ViewTV AT-163 Digital TV Converter Box

Update 10 July 2024. I used the box all the way to June 2022, but after we moved to the Louisville Ky area I didnt set it up again. Ive been using the Gen2 and Gen4 Tablo devices. (Tablo boxes require internet connection to function, but if you arent familiar I strongly recomend looking at the Gen4) A few days ago I decided to plug the tuner box in and see if it still works, unsurprisingly it still works just as good today as it did over 10 years ago. Update- April 2020. I'm so glad I have so much OTA recorded content on my HDD. Update- November 2019. Ive relocated to the Pittsburgh Area, and once the TV Antenna was up the box is up and running. Set up my recording schedules and everything is working as it should. Update- 25 August, 2015 I've relocated to Northern Illinois, the box just keeps working, and it has proven to still have a better tuner than my TV. Update- 13 May, 2015 Still working without issue. Update- 23 May, 2014 I am still satisfied with the box. It is still running without significant issue. I give it a double-plus-good rating. Update- 29 January 2014 The box has been running everyday, recording about 6 shows a week, and a fair amount of time-shifting too. It is sitting on top of a Satellite receiver which is warm on its own. The box is still working without issue. If you decided to buy this- read my review first anyway, I promise I have covered many details that are not in the manual. Details that will drive you nuts until you figure them out on your own. For the price this is a remarkable little box. Overall everything is simple enough that you can unbox it, hook it up, and have it running in a few minutes without the manual- which is actually good because the manual does not have any set-up instructions. On page 8 there is a wire connection diagram- some people may find this useful but most will probably find it more confusing than helpful. The remote is basic, and barely meets the requirements. Some keys are marked with icons we are familiar with, others lack those icons, namely the PLAY, PAUSE, and STOP keys. The keys are labeled clearly, they are just missing the familiar icons. The remote is a fairly narrow beam IR, so you can't expect the same performance as some of the high-power broad angle IR remotes (like DirecTV) or the be-anywhere performance of an RF remote. Just have a clear line of site within 25 feet and 30 degrees. The box has independent hardware keys for Power, Menu, OK, VOL -/+ and Channel -/+. The box also has a display that shows channel numbers- however these are the numbers of the memory positions that the box has stored the scanned channels into- these are not the actual broadcast station numbers. (Added 29 January 14) I have replaced the remote with a "learning" universal remote. By "learning" I mean the kind that you use the source remote to teach the universal remote what to do when you push the keys. You can program any key function into any key- which makes using this box a lot better. The universal works so much better, I can't emphasize it strongly enough. The original remote really started to annoy me. (Added 23 May 14) Some people have asked about "Universal" remotes. Most "Universals" get programmed by telling the remote a code that allows the remote to "emulate" the original manufacturer remote. Unfortunately I haven't found any "Universals" with a Viewtv code. I've heard that a certain high dollar brand might work- but I'm not trying to spend twice as much (or more)on the remote than I did on the box! Over-The-Air broadcast viewing works as expected. The digital OTA(Over-The-Air) tuner is slightly more sensitive than the tuner in my TV. (Added 23 May 14) That means that at my house with an amplified rooftop antenna pointed directly to the broadcast antenna location I get a few more channels on the box than I do with the antenna connected directly to the TV. OTA reception has a lot of variables. I live less than 10 miles from the broadcast site, but I am in a terrain shadow (I am behind some big hills.) The key point I can make is that this box tunes all of the broadcast stations available in the area- my expensive TV's tuner doesn't do that. The video quality is every bit as good as I could expect. Using HDMI connection looks as good as expected, using composite cables also delivers a good picture. Using the built-in RF modulator to output over channel 3 or 4 doesn't work with modern digital tuners- I no longer own an old TV with an analog tuner so I can't test how this works. Under MENU/ Channel Search/ Modulation you can enable "Loop through" which will allow you to watch one channel using your TV's digital tuner and record another using the box's tuner- you won't need to use a splitter inline before the box. The menus are responsive enough- they are not instant fast, but I have seen slower on big-name boxes. Pressing the OK key during regular viewing will show you the channel list. You can edit your channel names under MENU/ Program/ Program Edit. If you get bored there are games like Tetris, Snakes, and Reversi- also found in MENU/ Program/ Game The EPG (Electronic-Program-Guide) is decent. Since EPG is embedded in the ATSC broadcast signal (along with time data) I find it amusing that the box displays EPG info even though none of my TVs do. That being said- if you are familiar with cable and satellite on-screen program guide be prepared to be disappointed- so manage your expectations- there is a reason that Tivo has a subscription fee. This is not Tivo, but it does provide an onscreen guide of upcoming programming and the ability to set scheduled recordings with just a few clicks. The scheduling functions are basic, but you can set daily or weekly