The standard is national, and so is the tuner
Broadcast television is the one part of this catalog that is different in every country. In the United States the standard is ATSC: ATSC 1.0 on every full-power station, and ATSC 3.0 — sold as NextGen TV — in a growing number of markets. A European DVB-T2 receiver receives nothing here, whatever its price. Of the ten boxes on this shelf, one tunes ATSC 3.0, one states plainly that it does not, the Tablo names ATSC 1.0 only, and the rest do not say — so the first thing to read is that line. Past the tuner, the useful features are recording to USB and pause of live TV, which need a drive in a stated file system, and the outputs: HDMI for a current set, composite or a channel 3/4 RF output for an old one. A Clear QAM tuner adds unencrypted cable channels, which few cable systems still carry. We compare tuner standards, recording, tuner count and outputs.
In brief
We compare 11 ATSC converter boxes and OTA DVRs on what each listing publishes. Ten had an Amazon.com offer on October 25, 2026, from $29 to $160. On this shelf the tuner decides what you will still receive, the outputs decide whether the box connects to your set, and the drive decides how much it records. A $29 to $40 ATSC 1.0 box is enough wherever your stations still broadcast 1.0; the ADTH at $160 is the one to buy if NextGen TV is on the air where you live; the Tablo suits a house where nobody watches on a plain television.
ATSC converter box · recording and media player · Clear QAM tuner · USB to 4 TB · United States only
An ATSC converter box with recording, a media player and a built-in digital clock.
Best for: A second television on a budget — but read the ATSC 3.0 question first
≈ $29
ATSC digital converter box with a Clear QAM tuner also decoding private QAM channels from modulators, simultaneous HD, component YPbPr, composite RCA and RF outputs to 1080p with stereo and S/PDIF coaxial digital audio, instant and scheduled recording with time shift to a USB drive up to 4 TB, a large LED channel display, electronic program guide, closed captioning, auto start and shutdown timers, last channel memory and a metal enclosure
An ATSC box with four simultaneous outputs, S/PDIF audio, EPG and time shift, in a metal case.
Best for: An awkward installation — four outputs at once means it will connect to anything
≈ $38
Over-the-air digital TV converter and DVR box converting digital signals for an analog television, with recording, USB playback of photos, music and video, and parental controls allowing channels to be blocked with a password, published with two bullets that state only that it converts signals
A digital converter and DVR box with recording, USB playback and password channel blocking.
Best for: Nothing on this shelf that a better-documented box at a lower price does not do
≈ $42
ATSC digital converter box with recording and a media player, a Clear QAM tuner, channel 3/4 RF output, HDMI and A/V outputs, a USB port supporting portable hard drives to 4 TB and a learning remote control, with new firmware stated in the title
An ATSC converter box with channel 3/4, HDMI, A/V, a learning remote and new firmware.
Best for: The same job as the iView a dollar below it — buy on whichever is in stock
≈ $34
ATSC digital converter box with recording and a media player, a Clear QAM tuner, channel 3/4 RF output, HDMI and A/V outputs, a USB port supporting portable hard drives to 4 TB and a learning remote control
An ATSC converter box with channel 3/4 output, HDMI, A/V and a learning remote.
Best for: An old television with only an antenna input — the channel 3/4 output and the learning remote together
≈ $33
Digital TV tuner converter box with analog pass-through for low-power TV station broadcasts, parental control, advanced closed captioning, on-screen program information and a remote control, supplied with an RF cable, AV cables and a universal remote
A digital tuner converter box with analog pass-through, supplied with RF and AV cables.
Best for: A very old television where the supplied RF and AV cables are the whole requirement
≈ $75
ATSC digital converter box with a TV tuner, recording and pause of live television to an external hard drive up to 2 TB, USB multimedia playback, 1080p HDMI output with Dolby Digital audio, a Clear QAM tuner requiring unencrypted signals, a channel 3/4 hard switch for older televisions, a front display showing channel and sub-channel and a standby clock, a metal case, a 5 foot HDMI cable and a large remote, stated not to support ATSC 3.0 and firmware version V1.7
An ATSC box with recording, a front sub-channel display and a metal case, stated not to do ATSC 3.0.
Best for: Anyone who wants to know what they are buying — it is the only listing that says
≈ $40
Four-tuner ATSC 1.0 over-the-air DVR streaming live and recorded television over a home network to smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and streaming players with no subscription, supplied with a 35-mile range indoor TV antenna, a 6 foot coaxial cable and an Ethernet cable, requiring Wi-Fi and a consistent high-speed internet connection and stated incompatible with non-smart TVs and computers
A four-tuner over-the-air network DVR with an antenna included, streaming to your devices.
