TV converterbox / PVR

can you take a thumb drive or the usb drive and watch it on a computer or does it have to be hooked up to the pvr?

Chris Bryant wrote:

I have an older HD model that doesn't have an ATSC tuner- this is just the ticket!

The HomeWorx HW-150PVR appears ideal for those who purchased an HDTV "ready" set w/o a built-in ATSC tuner. It outputs over-the-air(OTA) in SD@480i, 480p, or HD@720p, 1080i, and 1080p over HDMI if supported by your set.

I just gone mine today from NewEgg. Was very easy to setup and came with the updated firmware v8, which is equivalent to v13.

Personally, I'm more interested in the PVR/DVR function of the HW-150PVR, and it worked without a hitch. I used a generic 16G USB flash stick, and recorded test DVR video at 1280x720@60p, and at 1920x1080@30p HD resolutions. There doesn't appear to be a way to manually set recording quality, though haven't had the opportunity to test the HW-150PVR with a USB hard drive. Or whether using a HD affects the record settings in any way?

{Update}:I've discovered that the HW-150PVR sets its DVR settings based on the station's OTA broadcast signal. So if a station broadcasts HD@1080i, the HW-150PVR will record at 1080p. If broadcasting SD@480i, it will record at 480p.

Here are some sample data rates:




DVR OTA: HD 1920x1080@29.97fps requiring 104.7M per minute, 6.28G per hour.




DVR OTA: HD 1280x720@59.94fps requiring 77.6M per minute, 4.66G per hour.




DVR OTA: SD 704x480@29.97fps requiring 27.5M per minute, 1.65G per hour.



The recorded DVR video actually looks quite good. And the data rates, though not the highest, should be more than adequate for DVR purposes. Certainly better than DVD. Note that the recording format is Mpeg2 transport stream.

Take note that USB flash drives are limited to a max 4G file size due to Fat32 formatting. Good for about 52 minutes of 720P HD video, or only about 38 minutes of 1080p HD. Though I haven't yet tested what happens if a DVR recording exceeds the 4G file length, or if the HW-150PVR supports continuous file recording? This would not be a concern if using a USB hard drive formatted in NTFS.

I bought this primarily to replace a DVD-R setup for recording OTA programs, upgrading to DVR with HD capability. So far, the HW-150PVR seems to fit the bill in a very compact size.

this is very interesting for the price
i just read thru all the reviews on NewEgg

so TOM...please post back after you receive it and try it out

That looks like a really nice unit- just like any DVR if you are watching through it you can pause and rewind live TV. Even at list of $59 it looks good.
I have an older HD model that doesn't have an ATSC tuner- this is just the ticket!

sounds kinda neat...

Thanks for descriptions

This is a dual function box. It can be used as a tuner/digital-to-analog converter and a video recorder with the addition of a USB storage device (hard drive or thumb drive).

I plan on using this as a PVR not a converter box.

RoyB wrote:
Have no idea what a PVR is...

Personal Video Recorder

Here's one on Amazon

When the NATL BROADCAST SYSTEM changed over to digital TV I just threw out my old analog TV sets. I am assuming this is what your TV CONVERTER does??? Have no idea what a PVR is...

The digital TV from the local towns are all transmitted in full high def and full screen and it is much easier on the eyes with a HDTV setup...

It worked out so well for us we even use this at most camp grounds for watching the local network TV channels using the OTA BATWING roof setup because most camp grounds still use the analog TV signals. I am seeing some just now changing over to high def TV signals.

Roy Ken