DCOLOR Digital Converter Box for TV [2025 Updated], Mini ATSC Tuner [Hidden Behind TV], Watch & Record Free Over-The-Air Channels, Projectors with HDMI Output, DVR&EPG Ready, 2-in-1 Learning Remote

Was trying to find a way to record TV without having the high cost of cable/box. I cut the cord and got an outdoor antenna. Tried various options like Tablo and Sling Air tuners with recording capability. Both had (at least for me) limitations and buffering issues etc. Found this little guy. Watched the review video, and decided to give it a try. Was the least expensive of all devices. Hooked it up in a few minutes. Searched all channels I received, and found picture quality excellent. I set it to record (using required USB Stick) and record quality was also excellent. Keep in mind, this device only records one channel/show at a time. (I imagine you could record multiple if you use a splitter with additional units). The included remote has all the features you need to operate it. Channel guide, record menu, pause, ff, rewind (recordings and live TV!) and direct access to other features. It can also learn you TV remote. If you're looking to turn your TV into a TV/DVR, this is the one! I highly recommend it, and you can't go wrong for the price. 5 stars *****

If you're new to these new DVR's be patient. UPDATE! You must know everything computer. In this case USB Adapter Power! All DVR's will be like this. My old (about 15 years old) DVR was destroyed recently. Always enjoyed how easy it was to control. Schedule programs to record then shut off both the DVR and TV. The DVR recorded shows when the TV was off! However, I recently discovered why this ATSC TV Tuner didn't do that. Their instructions are incorrect. Read on, to learn how to use if you don't know much about computers! It's really USB Technology!It's easy to set up the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick. Instructions will tell you to plug the USB cable into your USB port on your TV. I'm not into computers and I've been using computers since 1999. You need a USB Adapter to plug into an electrical outlet. A photo of my cell phones USB Adapter is included! Your cell phone has such an adapter. Plug the USB cable into the USB Adapter that's plugged into an electrical outlet. One end plugs into the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick and the other into the USB Adapter that's plugged into an electrical outlet.You can then turn your TV off and the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick will have power from the electrical outlet by way of the USB cable plugged into the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick and USB Adapter. You can tell it has power because you'll see the IR Receiver with the channel number. If you want to record programs at 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. do not plug the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner USB cable into your TV's USB port. It won't work.Their instructions tell you to enable "Power On and Power Off." Instead, "disable" them. For several months after purchasing the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick I didn't know what I was doing. After many investigations online, I finally discovered why I could not schedule programs to record during middle of the night. I would keep my TV on which I didn't want to do, to record. It's important to follow these instructions if you intend on recording TV shows if you're working or during middle of the night:Plug the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick USB cable into the USB Adapter which is plugged into an electrical outlet. Don't plug it into your TV's USB port.Disable "Power On and Power Off." Click menu on the remote then click on the clock or watch looking button. That's where you can "Disable Power On and Power Off."To schedule shows to record, you can using the EPG or manually. Choose if you want to record the show daily, weekly or once.Click "Timer Button." You can manually place your shows to record there. Your list of shows to record are also at the "Timer Button."After shows are recorded click the "PVR BUTTON" to see the shows that have been recorded. It will be a small screen at first. To enlarge the screen click the "PVR BUTTON."Turn your TV off! The DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick will record the shows you scheduled for recording when your TV is off. Just like VCR's and the first "DVR's."You can also record live shows yet you can't turn to another channel. However, I've read it's possible to add extra's to the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick that will allow you to record a live show and turn to another channel to watch while the live show is recorded.Anyone knowing everything computer won't have difficulties with the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick. Read comments because computer experts might have provided important information that will be beneficial. I kept investigating and found how to correctly use the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick at another website then this one!I contacted DCOLOR by email yet they did not bother returning proper instructions. You'll notice that after powering up the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick their email address. They expect people who purchase their DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick to already know how to use it. Not everyone will know how to use their DVR!If you plan on recording a lot you'll need a USB Thumb Drive anywhere from 64 GB's to 500 GB's. If you're recording a show and wanted to watch a show already recorded, it's important to have two USB Thumb Drives. Picture quality is far superior!If the TV is off, so is the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick. To be certain the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick is always on, it must be connected to an electrical outlet by way of a USB Adapter that's connected to the DCOLOR ATSC TV Tuner Stick and USB Adapter that's connected to the electrical outlet.Read on to learn how frustrated I was at not being instructed properly. It was the USB Cable that caused the predicament.You can't do that with DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER . Their "sleep mode and power on/off mode" don't work with the DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER that I received. An update! Though I can't use the "sleep mode," for some reason after several attempts, setting the power off the tuner now works. Of course, you have to enable it. I already knew about that. When it reaches the scheduled time to power off the tuner, it shuts the tuner and TV off.However, I continue to experience "Not Working Issue" with setting the "Power On The Tuner." I first enable it then schedule a time to turn the tuner on. It has yet to work. It's possible it might work sometime yet it irritates me. If I can get it to work, scheduled programs won't be missed. I can't keep the TV on all the times. It took quite some time to get the tuner to shut itself off and the TV as well. It's strange!Time zones are provided yet you'll have some difficulties at the "time page or window." You can put the device into sleep for anywhere from 1 hour to 12 hours. Power on/off is a feature you'll probably know means power on the device for recording and power off the device when complete. It don't function that way though. You have to schedule a time to turn the tuner on and turn it off. You can't schedule a show then shut the tuner off to have it turn on again to record. You can only shut the tuner on and off once a day. They'll improve soon.Hour system is 12 or 24. Each is located at the "time page or window." Your DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER will probably work normally. I've included photos of DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER instructions and time settings. It's to help you know before buying, what it shows. As mentioned, it took some time to get it to power off the tuner which shuts off the TV when it powers off. Powering on the tuner is important and mine does not work nor does the sleep mode. This information is for folks who plan to use this DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER to record shows in advance. If there's a movie or show you want to record at 2:00 a.m. you'll want this DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER to work correctly. It looks easy yet mine has issues!Since I've yet to learn how to record scheduled shows by turning the DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER and TV on, I must keep the TV on. After recorded programs are recorded, the tuner shuts off and so does the TV, at the scheduled time. Recorded picture quality is superior to old DVR's. All scheduled programs are recorded unless I forget to turn the TV back on. That's what irritates me. Other than that everything is alright.Learning remote control is difficult at first. However, their video shows you how to correctly transfer. The remote control was why I bought this item. Tablo does not offer a remote control. It took some time yet I learned how to get the remote to turn the TV on and off. It's important to watch their video.Use the remote to turn channels, adjust volume control and EPG. The EPG shows what's on for up to 12 hours. And you can schedule programs to record from the EPG. You can also click timer button and manually schedule shows to record. Your list of scheduled shows is at the timer button.If you manually schedule shows using the timer button, you can press the timer button to put it in sleep mode after scheduling programs. For some reason mine don't work at the time button. To watch recorded shows you click the PVR button. It will show a small screen first. To enlarge to normal size, click PVR button again.I'm not dissatisfied with DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER. It's very good. However, the instructions provided didn't work at first. So far I've got the tuner to turn off and turn off the TV. I'll continue investigating this future tool. They tell you at their sell page to shut off HDMI CEC on your TV. You have to do that.Another thing some people might not like is you can't watch a recorded show when a show is being recorded. To avoid that you might want to use two thumb drives. When a show is being recorded you can use the other thumb drive to watch recorded shows on a computer monitor or another TV. You can also connect two drives to this DCOLOR ATSC DTV HDMI STICK TUNNER + RECORDER. Read comments. I guess you can do that.It's the power on/off feature that is frustrating. If I can turn this item and TV off then turn on again to record scheduled shows, it will be accomplished at the "time page or window." This item is new an impressive!

I will start off by saying that I rarely leave reviews, unless a product is exceptionally good, or exceptionally bad, in the case it is the later.In short, the tuner does work, but the remote on the unit puts the 'U' in Unusable. It is unresponsive, unintuitive, and in general Unworkable!! I think this product "might" have a chance with some better instructions and software refinement, but considering there are two main components, with the remote being one of them, it just was not good enough.I would also add that the software is Very slow and even an auto scan is going to take some time. :/

15 Feb 2024UpdateASIN B0C13WHDZV : Digital Converter Box for TV - 2023 Newest ATSC TV Tuner Hidden Behind TV, DCOLOR TV Stick HDMIOkay. The price - the price. I have to keep that in mind. And I must consider this thing is still working. I bought it 11 Oct 2023. Today is 14 Feb 2024. It's been in continuous use for 5 months. As far as longevity goes, it's got other similar recorders beat simply because it's still working. Big plus. I'll probably buy another.Recording schedules have been much more reliable if I turn it off once in a while. I had been leaving it on 24/7. It doesn't like that. I guess like most devices, it needs to be turned off/on every now and then. So, now I do that once per day. So, now it records reliably. I have it set to capture a few news programs daily. I set up the record schedule a couple of weeks ago. It hasn't missed at all now that I reboot it daily.I should have known. I should have expected that. My routers need daily reboots. My computers need reboots every several hours of heavy use.I'm really happy with the recordings it makes. They are easily editable by many different