---
product_id: 604779411
title: "ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner, TV Recording, USB Multimedia Function, 1080P HDMI, Metal Case, Clear QAM, by Mediasonic HomeWorx (HW250STB)"
brand: "mediasonic"
price: "VT17716"
currency: VUV
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
category: "Mediasonic"
url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/604779411-atsc-digital-converter-box-with-tv-tuner-tv-recording-usb
store_origin: VU
region: Vanuatu
---

# Supports up to 2TB USB HDD recording 1080P HDMI output Pause & record live TV ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner, TV Recording, USB Multimedia Function, 1080P HDMI, Metal Case, Clear QAM, by Mediasonic HomeWorx (HW250STB)

**Brand:** mediasonic
**Price:** VT17716
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 🎬 Upgrade your TV setup—record, watch, and relive every moment in HD!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner, TV Recording, USB Multimedia Function, 1080P HDMI, Metal Case, Clear QAM, by Mediasonic HomeWorx (HW250STB) by mediasonic
- **How much does it cost?** VT17716 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/604779411-atsc-digital-converter-box-with-tv-tuner-tv-recording-usb)

## Best For

- mediasonic enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted mediasonic brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Intuitive Front LED Display:** Stay effortlessly informed with channel numbers and clock display right on the sleek metal case.
- • **Clear QAM Cable Compatibility:** Unlock unscrambled cable channels without subscription fees, perfect for cord-cutters seeking premium content.
- • **Crystal-Clear 1080P HD Output:** Experience stunning high-definition picture quality on any analog or digital TV with seamless HDMI connectivity.
- • **Ergonomic Large Remote Control:** Navigate with confidence using a thoughtfully designed remote featuring wide-range IR for no-line-of-sight control.
- • **Massive 2TB USB Recording Support:** Never miss a moment—record and pause live TV directly to your external hard drive with up to 2TB capacity.

## Overview

The Mediasonic HomeWorx HW250STB is a robust ATSC digital converter box designed for professionals who demand high-quality 1080P HDMI output, live TV recording with USB hard drives up to 2TB, and clear QAM cable support. Its metal casing and front LED display offer durability and convenience, while the large, ergonomic remote ensures effortless control. Ideal for cord-cutters and analog TV owners, this device transforms your viewing experience with subscription-free access to over-the-air broadcasts and cable channels.

## Description

Buy ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner, TV Recording, USB Multimedia Function, 1080P HDMI, Metal Case, Clear QAM, by Mediasonic HomeWorx (HW250STB): Analog-to-Digital (DTV) Converters - desertcart.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

