- HD-ready, Integrated ATSC Tuner
- Enjoy over the air broadcasts in digital clarity
- Built-in QAM tuner
- Set Favorite Channels
- Integrated ATSC Tuner
Most digital set top boxes were designed to meet the government standard for the coupons that were available in 2009. Those boxes only tune in Over The Air signals (OTA). Cable signals are sent in a different format. Digital cable signals are sent in either clear QAM or scrambled QAM. Digital OTA signals are sent in ASTC format. This converter is capable of receiving CLEAR QAM and ATSC signals. Finding a box that does both QAM and ATSC is tricky. There isn't a lot of call for QAM/ATSC tuners since after converting to digital most cable providers scramble everything they legally can. This means that most cable providers only send local channels in clear QAM.
My provider,WOW, was different. My provider sends basic cable (65 channels) in CLEAR QAM, so you don't need to use a box for basic standard definition cable, if you have digital equipment. In my search I found that most QAM/ATSC tuners are designed for use with a Home Theater PC and don't have output options for older TVs. I was looking for something that would output Analog RF (channel 3/4) and composite line out . Price was a big issue since some of the ATSC/QAM tuners were more expensive than buying new digital TVs and I could rent an extra DTA for a mere $2 a month. I decided to purchase the iview-2000STB instead of renting another digital to analog adapter (DTA). In two years the iview will pay for itself in DTA rentals, and if I decide to drop cable, I can use this unit with my OTA antenna.
For purposes of writing this review, I briefly hooked this up for use with an antenna. The box quickly tuned in all the channels and seemed to work okay. I have other ATSC boxes, and this one is not nearly as good, but then, this one cost half as much and does QAM which the other ATSC boxes can't decode.
The cable installation was very time consuming. Any digital tuner takes up to 30 minutes to scan the digital cable channels, and this one is no exception. This unit has trouble finding all my QAM channels. Each time I scanned I had different results. I had to go through this scanning procedure 3 times before I got all the channels I was interested in. Each time I scanned, some channels were added and others were lost. It was very frustrating. I'm still missing a few channels that I should be receiving. Once I got all the channels I was interested in, I stopped scanning for fear that I'd end up losing the desirable channels in the process of trying to get a complete list. I've had minor changes in my cable system lineup about every 45 days, and each time I have to go through this painful process.
A really nice feature, this unit does save both your ATSC and your QAM settings so you can switch from one to the other with the press of a button. If you switch between both kinds of hookups this is very helpful.
Once up and running the picture quality on the SD channels was noticeably better than the picture from the cable company DTA, especially when using the line out features. There are many channels available to digital equipment that were not available through the DTA, including the local HD channels. Unfortunately, this box has trouble with those QAM HD signals. The QAM HD channels pixelate every time there is any motion, so those channels are not watchable. This is really not much of an issue since for me since all the channels are also sent in standard definition and I'm working with 4:3 anyway, but if you had a 16:9 "HD ready" TV this might be a show stopper. I'm still happy to have the extra SD channels.
Many QAM tuners use raw cable numbers instead of the aliases sent by the cable company. This unit uses the aliases, so the cable numbers make sense. What this means is that for example USA is channel 13 on the cable box, and 60.1 in the raw numbering. My company is sending 13 as the alias, and for a while they were sending 60_13 as the alias, but its really transmitted on 60.1. It can get really confusing. The good news is if the company uses good aliases the channel numbers will be the 3 digit numbers used by the cable company, instead of 5 digit decimal numbers!
Once a channel has been tuned in, you can go in through the menu system and set the skip for channels you don't want to see when cycling using the channel+ and channelbuttons. Try that with a cable supplied DTA! You can also assign channels to a favorites list for tuning ease. Another tuning feature is the "prog" option. The prog option lets you page through the channel list. The list includes both the channel number and the identifying info letters, like NBC, ABC, WTVS.... Very helpful if you need to tune in ESPN, or the SPEED channel and don't know the number.
