Customer Ratings & Reviews

Once you figure out how to use it, it is easy to set up and record programs. The manual for the converter leaves much to be desired. However, there are several good videos on YouTube to get you started. I suggest looking at the videos before purchasing the converter to see if it is for you. In addition to the TV's remote controller, you will now have to use the Aluratek controller which comes with the unit for watching your TV. The unit also requires the additional purchase of memory for recording. I am using a 128 GB USB 2 flash drive which appears to be adequate for my TV viewing and recording habits. I purchased both the unit and memory when they were on sale.

I have a projector setup that we mainly use an xbox with. Every now and again we would like to watch OTA channels and this fit the bill perfectly. Pros; Easy setup small unit size OTA works great Cons; Remote does not transmit very far and you really have to be straight on pointing at the main unit within a couple of feet for it to work. Operation is a bit clunky and could use some updating. The record feature worked, but just barely. I ended up having the unit record a show for less than a minute to test and after watching the said recording the unit shut down and rebooted but won't boot until I removed the usb. Just a little glitchy. Overall my main concern was not recording but just to pick up over the air signals and display them through the HDMI to the projector and this fit the bill. If your main concern is recording shows and a smooth intuitive user interface, I would suggest looking elsewhere. But overall I would recommend for the basic operations.

I got a great deal on a 4k monitor from BestBuy but it didn't have a TV tuner built in. I am a cord cutter so I either Stream TV or use OTA antenna. If you are looking for a way to connect Coax to a TV that only has HDMI inputs then this is it. I picked up this little budget box so I can watch some football and it works great. The interface is easy to use. The ONLY con about the whole unit is you MUST point the remote directly at the box in order for the box to respond but I can live with that. All my other TVs have a TV Tuners built in or I would have bought one for every TV.

A perfect middle-piece companion between my indoor antenna and projector that lets me enjoy all the free broadcast programming available in my area. It is small, but contains many features for easy installation and function flexibility. I like it so much, and they are so economical, that I purchased a second unit and have them placed side-by-side so I can record a program on one while watching a different program on the other. A splitter on my antenna cable allows me to hook up and program each of them separately.

I bought this at Best Buy and don't understand the negative reviews here. Mine works great; no issues with the remote. Other reviewers are correct that the instructions are not clear. However, I am not a technological expert, and I managed to figure out how to use it. I am very impressed with the clarity of the digital picture and I have used mine to record and watch multiple tv episodes. I hooked my antenna up to an antenna splitter, with one side going to the tv and the other to this dvr, so that I can easily watch one program while recording another. I can also now disconnect the dvr and take it to another tv, without having to rescan the channels with the antenna. Another feature I like is that I can remove the USB drive and take it to a computer (or a tv with a USB port) and watch the recorded program without having to disconnect the dvr. I have wanted a dvr that did not require a subscription fee for years, and this is the first one I found that is reasonably priced. Very happy with this purchase!

Well I've played with this for a few days now and I really like it. It works great! I tried an old thumb drive and it couldn't keep up. Use a good thumb drive (USB 3.0) and no problem. No skips or freezes. The USB port on the front does not appear to be 3.0 but that's how it worked for me. I also used a hard disk in a portable case and that worked perfect, too. That is what you need for big capacity. (My hard disk was self powered.) A 1 hour 1080i show will use over 4GB of space. You'll have to leave the drive running whereas the thumb drive won't make noise or use extra power. The box can be turned off or left on for unattended recording. The file format the OTA video saved is .mts which is nice because it seems more compatible with software (Pinnacle Studio). Use your HDMI cable (not included) for best video. It has a composite A/V cable included if you want to use it on older TV sets or use a coax cable to a TV antenna port and tune the TV to channel 3 or 4 like the old days with a VCR. It plays various video and music files also. The box is light and portable if you like. It's way cheaper than Tablo or TIVO. The guide is download free from the broadcast stations for several hours ahead. It's easy to select a show and tell it to record or manually setup a recording for anytime. Get it!

Works great for my purpose. Set up is a HD antenna, A/V receiver, and projector. Wanted an option for OTA programs, mainly sports, to use outside of a streaming stick. Easy to use, and pulled far more channels from the same antenna (I have antenna feed split to several tvs) than any tv in the house with an internal tuner. I do not care for the guide, as it is a little cumbersome and not as easy to see what's on now at a glance as compared to most other guides I've used (cable, Roku, Fire, Google). Haven't used the recorder, but looks as easy as sticking a thumb drive and hitting record. May be a limited use, but great product that filled my need.

I bought my converter box in January 2021. Six months later I heard a loud pop, and it stopped working. I didn't expect much for $40, but I expected more than that. There doesn't seem to be a fuse, so I assume that a resistor or (more likely) a capacitor blew. Pros: - Gets the job done. I recorded three shows before it died - Very little deterioration in picture and audio quality - Has multiple ports to connect to TV, including HDMI, RCA (red, white, yellow) and coaxial - Takes up very little physical space - Saves video to non-proprietary format, so you can watch on a computer Cons: - Device broke in less than six months - Audio and video are slightly out of sync (noticeable but not obnoxious) - The controls are sluggish. - The menus seem out of date (more appropriate for 2005 than 2020) - Protective plastic is screwed into frame and attached under tamper-evidence sticker, so you will have to choose between clearing the vents and maintaining the warranty. Neutral: - There is no on-device storage; you have to buy a thumb drive or USB external drive to record anything. (would be a con, but it meant I could recover data after the device popped)

I like the digital convertor box by Aluratek better than others I have bought it's easy to set up and use right away.The one thing I would do is make the screw in for the coaxial cables be a little stronger.

