Auvitek 6th-Gen Demod Used in NTIA-Certified ATSC Set-Top Boxes

By Doug Lung
published

Auvitek International announced that its AU8515 ATSC demodulation and channel-decoding IC is used in the Sansonic ATSC set-top converter boxes recently certified for participation in the NTIA’s coupon program. Auvitek claims its ATSC demodulators offer “6th generation” performance.

The Sansonic set-top boxes were designed and manufactured by Falcon Digital. Jun Liaw, CEO of Falcon Digital, said, “The NTIA ATSC receiver performance specifications are very challenging, and designing the Sansonic CECBs around the AU8515 was the only way we could guarantee surpassing the NTIA requirement. Working closely with the Auvitek team, our engineers developed and tested the platform over a 12 month period. Field tests throughout the United States have demonstrated that we consistently outperform other digital receiver solutions available today.”

Auvitek President and CEO Pete Birch commented, “Auvitek’s patented and proprietary FADE [Fully Adaptive Demodulation and Equalization] architecture is setting new standards for performance metrics in digital television reception. We are able to provide our customers consistent, quality signal reception in even the most difficult reception environments. Our CECB reference design is guaranteed NTIA-certifiable, and we are very pleased to have worked with Falcon to be one of the few companies able to deliver products to assist in the digital transition.”

The Auvitek products Web page quotes a CRC test report stating, “the [Auvitek] receiver has the longest echo span that CRC have tested.” Very limited technical information is available on the Auvitek Web site, and the AU8515 isn’t listed on the products page.

A Web search showed the Auvitek AU8522 chip is used in the Forward Video Autv002 AnyTV-ATSC Stick. I found an AnyTV USB receiver with a confusing DVB1002 model number on Amazon for $45.99.

The AU8502 is used in the Prosoloo ATSC Stick. This appears to be the same ATSC stick being sold as the Geniatech HDTV Thriller USB U6010A. It’s available on Amazon for $59.95.

I hope to have a chance to test the AnyTV receiver soon to see how the Auvitek AU8522 performs against USB tuners using the LG 5th generation and AMD demodulators.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.