ViewTV AT-163 Digital TV Converter Box

Do not buy Viewtv AT-300 or any version of Viewtv. I just bought AT-300 in April 2020 and returned it. Keep reading. Currently, I have and am using Ematic (x2), IView (x1), and Viewtv AT-163 (x1). One for NBC, one for ABC, etc. Do not buy Ematic unless you know it is greatly improved recently. I have an older version of ematic, so based on that I chose not to buy another one even if it's been updated/fixed, which I don't know if it's been updated/fixed in the past 5 years. IView 3500STBII is pretty good (Bought Sept 2019), so is OK to buy, because it has specific features others don't, if that is specifically what you need. I just bought Ubisheng U-003 June 2020. And, I'm keeping it. Read the ending of this review about it. I bought my Viewtv AT-163 June 2019. I thought it was the best of my 3 brands, so I bought another Viewtv. The AT-163 June 2019 version is virtually flawless. Is very good. After buying the viewtv AT-300 (April 2020) and finding out how messed up it is, I bought the viewtv AT-163 (May 2020), but the new AT-163 is just as messed up as the AT-300. So, both new AT-163 and AT-300 are both messed up the same. Bought April 2020 (sent back to company) Info from the software of the box shown on the screen for AT-300 Model: ATSC SW Version: Jan 3 2019 10:03:18 HW Version: 7802-ATSC-18 Bought May 2020 (sent back to company) Info from the software of the box shown on the screen for AT-163 Model: ATSC SW Version: Oct 30 2019 14:55:32 HW Version: 7802-ATSC-03 Bought June 2019 (I've kept it and am keeping it and not updating it, because it's pretty good as it is.) Info from the software of the box shown on the screen for AT-163 Model: AT-163 SW Version: Oct 18 2018-11:50:10-v5 HW Version: ABL7802-R836-A Website info says for software update: ViewTV AT-300 Firmware Update (SW: Oct 28 2016) Downloaded file name says: usb_upgrade_all_Oct162018_AT300.bin So, is it 2016 or 2018 update? I ran the update from the website and it didn't change anything. Even though the software version of the box is 2019, I wanted to go back to an earlier version to see if it is better, but it would not go back to an earlier version. So, the latest/greatest is worse than an earlier version. I don't know why developers/programmers make a newer version worse. They are only supposed to fix problems and add new features, not take away features/options. I've had other software (nothing relating to this) that came out with a new version that was worse than the old version with nothing new, just changed the looks and removed features. Why? Programmers! Frustrating! Don't remove any features, ever. Someone wants that feature even if it is just one person. Never remove, only add. AT-163/300 problems (bought April/May 2020) (Again, do not buy) Whether the time setting is set to auto or manual, when I turn off/on the box, then it goes back to the wrong time. Auto means that the time will always be wrong. Manual means I can set the time myself, but every time I turn off/on the box, it goes back to the wrong time. I'm not going to reset the time every time I power cycle the box which is every day. That's just stupid. Even though I am Arizona/Mountain time, it goes back to Eastern time, 2 hours ahead. That is a real problem. The box software is missing the choice for the time zone, so you can't select which time zone you are in. If it's supposed to select automatically based on the signal from the TV station, it is not doing that. So, it's broken. My good AT-163 (June 2019 version) is on auto, has the option to select time zone, and gets the correct time from the TV station signal and works great. There is no difference of the remote control on the AT-300. Except the font size is bigger making the characters easier to see. At least that is a good thing. The time on my good AT-163 shows on the box display, but only the channel shows on the box display of the AT-300, not the time. On my good AT-163 it will show the channel on the box display and after a short amount of time, it will revert back to show the time all the time. The time does not show on the box front display panel of the AT-300. I figured out in order to set the time for the box to be correct on the new AT-163/300 (a workaround), I selected the country as Canada and time option as Auto. The default country is USA, so it was already on that. When I changed the country to Canada, then it shows the correct time for me in Arizona. The only concern is that Arizona never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever changes time. Never. Therefore, I don't want to have to change countries every six months to accomodate for daylight savings time that Arizona never, ever ... has to worry about. Not having the Arizona option is a problem. Daylight savings time is not something I want to worry about, since it never, ever... concerns me. The problems I described is not a whole lot of problems, but the problems are huge problems. Therefore, to me, the boxes are broken and not usable. So, I sent them back and bought another brand. I bought Ubisheng U-003. It is pretty good. There are a couple of minor nuisances, but no major problems. At first I was afraid there wasn't a 24 hour option for the time format, but the box is 24 hour time format by default. Therefore, you have to understand that 1900 hours is 7pm. You can't change it to 12 hour format. 24 hour format is a requirement as far as I am concerned, so that is a good thing for me. One of the more prominent minor problems is the display channel. For NBC in Phoenix, AZ, it is identified as channel 12. The box display and the recording set say channel 21. It counts channels as 1,2,3, etc. The channel number in my area starts with channel identification number 3. Therefore, since there are channels 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, etc, then channel 12 is number 21 on the list of channels and 15 ABC is 25, etc. However, on the screen display, the OSD, it shows channel 12, NBC, properly as 12.1. A minor nuisance. On the remote, I press 12.1 and it goes to NBC as it should. I do NOT have to press 21 for NBC. My good Viewtv and Iview don't do that. They show 12.1, 15.1, etc. on all menu options and all OSD concerning channels. Ubisheng is good enough, so I'm keeping it. So, Ubisheng is OK to buy as long as you know that 1800 hours is 6pm, etc. Most people don't know 24 hour format, but I do and it is a requirement for all my clocks, so that feature is awesome to me.