M1 ATSC 3.0 OTA Dual Tuner + DVR + Gateway with 4K, HDR, and Channel Guide

I don't normally give reviews unless I'm impressed and the Zapperbox impressed me!!!!!We gave the Zapperbox 5 Stars and if we could have given more we would have. We Love the Zapperbox!!!!!We have now had our Zapperbox M1 for about 4 months. My family thinks its the best OTA DVR out there. As for ATSC 3.0 NextGen device we know its the best out there. We have tried all of the ATSC 3.0 NextGen devices out there and the Zapperbox M1 is hands down better.As for Zapperbox customer service we think Zapperbox is great. Zapperbox has answered all of our questions and have helped us when we needed anything. Zapperbox has been very fast at responding.One thing that is great is the picture quality. I have the Zapperbox M1 hooked up to our LG C4 83 inch TV. The reason the picture quality is so great is that you use a HDMI 2.1 Cable to hook it up to the TV. By using a HDMI 2.1 Cable this gives you the best picture quality. We love this feature of using a HDMI 2.1 Cable.As for the price for Zapperbox we thought it was kind of high when we bought the Zapperbox, But after we got the Zapperbox and hooked it up to our LG C4 83 inch TV we thought the Zapperbox was worth every penny that we paid.As for the setup of the Zapperbox it was very easy. Plus everything with the Zapperbox has been very easy to use. The Zapperbox also has this great feature with a great detailed signal readings, That show the signal strength, signal/noise ratio and signal quality. This is real great and you can use these signal readings to get your antenna dialed in for the best signal at your location.Another great feature is once you scan for channels the Zapperbox has a additive channel scan and this is real great, Because you can scan for more channels without losing the channels that you already have, That it will just add any extra channels that you get, So if you're using a antenna rotor this means you can have every channel from every direction that you get channels from.As for the DVR it is great and easy to use. You can set the DVR to record series like all of them or just new episodes. You can keep them or delete them both are very easy to do. Zapperbox also gives you 3 ways to add DVR storage. You can use a microSD Memory Card, a Portable SSD or a External Hard Drive HDD. Now just to let you know if you use a External Hard Drive HDD, You will need a power adapter to powerup the External Hard Drive HDD. Now if you use a microSD Memory Card or a Portable SSD you won't need anything else. No matter which way you go the Zapperbox DVR requires a minimum storage of 128GB and there is no maximum drive size restriction.The whole family loves the Zapperbox. We are glad that we decided to pay the higher price tag for this Zapperbox M1. Zapperbox was the last one we bought to tryout and the Zapperbox was the best and the only one we decided to stick with all the others we sent back. The Zapperbox is well worth the high price tag. We think people will love the Zapperbox if you decide to upgrade to a ATSC 3.0 NextGen Device. Zapperbox is the best one out there and Zapperbox is making the Zapperbox better all the time with updates to the Zapperbox.Right now the Zapperbox only works with other Zapperboxes. Right now Zapperbox has 3 different Zapperboxes the Zapperbox M1 which is a dual tuner, the Zapperbox M2 which is a single tuner and the Zapperbox M3 which is a DVR & Gateway Client. Our only problem with the Zapperbox is that Zapperbox DOSEN'T have a quad tuner yet, But Zapperbox has told me that Zapperbox is trying to work out all the issue involved with announcing the quad tuner product and that Zapperbox is hoping that Zapperbox can announce a date by the end of April or May, But however, this is a research project at this time and sometimes it just takes longer. Zapperbox wants to be sure that everything will work as planned before announcing a Zapperbox quad tuner, But we wouldn't just wait to buy the Zapperbox quad tuner, We think you should buy the Zapperbox M1 right now to see how you like it. Plus when the Zapperbox quad tuner comes out you can buy it and put it in whichever room you want and use both of them together, Because these will work together and you will even be able to record more things because this would be like having a 6 tuner and be able to do everything right from one or both Zapperboxes. We can't wait until the Zapperbox quad tuner comes out so we can put the Zapperbox M1 dual tuner in our bedroom and put the Zapperbox quad tuner in our living room.We hope this review will help everyone!!!!!