Review: Purchased the "Like New" by mistake... But that turned out to be a pleasant surprise!!!! - 2nd UPDATE ~~~~~~~~~~ 1. I discovered from a Google search that the time to REC is influenced heavily on the size of the USB drive you use... So I replaced the current USB drive with a 500GB hard drive... and the time to REC has now dropped to 7 seconds. That I can definitely live with. I may try a 500GB SSD at some time but I have a few old 500GB hard drives laying around doing nothing so this is a good solution for me. I know this may seem upsetting to some BUT... I also discovered you can have multiple drives so for REC I use the smaller drive which will hold about 60 hours of recording and for cataloging of other stuff, I use a larger capacity (4TB for about 512 hours of playback). Regardless, for $25 for a "Like New" box, I'm really impressed. 2. I found a simple solution to the issue of not being able to watch one program while recording another. I used a Coax Splitter. So the OTA Antenna Coax is the Input to the Splitter (btw. its a tiny adapter for a couple of dollars). There are 2 outputs each for Coax cable. One goes to the Homeworx box "Antenna In" and the second goes to the TV "Antenna In" (In my case I'm using a modern TV which already handles ATSC already. Won't work if you have a NTSC only TV). You also still need the HDMI from the Homeworx to the TV. Now I can switch the TV to HDMI and setup a recording and let the Homeworx record say channel 45-1, then I can switch the TV to Antenna and watch whatever other channel I want. OK, it's not a perfect solution, but it is a workable and minimally invasive solution as far as I'm concerned. Hope these little tidbits help. I still stress, the recording quality of this Homeworx is excellent. And for $25 for the "Like New" box I received, I could not be more pleased. I don't have to pay for any subscriptions, I can watch and record whatever the Antenna receives, I can pass other video/audio/picture files I want to the Homework via the Windows formatted NTFS drive and watch ATSC recordings on the USB drive from the Homeworx, on my computer. UPDATE: ~~~~~~~ I replaced the Seagate USB drive with a Samsung 1TB SSD in a USB enclosure. Now pressing REC takes about 17 seconds before recording starts. That's considerably better than the 30+ it was taking with a Segate USB spinning drive. It still bother me it takes so long though. The SSD drive was empty, I had just reformatted it so it's not like it was doing a lengthy directory search. I can work with the 17 seconds but it is irritating that if I just hit REC while watching something that catches my eye, by the time the recording starts... I've missed it... I suspect that this delay also occurs when time recording so whatever time I set for recording, I need to start 1 or 2 minutes earlier to ensure I get the start. That being the case, whether I use a SSD or a Hard Disk drive will make little difference so I may just go back to the Seagate drive as it's a 4TB. I tried setting the antenna option as "pass through" but I couldn't get this to work. Basically, "Pass Through" is (used to be) the option that allows you to disable the tuner in the convertor box and simply pass through the antenna signal through the coax cable to the TV. Again, not a huge issue in how I'll be using the box and I'll try and find out what this option really means/how to use it in the Homeworx box. ORIGINAL REVIEW: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First off, I have to admit to a boo boo... When I reviewed the different convertor boxes and of course the user reviews, I narrowed down my selection to this one and although $40... I scrolled down the screen and bought it. When it arrived I was disappointed because it was a pre-used unit. It was marked as "Like New", had been opened and sea;ed with a white sticker and that sticker had been cut and opened and finally the ragged box was taped closed. There I was about to return it and I checked the price I paid $25... "Huh I thought it was $40"... DUH.. when I purchased, in my haste i clicked the "Like New" buy option. So for $25, I thought I'd open it up and check it out.... Although the box had been opened and reopened several times, the contents were pristine. Remote had no batteries so grabbed a couple of AAA's and slipped them in. So I plugged it in and I'll admit I did not have high expectations. Job 1... configure it for OTA channels. NO... I don't read instructions first.. my view is that most things like this should be intuitive.. Hit the Menu button and it soon became obvious. Set the Time Zone, when to channel search, selected Auto and then waited.... It took a couple of mins but found all the channels the TV I was using previously had found so there was no loss of channels in that aspect. Played with the buttons.... You can enter a channel manually (use the Up/Down buttons) or you can use the Green "TV List" button and then scroll up/down to find the channel you want. EPG will give you the details of current channel and forthcoming programs on that channel. Used the yellow "Aspect" button to set the aspect ratio to Auto. Tried the various manual settings which all worked great. I really LOVE an aspect button on a remote... OTA channels are a mixed bag to say the least and some channels don't correctly display the aspect. So being able to override for you personal preference is a big deal for me. At this point I had played for about 30 minutes and wanted to see how well the DVR feature worked. In fairness, I've never owned a DVR so some readers may find my comments amusing... I found an old 2TB Seagate USB drive (old but powered by the USB port NOT a separate power adapter). I reformatted it on my PC and then plugged it in and went to the Menu option for USB. It has a Format option there!!!. Well of course it does... but I wanted to know if I could record on a standard preformatted Windows NTFS drive. Behold... a message tells you... you can only format up to a 2TB drive. If the drive is a 4TB drive, format it on your computer. So I thought, what the heck, lets see if this box formats the 2TB drive differently and makes reading on a computer problematic. Let the format finish, tried it on the PC, Windows sees it and shows it empty. Plugged it back into the Homeworx Box, found a random channel to watch and just hit the "REC" button. Now there's only one minor quirk here... it throws up a message about "Enter Record. Waiting..." which