Mediasonic ATSC Digital Converter Box with Recording / Media Player / TV Tuner Function (HW130STB)

This is one small converter. Excellent quality.

must be close to unit and pointed directly at the unit no more than 10 feet for the remote to work only using to replace tuner of older TV

After a couple of days of running, the audio loses sync with the video, no matter what channel you are on, no matter how many different TVs I've connected it to, no matter how strong/week the signal is. Changing channels doesn't fix it. Installing the latest firmware I got from support (v3.8) doesn't fix it. The only way to 'fix' it is to power the unit off and then back on again. 3 days later, rinse and repeat. I get that' it's a cheap (price) unit - but it's 2023. How bad can the hardware be that it can't keep sync with ATSC HD signal!? Was going to exchange it for another one, but reading the comments, plenty of people are having problems with this unit. So, if you plan on running it 24 hours a day (like I do) because I just shut the tv off at night, not the receiver, this unit is not for you. I've kept it because I have the audio down and I use closed captioning. But if I was dependent on the audio, I would return it.

Set up is pretty easy but I already had an older RCA converter from way back, so I knew what to expect. This unit however has the built-in ability to mute and raise and lower volume via the remote (This is pretty much what I purchased this for.) As you can see by the pictures, my TV is a manual one, so all I need do now is turn the volume knob on my set to an acceptable level, then sit back and enjoy show, upping or lowering the volume from my easy chair using the remote, or muting it during commercials. "Recall" (last channel) works fine as well. My old RCA converter didn't have either of these features... pluses with this new converter. Not too many negatives but there are some unknowns with this unit. When you press the "Info" button you get channel info and a dotted line. What this line measures is unclear as the supplied manual (pg. 7) does not explain. Press the "Info" button a second time and a different dotted line appears labeled "Quality" (along with other information on the channel) and it does vary a bit with a percentage reading so I assume this one measures signal strength. Again, the manual doesn't explain. You get seven choices for screen ratios. I found that the 4:3 ratios work best for my old TV, although I did have to adjust the vertical and horizontal knobs on the back of my TV ever so slightly to get the best screen orientation (no fault of the converter.) Others have said the build quality is questionable. It is a light unit to be sure. The remote is small but does fit my hand well. It does have a finger size knotch on the under side that your index finger naturally falls nicely into which allows your thumb to work most of the buttons. So far, I have no complaints. I have not tried the "PVR" recording feature or playing a movie from a thumb drive. I will add to this review (if possible) when I do so. Update... I had a couple movies that were recorded as "avi" format. Loaded them onto a thump drive and they played well. Also tried my hand at the "PVR" recording function. This also worked well. The only negative I have is that the on screen prompts are not visually clear using my older TV. At times the "1" or "2" on the keypad is prompted but it takes some doing (and squinting) to discern the shape on the screen. This is not necessarily the fault of Mediasonic but they should know their units will be used with aging TV sets. It would be nice if the manual spelled out these functions step by step. As it is, one is left with trial an error. Mind you, this wasn't deal breaker but annoying just the same. There are other aspects with the included manual that leave the user hanging with what to do next. Because of this, I would have given this converter box five stars. Still a good unit once figured out.

I have been using the Mediasonic HW130STB for about 5 weeks. Here are my observations so far. The device runs hot & it conducts a lot of heat to the USB stick I have plugged into it. There are vent openings on the bottom and sides but not on the top. I have it propped on edge with the USB port toward the bottom to help keep it cool. I hope it doesn't cook my USB stick. The device is very light and it it difficult to get it to lay flat with a 75 ohm antenna cable and an HDMI cable attached. I will probably stick it to a vertical surface with double-face tape to resolve both issues. The manual that comes with the device has VERY small print & is hard to read. I downloaded the user manual PDF for the Mediasonic HW-150PVR. The case layout is different but all of the user functions appear to be identical & it is a lot easier to read on a computer screen. The PVR programming functions are accessed through the Electronic Program Guide. I didn't find it intuitive, but it worked well once I read the manual. The HDMI output aspect ratio and resolution (1080 to 720, 480, etc.) can be changed via the menus (I have not tried the CATV or composite outputs). However, the PVR function ONLY records 1080p in the MTS format, and the files occupy about 8GB per hour of recording. Correction: The PVR records at the resolution of the incoming signal (720x480 for a 480i channel). The manual states that USB flash drives and HDDs can be formatted either FAT32 or NTFS. FAT32 has a file size limitation of 4GB, so recorded programs will be split into multiple 30 minute files. NTFS does not have this limitation, so the entire program will record in one file. I have been using Shotcut to convert the MTS files into the more versatile MP4 or MKV format, edit out ads & cut down the file sizes. I also used it to stitch together the 30 minute video files before I formatted the USB stick to NTFS. Update: One other nice feature is the device turns itself back on after a power outage.