There were no issues encountered in viewing and recording the 6 NextGen TV ATSC 3.0 channels in our area. The DVR tuner is easy to use and is dependable. The channel guide works well. The remote has a wonderful design, and can be programmed for other devices. The tuners are very sensitive with both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 signals. I have zero complaints other than I wish it had 4 tuners. However, they designed the software to easily determine and resolve scheduling conflicts.A couple of months ago I had a hardware issue with the unit. Their support was one of the best I have ever experienced, and they promptly sent me a new replacement unit. In my opinion, the true test of a company is in providing superior support when unlikely issues arise. So the purchaser can buy this product with confidence in knowing that ZapperBox has a great support team behind their products.Personally, I want to see this company succeed. This unit does it all, does it well, and there really are no comparable units on the market with the functionality they offer. This ATSC 3.0 roll out has been miserably executed by the broadcasters. We had an HDHomeRun Flex 4K ATSC 3.0 unit that became partly useless when our local CBS and NBC broadcasters encrypted the signal. ZapperBox has elegantly solved this issue.I’m sure that some of you were wondering why I’m not sticking with ATSC 1.0. The reason is that I get spotty reception on some key channels, because I’m located behind a hill, which blocks these signals — receiving these only on a tropospheric bounce. ATSC 3.0 signals are located on the same tower. And ATSC 3.0 signals yield a more stable signal without break-ups.

I bought the dual channel Zapperbox back in March of 2025 (along with the recommended 1T Western Digital Elements SE portable SSD for data storage) as a replacement for my Amazon Recast, which was buggy and no longer supported by Amazon. The Zapperbox is expensive but it does have ATSC 3.0 tuner capability, which will be the new standard as ATSC 1.0 is phased out (supposedly in 2028). I live in an area where I have line-of-sight to Mt Wilson (where most of the transmission masts are) in Los Angeles so have a lot of very strong TV signals. I use an attic antenna.I had some initial problems with the box in that the picture and sound would keep freezing on ATSC 3.0 channels for a minute or so on both live viewing and on recordings, which was annoying to say the least! I contacted the Zapperbox technical help and found Curt to be very responsive in addressing my problem. It turns out my box came with a 5 volt power supply (oval shaped plug) that only had a 2-amp rating. Curt sent me a 3-amp rated power supply (rectangular plug) and this immediately solved the freezing problem.Another issue I had was with inaccuracies in the channel guide (which costs an extra $30 a year). Specifically, one of the public broadcast channels I watch (58.1 here in Los Angeles) was simply not correct a good bit of the time. I didn't check the myriad of other channels I can receive. This was a bit annoying, particularly when the free Amazon Recast guide was accurate! Curt says that Zapperbox is working on that with their guide provider.More recently I encountered another problem that turned out not to be associated with the Zapperbox at all. A few days ago I found I could not get any broadcasts from the ATSC 3.0 channels, even though the ATSC 1.0 channels all worked. I thought the 3.0 tuner had died and contacted Curt. He told me that all the ATSC 3.0 channels broadcast from Mt Wilson had been off the air recently. Apparently, at the moment, they all share a common transmission mast and that was down. And sure enough, a few days later all the ATSC 3.0 channels re-appeared!I have a minor issue with my TV initially not recognizing the Zapperbox signal when I first turn both on. That problem is usually cleared by turning the TV off and on again. If I keep the Zapperbox on all the time (not in standby mode) then that also solves the problem. It seems the Zapperbox has to be on for a while before turning on my TV, in order for it to work immediately.All in all, I'm happy with the Zapperbox - the software works much better than that for my Recast. And the Zapperbox team is continually working on adding more software features in free updates!