lasts 30 seconds before the message goes away and then a record timer length count appears on the top left of the screen and it start recording. I let it record for about 10 minutes and then stopped the record using the industry standard [] symbol button (stop), unplugged the drive, rushed it over to my PC, plugged it in, found the directory HBPVR, and found the .mts file. Played it using VLC. No problems whatsoever. At this point I decided to create a few of my own directories and copied, pictures, music and video files (various file types). Plugged back into the Homeworx and pressed the USB button. Found the menu. PVR ~~~ THIS is where your recorded programs are held. They are in .mts format. Just one point. I had a .mts file on my computer which was a copy of a video file from a Canon Digital Camera. It would NOT play. Recorded files no issue but this previously recorded on a different device would not. Media ~~~~~ Does not support .flv nor .asf (no surprise) Did support various others (these are a minimum I expected it would and pleased it does): mp4, mkv, avi, mpeg BTW, Media does NOT see .mts files... You have to be in the PVR menu section to see .mts files Music ~~~~~ It "played' .wma (didn't complain about it) but no audio. I have a few different .wma files but the same issue with all of them. appears to play but no sound produced. It played .mp3 and .wav no problems whatsoever. Almost all my music library is .mp3 so I have no issues with the .wma not working. Small irritation but not worth griping about. Pictures ~~~~~~ Supports .jpg just fine. I know there are others and I have examples of many other image types but I have no concerns... I'm only interested in .jpg and any image file is easily converted to .jpg with free software All the different file testing did encounter one issue. When I was trying to get it to play .flv and it said "Unsupported", which was just fine, I hit OK again and the box locked up. I had no choice but to Power Cycle (pull the plug out the wall) to get it to clear. I will admit I could have left it a few minutes and maybe it would have cleared it self but I wasn't interested in waiting to see. Problems. ~~~~~~~~ I set up a timer record for CBS Channel 5.1 to start at 4am until 4:10am (test). I watched it... at 4am the box cycled and went into a reboot (like it thought it had to wake itself up).. came back up and gave me a 5 sec timeout about wanting to record, then went to the "Enter Record. Waiting..." and 30 seconds later it started recording (all without touching the box). However... this took over a minute in total so my recording missed the first minute. I changed drives and used a USB3 4TB Seagate drive (uses power from USB not external PSU). It already had a load of stuff on it. When I tried to record "on the fly", every time it took 65 seconds before the recording actually started. That is a real concern. You can't simply perform a manual immediate recording. Also, the disk already contained numerous movies/TV shows. There was a .avi and a .mp4 file that I found at random it would NOT play. The .avi didn't even show up in the directory list but it was there. It does have a weird file name so I think that may be the problem. However the .mp4 file was a standard movie file formatted H.264 and should have played but the Homeworx kept reporting "File Type not supported" even though it showed the file size details etc on the right window. Still need to figure out why.... But to be clear... This is NOT a box intended to play all/any media files... It's a box designed to record shows you want and play them back WHICH IT DOES. Plus you can move those files to a PC and they play equally correct there too. So obscure files I've created or downloaded that it couldn't handle is more my issue not Homeworx!! CONCLUSIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I still have some experimenting to do to see if some of the quirks are me or the system and for $25, it definitely fulfills my needs. A lot of the testing I did was purely to see what it could do and not relevant to how I expect to use the box in general. BOTTOM LINE. The quality of recordings was excellent. OTA channels in 1080p recorded in 1080p. There were no glitches or interruptions or any issues with the recorded program. Those recordings replayed on the Homeworx perfectly and they played perfect on my PC too. Now it's time to read the manual and see if any of the problems I did encounter are due to me or the unit. None the less, I would definitely recommend this box (especially the $25 "like new" version). I'll update the review if I find any useful features or solutions I uncover.
Review: Feels like a quality product. Good features. Worth the price to me. - Perfect for me connected to Spectrum digital cable in Southern California. This is the 3rd brand I have worked with since discovering my 50" tv coax port was defective. Spectrum changed from converter boxes over to digital directly through the cable. The channel display on the front of this box matches the channel that Spectrum says it is. The other 2 brands did not. The channel I select using the remote is the channel that the Spectrum channel list says it is, the other 2 brands did not. The quality of the remote feels -how can I say this?- REAL. It has a solid feel and makes me believe that it should work for a long time. The first brand had failed buttons and felt cheap. This one feels real. The placement of the number keys is like what I would expect after using push button phones and 10 key calculators here in The U.S.. row 1=1,2,3 row 2=4,5,6 row 3 =7,8,9 and zero is centered below 8 with the - key on that row with zero. Amazingly, the other brands chose arrangements that made me hunt for the keys. One had 4 across and the other was 3 across but zero and - were off in another area away from those number keys. All in all, this feels like a quality product and has a good logical arrangement of keys to make it easy to use, displays correct numbers in LED on its face so I do not have to press a button to make the TV display the channel. My last feature that is very useful to me is the wide range LED on the remote at a frequency that bounces nicely so the remote works even if i point at a wall or ceiling. very useful when I forget and set something in front of the receiver. The others required direct line of sight. This converter box cost $8-$10 more than the others and so far is well worth it to me.