This unit has closed captioning, so if your older TV doesn't have CC, this unit will supply it. There is a menu entry with adjustments you can make to the CC appearance.
The remote control was small and crowded and has an odd layout. The unit doesn't always respond to signals from the remote. It is a problem with the remote, not the unit itself. The unit responds perfectly to my universal remote. The unit ships without the 2 AAA batteries needed to operate the remote.
The screen prompts were unclear. Little things like figuring out how to directly enter a channel were a challenge. I had to read the 23 page manual to figure out how to do things with the remote.
The unit boasts of an electronic programming guide (EPG), but they should probably not even mention it at all. It is a terrible excuse for an EPG. Of course I have Dish Network and Echostar ASTC adapters, so any other EPG is going to pale in comparison. I was curious and hoping that this unit would give me some info on the cable side, but my provider doesn't send any program guide information, so the EPG doesn't work with my cable.
Pros
Price, the price on this unit is approximately the cost of a 2 year rental of a cable company DTA. The price was also about 1/2 to 1/4th the price of any other qam/atsc tuner that I could find.
Handles clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable channels) as well as ATSC (over the air digital)
Has an on/off and ch+/chbuttons on the front of the unit (see picture I submitted) which is great because remote is so small its easily lost.
output options are good for older analog equipment. I found that most ATSC/QAM tuners are geared more towards PC use instead of for use with analog equipment and had output that was geared towards newer equipment.
outputs analog RF channel 3 or 4 output, just like a VCR, and has the ability to allow the RF to pass through untouched, I believe this is called loop through.
outputs composite AV (Yellow/Red/White connectors)
Stores both the OTA and QAM cable channel settings, so you can switch back and forth with the cable/air button without having to rescan.
Allows you to skip the channels you don't want. I sure wish the cable company DTA would do the same.
has a Favorite function
has the "prog" feature for tuning while paging through the list
Gets more local channels than the cable company rental DTA box, even when you ignore the HD channels that were found.
This unit does not use raw cable numbers
Better picture than the cable company DTA.
More output options than the cable company DTA
This unit has closed caption (CC) feature
Cons
remote is crowded and poorly laid out and unintuitive. (See the image I submitted.)
remote is unreliable
it takes a long time to change a channel. The screen goes blank for about 5 seconds.
it takes a long time to turn on, before you see the iview logo and longer still for the unit to actually start tuning.
it is tricky to get all your cable channels
poor excuse for an EPG (electronic program guide) for OTA.
pixelates when picking up the local QAM HD channels. It basically doesn't work on my High Definition clear QAM. ***
*** Edit my cable company changed some of the HD channels to a lower QAM channel number, and when they did those HD channels didn't pixelate anymore. so apparently this is an issue with the upper channel numbers. ***
Even though this was not a glowing review, I did buy a second unit, because this unit is definitely better than the cable DTA. I would have tried something different, but I couldn't find anything else that compared. I have very nice analog equipment that I am not ready to retire. This unit gave my analog equipment a new lease on life.
Please let me know if this was helpful to you.
Buy iview 2000STB 480i TV Tuner/Receiver -Black Now
I just bought and installed two of these. The main claim to fame for this box is that it decodes clear QAM on cable in addition to off-air ATSC. Most Digital to Analog converter boxes are off-air ATSC only.pros:
-demodulates clear QAM
-picture quality is good
-RF and baseband outputs
-allows you to delete unwanted channels from the scan list
cons:
-poor remote control range, especially off-axis
-user interface for deleting unwanted channels is painful to use
-daylight savings feature doesn't work
-audio level on RF output is undermodulated (volume is very low, so hum is a problem)
-autoprogramming is very slow, about 20 minutes.