Best for: A household of phones and smart TVs — not a television with a cable going into it
≈ $140
ATSC converter box · 1080p HDMI · records to FAT32 drive to 4 TB or 32 GB stick · parental control, captions
An ATSC converter box recording to a FAT32 drive, with cables and a one year warranty.
Best for: A buyer who wants the limitations in writing before ordering
≈ $39
ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 digital converter box with 64 GB built-in storage and DVR recording with pause, rewind and replay, output up to 4K HDR on compatible NextGen TV broadcasts, Dolby Digital Plus and AC-4 audio support, HDMI output with guided on-screen channel scanning, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for firmware updates, and expansion by USB flash drive or microSD card
An ATSC 3.0 and 1.0 box with 64 GB built-in storage, 4K HDR output and Wi-Fi updates.
Best for: A modern television you intend to keep — it is the only box here with a future
≈ $160
DVB-C and DVB-T2 combo · USB media player · PVR ready · timeshift · integrated Irdeto access system
A combo receiver that handles both cable and terrestrial, with recording and timeshift — and an integrated conditional access system, which is a national specification.
Best for: A German household with either cable or terrestrial reception, where recording matters.
Where every local station still sends ATSC 1.0, all ten boxes receive the same channels. The cheapest one that also records and has HDMI does the whole job.
One box on this shelf states an ATSC 3.0 tuner alongside ATSC 1.0. Every other one either says it has no 3.0 tuner or does not say.
A network DVR has no video output at all: it streams to apps. It is the only box here with several tuners stated, and the only one with an antenna in the box.
No. Over-the-air television in the United States is broadcast in ATSC, and a DVB-T2 tuner receives nothing from it, whatever the box costs. Every receiver on this shelf is an ATSC box sold for North America.
Only if stations in your market broadcast in ATSC 3.0 and you want what it adds. Under the FCC transition rules, a station that moves its main channel to 3.0 keeps a 1.0 version on the air, which is why a $29 box still receives it. What a 1.0 box misses is the 3.0 version itself — 4K, HDR, the newer audio — and any channel offered only in 3.0. On this shelf, only the ADTH box tunes 3.0.
Almost never. Every box here except the Tablo states that an antenna is required and not supplied, and the ZJBOX adds that the box itself has no reception or amplification function. The Tablo includes a 35-mile indoor antenna, a 6 ft coaxial cable and an Ethernet cable.
The iView models, the All About Adapters DTV105, the ZJBOX, the Mediasonic and the ADTH all state recording; the DTV105 adds scheduled recording and time shift, the Mediasonic pause of live TV, and the Tablo records on four tuners. The Zenith DTT901 publishes no recording at all, and the DP CTCB105 mentions it only in its description.
The one the listing names. The iView boxes, the DTV105 and the ZJBOX state up to 4 TB, the Mediasonic 2 TB with a hard drive rather than a flash drive. The ZJBOX records in FAT32, so one long program in high definition can stop at the 4 GB file limit. Only the ADTH has storage of its own, 64 GB, expandable by USB or microSD.
Only the unencrypted ones. A Clear QAM tuner receives cable channels sent without scrambling, and the Mediasonic is the one listing that says the channel must be unencrypted. Most cable systems now scramble almost everything, so in practice these boxes do not replace a cable set-top box — the ZJBOX states as much.
With composite or a channel 3/4 RF output. The iView 3500 III models and the Mediasonic state channel 3/4; the All About Adapters DTV105 runs HDMI, component, composite and RF at once; the Zenith ships with RF and AV cables. The ADTH and the iView 3300STB publish HDMI only.
No, and that is the design. It has no video output: it sits by the antenna and streams live and recorded TV to apps on Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, Samsung and LG televisions, phones and tablets. A television without apps cannot use it, and its listing says so.
On this shelf the tuner decides what you will still receive, the outputs decide whether the box connects to your set, and the drive decides how much it records. A $29 to $40 ATSC 1.0 box is enough wherever your stations still broadcast 1.0; the ADTH at $160 is the one to buy if NextGen TV is on the air where you live; the Tablo suits a house where nobody watches on a plain television.
There is no table here, and the reason is in the listings. Enough of these 11 products name the same rows — clear QAM, weight — for a column to qualify, and too few publish a figure in them: the column would compare blanks rather than models. Each product page says what its own maker published.
$38 – $40
3 models
All About Adapters DTV105, ZJBOX Digital TV Converter Box, Mediasonic HomeWorx HW250STB
Specifications: manufacturer sheets for home theater gear and the matching Amazon product pages. Prices and availability: Keepa.
Most recent revision in this category: October 4, 2026.
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