## Features

- 2026 Latest Batch from Mediasonic Store. The new improvements included LARGE Remote Control, 5 ft HDMI Cable, Front Display Panel, Support hard drive up to 2TB, reception sensitivity, and 12 hr. AM / PM feature.
- Clear QAM function can be used with cable provider to watch unscrambled cable channels. The channel must be UN-Encrypted signal
- Front Display to show Channel number and sub-channel, and show Clock in standby mode.
- Receive Over-The-Air ATSC Digital Broadcast to your Analog and Digital TV, Projector, and Computer Monitor.
- Record and Pause Live TV: You won’t miss your favorite show. (Requires USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 external hard drive up to 2TB connect to this unit; USB flash drive is not recommended)
- Multimedia player function: Play back your favorite photo, music, and video from your USB Flash Drive or USB external hard drive.
- Support 1080P Video Output via HDMI, and Dolby Digital Audio. Support Channel 3 / 4 hard switch for old TV
- This Box does NOT support ATSC 3.0
- This Box does NOT work with TIVO, and Other Cable Company like Comcast, DirectTV, DISH Network, and Time Warner Cable, etc.
- Latest Firmware Version: V1.7 (This will be updated if new Firmware version is released)

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B0CQR1FTT2 |
| Audio Output Mode | Surround |
| Audio Output Type | HDMI |
| Best Sellers Rank | #9,576 in Electronics ( See Top 100 in Electronics ) #4 in Analog-to-Digital (DTV) Converters |
| Brand | Mediasonic |
| Color | Black |
| Compatible Devices | Television |
| Connectivity Technology | HDMI, USB |
| Connector Type | Coaxial, HDMI |
| Control Method | Remote |
| Controller Type | Remote Control |
| Customer Reviews | 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (829) |
| Format | Digital |
| Item Dimensions D x W x H | 4.33"D x 6.6"W x 1.42"H |
| Item Weight | 0.78 Pounds |
| Manufacturer | Mediasonic |
| Mfr Part Number | HW250STB |
| Model Number | HW250STB |
| Number of Channels | 3 |
| Other Special Features of the Product | Digital Display Screen |
| Output Power | 5 Watts |
| Output Wattage | 5 Watts |
| Surround Sound Channel Configuration | 5.1 |
| Total Number of HDMI Ports | 1 |
| UPC | 850040109023 |
| Warranty Description | 1 Year Warranty from Mediasonic Store |
| Wattage | 5 watts |

## Product Details

- **Audio Output Mode:** Surround
- **Brand:** Mediasonic
- **Color:** Black
- **Compatible Devices:** Television
- **Connectivity Technology:** HDMI, USB
- **Connector Type:** Coaxial, HDMI
- **Controller Type:** Remote Control
- **Special Feature:** Digital Display Screen
- **Surround Sound Channel Configuration:** 5.1
- **Total HDMI Ports:** 1

## Images

![ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner, TV Recording, USB Multimedia Function, 1080P HDMI, Metal Case, Clear QAM, by Mediasonic HomeWorx (HW250STB) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61em4kwxLNL.jpg)

## Questions & Answers

**Q: What is the latest Firmware Version?**
A: V1.7 Contact Mediasonic Store support email if you need to update firmware. Please use Search Engine or AI to search as Amazon does not allow seller to post email here.

**Q: Where can I download the User Manual and Quick Installation Guide?**
A: You can download from Mediasonic Store official Website. (Please Search Online. Cannot display here due to Amazon Restriction.