Read Best Reviews of iview 2000STB 480i TV Tuner/Receiver -Black Here
I needed an external tuner to use my tunerless dvd recorder with my new TV that already had a built-in tuner. This little gadget works great! I had to try the different settings (ch 3, ch 4 or loop through) to find the one that worked with my setup, but once I found it, setting the TV to ch 4 and setting the tuner to ch 4 (just like an old time VCR) and then using autoscan, it started picking up channels right away! I did have to scan a couple of times to find all the channels I wanted, but it only took about fifteen minutes each time. The only reason I didn't rate it a 5 is because the user guide that comes with the product is pretty useless. It doesn't explain things clearly. But using the guide that came with the TV and the dvd recorder, I was able to figure things out. The programming guide and the channel selection list that saves favorites and skips channels not visited are great features!Want iview 2000STB 480i TV Tuner/Receiver -Black Discount?
I needed a cable box that could receive the unscrambled channels provided by my cable company Verizon Fios. Most of the low cost boxes out there could only handle over-the-air signals provided by an antenna. My quest was to find something that could not only process digital TV signals but the ones being sent along in the QAM format, used by Fios. This box did the trick. The footprint of the device is small and cheap looking and many have complained about the small size of the remote contol (which does not come with batteries). But this cable tuner works just fine.Not all the instructions are clear and one has to do a little experimentation but this unit goes for less than $ 35. For me, it is a better alternative than buying a new TV with a built-in QAM tuner or renting another box from the cable company.
For my purposes -being able to get my *clear QAM* cable-TV signal into a large monitor with no built-in tuner -this works perfectly. I pulled it out of the box, popped the batteries (2 AAA, purchased separately) into the remote, and was watching TV on my monitor within a half-hour. Previously, I had to do all this through my computer in a very annoying set-up.
I happen to know, from a previous experience mapping all of the digital channels coming through my cable, that this device correctly pulled all of those channels. Quality wise, they all looked about as good as could be expected. Unlike some reviewers, I did pull in HD channels along with the standard-definition channels.
PROS: Small simple box, small simple remote; easy to set up; excellent price (I compared many others); worked perfectly for my situation; ability to program channels to eliminate those you don't watch; easy ability to switch between cable and antenna if you have both coming in
CONS: Changing channels is slow -delay of about 2 seconds each time; for my signal, the channels came in without alias, meaning channel 96 is actually 128-1388, which is obviously annoying to directly go to... someone wrote this can be corrected, but maybe this depends on the cable provider's signal; the online channel guide may or may not work, but this is due to your cable signal, not this device; no ability to store pulled channels if you re-scan
So, yep, very happy with this puppy. I've been trying to solve this situation for a while, and this does it. Just a few important things to know as you consider:
1. "Pulling channels" is a slow and inconsistent process. Mine took about 15-20 minutes and pulled 67 channels. Though I got all available, I know other reviewers are correct that it can be hit or miss.
2. As far as cable is concerned, you will ONLY pull in clear-QAM (unscrambled) digital channels -you will not pull in any analog channels. This is important to know, because my cable signal is actually carrying both, and the channels are not all the same. In other words, if I plug my cable into an old analog TV, I get a different set of channels... some are the same as the digital set coming through this device, but most are not. (Some digital channels are not available in analog and vice-versa.) So, if you've been watching cable on an analog TV and switch to this device, just know that you MAY discover a whole different set of channels coming in, and that may be good (more, better channels) or bad (fewer, worse channels). Of course, you can always set up a splitter, with cable going into your analog TV and also into this device.
3. What I wrote above, that your signal may not generate convenient channel numbers to dial up. Also, some may not be identified. So, you'll be going through them, seeing all these weird channels and may not even know what they are (if an onscreen programming guide isn't provided by your cable company).
4. Again, changing channels is not fast. This is not uncommon with digital, apparently, as I've had the same problem with Cox and DirecTV. The delay is only about two seconds between channels, but that may be a big deal for you.
5. You'll need to buy batteries for the remote -2 x AAA.
6. Your only output is AV (the red, white, and yellow connections) or RF (coax). Your only input is RF (coax).
I don't have an antenna, so I can't comment on this device being used that way.
I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could -the half-star deduction only because the box can't store channels you've already scanned, if you want or need to re-scan.
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