ATSC Digital Converter Box with TV Tuner, TV Recording, USB Multimedia Function, 1080P HDMI, Metal Case, Clear QAM, by Mediasonic HomeWorx (HW250STB)

My 15 year old LG M237WD 23" Flatron Monitor/HDTV finally died on me leaving me in a strange new world where you can no longer find a new, low-cost Monitor/HDTV with a built-in antenna input and tuner. Today you need a monitor with 2 HDMI inputs and a separate HDTV tuner with antenna input to do the job. The question today is which ones do the best job at the lowest price? After extensive online research, I decided on the AOC 24B2H2 24" LCD Monitor and the Mediasonic HOMEWORX HW250STB Convertor Box/Tuner. In short, I am extremely happy with the choices I've made. Before you make your decisions, I highly recommend you download and read the online user manuals available by searching for them online. In particular, you need the online AOC user manual to properly describe and utilize the the 5 tiny buttons on the bottom edge of the screen used to power on and access monitor settings. The paper guide included with the AOC monitor does NOT describe how how to use these buttons. The HOMEWORX manual omits fully describing how to prepare for, record, and playback TV programs on a USB flash drive. If you are computer savvy, formatting, recording, playback and deletion of TV programs is easy to figure out. If not savvy, you may need to ask HOMEWORX for help.The AOC monitor is very easy to set up. You just need to insert the neck at the bottom of the screen into the base. The screen can be tilted from 20° up to -5° down. You plug in your 1 or 2 HDMI cables from the HOMEWORX tuner and your computer, the power cord, and your speaker or earphone 3.5mm connector cable, and you're done! The HDMI button under the bottom screen edge allows you to easily switch between the tuner and your computer. Audio is automatically switched between devices with the HDMI button. On Windows 10, a 24B2H2 Intel(R) Display Audio interface is automatically installed by the AOC monitor and becomes the Default Playback Device. I have an audio cable running from my computer to my speakers in addition to the HDMI cable. If needed, I can switch the Default Playback Device back to Realtek High Definition Audio to enable me to record audio using Audacity software, which I use to record stock market Earnings Webcasts. (Note: Audacity requires a wire connection between the Realtek audio output and input to enable recording audio off the Internet.) The AOC display itself is excellent, strong clean colors and high definition. The screen is matted, NOT glossy as incorrectly listed by Amazon.The HOMEWORX tuner has a handy easy to use large remote control along with manual control bottons on the tuner itself. In addition to the HDMI port, it also has RCA jacks and can act as a HDTV converter box for an old analog TV or as audio output for a stereo amplifier. It has a USB-A port for a USB flash drive or other form of storage drive. When not turned on, the HOMEWORX digital display acts as a clock showing the time of day. Signal reception by the HOMEWORX is excellent. This has the best reception of any HDTV tuner I've used so far, and I receive stations I could not receive before so long as the weather and temperature inversions permit.

I usually don't rate a product made in China 5 stars but I do love this digital converter box. Mediasonic is an American company I believe. If you want to cut the cable and to be able to record local TV and don't want to pay a monthly fee (makes sense if you are looking at cutting the cable) and don't want to pay a lot for the recorder (also makes sense) then this is the item you want. Set up is intuitive and went well (would have been a little easier if I had known the converter is set to channel 4 out of the box for use on an old TV using the RF1 cable). I also have it connected to a new TV via the supplied HDML cable. I love the old school interface; it is easy to understand and use.And I have found that the feature that shows you the signal strength is indeed very useful and easy to use.It doesn't come with a storage device which is necessary for recording. Mediasonic does not recommend using a flash drive, though it looks like from YouTube videos and comments that some people do use them. I had an Iomega SSD drive laying around and it is working great. I copied the files that were on it then I used the converter to format it after attaching it. I actually like that I can remove the storage device. I can put movies, pictures, or music on it to play on the TV. And I can go in the other direction too; my wife has me use American Idol recordings to create MP3s for her music player. That will now be easier as I can plug the Iomega into the computer and use Audacity to create her MP3s.Know that it can only record 1 program at a time. That isn't a problem for us. There is a 15-20 second gap between the recordings of my wife's Young And The Restless and The Bold And The Beautiful which follows it.I haven't tried the "Loop Through" function that allows you to watch one station while recording another but I anticipate that will work easily. Similarly I haven't yet tried the feature that allows you to pause and rewind and then fast forward with live TV.Only sort of related; for cable cutters now looking for antennas; if you are within 10 miles of most of your broadcasters like me, or maybe even within 30 miles, with no big hills in the way, then I suggest also getting the simplest least expensive antenna. The $11 Phillips antenna works fine for me. They are just pieces of metal attached to a cord. Check out The Antenna Man's YouTube channel for a lot more detail on that, and a review of this converter box.