Ematic AT103C Digital Converter Box with Recorder and LED Display

The Ematic AT 103C Digital Converter Box with Recorder and LED Display works very well. It was very easy to set up out of the box and the DVR function is a nice feature, once I figured out how to set up timing. Watch the remote it is sensitive and needs to be aimed right at the box.

It requires an antenna to work and does not come with one. I prefer using an HDMI cord also not included. You get full HD; The interface is easy to set up and fast. If you have a good antenna, you will get a decent amount of channels. If you want to record, you will need an USB hard drive to save the recording on your USB. The remote is easy to use and you can change the volume on it without having to grab another remote and that is cool.

I had ordered the AT103C model, but I received the AT103B. I didn't realize it was the wrong one until after it was installed. The box that it came in does state it was supposed to be the AT103C, but the label on the unit itself states it is AT103B, so I'm not sure if this was a refurbished unit that was repackaged incorrectly. While this model does most of what I wanted, I liked the ease of programming better on the one that I ordered, but it does the job. Not worth repackaging and sending back now.

Everything is pretty straight forward on set up and had no problems but I am still trying to understand the recording programming. I am have a little trouble with the numbers on the remote and how they work on the program page. Not enough instructions for the recording part.

This converter box helped along with an antenna. We needed the antenna to get a picture. It was fairly easy to install. I have not tried the recording of a TV program but don't anticipate any trouble. You will need a hard drive or flash drive for this.

Being able to record shows for later, or being able to rewind what you just saw is a great feature, but it may not be quite like what you're used to. It's a little different, than a DVR recorder. With the Ematic AT103B Digital Converter Box, you have to have already hit the record or the pause button during the show. No, you can't go find the remote & rewind it, it has to be recording already. I really was hoping rewind would be like a DVR that I'm familiar with. I didn't know if there was any internal memory in this unit, to at least copy the show that you're watching. I guess I could become accustomed to starting a program with it recording as long as the stations stop dropping. Overall this is a neat device to go along with your antenna reception on your HDTV set. The set up is pretty easy too. You can get going out of the box, you just need to learn a little bit of how the unit works. It's a great addition for the non cable man cave or garage TV. You can listen to pre-recorded music or watch videos or movies that you have on a USB stick or USB ready external drive. They have to be with in the limitations of the device, & those can be a little "lossy", but fun to have none-the-less. Unit HAS TO BE connected to an antenna feed to work. I don't know why. So far, out of the box, I have had some issues, but not anything dramatic, mostly inconvenient. It probably will be different in your area. One issue I had is, I had 35 stations using my antenna alone, which dropped to 7 channels when I hooked up the converter box & scanned! May be because of the signal strength. It's okay that you have to scan with their box, because you get a channel guide that your TV may not have. It's a great feature, but not like those stations are flicker free either. I get more drops using the converter box, than I did with just the antenna. You're reception may be different. I have selected power on for antenna & power off, sometimes one works better than the other, but it isn't consistent either way. I can add an additional coax cable, & switch back to the antenna only, from the HDMI or RCA cables. This means that I can plug in any USB stick flash drive, or hard disk & watch something pre-recorded when I'm done watching the news. I would like a better way to record. As even the "book" feature makes you scroll to list the information. No listings are displayed. Another thing about recording that I like; is that it will come back to the channel you are/were on after it's done recording. The recorded TV shows are in a specific (mts) format for reviewing from this box, on your TV, via a connected drive source. Don't excpect hi def, it's a bit less quality than the broadcast. Be careful using your main computer drive or your phone to the USB, as I did have two issue when recording. One that forced me to reformat the USB stick, & the other that I had to turn everything off & bring it back up, to be able to view. Bottom line: Yes I like this little converter & find it a fun addition with antenna TV reception, overall. I will want to play around with things a bit more, in the reception part, but that's always going to be an issue.

Purchased the Ematic model AT103C Digital Converter Box with Recorder in November 2020. Posting this review so others know my opinion and experience with this product. It was shipped and received fast within 3 days. Out of the box, there is confusion! The product box and enclosed printed user manual is labeled "AT103C", but the remote and actual firmware displayed in the menu shows its a "AT103B" model. The box was factory "sealed" so it appears Ematic is unloading older AT103B models into the newer AT103C boxes. I feel this a deceptive sale because I specifically ordered the AT103C since I wanted the latest firmware. Other comments would be that the unit is covered in a sticky plastic film which has to be restricting air flow as the unit does get warm. No where does it say to remove the plastic film, and the warranty sticker is on the outside of the film. That makes no sense to me. Take film off = void warranty ??? Once you get past those frustrating issues, the Ematic DTV Converter does have an excellent quality picture. I found the DTV tuner inside this unit is a more sensitive than the tuners in several of my brand name TV's, resulting in more TV stations being received. I also found no issues recording with several types of USB formatted drives that I had on-hand up to 128GB. Menu navigation with the tiny buttons on the Ematic remote is a challenge, and I have found no Universal remotes ( I tried several different models) that work with the Ematic AT103B/C. I primarily purchased the unit for recording OTA TV shows, and that works well. The unit has re-booted at least 3 times for unknown reasons, and it has some other minor software bugs that are annoying. I have found since I purchased this unit there is a 2018 firmware version others have reported on forum boards, so it is disappointing to know the unit I recently purchased is old/obsolete since the firmware in my "AT103C" unit is displayed as year 2016 (I purchased unit in NOV'2020). See attached photo displayed from the menu on my "new" AT103C unit. I would welcome a response from Ematic on these issues, and hope they would offer to exchange my 2016 unit for the latest firmware model (maybe that will fix some of the bugs I experienced). Selling what appears to be an older/obsolete model in a new model product box is just a poor business practice in my opinion. It is not the product I paid for as described. I will follow-up with an update to this review if Ematic Customer Support does contact me about my purchase.

i had 1 of these that lasted 5 years, this particular model i ordered died in less than 40 days 8( if u get a proper working model, it should last and record for few years. but clearly got a bad one i still recommend this product 8) i used a sandisk extreme pro to record, slower write speed have issues in playback.

Do not purchase this it is a waste of money super cheap feeling the max volume is 30 and even at max it still sounds like it's at 10, the port for hdmi didn't work had to use the composite cables which made the picture look blurry, the controller ultra cheap so plz save your money pass this buy and have a blessed day

Was sent incorrect model. I paid extra for the Ematic AT103"C"model. Instead, received the Ematic B model, an older version like I already have. Never the less, would have kept the B model but it had a defect in programming a selected upcoming program. Also, I believe that the "B" model I received was a previously used unit as there were scratch marks on top of the chassis. Not Walmart's fault, just the company that sent out the defective, used unit. Unit was returned thru Wmart 1 day after receiving and testing out.