**Q: Can I watch one channel and record another channel at the same time?**
A: This Box can ONLY do one task at a time.

**Q: What is Clear QAM? Access to Cable signal**
A: Un-Encrypted TV Signal from a Cable company. HW250STB can access unencrypted tv signal and display to TV. In the Menu, you will need to switch from Air to Cable.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Purchased the "Like New" by mistake... But that turned out to be a pleasant surprise!!!!
*by S***N on October 16, 2025*

2nd UPDATE ~~~~~~~~~~ 1. I discovered from a Google search that the time to REC is influenced heavily on the size of the USB drive you use... So I replaced the current USB drive with a 500GB hard drive... and the time to REC has now dropped to 7 seconds. That I can definitely live with. I may try a 500GB SSD at some time but I have a few old 500GB hard drives laying around doing nothing so this is a good solution for me. I know this may seem upsetting to some BUT... I also discovered you can have multiple drives so for REC I use the smaller drive which will hold about 60 hours of recording and for cataloging of other stuff, I use a larger capacity (4TB for about 512 hours of playback). Regardless, for $25 for a "Like New" box, I'm really impressed. 2. I found a simple solution to the issue of not being able to watch one program while recording another. I used a Coax Splitter. So the OTA Antenna Coax is the Input to the Splitter (btw. its a tiny adapter for a couple of dollars). There are 2 outputs each for Coax cable. One goes to the Homeworx box "Antenna In" and the second goes to the TV "Antenna In" (In my case I'm using a modern TV which already handles ATSC already. Won't work if you have a NTSC only TV). You also still need the HDMI from the Homeworx to the TV. Now I can switch the TV to HDMI and setup a recording and let the Homeworx record say channel 45-1, then I can switch the TV to Antenna and watch whatever other channel I want. OK, it's not a perfect solution, but it is a workable and minimally invasive solution as far as I'm concerned. Hope these little tidbits help. I still stress, the recording quality of this Homeworx is excellent. And for $25 for the "Like New" box I received, I could not be more pleased. I don't have to pay for any subscriptions, I can watch and record whatever the Antenna receives, I can pass other video/audio/picture files I want to the Homework via the Windows formatted NTFS drive and watch ATSC recordings on the USB drive from the Homeworx, on my computer. UPDATE: ~~~~~~~ I replaced the Seagate USB drive with a Samsung 1TB SSD in a USB enclosure. Now pressing REC takes about 17 seconds before recording starts. That's considerably better than the 30+ it was taking with a Segate USB spinning drive. It still bother me it takes so long though. The SSD drive was empty, I had just reformatted it so it's not like it was doing a lengthy directory search. I can work with the 17 seconds but it is irritating that if I just hit REC while watching something that catches my eye, by the time the recording starts... I've missed it... I suspect that this delay also occurs when time recording so whatever time I set for recording, I need to start 1 or 2 minutes earlier to ensure I get the start. That being the case, whether I use a SSD or a Hard Disk drive will make little difference so I may just go back to the Seagate drive as it's a 4TB. I tried setting the antenna option as "pass through" but I couldn't get this to work. Basically, "Pass Through" is (used to be) the option that allows you to disable the tuner in the convertor box and simply pass through the antenna signal through the coax cable to the TV. Again, not a huge issue in how I'll be using the box and I'll try and find out what this option really means/how to use it in the Homeworx box. ORIGINAL REVIEW: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First off, I have to admit to a boo boo... When I reviewed the different convertor boxes and of course the user reviews, I narrowed down my selection to this one and although $40... I scrolled down the screen and bought it. When it arrived I was disappointed because it was a pre-used unit. It was marked as "Like New", had been opened and sea;ed with a white sticker and that sticker had been cut and opened and finally the ragged box was taped closed. There I was about to return it and I checked the price I paid $25... "Huh I thought it was $40"... DUH.. when I purchased, in my haste i clicked the "Like New" buy option. So for $25, I thought I'd open it up and check it out.... Although the box had been opened and reopened several times, the contents were pristine. Remote had no batteries so grabbed a couple of AAA's and slipped them in. So I plugged it in and I'll admit I did not have high expectations. Job 1... configure it for OTA channels. NO... I don't read instructions first.. my view is that most things like this should be intuitive.. Hit the Menu button and it soon became obvious. Set the Time Zone, when to channel search, selected Auto and then waited.... It took a couple of mins but found all the channels the TV I was using previously had found so there was no loss of channels in that aspect. Played with the buttons.... You can enter a channel manually (use the Up/Down buttons) or you can use the Green "TV List" button and then scroll up/down to find the channel you want. EPG will give you the details of current channel and forthcoming programs on that channel. Used the yellow "Aspect" button to set the aspect ratio to Auto. Tried the various manual settings which all worked great. I really LOVE an aspect button on a remote... OTA channels are a mixed bag to say the least and some channels don't correctly display the aspect. So being able to override for you personal preference is a big deal for me. At this point