iView 3500STB: An HD Tuner / DTA Converter / DVR / Media Player for under $40?

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Guest

Guest
#41
#41
Does any of these units work with cable TV. I am in need of a converter box that will turn digital cable signal into analog. My cable company finally went all digital and I still have two analog tv's. The cable company sends out the digital signal for example analog channel 2 is cable company digital channel 2.1 I read the whole thread but cannot discern if any of these boxes will work with the cable company and their websites have no phone number to call. Thanks for any help. If it will work with cable which one would be a better choice. Thank you very much.
 
J

jetpilot2005

DTVUSA Rookie
#42
#42
Does any of these units work with cable TV. I am in need of a converter box that will turn digital cable signal into analog. My cable company finally went all digital and I still have two analog tv's. The cable company sends out the digital signal for example analog channel 2 is cable company digital channel 2.1 I read the whole thread but cannot discern if any of these boxes will work with the cable company and their websites have no phone number to call. Thanks for any help. If it will work with cable which one would be a better choice. Thank you very much.
 
MrPogi

MrPogi

Moderator, , Webmaster of Cache Free TV
Staff member
#43
#43
It will work for digital ONLY if your provider has not encrypted all their channels. The FCC recently gave permission for all cable companies to encrypt all channels. (Thank the FCC for serving the cable companies rather than the public.) Eventually, we think all providers will encrypt all their channels.

Some cable companies are almost all encrypted, others are not yet. Who is your cable provider?
 
J

jetpilot2005

DTVUSA Rookie
#44
#44
No the channels are not all encrypted, I have a digital ready flat screen that is newer and it gets all the digital channels the basic free ones but that is all I want and pay for. This is all new to me. I would expect that the tuner on these boxes are like the one in my newer flat screen and I will get the same channels as it gets which is OK with me. If that be the case which one at this point is a better unit. The HomeWorX HW180STB HDTV Digital Converter Box with Media Player Function & Dolby Digital & HDMI Out will it work with the cable? I have Time Warner Cable. Seems to me everybody likes the iview but the homeworx has a new model on new egg for $34 and free shipping. I just want the best unit. If I have to pay a little more for the iview on amazon for $36 and free shipping. Thanks for all you time and help.
 
MrPogi

MrPogi

Moderator, , Webmaster of Cache Free TV
Staff member
#45
#45
If it's just unecrypted QAM, the iView will work better than the HomeWorx, from what I have read - I have not tried either on a cable system, however. But as others have noted, all these boxes are a little funky when it comes to tuning QAM. They number the channels in an illogical fashion, and they scan in some encrypted channels as well. You will have to go through the channels and delete those, and you can edit and rename the remaining ones.

I can't comment on the other boxes out there as I do not own them nor have I read much on them. I do suggest them over the others as they are better documented on various forums and they have features that are useful even after you replace your analog TV sets - like the ability to record. And there's nothing like being able to pause live TV while you go make a snack or take care of the kids!
 
G

Guest

Guest
#47
#47
i purchased one 3500STBII on April 24, 2014 from Amazon, and was happy with it. It does not have a 3-4 switch on the back, and works on my cable system, allows you to sort the channels where you want them (after putting V13 firmware on it.) I just bought another one, and it DOES have a 3-4 channel switch on the back, which means that V13 firmware will "brick" it, and it does NOT work on my cable system. It does do OTA as it should, but the tuner chip apperently does not have the QAM capabilities advertised. The first one came in a box with a green top and green on the front insert, the latest one does not have any green on the box.
I've contacted Iviewus.com several times and have yet to get a response. Their website says to be patient, that they are working on an updated firmware, but I think that they have just abandoned it. If you don't care about the QAM cable channels not functioning, the OTA and DVR functions work OK on both models. If you want to use it on a cable system that is not encrypted you'll have to find one from the first batch with-out the 3-4 switch on the back.
 
G

Guest

Guest
#53
#53
Problems programming 3500stbII

Folks, I am new to this forum but it is info from you people that inspired me to purchase an iView 3500stbII (with a CH 3-4 switch). It is a pretty remarkable gadget for the money, but it is awfully hard to nail down and get everything working. First thing you should know is that, although I purchased it to use with an antenna in an attempt to "cut the cord," I found our OTA reception was so poor at our house (after using four different antennas) that I instead cut back our cable to the bare basic package (TWC Starter TV) so that we could be assured of getting local channels to augment streaming services that we are getting through our Roku. Here is the problem: I have downloaded and installed all three of the most recent firmware updates to be able to use this unit with cable TV, as opposed to OTA (before installing the updates, it wouldn't pick up an cable channels). I tried each, doing an auto-scan and painstakingly going through all the scrambled channels to get at the ones that actually came through. The first firmware update (labeled V1) is the most comprehensive, filled with every channel in the cable system, including all the scrambled ones. The other two (V2 and V3), only show a very short list of channels after doing the auto-scan, missing several that I know we are eligible to watch in our cable package. So, I went back to V1 and painstakingly deleted all but the active channels. Here are the problems I am having: I can scroll all of the available channels using the remote, but a) there is no programming information available for any of them when I select the program guide, b) all the channels are only identified by numbers, which don't correspond to the numbers issued by the cable company, and c) when I go to the PVR scheduling section to set up a program to record on one of the available channels, it only shows a small number of those channels--less than half of those that I can see live. This is a problem I noticed back when I first got the unit and was attempting to use it with an antenna (before I downloaded the firmware updates). Do any of you know a workaround to add those "missing" channels to the PVR list so that they can recorded on my external HD? That is my primary issue. The secondary issue is whether you know of a way that I can start getting program guide info for the channels I do have. Many, many thanks for any suggestions you might have.
 
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