Ematic Software Updates

I’ve skimmed through all the reviews on this product and I am going to give you some new information. First, let me say that if you are one who said something like, Should I remove the plastic film covering the unit, or How many channels does it have- then I suggest you go straight away to Walmart and return the unit. Though the unit is not difficult to operate, it requires at least an IQ of 87.4 to operate (verified on IQ Master dot com). Sorry, if you don’t have at least an IQ of 87.4, you’re not going to be able to figure out how to set up or use the unit.
You can choose three different ways to connect the unit to your TV.
1) HDMI cable (best way if you have flatscreen TV)
2) RCA audio/video cable (this cable is supplied)
3) RF cable to channel 3/4 ( I use this method because my TV is really old.)
Next, let me say that recording an hour of full HD TV (resolution 1920x1088) will use about 6GB on the USB memory stick. Make sure you have enough free space on the USB memory stick before you start the recording. You have no choice about the resolution (and therefore GB used) of the recordings. This is set by the broadcaster. Some stations broadcast in standard definition (resolution 704x480) and this will use about 1.3 GB per hour on your memory stick. USB memory sticks are now cheap. The regular price for a 16GB USB memory stick at Microcenter is $5. On sale (I just bought one) they are $3.
Your recordings will be in the mts format. You can easily play back your recordings through the unit and view on your TV. If you want, you can play back mts files in your computer with free software such as VLC. If you play back on your computer with VLC, the closed captions will display if you set them to display in VLC. Another reviewer said the closed captions of recordings will not display when played back on the unit to the TV. I found this to be the case. In fact, as soon as you start recording, the closed captions disappear from the live broadcast. If someone brought this to the attention of the relevant authorities at the FCC, this unit would likely be banned in the USA. The closed captions will display when watching live broadcast (if you press the CC button on the remote control and are not recording). Also, by using a computer and free software CC Extractor, you can quickly extract the closed captions to a srt subtitle file. This might be useful for some people. If using a computer to process the recorded file, if your recorded file has any dropouts or pixilation, you will need to run the mts file through the “Quick Stream Fix” with VideoReDo software, before you can do any processing (such as closed caption extraction, or re-encoding to mp4, or cutting out the advertisements in the TV program). I have attached a 2 minute sample recording with srt file that I processed with Vidcoder to be mp4. I used the Fast De-interlace and saw improvement in the video when there was motion.
You can use the unit for Timer Recording. This is similar to a programming a VCR to record when you are away from home. If you have an old style TV, you can only watch what you are recording. If you have a flat screen TV, you can record one channel and simultaneously watch a different channel. When using the Timer Record, the unit will automatically switch to the channel that you program in to record. In other words, you don’t have to leave the unit displaying the channel that you will timer record. You can be watching a different channel, and at the pre-set recording time, the unit will switch to the Timer Recording programmed channel.
The unit also has an instant record button on the remote. This is very convenient and useful. You are watching something and suddenly you want to record it, you just press the record button.
The unit will play back all kinds of files, such as mp4, avi and mkv and mp3. One problem is that when playing a file with separate srt subtitles, the subtitles are displayed in a very bad way - white letters on light grey background - difficult to read, and no way to adjust.
A lot of reviewers said that their unit broke prematurely. The people that designed this unit (about 2 years ago) have long since abandoned the project. Any bugs, problems, shortcomings will never be fixed because all the engineers and technicians are long gone. There is just a Chinese shell company that markets this unit and no one that speaks English. My unit that I bought from Walmart just lasted 2 days before the remote control broke. I verified that fresh batteries were installed correctly. A short developed inside the remote and now the IR LED is always on, even when no button is being pressed. (See picture). I also verified that no button was stuck down. I opened the remote control and cleaned the board with alcohol but no change. The unit is going back to Walmart and I won’t be buying another. I give the unit a rating of one star out of five, primarily because it won’t last a year. Be informed that Walmart decided not to post this review. But they are happy to post a review like, 'This TV recorder is grate, i'm going to buy to more for my other rooms.'