I had played for about 30 minutes and wanted to see how well the DVR feature worked. In fairness, I've never owned a DVR so some readers may find my comments amusing... I found an old 2TB Seagate USB drive (old but powered by the USB port NOT a separate power adapter). I reformatted it on my PC and then plugged it in and went to the Menu option for USB. It has a Format option there!!!. Well of course it does... but I wanted to know if I could record on a standard preformatted Windows NTFS drive. Behold... a message tells you... you can only format up to a 2TB drive. If the drive is a 4TB drive, format it on your computer. So I thought, what the heck, lets see if this box formats the 2TB drive differently and makes reading on a computer problematic. Let the format finish, tried it on the PC, Windows sees it and shows it empty. Plugged it back into the Homeworx Box, found a random channel to watch and just hit the "REC" button. Now there's only one minor quirk here... it throws up a message about "Enter Record. Waiting..." which lasts 30 seconds before the message goes away and then a record timer length count appears on the top left of the screen and it start recording. I let it record for about 10 minutes and then stopped the record using the industry standard [] symbol button (stop), unplugged the drive, rushed it over to my PC, plugged it in, found the directory HBPVR, and found the .mts file. Played it using VLC. No problems whatsoever. At this point I decided to create a few of my own directories and copied, pictures, music and video files (various file types). Plugged back into the Homeworx and pressed the USB button. Found the menu. PVR ~~~ THIS is where your recorded programs are held. They are in .mts format. Just one point. I had a .mts file on my computer which was a copy of a video file from a Canon Digital Camera. It would NOT play. Recorded files no issue but this previously recorded on a different device would not. Media ~~~~~ Does not support .flv nor .asf (no surprise) Did support various others (these are a minimum I expected it would and pleased it does): mp4, mkv, avi, mpeg BTW, Media does NOT see .mts files... You have to be in the PVR menu section to see .mts files Music ~~~~~ It "played' .wma (didn't complain about it) but no audio. I have a few different .wma files but the same issue with all of them. appears to play but no sound produced. It played .mp3 and .wav no problems whatsoever. Almost all my music library is .mp3 so I have no issues with the .wma not working. Small irritation but not worth griping about. Pictures ~~~~~~ Supports .jpg just fine. I know there are others and I have examples of many other image types but I have no concerns... I'm only interested in .jpg and any image file is easily converted to .jpg with free software All the different file testing did encounter one issue. When I was trying to get it to play .flv and it said "Unsupported", which was just fine, I hit OK again and the box locked up. I had no choice but to Power Cycle (pull the plug out the wall) to get it to clear. I will admit I could have left it a few minutes and maybe it would have cleared it self but I wasn't interested in waiting to see. Problems. ~~~~~~~~ I set up a timer record for CBS Channel 5.1 to start at 4am until 4:10am (test). I watched it... at 4am the box cycled and went into a reboot (like it thought it had to wake itself up).. came back up and gave me a 5 sec timeout about wanting to record, then went to the "Enter Record. Waiting..." and 30 seconds later it started recording (all without touching the box). However... this took over a minute in total so my recording missed the first minute. I changed drives and used a USB3 4TB Seagate drive (uses power from USB not external PSU). It already had a load of stuff on it. When I tried to record "on the fly", every time it took 65 seconds before the recording actually started. That is a real concern. You can't simply perform a manual immediate recording. Also, the disk already contained numerous movies/TV shows. There was a .avi and a .mp4 file that I found at random it would NOT play. The .avi didn't even show up in the directory list but it was there. It does have a weird file name so I think that may be the problem. However the .mp4 file was a standard movie file formatted H.264 and should have played but the Homeworx kept reporting "File Type not supported" even though it showed the file size details etc on the right window. Still need to figure out why.... But to be clear... This is NOT a box intended to play all/any media files... It's a box designed to record shows you want and play them back WHICH IT DOES. Plus you can move those files to a PC and they play equally correct there too. So obscure files I've created or downloaded that it couldn't handle is more my issue not Homeworx!! CONCLUSIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I still have some experimenting to do to see if some of the quirks are me or the system and for $25, it definitely fulfills my needs. A lot of the testing I did was purely to see what it could do and not relevant to how I expect to use the box in general. BOTTOM LINE. The quality of recordings was excellent. OTA channels in 1080p recorded in 1080p. There were no glitches or interruptions or any issues with the recorded program. Those recordings replayed on the Homeworx perfectly and they played perfect on my PC too. Now it's time to read the manual and see if any of the problems I did encounter are due to me or the unit. None the less, I would definitely recommend this box (especially the $25 "like new" version). I'll update the review if I find any useful features or solutions I uncover.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Feels like a quality product. Good features. Worth the price to me.
*by A***. on March 31, 2026*

