Secondly, while on DST, I set it at Hawaii time & it was only 3 min off. First of all, Alaska (-9) time in between Pacific (-8) & Hawaii (-10), not to the west of Hawaii time as listed on their time zone options. We live in Alaska & I need to reset the internal clock, but I can't find out how. We recently bought the Homeworx HW130STB. I went into the menus and realized that I had to initialize it first. I plugged it in, and the unit immediately recognized it, but I couldn't get it to work at first. I chose the latter since I had a bunch laying around. There's a USB port right on the front of the box where you can plug in a USB drive or flash stick. Mediasonic also told me that their unit works with the Logitec Harmony remote control (now discontinued, but you may be able to find them on Amazon). If you have the HW-150PVR, this is the remote on Amazon. If (or when) your remote breaks or gets lost, the good news is that the remote for this model is available separately on Amazon for only ten bucks. Other units have problems with buttons triggering adjacent buttons, cheap feel, or like this one, the need to aim precisely. If you read the reviews for other low-cost converter boxes, the remote control seems to be the weak link in most of them. It's not the end of the world, but it would take some getting used to. If you're off by a bit, it won't register.
The one annoying thing I noticed was that you have to point the remote control right at the unit. Time to change channels was about the same as my Sony. The unit was also pretty quick when changing channels. It was basically indistinguishable from my Sony TV's picture quality! HD channels looked crisp and colorful. I was surprised that such a cheap unit could have such good picture quality. So, the tuner quality was more than sufficient for me. It found all of the major networks and major local channels in my area (Los Angeles). So, the tuner is not quite as good as my Sony, but the vast majority of the channels it didn't find were ones I wouldn't watch anyway, i.e., foreign language, etc. For comparison, my excellent Sony HDTV found 154 channels. Note that if you're using it with an old tube TV, you'd use the included analog cables instead.įound channels on the HOMEWORX converter boxĪfter that, I could start watching live broadcast TV.
#Mediasonic hw180stb vs mediasonic hw 150pvr tv
I plugged in an antenna, plugged in power, then plugged it into my flat-screen Sony TV using an HDMI cable. I found the setup for the Mediasonic HOMEWORX box to be very easy. At just $30, the Mediasonic HOMEWORX HW130STB is one of the lower-cost units out there, but it has pretty much the same features as more expensive boxes. There are many converter boxes on the market today with almost the same feature set. My Recommended Converter Box: The Mediasonic HOMEWORX HW130STB You can then record broadcast TV shows for viewing later. Many of these boxes today have a USB port where you can plug in a USB drive or stick. It converts the signal either to an analog signal that your old TV can use, or to a digital HDMI signal that you can plug into a more modern HDTV. You plug your TV antenna into the box, then you connect your box to your TV.
#Mediasonic hw180stb vs mediasonic hw 150pvr free
If you have an old tube TV or a flat-screen that does not have a digital TV tuner, then the only way you can watch free broadcast channels on that TV is to get a digital converter box, or tuner box, as it is sometimes called.