freeware applications from the ffmpeg open source coders. It's quick and easy to cut and save clips. I use those clips when I beckon my govenmnental officials to sit up and take notice on an issue they neglect in my little life.I've got the USB hub attached to it so I can power the USB hard drive from the hub. (It's a powered hub using an ac adapter). I'm sure the ATSC stick isn't really capable of providing the 900 milliamps needed by the hard drive and I shouldn't expect it to be so.I am liking it more and more. Some of the other similar devices would have stopped working by now. This one's churning out news recordings daily. It meets my needs.08 January 2024UpdateASIN B0C13WHDZV : Digital Converter Box for TV - 2023 Newest ATSC TV Tuner Hidden Behind TV, DCOLOR TV Stick HDMIIt did it again: Was recording two morning news broadcasts every day for about a week. Then, it did the same error again today. It failed to record those two "daily" shows and changed the start date to one week ahead into the future. In other words, it should have recorded the same two shows again today 08 January 2024 but it did not record and on top of that failure, it should have changed the next scheduled recording date to 09 January 2024 but instead it changed the next recording date to 13 January 2024.Maybe it can't manage "daily" recordings for more than one week at a time? I don't know. I thought that for this latest test I had allowed it to run more than one week but maybe I didn't. Maybe it can only calculate "daily" recordings for a one week span of time. I'll try to figure it out.In the meantime, if I need to rely on this for a recording, I'll have to do a full factory reset procedure, reprogram all of the settings for time zones, display aspect, and such and then reprogram the important recording that I want to capture. I'd still expect that it will fail even if I do a complete reset, reprogram and reboot.This is a toy but it's not something I'd rely upon.05 January 2024UpdateASIN B0C13WHDZV : Digital Converter Box for TV - 2023 Newest ATSC TV Tuner Hidden Behind TV, DCOLOR TV Stick HDMIBought this 06 October 2023. It's still going strong. Many of the problems I had were caused by....me.For a few weeks, I knocked this down to 1 star but since then I discovered that most all of the program schedule failures were due to the hard drive I had attached. I didn't expect that to be a problem but it was. The choice of hard drive was a bad choice and it caused problems in ways I never expected.I had been using a Toshiba "Canvio Ready" 1 TB USB 3.0 external hard drive attached to a USB Hub attached to this DColor ATSC TV Stick. (Yep. That's what the crazy name Toshiba gave to this troublesome hard drive...Canvio Ready.) That thing goes to sleep after about 10 seconds of inactivity and then takes well over 10 seconds to spin back up during a session.But, the real problem is that it has severe troubles getting started when called to action for a recording after many minutes of inactivity. It will falter and delay for a good 30 seconds or more before recording begins when called into action by the DColor ATSC TV Stick.It seems that lengthy delay was causing the DColor ATSC TV Stick to miss recordings and it even caused some recordings to be rescheduled for weeks ahead of time. I know what you're thinking...how could the hard drive cause the problem. I understand. But it's true.I removed the troublesome Toshiba Canvio Ready external drive and replaced it with an old Hitachi 2.5" 750GB hard drive I removed from a notebook. I put the Hitachi HD into an external enclosure. The enclosure is one of those clear plastic enclosures for around $10 U.S. or less. (I used a Sabrent EC-OCUB enclosure. It's even available here at amazon.)With that old Hitachi 2.5" drive in the Sabrent enclosure connected to my old Targus ACH-129 USB 3.0 Hub plugged into the DColor ATSC TV Stick, it works great and hasn't missed a single scheduled recording for over a week. I'm calling it a success.The hub is useful to provide power to the hard drive. I'm not sure the DColor ATSC stick is realliy wired to provide the required 900ma of current for a hard drive at its USB port. Maybe it is. I don't know. But, I know the Targus Hub (like many self powered hubs) will provide power to the hard drive and it does not "feed back" current into the TV stick. (Some USB hubs do cause a backfeed of current to the host--not all--but some.)So, with the USB hub attached, I can connect more than one drive to this DColor ATSC TV Stick and with more than one drive connected, it prompts the DColor ATSC Stick to present a special menu page when you go to the PVR configuration menu so you can select which of the attached drives you want to use. (I attached a picture to this review to show that special menu page.)I still don't understand the failure glitch but now that the Toshiba Canvio Ready 1TB external drive is out of the setup, I don't have the channel surfing problems that I was experiencing. and scheduled recordings aren't dropped any more, and when I play back recorded shows, it snaps to quick action when I fast forward and fast reverse or change files played back.I still wish this TV stick had a "go to" function so I could plug in time coordinates to jump to a spot in a long recording. That "go to" function is great for a 4 hour recording like sports events, Svengoolie nights, and so forth. Without a "go to" function, we are forced to use the fast forward but even at 32X it takes a long time to scurry to a spot far down the time line in a long video file.I format my drives in NTFS. That hasn't caused a problem and it lets us break the 4GB file size barrier of FAT32. I haven't tried exFAT. Maybe I'll do that someday. Microsoft has released exFAT without license costs so maybe if that file system isn't in the DColor now maybe it will be someday.So, this DColor ATSC Stick is more durable than I thought. It's working as it did on day one...has some shortcomings but provides more than a good value for its price. The DColor just didn't like the Toshiba Canvio Ready hard drive. I don't blame it. I don't like that drive either....it's always going to sleep every 10 seconds or so. I have shelved it. Now I know why it was only $25 on clearance at a local store.