Perfect for me connected to Spectrum digital cable in Southern California. This is the 3rd brand I have worked with since discovering my 50" tv coax port was defective. Spectrum changed from converter boxes over to digital directly through the cable. The channel display on the front of this box matches the channel that Spectrum says it is. The other 2 brands did not. The channel I select using the remote is the channel that the Spectrum channel list says it is, the other 2 brands did not. The quality of the remote feels -how can I say this?- REAL. It has a solid feel and makes me believe that it should work for a long time. The first brand had failed buttons and felt cheap. This one feels real. The placement of the number keys is like what I would expect after using push button phones and 10 key calculators here in The U.S.. row 1=1,2,3 row 2=4,5,6 row 3 =7,8,9 and zero is centered below 8 with the - key on that row with zero. Amazingly, the other brands chose arrangements that made me hunt for the keys. One had 4 across and the other was 3 across but zero and - were off in another area away from those number keys. All in all, this feels like a quality product and has a good logical arrangement of keys to make it easy to use, displays correct numbers in LED on its face so I do not have to press a button to make the TV display the channel. My last feature that is very useful to me is the wide range LED on the remote at a frequency that bounces nicely so the remote works even if i point at a wall or ceiling. very useful when I forget and set something in front of the receiver. The others required direct line of sight. This converter box cost $8-$10 more than the others and so far is well worth it to me.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Update: A little disappointed but still worth the price.
*by W***Y on December 5, 2024*

I've used this device for a couple of weeks now, and for the money, it cant be beat, so my review is based on that fact. The Pros: It records cleanly and the recording feature is pretty simple. The unit will take just about anything you can plug into its USB port. In my case, I'm using an old 3 terabyte external harddrive that I've had for years to back up my old computer. Of course, I had to Formal the drive for it to work with Homeworks. But once I did, the recording went flawlessly. So far, the unit has done everything I wanted it to do, all the while saving me the $1,200 a year I was spending on a TIVO. The Cons: The unit takes a while to understand all the controls, and the instructions leave some of the more important questions out, like "How do I retrieve my recorded videos?" The only other thing is that the unit is a little buggy. It sometimes does things you dont want it to do, like lock up. But a simple reboot usually solves the problem. UPDATE: After using the 2 units that I purchased for awhile now, I'm becoming more and more disappointed. These units reboot constantly, which is a pain. The longer I use them, the more often they reboot. I dont mind a reboot here and there, but it's getting to the point that I can hardly watch TV without one of them or the other constantly rebooting. UPDATE NUMBER 2: I've had these 2 units now for just over a year. The rebooting issue is a pain, but other than that, they still work and record fine. For the amount of money I spent, they are STILL worth it. I saw another review where someone said they had to replace this same unit every 6 months. I dont know if they got bad ones or what, but mine are operating with no problem, (other than the rebooting). I just read the reviews on the new model that just came out, and it appears to have many problems that this older model doesnt, so IF I have to replace these, I'll buy the same thing due to the low cost. SUGGESTION: As this unit seems to want to constantly reboot, it's a real pain to either wait a full minute for it to do this, OR you can simply unplug it and plug it back in. Most people will never want to have to get up off the couch and walk across the room, find the plug and unplug it. So just buy a remote control outlet, they kind that has been sold for decades to turn your lights on and off. They dont cost hardly anything, and then you can sit on the couch, turn off the power with a push of a button and reboot the unit instantly.

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*Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu*
*Store origin: VU*
*Last updated: 2026-05-17*