I bought a VIZIO SMARTCAST TV for a really good deal without realizing it did not come with an antenna plug in. I'm not sure who in their right mind would make a TV without an antenna plug-in. I automatically assumed it came with one because it's a TV. We were not able to watch any local channels. I would not recommend that VIZIO TV to anyone. This Digital TV converter box fixed our problem. Basically, you connect the converter box via HDMI to the TV and then you connect the antenna to the converter box. If you have the same issue I had, I strongly recommend getting this converter box. Picture quality depends on your antenna and TV but it does have 1080p(60qz) as a display option. Amazon has similar converter boxes 20 dollars cheaper. Just type in ViewTV on the search bar. I did not buy it on amazon because there are a lot of weather shipping delays in my area and I did not want to wait for it. I went to my local Best Buy and purchased it instead.

This DVR does some things very well, but with several big failures. GOOD: -The receiver is good - pulls in all the stations in my area, and the picture is quite good, high-def. - Program guide makes is very easy to find and play what's on -The remote is reasonably good, once you get used to the odd naming of some buttons. - Manually started recording works well. The picture is better w/ an external HDD than a USB flash. BAD: -Timed/scheduled recording DOES NOT WORK. I've played w/ it extensively w/ good HDD and good flash drive, end emails to customer support. Recording works fine if you manually start & stop the recording, but scheduled recording doesn't work. Obviously this is a major problem. -The Manual is poor and doesn't cover some important things. About 1/3 of the setup options are not explained??

First off, let's start with the positive: this device does its primary job, and offers more features than it has any right to for the price point. Caveat being, none of these features work particularly well. As a TV tuner for use with projectors (my personal reason for buying it), monitors, and CRT's it functions well enough, though, I did experience some bizarre signal distortion when using it in conjuctuon with one of my indoor antenna amplifiers. That's about where it ends, though, as the rest of this units features either simply don't work, or are a PITA to use. First you've got the PVR, essentially a DVR for your OTA programming, that while does appear to record your program, directions are obtuse, and I can't get the device to playback anything most of the time, as when I go to the PVR menu it claims no flash drive is inserted (reformatted multiple times with multiple drives to no avail). Luckily my Sony UHD player pulls up the files with no problem. The problem with this is that I can't tell what the hell anything is unless I remember what channel and time the program aired on, as the unit won't use any of the channel guide info, just the date, time, and channel no. At least the playback on the unit has a little preview window, when you can actually get it to work. Multimedia features like video and audio file playback are just as useless due to the same problems as the PVR. Oh, and the software is absolute garbage. The amount of lag when giving commands on both the remote and buttons on the unit is unbearable. It takes anyhwere from 5 to 15 seconds to just change the channel. If you press a button too many times in a row, the unit just loses it crap and reboots. Unfortunately, it'll just have to work, as there's currently no one in the business of making a decent tv tuner with buit-in DVR in the $70-$100 range, a place where I think a device like this could really shine.

This is a barely functional video recorder for TV. Please note you must also purchase a USB device (thumb drive) to store the TV shows! It also is a receiver/tuner for OTA (over the air) programming. Record shows but will not allow you to watch a recorded show while another is recording. Menus a bit clunky, remote not very responsive (slow) and is difficult to use. My old TiVo blows this away--zero comparison. Programming is a bit difficult--only gives about 24 hours of channel data, however, you can set it to record a show weekly or daily. Saved recordings DO NOT list the show name--instead a run-together string of digits representing the date it recorded--confusing when you have multiple recordings. NOTE: You must have the unit ON or it will not record a scheduled show(!) On the plus side, the picture is good IF you have strong antenna reception. I bought two on BB deal of day price, returned one--keeping the one as an emergency recording device.

It does what it needs to, record tv shows that are available with an antenna. You just buy an external hard drive, plug it in the USB port, then you have your own DVR without cable. So you can even record WWE smackdown and keep it forever. When you had cable they wouldn't let you keep your recordings forever. The only problem is when your antenna is receiving a weak signal, you may miss a recording or get scramble vision. Sometimes the weak antenna signal can cause the machine to lag so make sure you check on the signal every now and then and move the antenna if the signal is weak. Because if you wait a couple of days, you might be surprised to see all your recordings messed up.

Performs well - lets me view over-the-air free TV on a video projector. However, the instructions are poorly written, and a previous one lasted just a little more than a year (one year warranty). Hopefully this one will last longer.

This digital tv converter box was easy to use and to attach to my tv. It will allow me to watch my local channels in digital tv format. It comes with a remote control to control the functions to change the channel, volume, and to record tv programs. It has a dvr to record programs but you will need a larger size USB stick to attach to record tv programs or long sports events like 2 hours and half basketball sports broadcast. I would recommend this converter dvr machine.

I purchased this mainly for the DVR capability. I switched to ota tv to save money but missed being able to record shows. I have tried other DVR’s but they have failed. This one delivers good! not great but good acceptable quality recordings. For the price it is worth the money. I do not want to pay hundreds more and a subscription for better cable quality. I am happy and can live with this.

We are very happy with the digital converter box by Aluratek. It does exactly what we had hoped it would do and the price is surprisingly affordable. Thank You to the customer service representative who helped us find this antenna recorder that fits our needs. We have been wanting something like this for several years. We can now record a game while watching another game on TV (using a HD antenna).

Adequate basic cable converter. Useful in RV when Campground provides cable TV.

Easy to set up and easy to use. Reception and picture were both better than from the unit it replaced. Time will tell if it is durable (as other reviews indicate it is not). I did not need (or use) the recording feature.