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

I purchased the iView 3300STB ATSC Converter Box to bring life back to an older TV, and it has exceeded my expectations. The setup was straightforward, and the device worked perfectly out of the box.The picture quality is excellent, and the tuner is sensitive enough to pick up even weak over-the-air signals. One of my favorite features is the built-in recording function. The USB port allows me to record and watch my favorite shows at my convenience.

So I bought a new tv that would not pick up my basic cable direct without a cable box. I only watch 1 news channel on it anyway. This device got my channel. User interface though is right out of the 90's, horrible. Once you find your channel it stays thankfully the next time you plug it in. The display stays on when off, half a watt. Works for me, but will not be using it for anything besides when I want to watch the news. I was being nice when I gave it 4 stars.

I liked everything about it, but remember I just installed it within the last hour. I find it to be extremely close to the Koqit which it what is replacing that I destroyed by plugging it in, pulled the plug out for a better placing, and it sparked destroying the computer within because it automatically starts up when plugged in. This one does the same. Make sure it's turned off before pulling it's plug.

had 1 main issue that made it a return. i bought this specifically to record ota tv shows (and get a numbered remote too- i hate roku style modern remotes). when you record a program (on a usb stick), and then go to play it, you first get a screen of your recorded programs with identifying info, some commands, and a "preview" panel which will show a small video of recorded show you highlight. when you want to watch it full screen, you have to hit the "rec" button on the remote while the video is playing in the small preview panel to switch it to full screen. the manual says you have to hit "schedule" to go full screen which does NOT work on this model. the big problem is the command "PAGE DOWN" paired with the epg select button on the preview menu continues onscreen, in it's exact prescreen position, superimposed over the full screen picture. i find it very annoying. it not too large and is lower center right, but it's a very annoying design flaw. i tried calling iview customer service, thinking there may be an update to fix this, and was told at 2 different numbers no one was available, leave name and number. i figured out their misinformation to get full screen, and tried to give them a chance to fix the page down superimposition, but they don't seem to care much. also, the remote is super-weak and must be pointed Directly at device...which is weird because the remote also turns on a tv that is 20 feet and 180 degrees away from remote, and away from straight line of sight...3x the working front facing range of the i view device with the remote. the manual is poor, and has wrong information. i have a homework brand unit i am using but wanted to buy a backup since it is about 4 years old- before trump's tarriffs doubled? tripled? my cost. the homework unit (3.5 stars) remote went bad last year , costing close to $10 to replace. i thought i would try a different manufacturer in hope of improvements but iview has proved way worse. one star to amazon for charging 6.99 to return items to my local close ups dropoff that used to be free. now i have to drive 4 miles to amazon store, and pay to park in a highly congested traffic area to return defective items for 'free" (not counting my gas, time, aggravation).

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box is that the remote didn't match Amazon's picture; it was actually the same as the iView 3200 remote. This remote is usable, but the number keys have a quirky arrangement:1 2 3 45 6 7 89 0 -That will take some getting used to! Luckily, the iView 3500 remote - if you have one - will work with the 3300. (Which begs the question: why didn't iView just package all their boxes with the 3500 remote, maybe for an extra $3 or so?)The 3300 looks just like a smaller 3500. The only thing the 3500 has that the 3300 lacks is a coaxial audio output, which both the 3200 and 3500 have, but most folks won't miss that.It came with a layer of clear plastic film covering the top and sides of the box. This is common to prevent scratches during shipping; it's normally removed by the end user. But iView placed a warranty seal over the film - so if you remove it completely, it will void your warranty! I carefully peeled it off the left side and top, then cut it off so the film could remain on the right side (where the seal is).The green front-panel display shows a clock when the box is in standby. When on, it shows "boot" while booting, then the same not-very-useful internal channel number as the 3500. It shows "SCAN" during a channel scan.In the Channel Search menu, the Modulation settings are CH_ON and CH_OFF vs. the 3500, where the settings are CH_3, CH_4, and Loop Through. Makes sense - the hardware switch in back controls whether the RF output is on channel 3 or 4, so the only thing left to do in the menu is turn the modulator on or off.The firmware date on my unit is 2020/04/15, but so far it seems to be derived from a much older firmware version. I noticed several regressions compared to the 3200/3500:No 12-hour time option.When in the EPG, changing channels (with the left/right arrow keys) is buggy. You only get two lines of EPG. You have to exit and bring up the EPG again to see the full list.If you have a channel without the -1 subchannel (or you delete it) entering the channel number without a subchannel just gives "Invalid Channel" - it won't just go to the -2 subchannel unless you press the "-2".The mini guide that shows the current and next show when you first tune to a channel shows the word NONE on every channel. The 3200/3500 show the video resolution (480i/720p/1080i).Here's an amazingly stupid bug: they left off the option to turn on Daylight Saving Time! So to get the right time during DST you have to intentionally select a time zone one hour ahead of your actual time zone.Last, but definitely not least: the dreaded channel rescan bug struck today. This bug existed in early versions of the 3200/3500 firmware and causes the iView to rescan a channel occasionally when you tune to it. When this happens any recording timers set for the channel are lost or scrambled; thus, this bug prevents reliable recording on some channels.All these bugs/quirks/annoyances have been fixed in the 3200/3500 since 2016. So, unless/until iView updates the 3300's firmware, I'd recommend an iView 3500 or 3200 instead.

I would highly recommend this for older tv's and Devices that are Analog coverts channels Well easy to follow menus.