repeating schedules. It will warn you and prevent you from setting overlapping recordings. I feel the most obvious function missing is EPG full grid guide, the program list is displayed by channel. You can't see what is on multiple channels in the same time slot. Be aware also that viewing the guide for a channel actually changes to that channel, so there is a limitation here. If the box is in time-shift, playback, or currently recording it will not allow you to go to the EPG. So make sure you have scheduled your recordings before the box starts a scheduled recording. (Added 23 May 14) SO far my single greatest complaint, and honestly it is a minor annoyance, I wish it allowed setting a label for a recording when setting up a scheduled recording. Scheduled recordings are labeled by channel name and timed/date. It is possible to re-label the recording AFTER. So I keep a 3x5 card handy to remind me what shows I record by channel, time, and day. (Added 29 January 14) I've had recordings fail with scheduled recording if I didn't set at least one minute difference between the end of one recording and the beginning of the next. I've found that the least amount of key strokes to do this is change the start time to 1 minute after. It seems that every show starts with a review of previous episodes anyway... Once I started using the 1 minute after method it hasn't failed a recording. I plugged a 128GB USB flash drive in and tested the time-shift capability, it works as expected. To start time-shifting you press the PAUSE key- you will get the message "entering time shift, waiting"- then press the PLAY key. The manual does not describe this correctly. While time-shifting the OSD shows on the bottom of the display, press the EXIT key to hide the OSD, press the INFO key to recall it. (Added 29 January 14) Use the biggest USB Flash Drive you can afford. The video format at full HD runs nearly 7Gb per hour. If you had one of these in the living room and the bedroom, you can easily pull the USB storage out of one and stick it in the other to watch shows you've recorded. Call it the low-tech-hopper. One detail I find unusual is that while fast-forwarding during playback of a recording there is no OSD showing relative position in the playback. While the box is recording you will have a recording OSD in the top left corner of the display- press the EXIT key to hide the OSD, press the INFO key to recall it. On many laptops I have to use 2 usb ports to power an external harddrive (spinning disk type), but this box provides enough power through just the single USB port. The drive had multiple partitions both FAT and NTFS- all partitions show up. You can adjust the time-shift buffer from the default 1GB by increments of .5 GB up to 4 GB, you will find this setting under USB/ PVR Configure/ Record Device/ Timeshift Size. (Added 29 January 14) Use a flash drive. The box will time-shift to a external hard disk drive, it will play back your movie collection too, but I have had it fail scheduled recordings with the hard disk drive- even when I observed the 1 minute after rule mentioned above. After a little experimentation, and time staring at the box, and listening to it in operation I believe it is due to the time it takes for the hard-drive to spin up. When the scheduled recording kicks in the box spins up the hard-drive, but if the hard-drive speed is a little slow the box detects that the drive is not ready so it aborts the recording. You might have a different experience with a better external hard-drive. My recommendation is to stick to flash media- with no moving parts or spinning disks it gives better assured performance. Pressing the USB button on the remote will take you to the USB menu, then select the PVR icon and look for a folder called HBPVR to find your recordings. The recordings are named according to station call-sign/ date/ time. A menu appears across the bottom of the display that indicates which keys on the remote do what function. You can delete /rename files from this menu. To play a recording you have a few options. You can press the OK key to select the file and it will start playing the recording, or you can press the PLAY key, you will be presented with a choice to "StartResume", press the OK key to resume a previous playback or press the EXIT key to play from the beginning.fast-forward in the preview and see the relative position as it fast forwards, then press the HOLD key to go full screen. The video files played without issue on my Windows 8 laptop using VLC. I've been building my own HTPCs since TV capture cards have been available. I've been using DVR/ PVR appliances and applications since the first Tivo and since DirecTVs original UltimateTV. I've used MyHTPC, MythTV, BeyondTV, just to name a few. I currently subscribe to a satellite provider and use their whole home DVR, It is a good product- but for a subscription free system this device has me impressed. It performs as well as most mentioned above, and better than many. It has a few shortcomings- but nothing that I would consider a deal breaker. The only detail unknown (and only time will tell) is how well the box holds up. Overall this box performs solidly, far far better than I expected for such an inexpensive purchase. This box doesn't have some features that I would like to have: grid EPG, more than 1 USB port, ethernet or wifi, dual tuner recording, capability for an internal hard-drive. These are nice-to-haves, and most of these features are available on other units that cost 3 to 5 times as much. At this price point- the only reason you will be disappointed is if you have unrealistic expectations. I would highly recommend this product for anyone who has OTA television available.