn't bother. Another Amazon customer said he left a message and never got a returned call.) I tried the internet and the website for ViewTV is not operational. Both dead ends.Now: Having been the (proud?) owner of three different units from three manufacturers, I can report that ALL three use the exact same chip/programming. Their screen images, set-up procedures, screen layouts are absolutely identical. So it probably doesn't matter what brand you buy. You will get the same hardware/software package.Why did the Ematic NOT freeze up? I have no idea.So I guess you get what you pay for. Any of these units for $30-$45 dollars is a bargain and great technology.....if they work.